Thank you for choosing DomainsAide! **************************** **DomainsAide Requirements** **************************** To run DomainsAide, you will need: PHP 4.1.0 or higher MySQL 3.20.0 ************************************** **DomainsAide Installation and Setup** ************************************** If you are UPGRADING a previous installation, be sure and make a backup of your existing files and database. Due to new core parameters, You will need to make a new installation entirely and manually add any existing users, or ask them to cancel any existing commitments and sign up new. This new version is NOT compatible with our older versions at all! If you have made any previous template or header/footer modifications, you will need to bring them into the new installation, possibly redoing them entirely. The newest version is Smarty driven and older modifications are NOT compatible. The new files and structure of DomainsAide is NOT compatible withe the older versions and a new install as outlined here is required. DomainsAide is easy to set up. Simply unzip the file (we have heard of problems using the Windows unzip utility) you downloaded from our site and follow these instructions: *****CAUTION! You cannot change the directory structure or rename any on the directories or subdirectories. If you do, the script will fail. You can install the script in any directory or subdirectory you choose or create, but do NOT rename or change any directories included with the script. Wherever you install the script it HAS to be installed as /dcb/ directory. It will automatically go to the correct installation area and no one will ever see the "dcb".**** 1) Using your hosting resources create the MYSQL database, user and password and keep the info available for step #2 below. 2) Using a text editor: Open the LICENSE_KEY file and enter your license code where indicated. Save the file. If you did not receive an email with this information when you made the purchase, please contact us immediately through http://DomainsAide.com This file is located at /dcb/LICENSE_KEY 3) Upload the files, in binary mode, to your server. You can upload into your sites root directory or create a subdirectory and upload into that. *****CAUTION! You cannot change the directory structure or rename any on the directories or subdirectories. If you do, the script will fail. You can install the script in any directory or subdirectory you choose or create, but do NOT rename or change any directories included with the script. Wherever you install the script it HAS to be installed as /dcb/ directory. It will automatically go to the correct installation area and no one will ever see the "dcb".**** 4) Make the config.php file world writable (e.g. "chmod 666" on Linux/Unix) and make the log and cache directories world writable (e.g. "chmod 777" on Linux/Unix). This file is located at /dcb/config.php. NOTE: The config.php file contains only a small number of configuration variables, e.g. admin login and database connection information. After they are properly configured and you don't need to change them, you can restrict the permissions to the file (e.g. "chmod 644"). The rest of the DomainsAide settings are stored in the database. 5) Use your browser to go to the admin page, by clicking on LOGIN, at the top of the page. Login with the default administrative account (user name: admin, password: admin) and click on the Administration link in order to access the administrative interface, where you define the MySQL server connection info, create the database structure and specify the configuration settings which are specific to your installation. Until you create the database, many strange errors may occurr. Before contacting support, please make sure you have completed the installation correctly. 6) There are several other admin functions to set up and most of them are common sense. Here are a few pointers: a. Be sure and edit the Guest Access so visitors will have full access for free or limited or just a "taste" of the modules. b. Set up your subscriptions granting access and establishing costs as you so desire. c. You have the ability to establish special accounts in order to "give away" accounts. Visitors signing up, will not see these accounts. d. The more threads you use in the process, the higher load on the server. For monitoring you should need no more than 2 and check every 60 seconds. e. You cannot change any customer accounts. They have to do it, due to the Paypal IPN requirements. You can however change their account status as needed. f. You should rarely need to restart the monitors. If you do, they will start over at the beginning of whatever might be in queue. If any other questions, please do not hesitate to contact us. In the event you need to contact us for support, please be prepared to provide proper url, admin login info, ftp and cpanel info. In rare cases we may require shell access to propely troubleshoot problems. You will find a contact form at http://DomainsAide.com/ or email us at support@DomainsAide.com Note: You are STRONGLY encouraged to set a new login name and password for the administrative account. 7) The DomainsMonitor is meant to run continously on your server, you will need a mechanism which allows it to resume operations after a server reboot. For this you will setup a crontab task which will regularly check if these are running, by using the lynx or links utilities (depending on which one is available on your system). To do this, simply define in your crontab a task like the one below: lynx -dump //dcb/cron/cron.php > /dev/null Of course, you will replace with the actual name of your server and with your actual path to your RankFinder installation. You can safely set this task to be run every minute from crontab, since it doesn't consume many resources. If your server uses links instead of lynx, replace accordingly the command name. If you do not set up the cron, the prgram will not run properly and domain availability cannot be properly monitored. You are now ready to use your DomainsAide program! Go to your program at http://www.yoursite.com/yourDomainsAidedirectory/ where you will find a complete menu. If any other questions, please do not hesitate to contact us. In the event you need to contact us for support, please be prepared to provide proper url, admin login info, ftp and cpanel info. In rare cases we may require shell