General FAQ

My domain name is not yet transferred. How do I access my control panel before the DNS transfer is complete?

We created an alternate URL that you can use. If your domain name is "mydomain.org" then the alternate URL is https://mydomain-org.myhostcontrol.com:2083 The pattern is always your real domain name, using dashes instead of a period, followed by "myhostcontrol.com"

Another example: If your domain name is "wonderful-domain.org" then your alternate URL is https://wonderful-domain-org.myhostcontrol.com:2083

How do people view my website before the DNS transfer is complete?

They can use the temporary URL:

http://yourdomain-org.myhostcontrol.com/~yourcpanelusername

For subdomains and add-on domains, you can use the following URL:

http://yourdomain-org.myhostcontrol.com/~yourcpanelusername/your_sub_folder_name

NOTE: Your user name is your cPanel user name. This may be different than your FTP user name.

How do I access my control panel after the DNS transfer is complete?

Use your web browser to visit: 

https://www.yourdomain.org:2083

Be sure to replace "www.mydomain.org" with your actual website address.

You will need to log in with your account's user name and password. Then you will see the "cPanel" area for managing your account. You can use cPanel to create new FTP accounts, new MySQL databases as well as use "Fantastico". Fantastico is an area with 2-click installers for many popular open source software packages, such as Drupal, Joomla, Word Press and more.

NOTE: You can also use the name of your server as the host name. For example: https://server6.myhostcontrol.com:2083

How do I transfer my domain name "mygroup.org" to your web hosting service?

You will need to login to your domain registrar, typically GoDaddy or Network Solutions and update your name servers to use ours. The correct settings are:

ns1.myhostcontrol.com
ns2.myhostcontrol.com

NOTE: This will only work for the primary domain on your account. If you have other top-level domains, please open a support ticket at http://support.myhostcontrol.com with a request to add a DNS zone for the other domains. Always include the name of your primary domain, as well as your add-on/parked domains that you need added.

I prefer to use my own DNS servers. What DNS records do I need to add?

We do not officially support this option, and you will need to trouble-shoot any issues with the third-party DNS provider you are using.
The record you will need to add for your new website to work is:

CNAME www --> mydomain-org.myhostcontrol.com
CNAME new --> mydomain-org.myhostcontrol.com

Do NOT create any DNS "A " records pointing to an IP address. Our IP addresses often change, and your A record will quickly be broken.

How should I migrate my existing website to your system?

Read our Migration FAQ

How do I install Joomla, WordPress or Drupal?

In your control panel, click the icon labeled "Fantastico" then click the name of the program you want to load. This will automatically create the needed database, database user, and everything needed. You do not need to do anything in advance, or download anything.

Which website address do I use to log into the Google Apps admin console?

http://www.google.com/a/yourdomainname.org

How do I set up physical/real mailboxes at Google Apps?

To create a mailbox, create a user. Each user is automatically given a real mailbox. When creating users, follow the naming convention of first initial last name, and also tell Google the person's real first name and real last name. This is important for the collaboration tools where it records who made the last change to a document, or who updated a calendar. It is much better to see that "Susan Cohen" made the change, not "admin".

How do I set up email forwarders at Google Apps?

Google Apps calls these "groups". Each group can deliver mail to one or more email addresses. Within the Google Apps control panel, click Groups then "create new group. Be sure to check the box that this group is allowed to receive mail from anyone on the Internet. Then add "members" to the group. Each member can be either an email address such as josh@aol.com or a Google Apps user, like Susan Kaplan

What is the host name for connecting to my databases?

It is always "localhost". This is because our databases run on the same machine as the rest of your website.

How do I Enable Server-Side Includes for my account?

SSI is already enabled. If your files end with the extension ".shtml" the server will automatically parse your files.
If you are using other file extensions, you will need to do the following steps:

1. Login to your cPanel account
2. Click Apache Handlers icon.
3. Add the following:

.html server-parsed
.htm server-parsed