education user guide 3.7admin.education.netspace.net.au/edu_guidev3.7.pdf · 4.5 spam filtering ......

EDUCATION USER GUIDE

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Netspace

Education User Guide

(Version 3.7)


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Table of Contents

1. Welcome to Netspace............................................................................................................................................ 4 2. Access Control System.......................................................................................................................................... 5

2.1 News and Updates ....................................................................................................................................... 6 2.2 Help and Resources ..................................................................................................................................... 6 2.3 Access Control ............................................................................................................................................ 7 2.3.1 Networks .................................................................................................................................................. 8 2.3.2 Setting Network Level Access ................................................................................................................. 9 2.3.3 Setting Network Time Restrictions ........................................................................................................ 10 2.3.4 Setting Network Custom Blocks/Allows ............................................................................................... 11 2.3.5 Groups .................................................................................................................................................... 11 2.3.6 Editing Group Access............................................................................................................................. 12 2.3.7 Users....................................................................................................................................................... 13 2.3.8 Batch Import........................................................................................................................................... 14 2.3.9 Batch Import File Format and Examples ............................................................................................... 15 2.3.10 Batch Export......................................................................................................................................... 16 2.3.11 Delete All Users ................................................................................................................................... 16 2.3.12 ACS for End Users ............................................................................................................................... 16

3. Proxy Server ........................................................................................................................................................ 17

3.1 ACS ........................................................................................................................................................... 17 3.1.1 ACS Web Logs....................................................................................................................................... 17 3.1.2 Top 100 .................................................................................................................................................. 18 3.2 Global Block/Allow .................................................................................................................................. 18 3.3 eduPaSS Proxy Configuration................................................................................................................... 19

4. Mail System......................................................................................................................................................... 20

4.1 Synchronise Mail....................................................................................................................................... 20 4.2 POP3/IMAP .............................................................................................................................................. 20 4.3 Webmail .................................................................................................................................................... 21 4.3.1 Webmail - Large Icons ........................................................................................................................... 22 4.3.2 Bad Word Filtering................................................................................................................................. 23 4.4 Mail Forwarding........................................................................................................................................ 24 4.5 Spam Filtering ........................................................................................................................................... 24 4.6 Virus Filtering ........................................................................................................................................... 25 4.7 White / Black List ..................................................................................................................................... 26

5. Virtual Web Server.............................................................................................................................................. 27

5.1 VWS Control Panel - Plesk...................................................................................................................... 27 5.2 Uploading files to VWS via Plesk............................................................................................................. 28 5.3 Site Preview............................................................................................................................................... 30 5.4 Plesk Protected Directories ....................................................................................................................... 30 5.5 SSH Access ............................................................................................................................................... 32 5.6 Scripting .................................................................................................................................................... 33 5.7 Databases................................................................................................................................................... 33 5.8 Application Vault ...................................................................................................................................... 33 5.8.1 How do I install an application?............................................................................................................. 33


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5.8.3 How do I uninstall an application?......................................................................................................... 36 5.9 4PSA Integrator......................................................................................................................................... 37 5.9.1 How do I install an application?............................................................................................................. 37 5.9.2 How do I uninstall an application?......................................................................................................... 38 5.10 DNS Management ................................................................................................................................... 39 5.10.1 What is DNS?....................................................................................................................................... 39 5.10.2 How does DNS work?.......................................................................................................................... 39 5.10.3 What types of DNS records are there? ................................................................................................. 40 5.10.4 How long will it take for any DNS record to update?.......................................................................... 40 5.10.5 Using the DNS Interface ...................................................................................................................... 41 5.10.6 How do I add a DNS record? ............................................................................................................... 42 5.10.7 How do I edit a DNS record? ............................................................................................................... 43 5.10.8 How do I delete a DNS record? ........................................................................................................... 43 5.11 Domain Aliases ....................................................................................................................................... 44 5.12 Subdomains ............................................................................................................................................. 45

6. FTP ...................................................................................................................................................................... 46

6.1 Using FileZilla FTP Client ........................................................................................................................ 46 6.2 Onsite Services .......................................................................................................................................... 46

7. Managing Usage.................................................................................................................................................. 47

7.1 Permstats ................................................................................................................................................... 47 8. Staying in Contact with Netspace ....................................................................................................................... 49

8.1 Education Technical Support .................................................................................................................... 49 8.2 Education Customer Service ..................................................................................................................... 49 8.3 Feedback Team ......................................................................................................................................... 49

9. Document Control ............................................................................................................................................... 50


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1. Welcome to Netspace Netspace is proud to have been chosen as the sole provider for the eduSTAR.ISP centralized Internet Service. Netspace services over 1200 schools and is the single largest Education ISP. We hope that this short guide on how to set up and use your school’s service is helpful and makes the transition to Netspace a smooth and pleasurable one. Please feel free to contact us for support and assistance at any stage of your service. Mike D’Monte Business Development and Product Manager – Education Netspace Online Systems Pty Ltd 683 Burke Rd, Camberwell VIC 3124 [email protected]


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2. Access Control System

This section provides an overview of the Netspace Access Control System, together with instructions on how to administer it. You will be supplied with your default admin credentials at cutover time. Any time that you need your admin credentials re-sent to you, simply request this through our support team and we will fax these to the school or email to the school’s EduMail account. We do not give out admin credentials verbally over the phone for security reasons. You will only be able to undertake these tasks once you have been set up on the ACS and have received your credentials; however it is worth familiarizing yourself with the contents of this section beforehand.

