OnStream: A Technical Explanation

When you get an account at OnStream, you will be buying:

• some space on our server
• a virtual host under the rowing.org.uk domain name
• our support services

What does this mean?
On our machine we create a virtual host name for you - myclub.rowing.org.uk - and other routing machines on the Internet will automatically pick up on this and direct people towards your web space when they request a web page at www.myclub.rowing.org.uk and similarly with email too.
Your web site will be visible to anyone with an Internet connection and your email address will be accessible to the same degree.

How our email system works

Once your virtual host name is set up, we set up your account so that you can receive email at it. Our system works by forwarding on email, thus it does not stay on our server but instead is passed straight on to specified addresses. Thus each email address at your account is in fact an alias for an existing address. This has two advantages:
1. It allows us to forward on mail destined for a large number of different people without anyone having to connect with our server
2. None of the recipients of the forwarded mail have to change their email settings to receive it.

We do offer mail boxes at OnStream, whereby we hold your mail for you until you download it, for 7 pounds a year. You may find that your existing ISP does not have a reliable email service. We are confident that our reliability can match and exceed that of any ISP.

How you set up your web site

Once your account is created, and email is set up, you will want to fill your space with your web site. Connecting to OnStream and uploading couldn't be easier. Simply use a standard FTP program like WS-FTP to connect to ftp.arachsys.com, enter your account name and password where asked and you will be placed in your web space straight away, allowing you to upload your site with instantaneous updating.

Restrictions

Your account will be limited to a certain size above which you will not be allowed to go. Our two fixed account sizes are 4MB and 10MB, each of which will come with a bandwidth allowance of 35MB and 80MB per week respectively.
You can buy more space or bandwidth off us as appropriate for very reasonable rates.

We do not allow full CGI access initally, but we do allow access to a few pre-written scripts which should suffice the needs of most clubs. We can allow full CGI access for a small fee, where you can use your own scripts, as long as they do not contravene our Acceptable Use Policy.

What happens if things go wrong?

We provide full email support. Simply email us at support@rowing.org.uk and we'll do our very best to sort your problem out as soon as possible.

Use of the system

Our service provider Arachsys Internet Services Ltd have an Acceptable Usage Policy which we would require you to agree to before taking control of your account. You can find a copy of this AUP here.

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