Newest KB Articles in Miscellaneous questions and troubleshooting

Using an app_offline.htm File to Shut Down Your Website

Wed, 17 Jan 2024 23:47:06 GMT

A specific file name recognized by the IIS web server allows you to take your website offline and shut it down.

Since it's an HTML file, you can add HTML markup to display content.

The file name is app_offline.htm(l), and it needs to be created using any text editor and then uploaded to the root directory for it to work.

Example:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<head>
    <title>Site Under Construction</title>
    <style>
    </style>
</head>

<body>
    <div>
        <div class="message">
            <p>Sorry, this site is currently under construction.</p>
            <p>We're working hard to bring you something awesome. Check back soon!</p>
        </div>
    </div>
</body>

</html>

Once uploaded, it will take your site offline and intercept all new web requests so that only its content will be displayed.

It's a valuable tool when updating your website because you can create a "Site Temporarily Unavailable," "Under Maintenance," or any other page you want to display. At the same time, you silently make updates to other parts of your site. Once the updates are done, rename or delete the file to resume normal site operations.

ASP.NET Core Error Logging

Fri, 28 Jul 2017 00:53:04 GMT

Error logging is not enabled by default after publishing an application. To enable error logging:

Edit the web.config and set stdoutLogEnabled="true"
Create a /logs directory in the Core application root

Running Telnet and Traceroute on MAC OS

Sat, 02 Jul 2011 00:07:09 GMT

How to run Telnet on MAC OS

Go to the Applications folder.
Navigate to the Utilities folder.
Click on Terminal.
At the command prompt enter:
Telnet [YourDomainName.com] [port number]

How to run a Traceroute on MAC OS

Launch Network Utility.
Click Traceroute.
Type the domain name you want the Traceroute performed on.
Click Trace.

How to capture Telnet and Traceroute results on MAC OS

Go to Edit/Select All. After everything is Highlighted go back to the menu bar Edit/Copy.
Go to Applications folder.
Navigate to TextEdit application.
Once TextEdit is open to to the TextEdit menu bar.
Click on Edit/Paste.
Save the text file.

Note: The value domain name can be any domain name. As an example webmail.HostingAccountDomain.com where HostingAccountDomain.com is the domain to your account. [port number] is the port number you will be testing such as port 25 for SMTP or port 1433 for MS SQL.

If configuration changes made using IIS Manager disappear

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 20:09:30 GMT

Configuration changes that you make using IIS Manager are written to the web.config file in the root directory of your site. If you overwrite the web.config file manually or by deploying an application to your site, you will remove any configuration made by IIS Manager.

How to access and download raw log files

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:19:17 GMT

HTTP Log access is disabled by default. To enable access:

Log in to the Site Info Manager in Control Panel and click the Raw Logs icon.
In the Raw Log Manager section, click Enable.

Log File Generation Schedule
The raw log files will not appear immediately. They will be available within 24 hours, and updated nightly thereafter.

Log File Format
The log files are compressed into a .zip archive file.

FTP Location
To download the zipped log files, go to /httplog after logging in via FTP.

Note:

The log file directory is a hidden directory so it will not be visible when you log in via FTP. After logging into your root directory you will use the change directory function in your FTP client to change to the log file directory.
You will not be able to navigate to the hidden httplog folder using an additional FTP user that you created. You must use your default FTP username to access the httplog folder.

Log File Rotation
Log files older than 30 days will be removed from the system and are not recoverable.

Our servers and PCI compliance

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 22:52:15 GMT

The requirements for PCI compliance change frequently, and we keep up with those changes on specific servers. Since the configuration required for strict PCI compliance requires the disabling or removal of many older technologies, we maintain a number of separate "hardened servers" that are PCI compliant.

Because many sites still make use of the older technologies that are not allowed on a PCI compliant server, it is not typically possible for a site to achieve PCI compliance on our regular web servers.

If you need to be on a PCI compliant server, please let us know and we can arrange to migrate your site to one of our hardened servers.

Bear in mind that the server configuration is only one part of PCI compliance for a website. Compliance assessment includes a number of things, many of which are related to how your application handles and stores data, who in your organization has access to that data, etc., things that are unrelated to the server itself.

So a non-compliant site will fail a PCI scan on an otherwise compliant server. The scanning company will tell you what needs to be fixed should your site fail a scan, and we'll certainly work with you if any of the issues are server related.

General Network Troubleshooting Tools (Ping, Traceroute)

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 22:47:11 GMT

GENERAL NETWORK TROUBLESHOOTING TOOLS

(Ping, Traceroute, PathPing, and PowerShell)

When troubleshooting network connectivity issues between your computer and a remote host (such as a WinHost server), several built-in tools can help determine where a problem may exist. This article covers the most commonly used tools on modern Windows systems.

PING – BASIC CONNECTIVITY TEST

Purpose:

Ping tests whether a remote host is reachable and measures basic network latency using ICMP echo requests.

How to run:

Open Command Prompt or PowerShell
- Press the Windows key, type "cmd" or "PowerShell", and press Enter.
Run the command:
ping example.com
Press Enter.

Optional: Run multiple pings and save output to a file:
ping example.com -n 100 > ping_results.txt

What to look for:

Successful replies indicate basic connectivity.
Timeouts or packet loss may indicate routing issues, firewall blocks, or an unreachable host.
Some servers may block ICMP traffic, which can cause ping to fail even if the site is online.

TRACERT – ROUTE PATH ANALYSIS

Purpose:

Traceroute (tracert in Windows) shows each network hop between your computer and the destination. This helps identify where latency or packet loss occurs.

How to run:

Open Command Prompt or PowerShell.
Run:
tracert example.com
Press Enter.

Output explanation:

Each numbered line represents a hop.
High latency or timeouts at a specific hop may indicate network congestion or routing problems.
The final hop should resolve to the destination server.

PATHPING – ADVANCED ROUTE AND PACKET LOSS ANALYSIS

Purpose:

PathPing combines ping and traceroute functionality. It analyzes packet loss and latency across the entire route.

How to run:

Open Command Prompt or PowerShell.
Run:
pathping example.com
Press Enter.

Notes:

PathPing can take several minutes to complete.
The final summary provides packet loss statistics per hop.
This tool is useful for diagnosing intermittent or performance-related issues.

POWERSHELL NETWORK TROUBLESHOOTING (MODERN METHOD)

Modern versions of Windows include PowerShell networking cmdlets that provide richer diagnostics than traditional tools.

4a. TEST-NETCONNECTION – RECOMMENDED TOOL

Purpose:

Test-NetConnection is an all-in-one PowerShell command that can:

Test basic connectivity (ping-like)
Resolve DNS
Test TCP ports
Perform traceroute diagnostics

How to run:

Open PowerShell (Run as Administrator if possible).
Basic connectivity test:
Test-NetConnection example.com
Detailed diagnostics:
Test-NetConnection example.com -InformationLevel Detailed

4b. TESTING A SPECIFIC PORT

To test whether a specific TCP port is reachable (for example, HTTPS on port 443):

Test-NetConnection example.com -Port 1433

This is useful for diagnosing issues with SMTP, FTP, HTTPS, database connections, or custom application ports.

4c. TRACEROUTE USING POWERSHELL

To perform a traceroute using PowerShell:

Test-NetConnection example.com -TraceRoute

This produces hop-by-hop route information similar to tracert.

SAVING OUTPUT FOR SUPPORT

If support requests test results, redirect output to a file:

Command Prompt example:
ping example.com -n 50 > ping.txt

PowerShell example:
Test-NetConnection example.com -InformationLevel Detailed > nettest.txt

Attach the resulting text file to your support ticket.