Password Protect & Hosting Problems

[Patrick]

In dire need of your expertise...

I am having difficulty with hosting services regarding FrontPage and
password protect! I am finding that UNIX hosting services are not compatible
with FrontPage and password protect, especially when using the hosting
service's password protect utility -- htaccess is often corrupted.
Uninstalling and reinstalling extensions doesn't resolve the problem.
Therefore, two hosting services finally admitted that htaccess would be
corrupted when user names and passwords were added or deleted! Therefore
they both refunded my money, but I wasted a great deal of time, plus my
customers weren't pleased with the downtime!

Therefore I've searched for hosting services with Windows servers, but I'm
still running into problems. When I found a hosting service with Windows
2003 servers, FrontPage 2003, but they had only support for FrontPage 2002
extensions, not 2003... they couldn't ensure me that there wouldn't be
complications, stating that FrontPage 2003 was backward compatible, but that
there were new functions in 2003!

Two of my four sites require password protection. I password protect the
two sites fully!

In the past, when htaccess has become corrupted, which was very frequent, I
could not publish. I password protect the whole site, but I have only used
the hosting service's utility/panel to password protect and to add and delete
user names and passwords -- this was per their instruction (they had UNIX
servers and Linux servers). They stated that FrontPage's password protect
was incompatible with their UNIX servers! It proved to be that there UNIX
servers were incompatible with password protect/FrontPage, thus htaccess was
frequently corrupted, to the point where I couldn't publish!

Therefore, I've concluded that I must find a hosting service which has
Windows 2003 servers and which supported FrontPage 2003, with 2003
extensions. And, that I must use password protect within FrontPage. Is this
the only way to go?

I'm having difficulty locating a Windows 2003 hosting service like this that
has large enough storage and bandwidth!

First of all, must I go the route of hosting services supporting Windows
2003 servers, FrontPage 2003 with 2003 extensions? Secondly, if so, can you
provide a list of hosting services which have at least 100 GB of storage and
1000 GB of bandwidth?

Thanks, Patrick, "One frustrated FrontPage publisher!"

 

[Thomas A. Rowe]

There are no FP2003 extensions, then last and latest version is the FP2002 extensions.

The functions is FP2003 that require the FP2002 extensions, are the same function unchanged from
FP2002.

Your web host must allow you to create subwebs / subsites with unique permissions if you want to
create protected areas based on the FP extensions.

The best approach is to use server-side scripting a database, since you can make a back-up of users,
allow users to manage their info, etc.
--
==============================================
Thomas A. Rowe
Microsoft MVP - FrontPage

http://www.Ecom-Data.com
==============================================

 

[Tom Willett]

There are *no* FP 2003 server extensions. The latest and last are 2002
extensions. They'll work for you.
--
===
Tom Willett
Microsoft MVP - FrontPage
---
FrontPage Support:
http://www.frontpagemvps.com/
===
| In dire need of your expertise...
|
| I am having difficulty with hosting services regarding FrontPage and
| password protect! I am finding that UNIX hosting services are not
compatible
| with FrontPage and password protect, especially when using the hosting
| service's password protect utility -- htaccess is often corrupted.
| Uninstalling and reinstalling extensions doesn't resolve the problem.
| Therefore, two hosting services finally admitted that htaccess would be
| corrupted when user names and passwords were added or deleted! Therefore
| they both refunded my money, but I wasted a great deal of time, plus my
| customers weren't pleased with the downtime!
|
| Therefore I've searched for hosting services with Windows servers, but I'm
| still running into problems. When I found a hosting service with Windows
| 2003 servers, FrontPage 2003, but they had only support for FrontPage 2002
| extensions, not 2003... they couldn't ensure me that there wouldn't be
| complications, stating that FrontPage 2003 was backward compatible, but
that
| there were new functions in 2003!
|
| Two of my four sites require password protection. I password protect the
| two sites fully!
|
| In the past, when htaccess has become corrupted, which was very frequent,
I
| could not publish. I password protect the whole site, but I have only
used
| the hosting service's utility/panel to password protect and to add and
delete
| user names and passwords -- this was per their instruction (they had UNIX
| servers and Linux servers). They stated that FrontPage's password protect
| was incompatible with their UNIX servers! It proved to be that there UNIX
| servers were incompatible with password protect/FrontPage, thus htaccess
was
| frequently corrupted, to the point where I couldn't publish!
|
| Therefore, I've concluded that I must find a hosting service which has
| Windows 2003 servers and which supported FrontPage 2003, with 2003
| extensions. And, that I must use password protect within FrontPage. Is
this
| the only way to go?
|
| I'm having difficulty locating a Windows 2003 hosting service like this
that
| has large enough storage and bandwidth!
|
| First of all, must I go the route of hosting services supporting Windows
| 2003 servers, FrontPage 2003 with 2003 extensions? Secondly, if so, can
you
| provide a list of hosting services which have at least 100 GB of storage
and
| 1000 GB of bandwidth?
|
| Thanks, Patrick, "One frustrated FrontPage publisher!"
| --
| Patrick

 

[Patrick]

Thomas:

Thanks for the quick reply. So much for what they know... they were the
ones who said that they hadn't upgraded to 2003 extensions, therefore there
may be incompatibilities, etc. Can't rely on those guys, for sure!

Thanks again, and I'll look into what you've recommended -- this is a new
area for me.

Patrick

 

[Patrick]

Tom:

Thanks for the prompt response. So much for what they know... as you know,
they were the ones who said that they hadn't upgraded to 2003 extensions,
therefore there may be incompatibilities, etc. Can't rely 'em, for sure!

Thanks again, this is a whole new area in FrontPage for me.

Patrick

 

[.._..]

If it's Unix based, (and I assume Apache) you could probably ask them to put
..htaccess and .htpasswd files where you can access them with FrontPage.
(Basically, they are text files that contain configuration information that
includes password protecting file paths in a web site, redirects and all
that.)

If they don't understand what an .htaccess file is, get a new host as they
are too dumb to be near a computer.

You would have to learn how to properly format it in their environment...
which could be easy or could be hard, but it may be a way to work what you
want without messing about with extra software or moving hosts.

 

[Thomas A. Rowe]

FYI: You can not access the .htaccess file via FP.

--
==============================================
Thomas A. Rowe
Microsoft MVP - FrontPage

http://www.Ecom-Data.com
==============================================

 

[Patrick]

Thanks for the insight... I have elected to use a hosting service that is
totally Windows -- Windows 2003, FrontPage 2003, with FrontPage 2002
Extensions. No more UNIX!
Patrick

 

[Patrick]

Thomas:

Thanks for the addional info. I took into consideration what you said,
previously, and have opted to go with a hosting service that is totally
Windows -- Windows 2003, FrontPage 2003, with FrontPage 2002 Extensions. No
more UNIX! They "guarantee' that everything will work, including password
protect." I copied what Microsoft had in FrontPage Help and had the hosting
service review it and they agreed. So, it would appear everything should be
resolved by the end of the day -- they will host two sites for me.

Thanks again,
Patrick