Your main Sensical.net username (e.g. ab12345) and password control access to most Sensical.net Services including: Email Access (IMAP(S), POP(S) and WebMail), File Access (FTP and SFTP), Web Statistics, and Control Panel.

You will have the same username, but a separate password, for access to Databases (including both direct MySQL access and to Web DB).

This can be accomplished via the Sensical.net Control Panel. Click here to login. Once logged in, click the Change Password icon and follow the instructions.

If you've forgotten your password you can use the online Password Reset service by going to the Control Panel Login Page and clicking on the link. You will need to know your username, your registered email address, or the name or your domain (e.g. mycompany.com). You will be sent an email to your registered email address which contains a link. Clicking on this link will reset your password. You will then have the opportunity to change your password.

If you experience any issues with the Password Reset service then please email the Sensical.net Support Team.

This can be accomplished via the Sensical.net Control Panel. Click here to login. Once logged in, click the Databases icon and follow the instructions.

You can change your database password via the Sensical.net Control Panel without having to know your existing database password. Click here to login to the Control Panel, with your main password. Once logged in, click the Databases icon and follow the instructions.

You can access your email using any combination of the following methods:

• Use Sensical.net WebMail to easily access your email over the web. See section 2.1.1.
• Use IMAP with an email client such as Microsoft® Outlook® or Outlook Express®. See section 2.1.2.
• Use POP with an email client such as Microsoft® Outlook® or Outlook Express®. See section 2.1.3.

Sensical.net WebMail allows you to access your email from any web-browser in the world by simply surfing to www.sensical.net/webmail. This method doesn't require any setup and allows you to access your email at any time and from any place with the minimum of fuss.

You can also use Sensical.net WebMail via a secure, encrypted channel by surfing to https://www.sensical.net/webmail. This makes sure that any potentially eavesdroppers cannot access any of the data, such as your username, password or email, that is transfered between the PC you are using and Sensical.net's servers.

When you have finished using Sensical.net WebMail, you must make sure you log off - especially if you are using WebMail from a public place such as an Internet café.

The IMAP (or IMAPS) protocol is supported by nearly all email clients such as Microsoft® Outlook® and Outlook Express®.

This method is more comprehensive than the POP solution. In this method, your email and all email folders (such as sent mail) are stored remotely on Sensical.net's servers and are synchronised with a local copy on your PC when your check your email. This method allows you to use any PC to view all your email. This method also works very well in combination with Sensical.net WebMail.

Instructions on how to use IMAP are below. Also read the section on email security.

The 1st table shows an overview of the settings that will need to be used so that your chosen email client can access your email via IMAP. The 2nd table shows the specific email settings for Microsoft® Outlook® 2003. Alternatively, click here for step-by-step instructions on settings up IMAP email accounts.

* See Email Security section.

• Create new, review existing and optimise IMAP accounts in Microsoft® Office Outlook® 2010.

• Create new, review existing and optimise IMAP accounts in Microsoft® Office Outlook® 2007.

• Create new and verify existing IMAP accounts in Microsoft® Mail 6 and Outlook ® Express 6. (Microsoft® Mail 6 is the default email program in Microsoft® Windows VistaTM.)

• Create new and review existing IMAP accounts in Microsoft® Outlook® 2003.

• Create new and optimise existing IMAP accounts on Apple® iPhone®.

POP (or more specifically POP3) allows you to simply access your email from practically any email client which will run on your home PC such as Microsoft® Outlook® and Outlook Express®.

In this method, each new email is downloaded and stored on your home PC and removed from Sensical.net's servers. Hence, you should only use this method if you will be accessing your email from only one PC. The use of POP in combination with Sensical.net WebMail will mean that you will only be able to view your new email via Sensical.net WebMail - any email that is retrieved via POP will no longer be visible via Sensical.net WebMail or any other email interface.

Instructions on how to use POP are below. Also read the section on email security.

The 1st table shows an overview of the settings that will need to be used so that your chosen email client can access your email via POP. The 2nd table shows the specific email settings for Microsoft® Outlook® 2003. Alternatively, click here for step-by-step instructions on settings up POP email accounts.

* See Email Security section.

• Create new and review existing POP accounts in Microsoft® Office Outlook® 2010.

• Create new and review existing POP accounts in Microsoft® Office Outlook® 2007.

• Create new and verify existing POP accounts in Microsoft® Mail 6 and Outlook ® Express 6. (Microsoft® Mail 6 is the default email program in Microsoft® Windows VistaTM.)

• Create new and review existing POP accounts in Microsoft® Outlook® 2003.

All modern smartphones support IMAP for receiving and SMTP for sending email while on the move. You can follow your phone's documentation along with the generic IMAP settings above to setup email on your smartphone.

Please see specific step-by-step instructions for creating new and optimising existing IMAP accounts on Apple® iPhone®.

Sensical.net POP server, mail.sensical.net, can be accessed over a secure (SSL) connection by connecting to port 995 instead of 110.

Sensical.net IMAP server, mail.sensical.net, can be accessed over a secure (SSL) connection by connecting to port 993 instead of 143.