IMPORTANT DETAILS ACS Admin URL: Default admin user: Password: Upstream Proxy:

http://admin.education.netspace.net.au/ [email protected] As per notification provided to you on setup proxy.education.netspace.net.au port: 8080

Once you have received notification that your school has been set-up to use the ACS, go to the ACS admin page http://admin.education.netspace.net.au/.

You will then be prompted for your username and password. When logging in from within the school, your school’s domain will be displayed at the bottom of the page and you will be able to log in using the username alone (i.e. postmaster). Outside of the school, but within the Education cloud, you must log in using the full username (i.e. [email protected]). Users with administration privileges will then see the ACS ‘News and Updates’ page.


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2.1 News and Updates

The ‘News and updates’ page lists posts on service status, updates and upgrades. Recent posts that are no longer current can be found by clicking the link titled ‘Resolved news items.’ You can return to this page by clicking the link titled ‘News and updates’ under ‘Information’ on the left-hand menu.

2.2 Help and Resources

Below ‘News and updates’ on the left-hand menu is the ‘Help and resources’ page. On this page you can find links to documentation such as the latest copy of the ‘Education User Guide’ you are reading now, an FAQ, advisory guides, as well as forms related to your Netspace Service and Netspace contact information.


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2.3 Access Control The ACS allows you to set an ACL (access control list) or rule at the user, group and network levels. Users do not need to have a user ACL. A user ACL (if any) takes priority over a group ACL and a group ACL (if any) takes priority over the school ACL. The examples below illustrate this functionality. In this example, no ACL has been set for the user and the user is not a member of a group. The effective ACL for this user would be Edulist. In this example below, no ACL has been set for the user, the user is a member of a group that has an ACL of Filtered and the Network ACL has been set to No Access. The effective ACL for this user would be Filter.

In this next example below, the user has an ACL of Filter, the user is a member of a group that has an ACL of Edulist and the Network ACL has been set to No Access. The effective ACL for this user would be Filter.

USERNAME USER ACL GROUP ACL NETWORK ACL User 1 — — Edulist

USERNAME USER ACL GROUP ACL NETWORK ACL User 2 — Filter No Access

USERNAME USER ACL GROUP ACL NETWORK ACL User 3 Filter Edulist No Access


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2.3.1 Networks

The Networks Overview screen is linked from the ‘Access Control’ section of the left-hand menu. The networks associated with your school are tabled on this page. The first column contains the name of the network ‘Admin’ for the Administration network, ‘Curric’ for the Curriculum network or ‘DMZ’ for any on-site hosted services. The second column contains the IP address associated with the network and the third column contains the access level set for users of the network. To set ACL’s, Time Restrictions or configure Custom Block/Allows for a network, click on its name.


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2.3.2 Setting Network Level Access

Networks can be configured independently to any one of the following access levels: • Authentication Required – Users must authenticate using their ACS credentials.

Access rights are determined using group and user ACL’s. • Edulist – Users can only access site’s on DEECD’s Education Resource List.

This list is updated nightly directly from DEECD. • Filtered – Users have access filtered by our Content Keeper servers. • No Access – No access is available. To enable an ACL, select it from the ACL list and click on ‘Update’.

Changes take effect immediately.


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2.3.3 Setting Network Time Restrictions Network Time Restrictions allow time slots to be specified during the day or week when Internet access is allowed. To access this utility, click on Time Restrictions found within the Networks Overview window of your selected network.

To specify the day and time to be allocated for Internet access click on the corresponding drop down box, enter a description and click on update.

Network time restrictions can be applied to each network independently of each other.


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2.3.4 Setting Network Custom Blocks/Allows Access to individual sites can also be set on independently on each network. This functionality works based on domain names, not full URLs – that is, cisco.com could be used but not http://cisco.com. The example screenshot on the previous page shows that ‘www.cisco.com’ has been added to the white list and so will be available from this network irrespective of ACL’s. This means that you could have the Network’s ACL set to ‘No Access’ with ‘www.cisco.com’ on the white list, and ‘www.cisco.com’ would still be accessible. To add a new domain, type it into the textbox beside ‘Black/White List’ (multiple entries can be entered separated by a space), set the ‘State’ to either Black or White as appropriate and then click on ‘Add.’ To update an entry, alter the relevant field and then click on Update. Note: White listed entries may take up to 20 minutes to be applied. Black listed entries take affect immediately and over-ride white list entries.

