CHRISTMAS SPECIAL OFFER 50% OFF

What is the .htaccess file and what should i use it for?

Htaccess files are hidden plain text files that are on the server to help control how your visitors interact with your website. The htaccess file is also used to block specific traffic from being able to view your website. If you look for your .htaccess file you’ll see that there’s no filename. The extension is .htaccess which tells the server what type of file it is. In cPanel you can see if you have a current .htaccess file using file manager but you will need to make sure you have selected to view hidden files. If you are not familiar with using file manager please read our article.  To view hidden files in file manager, select the ‘file manager‘ icon in cPanel and make sure the box is checked next to ‘Show Hidden Files.’ Then click ‘OK‘ and you will be able to view hidden files.

What can I do with my .htaccess file?

You might have a private area of your website you wish to keep password protected. This password protection is actually set up in the .htaccess file. Most of the functions of the htaccess file, you do not have to concern yourself with as they will be automatically written through cPanel. This is the case of password protecting directories. While you set it up in cPanel, it actually writes a directive to your htaccess file.

Other functions of the htaccess file include, prohibiting hotlinks, rewriting URLs, setting default pages, creating redirects, reconfiguring account settings, and much more. It’s really important to realize how the htaccess file can affect your entire account. Changing something in the htaccess file can alter how your website functions so it’s really important BEFORE making changes to your htaccess to backup your current htaccess file.

Troubleshooting Errors..

If you are getting errors on your website, the .htaccess file can often be the culprit.

• This is easily tested by renaming your current htaccess file. Often, during troubleshooting I’ll simply rename the .htaccess to .htaccess.ops and now you can try reload the website. If the site loads I then know the issue resides in my configuration of the .htaccess file. If it does not fix the issue I was having, I’ll rename the htaccess by removing the .ops I added to the end. That way, it won’t affect my website after I resolve the issue.
• If you are not seeing a change in your PHP settings, you may have to make your php.ini file affect all child folders as well. This is referred to as making the file “recursive“.

I can’t find my .htaccess file?

This is a quick article with steps to show you where your account’s .htaccess file resides on the server, and how to edit it.

What exactly is .htaccess?

The .htaccess file is a hidden text file that allows you to control the way visitors are able to access your site. Some common uses of the .htaccess file would be restricting access to certain files, or redirecting URLs.

You can review our full .htaccess file reference list for more examples of what you can do with a .htaccess file.

Where can i find my .htaccess file?

By default you should have a .htaccess file created on your account in the following directory:

/home/userna5/public_html/.htaccess

You can use your favorite FTP client to modify this file, or follow the steps below to access it directly from cPanel:

1. Login to your cPanel.
2. Under the Files section, click on File Manager.
   
3. Locate your .htaccess file, you may have to show hidden files (click Settings–>Check the “Show Hidden Files (dotfiles)” box).
4. Right-click on the .htaccess file and select Edit.
   
5. If your .htaccess file didn’t exist already during the previous step, click on +File at the top-left, name the file .htaccess, and finally set the directory for the file to be created to /public_html/ or the document root of your site.
6. You might have a text editor encoding dialog box pop-up, you can simply click on Edit.
   

Congratulations, now you know how to locate, and edit your .htaccess file!

Brexit – Will it Affect You?

Thursday 23rd June 2016. The day that the United Kingdom decided to leave the European Union. 

The United Kingdom has today announced that it will leave the European Union. The events of yesterday and today mean that the existing trade agreements with other EU members will have to be renegotiated. We are expecting very little change to our industry both short and long term, so it will be business as usual here at Keenweb Hosting.

It’s come as no surprise today that we’ve been inundated with questions from our customers as to what will happen now, so we thought we’d put together this overview of what happens next.

In terms of Britain exiting from the EU, there is a minimum 2-year negotiation period. UK Prime Minister, David Cameron has this morning announced his resignation which will take effect in October. Once the new Prime Minister has been appointed, they will then have to instruct the activation of Article 50 – this won’t happen until October 2016 at the earliest.

What Is Article 50? 

The Treaty on European Union (Article 50) which allows a member state to notify the EU of its withdrawal and obliges the EU to try to negotiate a ‘withdrawal agreement’ with that state. You can read more about Article 50 and what it involves by clicking here.

Once Article 50 has been activated, there follows a 2-year negotiation period. During this time, the UK will negotiate with the European Commission on an exit strategy that will cover all aspects of trade, commerce, immigration, employment law and so on. The end game for the 2-year period is to agree terms that the UK and all existing EU member states agree to.

During this period, EU laws still apply to the UK and UK businesses and residents will continue to participate within EU as normal.

At the end of this period, if an agreement has not been reached the UK can force a withdrawal agreement. If this happens, EU treaties will cease to apply to the UK or, providing there is an unanimous agreement, the negotiating period can be extended.

How Does This Affect Your Future Service From Us? 

We are very pleased that for 95% of our customers, the UK exit from the EU will have absolutely no impact – either now or in the future. For our Dedicated Private Servers customers, we may see some changes. However, these will not be for at least 2 years and ultimately will probably have zero impact as Britain remains trading within the single market.

Rest assured, customers can feel confident in the fact that we will be monitoring the situation very closely – and making any necessary changes to our infrastructure – to ensure that our service remains of the same high standard.