Using ASP.NET Enterprise Manager

ASP.NET Enterpise Manager is a web based database management system designed specifically for the management of Microsoft SQL databases through a web browser, without the need for any desktop database management systems such as Microsoft’s SQL Server Management Studio. ASP.NET Enterprise Manager is included as default with an installation of Plesk for Windows, meaning that if you are a customer who uses Plesk based Windows hosting, you will most likely have used ASP.NET Enterprise Manager at least once to manage a Microsoft SQL database that you have hosted under your web hosting account. The ASP.NET Enterprise Manager application itself is an open source one meaning that if you run your own stand alone Microsoft SQL database server, you have the ability to install this program on your server so that you can remotely manage your databases from any internet connected location in the world, just so long as you have access to a web browser.

The application is based on the Microsoft ASP.NET programming framework, which along with Microsoft SQL Server itself makes a very good combination of tools for developers who wish to build their websites and applications to run in a Windows based hosting environment. The main functions of ASP.NET Enterprise Manager are similar to those of PHPMyAdmin, which is a similar application designed for the administration of MySQL databases from a web browser; this means that if you are a multilingual developer who likes to develop using both MySQL and PHP along with ASP.NET and MSSQL then you will have no problems with managing the databases that you have created for your websites and applications through your web browser, although you might also be using a desktop database management system - although that is dependent on your requirements. In a Plesk environment, using ASP.NET Enterprise Manager is fairly easy since it will already have been setup for you by your web host, and Plesk makes it a breeze to launch since all you have to do is select the necessary web admin icon which should be located next to the database name on the database management screen, although this will be discussed at a later stage.

ASP.NET Enterprise Manager has only been designed for the web based management of Microsoft SQL databases, which is indicated by its name; it is because of this reason that it can only be run in Windows based web hosting environments since other operating systems such as Linux aren’t able to run ASP.NET based web pages or scripts for the main reason that ASP.NET is a Microsoft application, thus meaning that it can only be run on Microsoft operating systems. If you do want to setup your own installation of ASP.NET Enterprise Manager in order to manage your stand alone Microsoft SQL database server, then it is easy to setup since all you have to do is upload the necessary files and configure the necessary permissions; once thats done all you need to do is configure the application to work with your databases, and you can then start administrating and managing them from the comfort of your web browser from any internet connected location in the world, giving you freedom as to where you can manage them. The actual layout and structure of the ASP.NET Enterprise Manager application is based around and is similar to that of Microsoft’s desktop MSSQL database management application, which means that if you are used to using the desktop version then you will have no problems adjusting to the new web based interface that you will be provided with once you have it up and running.

Since the application is an open source one, there is no official line of support available for it; this means that if you are looking to install it yourself but don’t feel that you have the appropriate amount of knowledge, you should try and avoid doing so since you could end up damaging the server in which you want to set the application up - in this case you should just stick with using Microsoft’s desktop application to manage your Microsoft SQL databases that you have created and are using within your web hosting environment. If you feel that you need certain help with one specific feature of the ASP.NET Enterprise Manager, then your web host should be more than willing to help you out; if they are unable to, then you should consider looking at the manual for Plesk in the case that you are hosted on a Plesk based Windows hosting server.

Launching ASP.NET Enterprise Manager From Plesk Control Panel

Plesk provides ASP.NET Enterprise Manager as standard with the Windows version of its control panel to allow people who are using the control panel to manage and host their websites which need to be hosted within a Windows based hosting environment to manage their Microsoft SQL databases on the fly that they might need to power the backends of their websites or applications that are based on either the classic ASP or ASP.NET programming frameworks, both of which were produced by Microsoft. Launching ASP.NET Enterprise Manager from Plesk is a relatively easy task; to begin with, you will need to select the ‘databases’ icon from the hosting control panel for the domain that contains the database that you want to administrate:

You will then be presented with the following screen:

You will need to scroll down to the database management section, where several different details of the databases that you have created for the domain concerned are displayed; these different details are:

• type (circled red) - this is the system that the database concerned is based on, for example if you have created a MySQL database then you will see a dolphin symbol listed in this column and a smaller icon labeled ‘SQL’ if you have created a database that is based on the Microsoft SQL server database system
• name (circled green) - this is the name that you have chosen to give the database concerned, you will need to specify the database name for example in a dynamic web page or script that has been written in a scripting language such as PHP to enable the script or web page to interact with the database
• database server (circled blue) - this is the server on which your database is hosted, in most cases this will be the local server on which your entire web hosting account is located, meaning that interactivity between your scripts and databases should be easily achieved
• web admin (circled purple) - if you select the icon in this column then it will take you to the web based management panel for the type of database that you have select - PHPMyAdmin will be launched if its a MySQL database and ASP.NET Enterprise Manager will be launched if the chosen database is a Microsoft SQL based one.

In order to launch ASP.NET Enterprise Manager so that you are able to administrate a Microsoft SQL based database, you will need to find a database that has the Microsoft SQL symbol by it (see above); you will need to then select the web admin icon for the database concerned. This should then load ASP.NET Enterprise Manager for you, where you can then start to administrate the database that you have decided to load ASP.NET Enterprise Manager for.

As you have just seen, launching the ASP.NET Enterprise Manager from Plesk is a very simple task, which means that you can easily manage your databases from anywhere in the world as long as you have the internet; you will also need to make sure that you are able load Plesk from the location that you’re at first, since Plesk runs on an unfamiliar port for most routers which means that it might be blocked and won’t allow you to access it.