2.3.5 Groups

Groups are administered via the ‘Groups’ link under the ‘Access Control’ section of the left-hand side menu. Clicking this link will present you with an Overview page containing a table of groups. By default you will have one group named ‘Admin’ containing the ‘postmaster’ user.

The ACL set for a group along with its members are displayed in the columns ‘Access’ and ‘Members’ respectively. Groups with administration privileges on the ACS will have a tick in the ‘Admin’ column. You will likely wish to create at least one other group that does not have Admin privileges. To add a group, click the ‘Add new group’ link.

You will then be prompted for a name for the new group, whether they should have Admin privileges and to select an ACL. Once you have entered the appropriate details, click on ‘add.’


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2.3.6 Editing Group Access

To modify or delete a group, click on its name. You may then update the relevant fields and select ‘Update’ or if you would like to delete a group, select the link titled ‘Delete this group.’ Deleting a group will result in any members of that group being moved to a group named ‘Orphaned.’ As per the Network Custom Blocks/Allows, access to individual sites can also be set independently on each group to facilitate further fine tuning Internet access. To add a new domain, type it into the textbox beside ‘Black/White List’ (multiple entries can be entered separated by a space), set the ‘State’ to either Black or White as required and then click on ‘Add.’ To update an entry, alter the relevant field and then click on Update. Note: White listed entries may take up to 20 minutes to be applied. Black listed entries take affect immediately and over-ride white list entries.


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2.3.7 Users

Users are created in the ACS for the dual purposes of email accounts and authenticated proxy access. Usernames in the ACS follow the same conventions as the prefix of an email address – that is they must be all lowercase and made up of only alphanumeric characters. Users can be managed by clicking ‘Users’ under ‘Access Control’ on the left-hand side of the ACS.

This will bring up the ‘Users Overview’ page. To create a user, select the link titled ‘Add new user’. This will bring up the following screen.

Fill in the user’s Name, Username and Password (twice for the purposes of validation) and then select the appropriate Group and User ACL. The last option, Email Enabled controls whether the user has an email account. If this option is enabled, you must run the ‘Synchronise to Mail’ utility after creating the user. If you require a large number of users to be created it would be more efficient to use the Batch Import facility (see the following section) rather than creating individual users. To edit a user, simply click their name on the ‘Users Overview’ page.

IMPORTANT Note: After creating or editing a user, Synchronise to Mail must be run. For further information, see ‘Synchronise Mail’ in the ‘Mail Utilities’ section of this document


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2.3.8 Batch Import The Batch Import page allows you to upload a file containing existing user information or creates new users and is found by clicking ‘Batch import’ on the ‘Users Overview’ page.

To import a file, simply click the Browse button, select the file and then click on ‘Import Users.’ The format of the file is described on the next page.


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2.3.9 Batch Import File Format and Examples

The file must be a comma separated (CSV) text file with the following fields in listed order.

An example of a valid file follows:

Anthony Hall,ahall,europa86,Staff,Filtered,Y Garrett Wang,gwang,ganymede12j,Admin,Filtered,N Mark Famiglietti,mf001,3calista2,Student,Filtered,Y

During the Import process errors may occur for any of the following reasons. Lines containing errors are skipped. • A line contains an incorrect number of commas. • A line contains a Group name that does not exist. • A line contains an Invalid User ACL. When any of these errors occur, correct the error and re-import the data. If you are still unable to resolve the problem, please feel free to contact our support team.


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2.3.10 Batch Export

To export the User information from the ACS, select ‘Batch export’ from the ‘Users Overview’ page and then click the ‘Export users’ button. The exported data will include one line/record for each user and contain the following fields:

1. Full name 2. Username 3. Password 4. Group 5. User ACL 6. Email Enabled (Yes or No)

A dialog box will appear asking whether you wish to save or open the exported information. The information will be in the same CSV file format as outlined above with the exception that users passwords will appear as {crypt} followed by the password in an encrypted format. This is due to the passwords being stored in an encrypted format and tells the ACS Import feature to import the password in its raw form.

2.3.11 Delete All Users

This feature is useful for making bulk changes offline (using a spreadsheet or text editor) in conjunction with the Export Users feature as it allows you to remove all existing users from the ACS and subsequently from the Mail system (after ‘Synchronise to Mail’ has been run). Postmaster, being the default account with Administration privileges, is the only account that is not deleted using this feature. To access this feature, click ‘Delete ALL users’ from the ‘Users Overview’ page and follow the prompts.

2.3.12 ACS for End Users

Users without administrative privileges can also log in to http://admin.education.netspace.net.au where they are provided with a limited interface for changing passwords and email forwards.


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3. Proxy Server

Netspace provides access to an upstream proxy for filtering of web traffic. To access web sites outside the Education network the proxy must be used. Appropriate proxy exceptions should be placed in web browsers to avoid traffic that could be served via by the DEECD network being served from Netspace’s Education Proxy Server.

