You can run CGI scripts with the understanding that you are running them on a machine that also serves domains for several other customers. The CGI scripts should be used sparingly and not incur a lot of CPU time. Should you have a need for running extensive CGI operations, we will be happy to locate your domain to a dedicated server or on a shared server with fewer domains under a different pricing structure. Your CGI scripts can be simple Perl or shell scripts or C or C++ programs compiled on our system. You may also install Java Applets.

If you are using Perl for your CGI's make sure the top line of your scripts point to the location of perl on our network:

#!/share/bin/perl

-or-

#!/share/perl5/bin/perl

Make sure your scripts are in UNIX format. DOS format has ^M at the end of each line. Unix sees ^M literally, and will try to execute /share/bin/perl^M which does not exist.
You can use the dos2unix command to remove the ^M's:

dos2unix yourfile.cgi > tempfilename
mv tempfilename yourfile.cgi

1. Please do not use the production HTTP servers to test a cgi script. As much as possible, test it on your own computer. When you are satisfied that it works and is safe, proceed to the next step. A misbehaving script can cause one or more HTTP servers to fail. Such failures tend to take a while to identify and fix.

2. The cgi script must be named with ".cgi" suffix.

3. The cgi script may reside under any directory except cgi-bin. The directory name "cgi-bin" is reserved for the global cgi directory that contains "imagemap" and other common binaries that can be shared by all HTTP servers. Do not name any of your document directories cgi-bin.

6. The .cgi script must be installed with executable permissions. To do this:

• a. Telnet to sharedhosting.net. You could do this by pointing your web browser to telnet://sharedhosting.net. You will be prompted to enter your login name, carriage return and then the password.
• b. Type in the following two commands to allow your script to be executed. This example assumes that your cgi script is named mailform.cgi and resides under the directory named cgi in your web document area:
chmod 755 ~/public_html/cgi/mailform.cgi
exit

Internal Server Error

The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to
complete your request.

Please contact the server administrator, support@sharedhosting.net and inform them
of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have
done that may have caused the error.

1. Make sure your script has .cgi extension.
2. Make sure you followed the steps above to convert your scripts to UNIX text format.
3. Try running your script in the shell by typing perl [your script name] in the script's folder. You can access the shell by telneting to Indus Hosting server at pop.sharedhosting.net.

   NOTE: the Unexpected End of File error is frequently caused by forgetting to close print<<"AAA"; statements

4. If the script does not run because of the syntax errors, please correct the errors first.
5. If the script runs fine in the shell, but returns an Internal Server Error while running from the web, go perfom the follwoing trouble-shooting steps:
   1. Change the mode of the file to 775 or 755 to make it executable.
   2. If that did not help, make sure that if the script uses external programs (i.e., sendmail or date), the correct paths to the programs are specified in the script. You can find out the path to the program by typing "which [program]" at the prompt.
6. Frequently used programs and their locations:
   • sendmail - /usr/lib/sendmail
   • date - /usr/bin/date

• NCSA's CGI Primer

You can run CGI scripts with the understanding that you are running them on a machine that also serves domains for several other customers. The CGI scripts should be used sparingly and not incur a lot of CPU time. Should you have a need for running extensive CGI operations, we will be happy to locate your domain to a dedicated server Your scripts may be ASP, CGI (Perl), executables (.exe) or Cold Fusion.

There is a NT Form Mail processor available for NT domains. It uses Cold Fusion to send email.

You will need to use this as the top line of your scripts to point to the location of perl:

#!\Perl\bin\perl.exe

In order to run CGI scripts from your own HTML directory, please follow these instructions:

1. Please do not use the production HTTP servers to test a cgi script. As much as possible, test it on your own computer. When you are satisfied that it works and is safe, proceed to the next step. A misbehaving script can cause one or more HTTP servers to fail. Such failures tend to take a while to identify and fix.

2. Perl CGI scripts must be named with ".cgi" suffix. You may place them anywhere inside your HTML directory.

3. If you encounter difficulty reading or writing files, use full path names in your script. The full path name will look like:
/d:/w009/domain.com/htdocs -OR-
/d:/www9/domain.com/htdocs
This information can be found by looking at the full path listed in your FTP program.