Commonly Asked Questions About FreeNet Websites

> Is there a way to monitor the number of hits received on our new website?  

Certainly. Just go to www.XXXXXXX.org/stats, and you will see daily
statistics files.

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> 	2.  Are there size limits for your site (e.g. storage space and
> bandwidth)?  We currently have 25MB storage and 1GB bandwidth per month with
> Erols although we only use a relatively small percentage of that.

We do not currently impose storage limits, although we ask that our sites
remain under ~30 MB. If special circumstances arise, we can provide more
space; however, we do not have a default storage limit set for users.

Bandwidth is not limited on a per-user basis. Our server utilizes a
full-duplex 10 Mbps Ethernet connection into our McLean data center, which
is then connected to our national backbone network. Currently, outbound
traffic from the server ranges between 15 kbps to 500 kbps; so, we are
currently at peak using only 5 percent of the server's theoretical
bandwidth capacity (in real-world circumstances, though 10 BaseT will
usually only get you about 8 or 9 Mbps without packet loss, for whatever
it's worth). All of which is a roundabout way of saying that we don't
really have any bandwidth quotas, since we've never had any users doing
anything we couldn't handle. 

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> 	5.  Do you provide web site statistics?  What statistics do you
> provide?

Yes, we provide statistics. Logs are rotated daily, and our default
statistics program is WWWstat. However, our second server (which will be
also offers monthly log rotation and Analog as an
alternate statistics program. For whatever it's worth, we do provide
statistics with Apache HostNameLookups "on," so visitor domains are part
of the stats.

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> What naming conventions or site structure do I need to adhere to?

The site is hosted on a BSD/OS Unix server, so spaces in
filenames/directories are technically allowable but strongly not
recommended. We have index.html set up as the default 'home' page name,
but there are a few others (index.htm, home.htm/html, etc.) that are
supported. Filename extensions for pages can be .htm or .html, although
.html is the general Unix standard. CGI scripts need to be named .cgi to
be executed.

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> What do I need to do to set up a password protected area on our site?

To do this, you'll need to let me know what directory/directories to
protect (the protection needs to cover a directory; you can't mix
protected and unprotected files in a single directory). Then, provide us
with one or more usernames and passwords to cover the directory.

All you'll need to do is let me know what the directory name/location is,
and provide me with a username/password to guard it with.

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> Have a question:  Can you help me interpret the stats I get when I open
> www.XXXXXXX.org/stats?   Basically, I need to know how many visits we're
> getting to the site.  The "Daily Transmission Stats" lists the number of
> "requests" for each day. Is that the number of individial "hits" we got
> on that day?  If not, how do I determine that number?  Is there a
> cumulative total for hits from the day the site opened?  Is there any
> particular info in the daily stats that I should be monitoring (and what
> does it tell me)?

I agree that the statistics are a bit confusing; however, there isn't a
very good way to readily distinguish the "true" hit count. The problem is
that the "total number of requests" includes not only the HTML pages, but
also all of the graphics, etc. So, if your home page has 6 items to it
(the HTML page itself, plus five graphics), then one view of your home
page will show up as six requests.

Probably the best single indicator of how many individual viewers you're
getting is to look at the statistics by file ("total transfers from each
archive section") and count the number of times that a *page* (rather than
a graphic, since graphics may be used on multiple pages) was hit. Ergo, if
your /index.html page was hit 16 times, then you probably received 16
visitors that day.

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> I'm the webmaster for the site, and I've been asked for statistics on 
> how many users have accessed the site, etc.  I noticed a script in 
> cgi bin directory called vcount.cgi, and I tried to access it on the 
> web but couldnt.  And, I took a look at the script - it looks like 
> the configurations are correct but I don't know much Perl.  Can you 
> check into this?  Thanks!

The vcount.cgi script is a "you are the XXXth visitor to this page"
script. I have set up WWWStat as your statistics program - it isn't
pretty, but it works (I may have a better free statistics program on the
way soon). To access your statistics, go to:

http://www.XXXXXXX.org/stats/

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> Also, really grateful for the service that FreeNet
> is providing, and would like to place your logo on our
> homepage for our constituents to consider as well.  Is
> that kosher?  :-)

Absolutely! Follow the directions at http://www.servintfree.net.

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> >  My org.'s site loads normally from my Netscape browser, but when I
> >  used the proprietary browser supplied by my ISP, Netcom, for some reason it
> >  refused to load the site but instead loaded only the homepage of
> >  dcFree.Net, our website host.  I've no explanation for that, and it is
> >  certainly not the only peculiar thing one gets from Netcom, but I thought I
> >  should mention it for the benefit of anyone who might be monitoring the
> >  technical performance of our site.  Hopefully this oddity will not occur
> >  with any other non-standard browser, and is just one more peculiar aspect
> >  of the fine service provided by Netcom.

What's happening here is that the user is using an old (not upgraded)
browser. Browsers from a few years ago (Netscape 2.0 or lower, Internet
Explorer 1.0, AOL 2.0 or lower, and associated "private" versions of these
browsers for Netcom, AT&T Worldnet, etc.) only support a version of the
web protocol called HTTP 1.0. All more recent browsers support the current
standard, HTTP 1.1.

HTTP 1.0 does not recognize "virtual hosts" (domains on a server other
than the "main" domain, in this case dcfree.net) without a unique IP
address. On D.C. FreeNet, all of the virtual hosts share the same IP
address as the "main" server (209.50.251.25). HTTP 1.1-enabled browsers
(those released in the last three years or so) recognize this properly and
pull up the correct virtual host, but HTTP 1.0 browsers will only show the
"main" domain, which is why dcfree.net is coming up.

I would advise the user (strongly) to upgrade his web browser (I know that
Netcom has a newer version available). Unfortunately, IP space is
restricted (and ServInt has to pay for the IP addresses it has), so we
aren't able to give a unique IP address to each of our FreeNet domains. We
are looking into placing a "Were you looking for another site?"
explanatory link on the FreeNet home page with links to updated browsers
to help correct this rare (but persistent) problem.

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> what can I add to my site?


"OK" List:
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* standard HTML pages are OK

* interactivity ("rollover" images, scrolling text, effects, simple games,
etc.) using JavaScript (and most Java applets) is OK, since this is
"client-side," and the actions are performed in the viewer's web browser,
rather than on the server

* interactivity (form submissions, guestbooks, E-mail gateways, etc.)
using CGI scripts is OK (as long as they are written in Perl, C or a Unix
shell script), since the server is set up to execute these

* basic interactivity using Microsoft FrontPage are OK. However, see below
for the limitations on FrontPage activity

* streaming using RealMedia (RealAudio/RealVideo) is OK, although we can
only install the limited (20 simultaneous connections) free version of the
server for FreeNet clients. Streaming using QuickTime is also OK.

"Bad" List:
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* ASP (Active Server Pages) and Access database functionality through
Microsoft FrontPage are NOT OK. The FreeNet hosts on Unix-based servers,
and Microsoft has not seen fit to allow the use of ASP/Access
functionality on any platform other than its own Microsoft Windows NT with
Microsoft Internet Information Server. If Microsoft ever incorporates this
functionality into their FrontPage extensions for other operating systems,
this will be supported on the FreeNet.

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