Sitebuilder default location

[shoggy24]

Anyone know how to change the default site folder Sitebuilder uses for new account.
I will rather it uses the /httpdocs than the /httpdocs/site when new users are created.
I know i can change it when publishing but not all new customers know this and some of them hate and dont understand the page redirection that is displayed before their site loads. Plus it can also be a pain when a dynamic site is published since the default configuration allows for only static site.

 

[NeuroPsyche]

I've probably done a really stupid thing. I created a bunch of sites in Sitebuilder, have static domains and they're working really good. Except for the redirection which is messing allot of stuff up. All my sites are being redirected to /sites...
you said you know how to change the location so the sites are in their real root directory. But, what about sites that are already created and can't afford to be lost or have to be redone over again, or even shut down for awhile?
Is there anyway to re-publish the sites to the root /rootdomain.com instead of the
/rootdomain.com/site that Sitebuilder seems to default to? And, why in the world is it like this? I can only think that its harder for someone to crack into the site since its an extra level deep. But, then again, I'm only guessing.
If you can share some of your expertiese please, can you let me know and others how to easily change existing sites to their root domain?

Thanks!

Dave.

 

[shoggy24]

Easy? i dont know about that. The only way i know is manually, by republishing each site and chaging both the "working directory" and "Web site Url" to httpdocs/" and http://mydomain.com/ respectively.
I wish i know how to automate it, I just wait for the customers to inquire and i then what to do.

I dont know why swsoft set the default location the way it is done, i am sure they have their own reason but i dont think it secures your website any better than leaving it at the root of the web directory.

 

[NeuroPsyche]

Hey, thanks for the quick reply! Gosh, you must be on the site.
I dont know where all to go really. Are you talking about:
Sitebuilder Admin>Sites>Domain>Publish Settings:
working dir /httpdocs/sitebuilder/
and
http://domain.com/site ???

If these are changed, wont the existing data still remain in those IIS dirs?
Not that it matters that it hangs around. I guess the data can be
manually deleted, but I'm not sure if IIS will delete its own domain config settings
since the domain site will change in inetpub/vhost in Windows.

I'm not sure about this. It seems as if Sitebuilder just isnt' any good at cleaning
up Windows IIS service data on deleting. I have tuns of stupid weird alphanumeric
domains sitting in IIS. As well as some in Sitebuilder itself. It seems as if it creates
these weird temp domains that look like ls932-23r9fs-dskdd-328fss-23823838...and so on.

Ok, I got on a tangent there.
About changing the working dir and website url...

Would the working dir just be the /httpdocs without the /sitebuilder/
and the web site url be just the true url?

Thanks!

Dave.

 

[NeuroPsyche]

I tried what you said, to change the:
Working Dir to just /httpdocs/
...making the default /httpdocs/sitebuilder to just /httpdocs/
and making the
Web Site URL to just http://domain.com
...making the default http://domain.com/site to just http://domain.com

But, when I verify it says:
"Location Status Error: There is either a problem with connecting to the HTTP server specified in the web site URL, or the web site URL does not correspond to the specified publishing location"
Oh... problems, problems...
I just dont know why Swsoft did what they did and have the default set
to /site instead of the real /domain.com

 

[shoggy24]

got an instant notification of your posting hence the quick reply.

Go into the httpdocs directory and rename the index.html to index.html.old or something.
Then try republishing again remember to use httpdocs/ and not /httpdocs/ and the website actual url.
I think the /httpdocs/ is where you had problem.

Be careful when deleteing folders or files in the /sitebuilder folder i think it can affect the editing your web site later

 

[NeuroPsyche]

When I do what you say, change the working directory to /httpdocs/ and
the Web Site URL to http://domain.ext/
and then try to Publish the site,
Sitebuilder returns this message:
Location Status: Error, Details: Config error. Define the order in which the default
documents (default.htm, default.aspx, etc) will be used to respond to
browser request.

I'm not sure at this point what to do. I remember somewhere in Sitebuilder, or in
Plesk there is a spot to define this order, but why would it have to be
changed from what the default is?

I really wish Parrallels would try to re-code Sitebuilder to actually publish
in the root domain instead of the domain/site. Its making allot of users
mad. And, users are saying that its messing up the search engines
when they crawl their sites.

Thanks for any help you can give!

 

[shoggy24]

I have noticed that you get that message when you; 1) using modules on your site after it has initially been published as static. 2) when you try to republish your site after changing the page design.
Like i said previously use httpdocs/ and not /httpdocs/.

To define the order of default document; go to the domain -> web directory -> preferences. in the documents box move default.aspx to the very top.

for this to work while your site is in the /httpdocs/site/ you will have to set it as your document location in IIS but if you use the httpdocs/ it will work right away. Also remember to always rename the index.html (which is actually a re-direction) when trying to publish to httpdocs/.

