Standard Features

Domain Name and Pointers
Ivertex provides all the necessary Domain Name Services (DNS) in our hosting environment. Every hosting plan allows you to have a primary domain name and an unlimited number of domain pointers that link to the same web space. There is a one-time setup fee for each domain pointer.

Application Features
We provide almost every application feature you can think of, including Active Server Pages, JavaServer Pages, PHP, Perl, Python, custom COM components, JavaBeans, and Servlets.

Default Page
You can use choose from several different filenames to make a default page for a folder on your web site. A default page is one that gets served up to the visitor even though they didn't specify a filename. For example, if you type http://www.microsoft.com/ in your web browser Microsoft's web server recognizes that you didn't specify a filename and automatically finds a default page to send back to your browser.

The default page options are different depending on what type of content you are serving to your visitors.

• HTML document: default.htm, index.htm, or index.html
• Active Server Pages application: default.asp, index.asp
• JavaServer Pages application: default.jsp, index.jsp
• PHP application: default.php, index.php, index.phtml

FTP
File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is the most common way to transfer files back and forth between servers on the Internet. Ivertex provides you with a user name and password and you use your favorite FTP program to update the files in your account. We can recommend some popular FTP programs that work with your Windows or MacOS desktop machine if you don't have a favorite already.

Folders
You can get real creative with folders in your web space. Folders do not count against the Storage capacity for your account like files do. You can create hierarchies just like you can on your desktop computer. If your domain name is makeyourmark.com you could setup folders named catalog and services and have URLs like http://www.makeyourmark.com/catalog and http://www.makeyourmark.com/services.

Windows 2000 accounts have to be treated special compared to their Linux equivalents, so they come pre-configured with 3 special folders:

• scripts - Folder with execute-only permissions, visitors cannot read files in this folder.
• downloads - Folder with read-only permissions, programs in this folder will no execute on the server.
• data - Folder with no permissions, only your application on the server can read/write files in this folder.

Virtual Hosting
While we can provide a unique IP address for your web site, it is more efficient for us to host your web site using a technique called virtual hosting. This allows us to provide redundancy and greater efficiency in routing traffic for your web site as well. The only drawback is that you won't have an IP address to get to your site prior to the DNS changes taking effect. Rest assured, we will provide you with a way to upload your site and test it prior to your domain name being active.

E-mail Aliases
You can setup unlimited aliases to your e-mail accounts. An e-mail alias is just like a regular e-mail account, only there is no mailbox. Instead, when mail is sent to that alias it will be delivered into one or more mailboxes that you specify. For example, you could setup an alias named recruiting to deliver to 2 actual mailboxes named jill and rick. The hosting plan specifies the number of actual mailboxes you get, aliases are pretty much unlimited.

Application Features

Server-side includes
Server-side includes allow you to create common snippets of data that are then included by other files in your web space. For example, you might want to create a common footer for your site. With server-side includes you can store your footer in one file and reference it in the other files without duplicating the data. This allows you to update the footer by changing one file, rather than touching every file on your web site.

Server-side includes are available by naming your file with a .shtm or .shtml extension and then inserting a line that looks like the following wherever you want the file included:

<!-- #include file="footer.inc" -->

There are some less useful features of server-side includes, aside from just including a file, that you may be interested in. You can find information on the Internet at http://www.cgi-resources.com/Documentation/Server_Side_Includes.

CGI Programs
CGI is an acronym for Common Gateway Interface. CGI has been around since the World Wide Web was born, and was the first method for creating applications that were served over the World Wide Web. CGI is typically accomplished by writing a script in Perl or another language, or by creating a C/C++ or other compiled program.

You can find a plethora of CGI programs to do tasks like page counter images and advertisements, along with information on how to do your own CGI programs, on the Internet at http://www.cgi-resources.com.

Active Server Pages
Active Server Pages is Microsoft's solution for replacing CGI programs with a high-performance solution that is easier for developers to maintain. You can think of a single Active Server Page (.asp file) as an HTML file with VBScript (like Visual Basic) or JavaScript (like Java) embedded in it. It is a very powerful technology for creating web applications. Active Server Pages is just one of the technologies that Ivertex employees have been using since August 1996 (even before it was released in March 1997) in order to develop high-performance web applications for our clients.

You can find Active Server Pages on the Internet at http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/guide/server/features/application.asp#heading3.

COM+ Components
ActiveX, OLE, COM, DCOM, MTS, and COM+ are all terms Microsoft has applied to its component architecture. COM+ Components at Ivertex is a feature that allows you to develop an object library using Visual Basic, C++, or Delphi, and then install it on our servers to make it available to other pieces of your application (like Active Server Pages).

You can find Microsoft component technologies on the Internet at http://www.microsoft.com/com.

We are currently developing an automated review and installation process for you. Until then, you will need to e-mail your component install requests to support@ivertex.com.

With COM+ Components you are required to include the source code for the component, reference the commercial site where the component is available for free use, or provide proof of liability insurance so that we can ensure your component will not accidentally harm other customers.

If you want to avoid this very normal review and install process we would recommend investigating JavaBeans or Servlets which do not carry those same restrictions.

JavaServer Pages
JavaServer Pages is a technology that appeared on the scene in early 2000. Java performance problems hindered the technology from widespread adoption until later that year when third-party implementations of JavaServer Pages actually performed at the same level as Microsoft's Active Server Pages. JavaServer Pages is basically HTML with embedded Java, and gets compiled to Java with embedded HTML believe it or not (just like a Servlet). JSP provides some unique features over Active Server Pages that you might enjoy comparing.

You can find JavaServer Pages on the Internet at http://java.sun.com/products/jsp.

JavaBeans / Servlets
JavaBeans and Servlets are essentially web component technologies. JavaBeans allows you to develop your application in a very object-oriented way with classes, properties, and methods. Servlets are more like programming an Active Server Pages or JavaServer Pages application, but provide some lower-level functionality that isn't as easy to get at in the ASP/JSP environment.

JavaBeans are almost identical to the COM+ Components feature that Ivertex provides. You write a component in a .java file, upload it to the web server, and it is ready to run as a high-performance component helping out your web application.

You can find JavaBeans and Servlets on the Internet at http://java.sun.com/products/javabeans and http://java.sun.com/products/servlet.

PHP
PHP is another web application environment. It is similar to Active Server Pages and JavaServer Pages, only it is much easier for persons with C or Perl experience to learn. It is not as object-oriented as ASP or JSP, but is a very high-performance and feature-rich programming environment.

You can find PHP on the Internet at http://www.php.net.