Is my host being ridiculous?
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- ********0
- wrongtest0
On the previous post?
Yeh, basically if you look at that homepage of ours, the dates on each news item are really really old... They link to individual pages onto the site, and basically they flag up on the frontpage the date the page was ORIGINALLY entered...
eg... everytime we stick a new job on the job vacancy page and advertise it on the front then it will say something like 23/5/2003(!) New job vacancies...
We just want control over this one page so it's actually of more use to people...too much to ask?!
- wrongtest0
Ha.. Don't kill Imaginet.! Then our site would disappear and things would be worse! Seriously though, it's good to know that we're being 'led up the garden path' for our reference.
Anyone think they're telling the truth about FTP security issues?...
I was thinking anyway, we sometimes get them to make the 'odd' change to a custom page that isn't controllable by the CMS (like the splash page)... Surely they'd do it by FTP...
Is there some other magic way to upload changes to a site that I'm missing?
- sparker0
lol.
unfortunately, it's not illegal. unethical, maybe...but they're probably well within their contractual right to fuck you raw in the ass.
selecting hosts and providers is an important choice. it is a process that should be well researched and debated by someone with IT experience and knowledge.
also...
it literally took me 2 minutes to log into my server at home, install proftpd, change the config to only allow jailed logins from physical users on the server and restart the daemon.
no anonymous ftp access. only users set up on the server can access it via ftp...and the user is jailed to his/her "/home/~user" account...meaning they can't cd to a parent directory higher than their own user dir. means they have to try pretty hard to get out into the / or /root dirs to fuck with shit.
and, unless you use a shitty password, the probability a brute force cracker will gain user access to the box is slim. and, even if they do...if the server is properlly configured then that user doesn't have access to the system, anyway.
although, i did just realize. i bet it's windows iis and .net, isn't it? that would explain the lack of easy config changes. and the "software lockin."
sorry.
- _smk0
LOL @ "create a truly accessible website"
shoddy stuff all round. :(
- wrongtest0
Sparker... Thanks for the detail... Yeh, I see what you mean about making the choice. I guess, maybe foolishly, you begin to trust a company's advice. This is probably unwise.
It's definitely a php/apache/linux set up...not that I know anything about that but I guess that means it aint .net and iis...
But there is a software lock in.
I'm just amazed that they're going to such lengths to dissuade us.
- wrongtest0
'LOL @ "create a truly accessible website"'
It is ironic isn't it...
So no one at all coming down on the Big Bad Wolf's side in this argument...
- wrongtest0
By the way.. Sparker... could you what's the difference is between jailed logins and physical users? Sorry...just don't know the area very well.
- mogwai0
"The design company who built + host our site say they can't + won't give us FTP access"
this sounds like a contract with your designers. i dont think its that shifty, just business.
- wrongtest0
Mogwai... I'd doubt it's written in any contract... If it weren't in a contract, would you say it's wrong to deny us access?
- sparker0
no.
a physical user is one created on the linux box.
ie.
$ useradd sparker
adds the user account "sparker" to the server.
so, now i can log into the server (at the console, through ssh, etc).
this is different than say a virtual user created with LDAP or other system.
jailed is a security feature that basically locks users, daemons, etc into a secure environment on the server....say a particular directory.
keeps them from mucking up the rest of the box if someone does exploit it.
in a nutshell.
- derek20050
you gotta get off these dudes...
do they "own the pages"? check your contracts...
switch to (mt)... they are killer...
:)
- mogwai0
well, of course its wrong for a host to deny you access. but what did you sign up for?
did you hire designers to design and host your site, offering you a CMS for updates? are you paying them a maintenance fee anually of quarterly or something?
- wrongtest0
Thanks Sparker...good to have the details of that... I guess all this should be common knowledge and simple for my ISP.
- wrongtest0
Yep Derek... I'd hope they don't own the pages.. The frustrating thing is that they're being so negative and seemingly obstructive to a small organisation trying to help their users...
- waynepixel0
If you have not got a thicked yearly contract with these people. Tell them to shove there hosting up there ars and take you business somewhere els.
There taking the PISS.
- derek20050
yea, threating to take business elsewhere always works...
i did that with VISA to get a lower intrest rate!
- wrongtest0
Mogwai - Yep, I think we're doing all of those things... and I guess there won't be anything written down about FTP, but you would have thought they could easily give us that, without all this hassle... What can they gain from it after all?
If we could and did pick up our website and move it tomorrow, I guess I'm right in thinking that any ISP in the world would give us FTP access to it?
- wrongtest0
Waynepixel, Derek... We had a very heated meeting where they basically said something along the lines of if we want to move it to somewhere else (I guess at the end of contract) we're more than welcome... The bizarre thing is they seemed more concerned about me not touching the homepage than keeping the business?!
I don't understand why!
- derek20050
maybe the company is bankrupt, or they just landed a HUGE account, so they dont give two fucks about any of their other clients..?