I am trying to set up a testing server as in Chapter 2 (Dreamweaver MX 2004) but don't have XP professional. If I understand correctly I need a web server and an application server in order to set up the site correctly and work my way through the book.

I've got a standard account from http://www.fasthosts.co.uk/hosting/ which I believe works as an application server. If this is the case, how do I set up the web server?

In particular, in the section starting on pg 37, "Creating a New Web Site", under the tab "Local Info", what do I put as the http:// address and what do I enter as the Host Directory?

Am not having much luck and am not able to view the page in the browser as shown in Figure 2-15.

Cheers :)

Hi there,

What you fill in for http address depends on your host. It could be something like http://www.fasthosts.co.uk/Users/YourName

However, for the exact name, you'll have to contact the provider / read the docs.

The same applies to the Host Directory for the Remote Server. If you use FTP to access the site, changes are that the host directory can be left empty. When you log in, you often enter at your own "home" folder so there is nothing to add. But again, this should be in your host's documentation....

If you need more help, let me know.

Cheers,

Imar
---------------------------------------
Imar Spaanjaars
Everyone is unique, except for me.
While typing this post, I was listening to: Screenager by Muse (Track 17 from the album: Hullabaloo) What's This?

Hi Imar,

Thanks very much for the speedy reply. I had recieved two e-mails from the provider, which I believe have all the details I need.

However, the browser is still coming up with "Cannot find Sever". The address shown is http://index.htm/.

The seetings I have entered are as follows.

For local info:

Exactly the same as the book, except for HTTP address I have put http://www.(site address that I bought).com.


For remote info:

For Access I selected the FTP option
For FTP host I put ftp.(site address).com
I left the host directory blank and added my username and password.


Please let me know where I'm going wrong.

Many thanks,
James

What did you enter in the Testing Server category?

When you use PIB (Preview in Browser), DW will look at the http settings defined on the Testing Server category. The http address on the Local Info category is used to detect "local links" and is used by the link checker.

So, you'll need to fill in the Testing Server as well. This *can* be the same info as the Remote Info, although this is not required. Usually, your Remote Info is the external provider, while Testing Server can be a local testing server to test things out. In your case, since you don't have a testing server, the Testing Server should be the same as the Remote Info. Be aware that this changes the remote files directly, unless you enable PIB with a Temporary Copy (See DW Preferences)

Cheers,

Imar
---------------------------------------
Imar Spaanjaars
Everyone is unique, except for me.
While typing this post, I was listening to: Stone Cold Bush by Red Hot Chili Peppers (Track 8 from the album: Mother's Milk) What's This?

Still having a few problems.

After reading ur message and playing around a little, the PIB now reads page cannot be found.



The settings for testing server are as follows:

I selected ASP VBScript with FTP Access.

For the FTP host I've put the one given by my provider, ftp.mysite.com

For now I have left the host directory blank.

I have put in my login and password given to me by my provider.

For the URL prefix I have tried http://www.mysite.com as well as http://ftp.mysite.com and believe both of them are wrong.



The information I have been given by my provider is an:

FTP Hostname
FTP Username
FTP Password

I have been given three website links

http://www.mysite.com
http://mysite.com
http://domain*****.sites.fasthosts.com

as well as a web site path.


Am currently unable to give a more informed account of my problem as I still don't really understand whats going on. If you could shed some light on the situation I'd be most grateful.

Many thanks,
James

Can you access your site with a stand alone FTP program? If you don't have such a program, take a look here:

http://www.smartftp.com/

Then try to upload a file like test.html into your account and then see if it is available at http://www.mysite.com/test.html.

Once you figured out what the correct FTP and web settings are, you can reproduce those settings in Dreamweaver. It's often easier to use a stand alone program because they often provide more and detailed information.

Cheers,

Imar
---------------------------------------
Imar Spaanjaars
Everyone is unique, except for me.

Thanks for the FTP link. I downloaded the programme and followed your instructions. After playing around for a while I managed to set up the site correctly and all is working fine.

Thank you very much for all your help!

Much appreciated,
James :)

Just for the record (and for future visitors to this thread), would you mind telling us how you fixed it??

Imar
---------------------------------------
Imar Spaanjaars
Everyone is unique, except for me.
While typing this post, I was listening to: The Bends by Radiohead (Track 2 from the album: The Bends) What's This?

After loading up the stand alone FTP programme, it was a case of trial and error to get the correct settings. The website file structure of my provider stipulates that all web pages, graphics, scripts etc, has to go into a particular file, in my case /htdocs.

By going to Site -> Manage Sites, I kept changing the details in both the Local Info and Testing Server and observed the changes using the FTP programme. I kept playing until I got the index.htm file into the htdocs file on my site, with the PIB correctly displaying the index.htm file.

The settings I ended up with are:

For Local Info, the Http address was:
http://www.mysite.com/htdocs

For the Testing Server the settings were:
FTP host: ftp.mysite.com
Host directory: htdocs/
URL prefix: http://www.mysite.com/

For the remote server I entered the information as the testing server.

Hope this helps,
James

Great. Glad it's all working now.

Cheers,

Imar
---------------------------------------
Imar Spaanjaars
Everyone is unique, except for me.
While typing this post, I was listening to: The Bends by Radiohead (Track 2 from the album: The Bends) What's This?