Sensical.net SMTP server, relay.sensical.net, must be accessed over a secure connection (SSL or STARTTLS) and requires authentication. Use port 465 for SSL or port 25 for STARTTLS.

All of Sensical.net's mail servers use highly-trusted, single-root SSL certificates.

Sensical.net uses the industry-leading SpamAssassin email filter to detect spam emails.

To detect spam emails, SpamAssassin uses many rules each with an associated score. Every rule is applied to each incoming email; for every rule that matches, that rule's score is added to the current score for that email. Emails with a score over the Spam Score Threshold are classed as spam and diverted to your spam email folder.

See these associated questions:

• I am getting too many spam emails in my Inbox
• Using specific email addresses / Turning off default email delivery

First, read an introduction to how spam is detected here at Sensical.net

If you are getting too much spam in your Inbox, you should:

• Use specific email addresses / turn off default email delivery. By default, email sent to any email address at your domain is delivered to your Sensical.net account. This means that you receive spam email without the spammer knowing your specific email address; instead the spammer just sends spam to any and all likely email addresses at your domain. By configuring specific email addresses that you use, and by disallowing all other email addresses, you can significantly reduce the amount of spam email you receive. Click here for how to use specific email addresses.
  
  

First, read an introduction to how spam is detected here at Sensical.net.

If you use your own domain names, the best way to reduce spam is to use specific email addresses and to turn off default email delivery. Using the Sensical.net Control Panel, you should click on Domains and then edit the email configuration for each of your domains: For each domain you must first configure the specific email addresses that you use, and second you must deactivate default email delivery.

For example, with the mydomain.com domain name we will configure a single specific email address, mark@mydomain.com, and turn off default email delivery:

1. Log in to the Sensical.net Control Panel, then click on the Domains Settings icon, then click the email icon, , for the domain name.

2. Setup an local email rule as per the following picture. In this example, email sent to mark@mydomain.com will be sent to the local s01234 Sensical.net account:

   

3. Then, you must turn off default email delivery by selecting <return to sender> in the Default Delivery section as per the following picture:

   

4. Then, click the Save button.

5. Repeat this example with other domains. If you want to use more than one specific email addresses then add them under step 2.

Using FTP (File Transfer Protocol), you will need to upload your web pages to the Sensical.net web servers and put them in the correct folder in your home directory. There are 2 methods to achieve this:

1. The easiest way to use FTP in Microsoft® Windows® is to use Explorer® to connect to ftp://user@ftp.sensical.net. You should be asked to enter your Sensical.net username and password. You can then "drag and drop" the appropriate files into the correct folders as explained in the table below.
2. Alternatively it may be easier to download and install a proper FTP client such as FileZilla (see downloads). Please refer to the table below for the FTP settings and folder information. Many such FTP clients can also be used in a secure mode (called FTP over SSL or SFTP) where all the data between your computer and the Sensical.net web servers is encrypted - make sure you connect to ftp.sensical.net on port 22 to use secure FTP - otherwise the settings are as per the table below.

Sensical.net FTP settings and website folder structure is shown in this table:

* Use port 22 for secure FTP (FTP over SSL / SFTP).

You can upload them via FTP to the /web/<domain>/cgi-bin/ folder (where <domain> is the name of your domain such as fred.com). If this folder does not already exist, then it should be created. Your CGI files can then be viewed by surfing to http://www.<domain>/cgi-bin/<script-name>.

The following CGI scripts are supported on our Linux servers:

• Shell - the first line of your CGI file should be: #!/bin/sh
• Perl - the first line of your file should be: #!/usr/bin/perl

Include SSI directives inside any standard HTML file which must end in a .shtml extension. Take a look at the Apache SSI Manual for assistance.

Each request (or "hit") that your website receives is logged in a file and analysed for your convenience. Viewing the website logs and the analysis of the website logs will give you an indication of who is visiting your website, when they visit, where they visit from, which part of your website they visit and many more useful pieces of information. This information is of general interest however it can also provide input into any potential website changes you might wish to make.

Your website logs are analysed every day to produce a graphical analysis which can be much easier to read and see trends than the raw website logs. This graphical analysis is available to you at the following location:

    www.<domain>/analog

(You will need to substitute <domain> for your own domain name. For instance, if your domain name is antiquedolls.co.uk you would surf to www.antiquedolls.co.uk/analog. For security reasons, so that nobody else other than yourself can access you website analysis, you will be prompted for your Sensical.net username and password.)

Your raw website logs are also available. They are useful for analysis of individual requests or perhaps for input into a different analysis program. They are accessible via FTP (see help on FTP under the how to create web pages section). They are located in the /logs/<domain>/ folder (replace <domain> with your own domain name). The filenames are in the following format:

    access_log.<time-stamp>[.gz]

Each line of each file contains a single successful request. The log files are split up into daily or weekly chunks so that they are of a manageable size. The filename contains a <time-stamp> field which is the Unix timestamp for the end of the period for which the log file contains requests. The higher the value of the timestamp, the more recent the log is. Most log filenames end with .gz indicating that they are compressed so that they take up less disk space. These compressed files can be uncompressed by using WinZip® in Microsoft® Windows® or the gunzip command under Unix.