3.1 ACS The ACS proxy server allows for a mixture of access types. Using the ACS proxy also enables access to be set based on the User, Group or Network. The ACS proxy also logs browsing history and allows for custom, per network Black / White listing of websites To use the ACS proxy, use the following settings: • Proxy : proxy.education.netspace.net.au • Port : 8080

3.1.1 ACS Web Logs

The ACS proxy service has the ability to generate access logs of a particular user or groups browsing history. To generate a log for a particular user or group, click ‘Web Access Logs’ found under ‘Access Reports’ on the left-hand side of the ACS.

You will then be prompted to select the time period, Network, User (optional, by default All Users), Restriction (All entries, Allowed or Denied) and the choice of who should be notified via email. Once the request has been submitted the logs will be processed. When the logs are ready for viewing, an email that includes a URL for viewing the logs will be sent to the appropriate admin. The complexity of the log query submitted determines how long it takes for the logs to be prepared. Once prepared, the logs will be available for download for up to 72 hours.


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3.1.2 Top 100

Users of the Education proxy have the ability to generate statistics over a one-month period. This functionality can be found by selecting ‘Top 100’ from the ‘Web Logs’ page.

The queries available are: • Users by usage – Your top data users over the period ordered by usage • Sites visited – Your top visited sites • Sites blocked – Your top 100 sites that have been blocked due to either filtering restrictions or blacklisting • Filetypes – Top 100 file types downloaded by your users over a one month period

3.2 Global Block/Allow

The ACS administration interface also allows for URLs to be submitted to our education support team for reclassification for all schools. We encourage the use of the ACS proxy to allow for an immediate block of inappropriate material, however at the same time we would ask that URLs are submitted to us via this page so that all schools can be filtered from inappropriate material. To submit a URL for global reclassification, select ‘Global block submission’ from the ‘Networks’ section of the ACS

The page will then prompt for the URL, a comment on the URL and what the page should be reclassified to.


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3.3 eduPaSS Proxy Configuration

The following outlines the basic configuration settings required for configuring an eduPaSS proxy to connect via the Education proxy server. Netspace provides this guide for informational purposes only, any queries regarding more advanced configuration or troubleshooting of an eduPaSS proxy should be addressed to DEECD Broadband Team.

After logging in to the eduPaSS proxy server: • Select the services tab • Select the Web Proxy link in the services menu • In the ‘Upstream proxy (host:port)’ field enter the following:

cache_peer proxy.education.netspace.net.au parent 8080 7 no-query no-netdb-exchange no-digest login=PASS

• The ‘transparent’ option must not be set if you are using the proxy’s authentication service • Then select the ‘enabled’ check box and click the ‘Save’ button The Web Proxy service should now be running. To verify this, select the “Control” tab and check that the Web Proxy Service is running and lit green. To ensure the eduPaSS is connecting to the upstream proxy server, try browsing to a website


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4. Mail System

The features of the Netspace email service such as Spam & Virus Filtering, Real-time Block Lists and white/block lists can only be configured from the ACS web interface. Email addresses and passwords are created based on the user information stored in the ACS. As outlined in User Management, to enable email for a user simply tick the Email Enabled option when adding or editing a User.

Then follow the Synchronise to Mail link to synchronise the ACS with the email servers.

4.1 Synchronise Mail

Whilst the ACS integrates administration of both the ACS and mail, the two systems are in fact separate. Due to this, when a user’s details are created or updated, it is necessary to synchronise the ACS with our email system. If this does not occur, email services may behave erratically. To do this, simply click on the ‘Synchronise to Mail’ link on the left-hand side of the ACS and then select ‘Synchronise to Mail’ again.

IMPORTANT If you see an exclamation mark beside ‘Synchronise to Mail’ as per the screenshot to the right, you must run ‘Synchronise to Mail’ to keep the ACS and Mail system synchronised.

4.2 POP3/IMAP

Support for both POP3 and IMAP email clients is provided. Be aware that if you are considering using IMAP you will have to manage the contents of your mailbox stringently as IMAP will not remove copies of messages transferred to your local mail client. For both POP3 and IMAP the username is the full email address, i.e. [email protected] and the password is the same as for the ACS. An SMTP service is also available to send email. A table of server settings follows:


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4.3 Webmail

A custom webmail platform is available for all schools. It can be accessed by browsing to: i.e. http://webmail.exampleschool.vic.edu.au

To log in to webmail, the user simply enters their username and their password as the schools domain is automatically appended to the webmail interface.

Netspace webmail offers a complete mail interface including an Address Book, Local Folders and Search.


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4.3.1 Webmail - Large Icons

The webmail interface can be configured to use an alternative theme that uses a large icon set to improve its accessibility. An example screenshot of the interface follows:

To enable this theme for all users, browse to the ‘Webmail Overview’ page by clicking the ‘Webmail’ link under ‘Mail Utilities’ on the left-hand side menu. Then click the ‘Icon Options’ link.

Select ‘Use Large Webmail Icons’ and then select ‘Update Webmail Icon Settings’. Changes take effect immediately.