access to propely troubleshoot problems. You will find a contact form at http://DomainsAide.com/ or email us at support@DomainsAide.com **************************** **notes for advanced users** **************************** We have included 4 different designs, all labeled as Option1, 2 or Option3. To change your design, rename "main.css" & /images to something else. Then rename "main.css.Option1,2 or 3" to "main.css". Do the same thing with /imagesOption1, 2 or 3 renamed to /images. This will always maintain the 4 different designs. Any template modifications are applicable to all designs and only the graphics and css settings need be changed. You may edit the header/footer files in the main directory to match the look and feel of your site. What we have included is from our site and these are meant to act as examples for you. The same is true of the resources and contact pages. All other files to edit can be found in the /modules_templates subdirectories. The entire site colors, fonts etc are controlled via the main.css file. If you have your own registrar affiliation, and/or are a Pool.com affilate, you can set up your own registrar and backordering links by editing the proper areas in the /dcb/config.php file. Simply search for "4-nics" or "pool" and change the appropriate info on that line. Please be cautious with your changes, as different registrars etc require different parameters. You may also change the default whois server by searching for "whois.com" in config.php and change the appropriate info on that line. Please be cautious with your changes, as different whois servers etc require different parameters. You will then need to comment out one of the lines referring to "$whois_link". We advise not making any changes unless you are having problems. The file "config_whois.php" is used for the whois tools module. Whois servers can be added or deleted here. Please exercise caution here. There should be no need to delete any of the whois servers! To enable of disable tlds to check, please edit $global_tlds_to_check in the "config.php" file. For the NameSuggestion module, you can add to, edit or delete any thesarus you desire. Simply do the edit or add a thesarus in the /modules/mod_namesug/thesaurus directory and then make corresponding changes in the /modules_templates/mod_namesug/mod_namesug.html file. Please note the search and reference structure. All modules allow for the use of self testing proxies in it's operation. You can add any proxies you desire in the appropriate place in the admin section. ****Warning: if a proxy fails and you leave it in place, adverse effects may be seen on the results and the scripts operation!***** **************** **Module Notes** **************** In the results of your search, you will find a 'backorder' link. When you backorder a domain, you are requesting registration on it before it drops. This generally costs more than waiting until is drops and doing a normal registration, but if the domain name you wish to acquire is popular, it is likely that others are backordering and are likely to register it before you can do it through a normal registration process. One of the most successful backordering services is http://www.pool.com The backorder link will connect to their site. ----Future Expires---- Future Expires will search for names that will expire sometime within hte next year. These are very much subject to the current owner re-registering them before the cycle begins. ----Name Suggestion---- This is a name generator. Enter keywords for a site name, and the DotCom Generator will come up with a variety of names related to your keywords. ----Keyword Suggestions---- This module will tell you how many people searched for particular keywords, and provide suggestions for other related keywords. This can be usefull if you are using a pay per click search engine and trying to decide what keywords to bid on, or if you need ideas for additional keywords to use in your website. Popular keywords are also useful for use in domain names. ----DMOZ Analysis---- This module allows you find domains listed in DMOZ which will expire within a certain timeframe. You can then place them on backorder or into the domains monitoring in your account. ----Yahoo Analysis---- This module allows you find domains listed in Yahoo which will expire within a certain timeframe. You can then place them on backorder or into the domains monitoring in your account. ----Domains Monitor---- This module allows you to add domains to the Domains Monitor list and the system will regularily check them and will notify you ASAP via email upon their status changes. You can add domains to the list either directly or from the Domains Basket. ----Your Basket---- Any domains you wish to keep in mind for future registrations can be placed in your 'basket' by clicking on the 'add' to basket link when available. Each time you go to your basket the status of those domains will be updated. ******** **FAQs** ******** What does expired, on-hold, deleted mean? When a domain is not re-registered by it's owner, it expires and goes into the deletion cycle. The deletion cycle goes through several stages. First, it's placed 'on hold' and the nameserver on the domain name is removed so that the website no longer works. The name then goes into the 'redemption' period, which lasts 30 days. The third stage is 'pending delete'. Once the name reaches pending delete, it will normally 'drop' (or be 'deleted' from the registry) in six days. The timing on this is different depending on who it was originally registered with and what .extension it is, but normally the entire process lasts 45 to 60 days. Why does my browser hang on 'searching' when I do a search? Your browser needs to have javascript enabled to use DomainsAide If you are using Internet Explorer, go to the menu on the top and select 'tools', then 'internet options', choose the 'security' tab, then 'custom level'. Scroll down to 'Scripting' and enable 'active scripting'. Why didn't the domain I was trying to get drop on the indicated date? Several factors are involved. First of all, expired domains can be re-registered by the former owner during the redemption period. Secondly, actual drop dates depend on the registrar and some drop on different schedules than others. If you were trying to catch a popular name, it may have dropped and been caught by someone else before you got it.