The log files use the standard Apache combined format. See detailed log file information. In summary each line of the access_log files contains:

    %hst %idt %usr %dat %req %stt %siz %ref %agt

Where:

    %hst   Remote host name (or IP address)
    %idt   Remote login name (from ident, or - if not available)
    %usr   Remote username (or - if not applicable)
    %dat   Date & time
    %req   Request
    %stt   Status
    %siz   Size
    %ref   Referrer (where the client came from, or - if not available)
    %agt   User agent (what web browser the client was using, or - if not available)

A database is a structured container for any type of data. Normally databases are used by complex websites to hold information like product catalogues or customer information. Some content-management systems (CMS) use database back-ends too. If permitted by your Sensical.net package, you can have an unlimited amount of databases associated with your Sensical.net account.

1. Go to the Database Management part of the Sensical.net Control Panel: You can manage your databases via the Sensical.net Control Panel. First login then click on the Databases icon. You will be presented with a list of your current databases. On this page you can create new databases, edit existing databases and change your database password.
2. Choose a Database Password: You must set your Database Password, which is different to your Main Password. From the above page enter your chosen Database Password in the "New DB Password" box under "Database Access Settings". You will need to enter it twice for verification purposes. Then click "Change Password".
3. Create a Database: Choose a name for your database and enter it in the section called "New Database" on the above page then click "Create Database". Remember that the full name of your database is prefixed by your Sensical.net username and an underscore. So if your Sensical.net username is "s1234" and you choose "fred" as the name of your new database, then the full name of your database will be "s1234_fred".
4. Connect to your Database: You can now connect your web application to your database - please see FAQ: How do I connect my web application to my database? Or you can edit your database directly using the Sensical.net Database Web Access Tool at https://www.sensical.net/db - please see FAQ: How do I edit my database?.

If permitted by your Sensical.net package, you can have an unlimited amount of databases associated with your Sensical.net account.

You can manage your databases via the Sensical.net Control Panel. First login then click on the Databases icon. You will be presented with a list of your current databases. On this page you can create new databases, edit existing databases and change your database password.

Login to the Sensical.net Control Panel and click the Databases icon. Under the section entitled "New Database" enter the name of your database and click "Create Database". Database names must be unique. Remember that the full name of your database is prefixed by your Sensical.net username and an underscore. So if your Sensical.net username is "s1234" and you choose "fred" as the name of your new database, then the full name of your database will be "s1234_fred".

Login to the Sensical.net Control Panel and click the Databases icon. Under the section entitled "Existing Databases" click the Delete icon (red minus sign) next to the name of the database you want to delete. You will be asked to confirm that you wish to delete the database. Please note that deleting a database erases permanently all the tables and data in the database.

Please write to support@sensical.net providing the current and new name of the database you wish to be renamed.

The Sensical.net Database Web Access Tool is accessible here: https://www.sensical.net/db. Login with your Sensical.net username, and Database Password. Please note that your Database Password might be different to your Main Password - please see the FAQ: Passwords section for further information.

Please note that the Sensical.net Database Web Access Tool is based on the industry-standard phpMyAdmin tool. Use of this tool requires a good understanding of Database structure and functions.

Once you have finished using the Sensical.net Database Web Access Tool, please logout by clicking the Green "Exit" icon in the top left.

You can also manage the specific database you require from the Databases section of the Sensical.net Control Panel. Login to the Sensical.net Control Panel and click the Databases icon. Under the section entitled "Existing Databases" click the Edit icon (grey cog) next to the name of the database you want to edit. This will launch the Sensical.net Database Web Access Tool. Login to the Sensical.net Database Web Access Tool with your Sensical.net username, and Database Password. (Please note that your Database Password might be different to your Main Password - please see the FAQ: Passwords section for further information.) The Sensical.net Database Web Access Tool will then display the database you specified from the Sensical.net Control Panel.

Your web application must be configured to connect to your database as follows:

PHP Connection Example:

<?php
// Specify your Sensical.net Username:
$username = 's1234';
// Specify your Sensical.net Database Password:
$password = 'password';
// Specify your Sensical.net Database Name.
// Always should be prefixed by your Sensical.net Username and an underscore:
$databasename = 's1234_mydatabase';

$link = mysql_connect( 'dbc.int.sensical.net:3306', $username, $password );
if( !$link ) { die( 'Could not connect: ' . mysql_error() ); }
mysql_select_db( $databasename, $link ) or die( 'Could not select database.' );
echo 'Connected successfully';

// Do something here.

mysql_close( $link );
?>

Please see FAQ: Passwords.

Yes! As detailed in our Service Level Agreement (SLA), all Sensical.net's data is backed up on a daily basis.

Should you accidentally lose any files you can request them to be restored by emailing support@sensical.net. Please do not make a habit of relying on this service though!

Email support@sensical.net. Our support team will endeavour to help you.