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4.3.2 Bad Word Filtering

The Bad Word Filtering engine censors words that match a pre-defined list of offensive content. Message bodies will still be visible but may be in part censored. Bad-word filtering should be used in conjunction with school policy as decided upon by the school and the wider school community. Note that by enabling this feature an uncensored copy of potentially offensive emails will be forwarded to the postmaster account for oversight. To enable the Bad Word Filter, from the ‘Webmail Overview’ page select the link titled ‘Bad Word Filter’.

You will then be presented with the following Manage Bad Word Filter window.

To enable the filter, select the radio button on the left of Enable Bad Word Filter and click the Update button. To disable the filter, select the radio button on the left of Disable Bad Word Filter and click the Update button. If you wish to add a new word to the filter, locate the text box under Bad Word List over to the left of screen. Enter the word you wish to block followed by clicking the Add button. Your chosen bad word will now be added to the list of filtered bad words. Please be aware that potentially offensive words may be listed on this page.


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4.4 Mail Forwarding

ACS users with Administrative privileges can set email forwards for any account stored in the ACS. Email can be forwarded to up to five accounts for each user. Users without Administrative privileges can also set up their own mail forwarding by logging into http://admin.education.netspace.net.au.

4.5 Spam Filtering

Spam Filtering can be enabled for the entire school via the ‘Spam Filtering’ link located under ‘Mail Utilities’ on the left-hand side of the ACS.

The Spam Filter works by assigning a rank to each email that comes in based on its content. Generally, any message ranked 10 or below can be regarded as safe. We recommend setting the Spam filter at rank 10 and then white listing any important addresses. Further adjustment may be needed over time. To Enable Spam Filtering, tick ‘Enable Spam Filtering’ and then click ‘Update Spam Filter Settings’.


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4.6 Virus Filtering

Virus Filtering can be enabled for the entire school via the ‘Virus Filtering’ link located under ‘Mail Utilities’ on the left-hand side of the ACS.

We recommend that this be used in concert with virus scanning software as an ISP virus filtering service is not a substitute for desktop antivirus software. To enable the virus filter, Spam Filtering must first be enabled. Once it is enabled, simply browse to the Virus Filtering page, read through the Declaration and then select ‘Enable email Virus Filtering’ followed by ‘Update Virus Filter Settings.’


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4.7 White / Black List

White / Black lists contain known good and bad email addresses respectively. If you enable the Spam filter, it is recommended that you white list any important addresses to ensure that emails are received from these addresses regardless of their content. Similarly, the black list discards emails regardless of their content if they come from a particular address.

To add to either list, select the appropriate link from the menu at the top of the ‘Spam Filtering’ page, then enter the appropriate email addresses in the text box and click on ‘Update Email White List’ or ‘Update Email Black List’ as appropriate. To remove an item from the list tick the ‘Remove’ box beside the item and then click on ‘Update Email White List’ or ‘Update Email Black List’ as appropriate


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5. Virtual Web Server

The Virtual Web Server (VWS) is based on the Plesk platform. This is an advanced web hosting platform which provides features such as full PHP and CGI support, MySQL and PostgreSQL databases, traffic and usage reports, dns management and a variety of web applications that can be activated via the Plesk Control Panel.

5.1 VWS Control Panel - Plesk

The VWS Control Panel can be accessed by selecting ‘Control Panel’ on the left-hand side of the ACS under the heading titled ‘VWS Utilities’.

You will then be presented with a login screen, enter your VWS/FTP username and password then click on the login button to proceed.

After logging in for the first time, you will be prompted for a contact telephone number and email address. Once these details have been entered, you will be on the main screen of the Control Panel.


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A brief explanation of some of the commonly used options available on the Control Panel follows: • Edit – Allows you to update the contact details for the VWS as well as the password. • Report – Generates a report detailing the domains, databases and traffic usage of the site. • Traffic – shows an overview of the amount of traffic used by your VWS as well as a breakdown of how that

traffic was used.

Further configuration options are found by selecting your domain from the domain’s name list. These options include Databases and the Application vault which are covered in more detail below as well as a Log Manager which allows you to view and download access, error and transfer logs.

5.2 Uploading files to VWS via Plesk

To upload files to your new VWS, you can now use the Plesk File Manager. You can access the ‘File Manager’ by clicking on the ‘Home’ icon.

Then click on your domain, i.e. example.vicone.netspace.net.au

From ‘Hosting’ click on ‘File Manager’

From ‘File Manager’ you can select directories to either upload or remove files that are available for your school domain. The following points describe how these directories function.


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To upload a file to a directory, you will first need to click on the folder from the directory list in ‘File Manager,’ then click on ‘Add New File.’

From ‘Add New File,’ make sure there is a green dot on the radio button next to ‘Upload file.’ Now click on ‘Browse’ and select the file from where you have it stored on your computer. Once you have the selected file, it is shown in ‘Path to file’ click on the ‘OK’ button. This will now upload a file to the schools domain.

Note, you can back step to a previous Plesk location by clicking on the ‘Up Level’ button found on the top right of the Plesk screen.

From ‘File Manager’ you can select directories that are available for your school domain.