I second the default location of sitebuilder to be httpdocs/ like it is in Linux version the current setting is just major headaches.

 

[NeuroPsyche]

I'm a bit confused when you mention about 'for this to work...'.
Do you mean to go into Windows IIS and change something manually?
and something else I'm really confused with, do you mean to go into Inetpub dir and
rename the index.html and what should I rename it too?
Maybe I'm making things more complicated than what they really are. I just can't beleive it would be this difficult to move a site from a domain/site to just a domain/

Thanks for writing back. I know I probably sound like an idiot, but I have so many sites that I'd like to move to their real root domain and I sure can't loose any of my customers data or I'll be up the creek, so I really want to make sure I understand the procedure before I start.
I'm a 'flow-chart' type of person. If you would, and from what I'm reading, there are a lot of others that dont like this 'redirection thing', would you, could you, please, possibly write a step by step direction flow chart on how to move a site?
We'd all greatly appreciate it!

 

[shoggy24]

Yes i had to change the virtual directory path in IIS but i believe you can create a virtual directory in the control panel pointing to the sitebuilder location /hhtpdocs/sitebuilder/. i havent tried these myself as i did rather use the root folder for the sites. you can rename the index.html from the control panel

Well not really sure of flow chart system but i will try explaining again. I believe you have plesk installed with sitebuilder integrated and not a standalone sitebuilder server.

To publish to httpdocs/;

Select Domain
||
Click File Manager
||
Click httpdocs folder to open
||
Locate index.html
||
rename the file to index.html.old (icon just before padlock)
||
Go to web directory for the domain
||
click on preferences
||
move default.aspx to the very top in the documents box (this is usually only require if you are publishing dynamic pages)
||
Click ok
||
Go to site publishing settings
||
Change working directory to httpdocs/
||
change Web site url to http://domain.com/
||
Click Verify location
||
If the changes was successful the unverified status should change to dynamic or static


Phew! hope this helps

 

[NeuroPsyche]

Hey, thank you!
This is something that I think a lot of people will probably want to print out and keep
for reference. I didn't try it yet although it looks pretty simple. Doing it for real will
be the trick.
Thank you again and in a little while I'm going to try it on a site.

Dave.

 

[NeuroPsyche]

After chaning the domain/site to domain... problems...

Hey, I came across something weird and I dont know whats causing this now.

I did what you said, and everything worked perfect. I now have just
the www.domain.com instead of www.domain.com/site. I'm thrilled.

But, after I did what you mentioned, something weird happened. All the
data in the modules is missing. They're 'kinda there' but the info for them is gone.
For example, all the photo gallery data is gone, nothing comes up for pictures anymore for any of the galleries. The forums are missing their data and basically any of the extra 'special' pages are missing their data.

One other thing... The www.domain.com/site still functions, and on top of that,
the info for the modules works using the /site default domain root. Just the domain.com is missing the data. The domain.com/site still exists and functions fully.

If you know what could cause this can you write.

I'm thinking it might have something to do with the default pages: default.aspx, default.htm, etc... The order of the pages, but I'm just guessing. I have no idea what the actual correct order should be and I really dont even understand the reasoning behind setting the order because I just thought if a page wasn't there, it would just pop on down to the next default start page... or something like that.

Thanks!

 

[shoggy24]

If you are publishing a dynamic page; with modules. default.aspx must be the first in the list. Other than that i dont see why the data is not transfered. I havent had a client extensively use a module so i am clueless as to why that is happening.

 

[NeuroPsyche]

I do have default.aspx first in the list... I dont know if the order of the other ones matters... The funny thing is is that the domain.com/site still functions perfectly and with the module data(the pictures, forum data, blog data, etc) but the domain.com that you showed me how to fix, and take off the dumb /site default, doens't have the module data... I'm clueless too ) Well, if anyone else knows PLEASE help!

Thanks!

 

[shoggy24]

I think in a way it does make sense, because the old data are stll in the old location re-publishing will not transfer existing data as it will only transfer the pageset, designs, configuration etc.
So you may have to do it manually. Within the control panel, why dont you copy, DONT MOVE. all the content located at /site to the new location httpdocs/. That way already stored picture will be transfered. I am not so sure about the forum though. since this method wont work if the forum data is stored in a database.

 

[NeuroPsyche]

well, that sounds logical... But I'm not sure if it'll work because I think some of the modules I'm using are storing data on the sql server. Copying the files probably will move the pictures, etc, but I'm not sure on text content. That data is stored in the databases. I'm really going to have to research this one or move the darn site back to /site... oh my!