Web Hosting Resource

For .NET 1.1, 2.0, 3.5

Trust levels are basically different sets of security configurations depending upon the circumstance.

You have:

• Full - You can do whatever you want, format the HDD, shut-down the server.
• High - Same as Full but you can’t call unmanaged code.
• Medium - Recommended by Microsoft for shared hosting environments (and all sane sysadmins).
• Low - Same as medium but you can’t do any DB, Network or other calls.
• Minimal - Unless we just wanted to calculated things, we can forget this trust level.

What we actually run is a custom trust level… By this we mean the standard Microsoft Medium trust with a few relaxations and few more restrictive items for ‘proper’ shared hosting security, such as:

• Allowing of OleDbPermission.
• Allowing of OdbcPermission.
• Less restrictive WebPermission.
• Reflection but no ReflectionPermission (so you can still use reflection for code you have permission to access).

Using a Medium trust level prevents applications from accessing shared system resources and eliminates the potential for inta application interference.

Offsite links:

• Microsoft - Using Medium Trust
• Microsoft - When is reflection permission needed?

In order to take advantage of ASP.NET 3.5 support customers on win7.pipeten.co.uk and win9.pipeten.co.uk can change the ASP.NET version in the control panel to 2.0. By choosing .NET 2.0 you should be able to take full advantage of .NET 3.5 also.

Shared hosting customers on servers other than those listed above should contact support via the hosting control panel regarding .NET 3.5 availability and/or moving your account to win7 or win9.

A common issue people face when first migrating/installing their .NET web application is an error which suggests you turn custom errors off to allow a detailed view of the error message. Commonly this will tell you to apply the following code to your Web.config:

<system.web>
<customErrors mode="Off">
</customErrors
</system.web>

In some situations you will find that this takes no affect, check the following:

1. You may have the wrong .NET framework version selected within the control panel. Select ASPNET 1.1 or ASPNET 2.0 (which at time of writing 2.0 also enables .NET 3.5).
2. There is a syntax or configuration error with your Web.config. Work through the Web.config section by section, double checking code, database and security configurations.
3. If all else fails, start with the bare minimum Web.config and build it up section by section.

Pipe Ten now offer free crontabs on their Linux Venture, Multihost and Enterprise accounts. Windows Enterprise customers can now also create a free Scheduled Task to run a script on their website at a schedule of their choosing. Contact the support team for more details.

Due to popular request Pipe Ten have now launched their exciting new SQL Server 2005 backup facility using MyLlttleBackup. All customers that have databases on Pipe Ten’s MSSQL server can now log in to the new online backup facility to create, download and restore full backup’s of their databases directly through their web browser at http://mylittlebackup.pipeten.co.uk

Full Trust would mean that we trust you, the user to have full access to the server. This includes access to all other users data, ability to reboot, reformat and completely take over the server. We hope you understand why we would never, ever consider granting this. (more…)

To enable write access for ASP.NET:

1. Click text ‘Domains Settings‘ within navigation.
2. Click text ‘Domain Info‘ within sub-navigation.
3. Find the ‘Controls‘ column and click the ‘Edit‘ icon next to the domain in question.
4. Click the ‘Edit‘ icon next to the text ‘Web Service‘.
5. Click the ‘Edit‘ icon next to the text ‘Web Directories Settings‘.
6. Click the ‘Edit‘ icon next to the text ‘Document Root‘.
7. Click the checkbox next to the text ‘Allow write access‘.
8. Click the ‘Submit‘ button.
9. Wait 5 minutes and then test.

In this short tutorial we will show you how to add a custom web directory and application to your domain. More information on the features available through these items can be found in the manual.

For the purposes of this example we will be using the third level domain ‘webapp.pipeten.co.uk’ and creating an application called ‘newapp’ with standard settings.

Creating a Web Directory on an existing domain:

1. Login to your control panel.
2. Within the navigation go-to ‘Domain Settings’ and then ‘Domain Info’.
3. Click the ‘Edit’ icon next to the domain ‘webapp.pipeten.co.uk’ (remember this is your domain).
4. Locate the text ‘Web Service’ and click the ‘Edit’ icon next to it.
5. Located the text ‘Web Directories Settings’ and click the ‘Edit’ icon next to it.
6. You should now see the default ‘Web Directory’ and ‘Web Application’ for your chosen domain.
7. Click the ‘Add’ icon at the bottom of the page.
8. You are now on the ‘New Web Directory’ page.
9. For the purposes of this example enter:
   1. Web Directory Name: newapp
   2. Web directory path relative to the user home: webapp.pipeten.co.uk\newapp
   3. Leave all other items as default.
10. Click the ‘Submit’ button at the bottom of the page.
11. You should now be back on the ‘Web Directories Settings’ page as covered in step #6
12. You have successfully created a ‘Web Directory’. Please see the following page of the manual for more information on Web Directories.

Creating a Web Application on an existing domain (and under and existing Web Directory):

1. Complete steps 1 through 6 on the above walk-through.
2. Click the ‘Off’ button under ‘Web Application’ -> ‘Status’ next to the web directory newapp.
3. You have now created a web application and will need to configure it’s settings. Please see the following page of the manual about configuring web applications.

Please follow steps 1 to 4 in the post Custom Web Directories & Applications.
Then complete the following steps:

1. Select ‘Web Application’ next to ‘Web Directories and Web Applications’ and click Go.
2. Click the ‘Off’ icon next to ‘ASPNET’ turn ASPNET on and select your version number.

Yes we do allow some additional components to be installed on our servers. All you have to pay is any license fees that might be required.