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5.3 Site Preview

When you have uploaded or edited your school domain files, you can see the changes that have been made to your domain by using Plesks ‘Site Preview.’ From ‘File Manager this is found by clicking ‘Up Level’ in then the ‘Hosting’ area.

When you select ‘Site Preview’, a new webpage will open and show any changes that have been made to the domain. This tool is useful for viewing changes to the domain before the domain has been updated in DNS.

5.4 Plesk Protected Directories

In Plesk, you can assign your domains directories to have password-protected access. This function allows secure documents to reside in the virtual domain. You can create directories under either the standard virtual host accessible via http, or under the SSL virtual host accessible via the https protocol. Icons are used next to each directory to identify which virtual host type (either SSL or non-SSL). An open lock depicts non-SSL; a closed lock depicts SSL. In Plesk, you can find ‘Protected Directories’ by selecting ‘Home’, then clicking the ‘domain’, then searching under in ‘Hosting’ area. From ‘Protected Directories’ you will have the option to ‘Add new directory’ and also see what protected directories are currently listed.


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To add a new directory, click on ‘Add New Directory’. The next screen allow you to name the directory and assign its directory location i.e. SSL, non-SSL, cgi-bin.

Now after creating this protected directory you will need to add a user(s) to access it. First, click on a listed directory.

You will now see any users that have password access to the directory. Now click on the option ‘Add New User.’

In the next screen you can now create a ‘New user’ as well as specifying its ‘New password.’


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5.5 SSH Access

Plesk provides the use of an SSH access terminal. SSH allows data to be exchanged using a secure channel between two computers. This data is encrypted. SSH is typically used to log into a remote machine and execute commands. It also supports tunneling. Common uses of SSH are: • Remote administration of the SSH server computer • Automated remote monitoring and management of servers • Port forwarding or tunneling, an alternative to VPN • Securely mounting a directory on the server as a file system on the local computer Please note that there are security cautions to consider when using SSH as its use may cause possible unauthorised access of information. You can find the SSH Terminal from the start of Plesk by clicking on ‘Home’, then clicking on the specific domain. It is located in the ‘Hosting’ area.

After clicking on ‘SSH Terminal’ and typing in your Plesk username and password you will then have a SSH terminal prompt to use.


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5.6 Scripting

The VWS supports CGI and PHP scripting languages. CGI scripts should be placed in the cgi-bin folder and must have their permission set no higher than 755. CGI scripts can reference Perl at /usr/bin/perl and Sendmail at /usr/sbin/sendmail.

5.7 Databases

Database configuration can be accessed by selecting ‘Databases’ after selecting the school’s domain on the main page of the Control Panel. Each VWS has access to one MySQL or PostgreSQL database. To add a database, simply click ‘Add Database’, type the Database name and type (MySQL or PostgreSQL) and click ‘OK.’ A new database user should then be added so that the new database can be accessed. To do this, select ‘Add new Database User.’ You can now click on ‘DB WebAdmin’ to administer your new database. To access your database from a CGI or PHP script, use the hostname ‘localhost.’ Netspace are unable to assist with database design or implementation.

5.8 Application Vault

A wide variety of applications are available including calendars and content management systems. Some of these applications will require database access and may require further configuration. Unfortunately, we are unable to provide full support on all of the available applications.

5.8.1 How do I install an application?

The Application Vault can be accessed via the Home button on the left menu.

Then in the Domains section select the domain you wish to install an application on.


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On the next screen to load locate the Hosting section and select Application Vault

Upon selecting Application Vault you will be presented with the application installation screen. This provides an option to install an application whilst also displaying any currently installed applications. To proceed with an installation, click on Add New Application.

You will now be presented with a range of applications that you can install.


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Select the application you wish to install by clicking the radio button to the left of screen.

Ensure the Target Domain option is set to your intended domain of installation then click on Install.

Upon selecting install some applications may require you agree to a License Agreement, scroll through the terms tick the I Agree box then click Next If you agree and wish to proceed.

The following window presented gives you generic installation options for your selected site application. Once the required items have been specified, click on Install to proceed.


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Once the application is complete you will be presented with a confirmation screen.

5.8.3 How do I uninstall an application? Uninstalling an application is a simple reversal of the installation procedure. Select the application you wish to uninstall by clicking the tick box to the left of screen, then click on the Remove Selected button to proceed with removal of the selected application.

You will then be presented with the following Removal Confirmation window, place a tick in the box over to the left of screen to confirm removal and click the OK button to proceed.

Upon successful removal of the site application you will be returned to the Installed Applications screen confirming that the site application has been uninstalled.


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5.9 4PSA Integrator The 4PSA Integrator is a powerful application management software for Plesk servers which contain 39 of the most popular Open Source web tools like Moodle, Gallery, Mambo, WordPress, phpWiki, Google Sitemaps, Zencart, and Joomla to name just a few.

5.9.1 How do I install an application? Click on the 4PSA Integrator link on the left side menu.

Click on the domain where the application is to be installed.

You will now be presented with a range of applications that you can install.

To install the application, click on the install icon


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5.9.2 How do I uninstall an application? Click the red wrench icon to edit the properties of an application

To uninstall the application, click the uninstall icon

Click OK to continue.


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5.10 DNS Management

The Plesk Control Panel provides schools with the ability to manage the DNS records for their respective education domain. Although this will give schools greater control in terms of being able to update/ add/delete DNS records whenever they wish, we must point out that a solid understanding of how DNS works is also important to ensure proper administration of these records. An incorrect DNS record entry could mean that the school’s web site suddenly becomes inaccessible and emails stop working. So please take care when modifying any DNS records. A brief introduction of how the DNS system works is provided here as a simple guide to help get you started.

5.10.1 What is DNS?

DNS stands for Domain Name System (sometimes referred to as Domain Name Server or Domain Name Service). It is a service which helps computers translate a fully qualified domain name (i.e. www.netspace.net.au) into an IP numerical address (i.e. 210.15.254.234). DNS is necessary because computers can only communicate using numbers and so we need a way to map a fully qualified domain name into an IP address. You may already be familiar with a similar system known as the White Pages which maps names to their corresponding address and phone number. DNS is simply an extension of the White Pages concept that maps fully qualified domain names to an IP address and vice versa.

5.10.2 How does DNS work?

When you enter a fully qualified domain name (i.e. www.netspace.net.au) into your web browser, your computer must first communicate with a name server to find out the IP address of www.netspace.net.au. The name server is running its own DNS software which contains a database of mappings it already knows. If the name server knows the IP address for www.netspace.net.au it will send this information back to your computer or else it will go and ask other name servers to see if they might know. Eventually, your computer receives a reply from the name server telling it that www.netspace.net.au has an IP address of 210.15.254.234. Knowing the IP address now, your computer then requests the web page from the machine with IP address 210.15.254.234 and the data sent back to your computer gets displayed on your web browser.


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5.10.3 What types of DNS records are there?

DNS information for a specific domain are stored in a zone file. Zone files commonly have the following records and a few others: SOA (start of authority) State Of Authority records define key information about a zone such as how long other name servers should cache information they receive about the zone and the administrative e-mail contact for the zone. NS (name server) Name Server records specify the IP addresses of name servers listed for the zone. A (address) A records are the main mechanism for associating a host name for a particular domain with an IP address. For instance, right now, the A record for www.netspace.net.au points at 210.15.254.234. The host name is www and the domain name is netspace.net.au. Together www.netspace.net.au is referred to as a fully qualified domain name (FQDN). CNAME (canonical name) CNAME records are name aliases. For instance, we might create a CNAME record other.netspace.net.au and point it at www.netspace.net.au. This means “other.netspace.net.au is another name for www.netspace.net.au” and, therefore, it resolves to the same IP address as www.netspace.net.au. MX (mail exchange) Mail eXchanger records specify the mail servers which handle mail for the domain. When a remote mail server has a message addressed to [email protected], that mail server will query the name servers for netspace.net.au for the MX records for the zone and then deliver the message to one of the mail servers identified by the MX record.

5.10.4 How long will it take for any DNS record to update?

Generally, after a DNS record has been updated, it can take anywhere from 24 to 48 hours for the change to propagate to the rest of the Internet. This means that if you have modified your school web site to point to a different IP address, the web site will not be instantly accessible from many parts of the Internet. This is because name servers around the world cache DNS records to help speed things up and therefore must wait for the existing DNS record they have stored in their cache to expire before they will talk to other authorized name servers and receive the updated DNS record for your web site.


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5.10.5 Using the DNS Interface

To access the DNS Interface, log into the Plesk Control Panel.

Click on the Home link on the left side menu.

At the bottom of the page, click on your domain to bring up more tools.

Under Services, click DNS Settings.

This will bring up the current DNS records for your domain and the available tools and options to help manage the DNS records.


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5.10.6 How do I add a DNS record? From the Tools menu, click on Add Record.

Select the Record type you wish to add from the drop down box. Type the host name into the Enter domain name field. Type the IP address into the Enter IP address field. Click OK to save the changes.

An information bar will be displayed to advise you the DNS record was successfully added. You will also see the new DNS record added to the zone.


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5.10.7 How do I edit a DNS record?

Click on the Host you wish to edit. This will bring up the Edit resource record window. Edit the Record type, host name (domain name) or IP address. Click OK to save the changes. An information bar will be displayed to advise you the DNS record was successfully edited.

5.10.8 How do I delete a DNS record?

Select the DNS record(s) you wish to delete by placing a tick in the appropriate check box. Click Remove Selected.

A confirmation message will appear. Tick Confirm removal and click OK.

An information bar will be displayed to advise you the DNS record was successfully deleted.


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5.11 Domain Aliases

A domain alias is used to direct assign more than one domain to one web site. For example, if you have the domain “example.edu.au” set up as an alias the hosting account for “anotherexample.edu.au,” anyone browsing to “example.edu.au” will go to “anotherexample.edu.au”. “Domain Aliases” is found from the start of Plesk by clicking on ‘Home’, then clicking on the specific domain. It is located in the ‘Domains’ area.

After clicking on ‘Domain Aliases’ you will be then see an option to ‘Add Domain Aliases’ as well as see any other Aliases that have been attributed to the domain.

To add an alias, click on ‘Add Domain Alias’. Now you can type in the domain name and specify any attributes the alias has in relation to the website.


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5.12 Subdomains

In the Domain Name System (DNS) hierarchy, a subdomain is a domain that is part of a larger domain. For example in regards to the domain mail.example.edu.au ‘mail’ is a subdomain of example.edu.au Common uses for a subdomain by an organisation is to assign a unique name to a particular department, function, or service related to the organisation. You can access the ‘Subdomains’ tool by by clicking on ‘Home’, then clicking on the specific domain. It is located in the ‘Hosting’ area.

After clicking on ‘Subdomains,’ you can now see the ‘Add New Subdomain’ tool as well as a list of all present subdomains. To add a subdomain, click on ‘Add New Subdomain’. In this screen you will have the option to name a subdomain, assign ‘FTP’ access and specify ‘services’ available.


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6. FTP There are several commonly used programs such as FileZilla, WS_FTP and CuteFTP. We will demonstrate here the use of the FTP Client – FileZilla. FileZilla is freely available from http://filezilla-project.org/ and is supported by our support staff.

6.1 Using FileZilla FTP Client After starting FileZilla, the following details will need to be entered. • Address - i.e. www.schooldomain.vic.edu.au • Username - i.e. vschoolname • Password - i.e. a1b2c3F

Then click on ‘QuickConnect’. The left-hand window will contain your local files and folders whilst the right-hand window will contain the remote file and folders. To upload a file or folder, drag it from the left-hand window to the right-hand window. To backup a file or folder, drag it from the right-hand window to the left-hand window. Note: Ensure your web site files and folders are stored within the /httpdocs/ folder.

6.2 Onsite Services Onsite Services on the Education network are coordinated and facilitated through the DEECD Broadband Team. Please email [email protected] to get started on setting up your onsite services in the Education DMZ. Once the DEECD Education Team and yourself have determined the appropriate schema and setup you can use our DNS self-management tools to create and apply all necessary DNS entries to support external connectivity to these services (see Section 5.9 for further details).


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7. Managing Usage

Managing your school’s data usage is an ongoing issue. Please regularly check your downloads so that you have an idea of what is ‘normal’ for your school and what your needs are likely to be in the future. In addition the Web Logs described in section 4.1.1 Netspace also provide further summary detail of daily usage in the form of a tool called Permstats.

7.1 Permstats

Permstats will show a break down of your daily usage for a particular month. It is available by clicking the ‘Permstats’ link located under ‘Access Reports’ on the left-hand side menu within the ACS.

Next you will be presented with the Permstats login screen.

For example on the invoice with the user “Vexamplesc” with the User number “300003” you would enter the following on this web page: • Name : examplesc-vicone • Password : 200000 Then select the month you with to report against and leave the connection on “ADSL/Vicone/VIX”. Click on Submit.


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After a few moments you will be presented with usage for the month selected, we recommend that you monitor your usage via Permstats on a weekly basis.


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8. Staying in Contact with Netspace

We at Netspace are always looking to improve our products, service and support. Should you require any assistance with your Education service, our Customer Service and Support department contact details are listed below. Finally, our Feedback Team would appreciate any comments on our service, support or products.

8.1 Education Technical Support

Our Customer Support team is available from 8.00am to 6.30pm Monday to Friday via telephone on 03 9811 0076 or via fax on 03 9811 0029. These are priority numbers for your use. We commit to responding to any requests submitted through these numbers within 4 business hours. Alternatively, feel free to email [email protected].

8.2 Education Customer Service

Our Education Customer Service team is available from 8.30am to 6pm Monday to Friday via telephone on 1300 008 009. Alternatively, feel free to email [email protected].

8.3 Feedback Team

Our Feedback team is available at email address [email protected]. Please email any comments you may have on our service, support or product to this address.


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9. Document Control

Version 3.7 Date January 2010 Changes • Entire document re-paginated • New Header/Footer • Introduction of time restricted access • Introduction of group based filtering • Introduction of local school bad word filter • Repurposing of Application Vault • Mailing list removed for revision and inclusion in ver. 3.8

Version 3.6 Date June 2008 Changes

• Introduction to Plesk File Manager • Introduction to SSH Access • Introduction to Domain Aliases • Introduction to Subdomains

Version 3.5 Date June 2007 Changes

• Introduction of 4PSA Integrator Version 3.4 Date May 2007 Changes

• Introduction of DNS self management tools • Removal of VicOne Redirection Form • Introduction of priority contact numbers for support

education user guide 3.7admin.education.netspace.net.au/edu_guidev3.7.pdf · 4.5 spam filtering ......

Documents