The ASP.NET Enterprise Manager Homepage

Once you have launched ASP.NET Enterprise Manager for the Microsoft SQL Server database the you want to administrate, you will need to select the appropriate database from the left hand pane so that you can start managing the different aspects of it:

You will then be taken to a page where you can choose to manage one of four different aspects related to the running of your MSSQL database:

• tables (circled red) - tables are the things that hold the fields for your database, and what will eventually contain the individual records for each different database entry, although in some situations you might only need to have one record dependent on what you want to use the actual database or table for
• views (circled green) - these are different factors that are related to the running of your database, unless you are an advanced user you will not need to touch these since they could effectively corrupt your database is not dealt with correctly
• users (circled blue) - you will need to setup user accounts for your database so that it can be accessed by your scripts and web pages that have been built using either the classic ASP or ASP.NET programming frameworks, both of which have been designed and produced by Microsoft
• stored procedures (circled purple) - these are designed to make dynamic web pages built using either the classic ASP or ASP.NET programming frameworks load faster, since they work in a way that allows the actual needed SQL query to be stored and then loaded when requested by either a dynamic web page or script.

It is evident that ASP.NET Enterprise Manager provides you with many tools that you can use to manage your MSSQL databases through your web browser. The functions that are provided are almost as powerful as those that are provided by Microsoft’s desktop database management system, although if you are a more professional user you will probably be using the desktop management program because of the extended features that it provides.

With the different factors that ASP.NET Enterprise Manager is able to provide you with, you are able to make sure that you can effectively manage and configure your database to work in the way that you want it to on the fly through your web browser using the web based control panel that you have been provided with by ASP.NET Enterprise Manager.

Creating a New Table

Whilst managing your MSSQL database, you will probably be wanting to create new table so that you can easily expand the functions of your ASP.NET or classic ASP based website or application, which can be easily done if you know what sort of functions you want to add to your website and that you know how to use a database in conjunction with it. In order to create a new table, you will first need to select the icon labeled ‘tables’ from the ASP.NET Enterprise Manager homepage for the database that you want to create the table for:

You will then need to select the ‘new table’ option which is located under the ‘tables’ option within the left hand panel of ASP.NET Enterprise Manager:

You will then be prompted to enter the following details:

• table name (circled red) - you will need to give your new table an identifiable name, this is because you will most likely want to be able to access it from your classic ASP or ASP.NET based web pages or scripts, and in order to do this you need to ensure that your table’s name is easily identifiable
• columns/fields (circled green) - you might want to take this chance to create the necessary fields which you might want to ensure that you are able to store the necessary details within your table and database - although creating a proper field will be discussed later on.

Once you click ’save table’ you should then be redirected to a page which should hopefully tell you that your table has been successfully created. Once you have created your table, you can then go on to the creation of fields so that you are able to organise the data that you have stored in your new table effectively, thus allowing you to edit or delete an existing database record if you feel the need to if it happens to be fraudulent - i.e. entered in by a spammer or some sort of malicious program that has managed to gain access to your database.

Conclusion

In conclusion, ASP.NET Enterprise Manager provides you with many features that you can use to effectively manage your MSSQL databases whilst on the fly, since you can easily view and manage your database and its contents through your web browser from any internet connected location, allowing you to manage your databases from anywhere in the world - whether it be on the top of Mount Everest using a mobile phone or on a boat in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean! ASP.NET Enterprise Manager’s integration with the Plesk control panel allows you to create your databases from within the Plesk control panel, and then edit and manage them through the ASP.NET Enterprise Manager meaning that you can easily create your databases on the fly as well, meaning that you can easily expand your website whilst you are on the move from any internet connected location in the world.

As mentioned previously, ASP.NET and Microsoft SQL databases make a good combination for developers who wish to build websites and applications that they want to host within a Microsoft Windows based hosting environment. Although both programs will only run on the Windows operating system, they are both freely available for use meaning that resources to help you to learn the different features of both are widely available for viewing and download. You will however require a Windows Server or Windows XP Pro license in order to have the IIS web server if you want use Microsoft SQL server and ASP.NET on your own dedicated server; these aren’t needed in a shared hosting environment since your web host will have purchased the Windows server license for the server on which you are hosted, thus meaning that you don’t have to worry about any sort of licensing costs unless you want to purchase a commercial application for use within your website.

You can download the free Microsoft Visual Web Developer from http://asp.net/ if you wish to learn and use ASP.NET and Microsoft SQL server but don’t have the funds to spend on a more professional program such as Microsoft Visual Studio. If you feel that you have the necessary knowledge and don’t require any sort of WYSIWYG editor or an editor which gives you hints and tips with your coding, then you can stick with the Notepad program that is included with Windows as standard - if you feel that this is too basic then you can always give jEdit a try. If you wish to view material related to teaching you ASP.NET and Microsoft SQL server then you can take a look at http://asp.net/ in general, since this site contains many different video tutorials with the main aim of teaching novices these two powerful programs in order to breed a new generation of knowledgeable programmers.

Using PHPMyAdmin MySQL Database Manager

PHPMyAdmin is the third party web based MySQL database management panel that is provided and installed as standard with both the cPanel and Plesk control panels, and in the case with Plesk it is provided with both versions (Linux and Windows); if you run your own server without a control panel, then it is also available for download and manual installation since it is open source software meaning that anyone is able to download it for use as many times and on as many machines as they want. With the use of PHPMyAdmin, you are able to manage any databases that you have created from either your cPanel or Plesk web hosting account on the fly, since it is an application that is accessible from your control panel’s homepage and can be used through your web browser, which means that you are able to manage your databases from any internet connected location where you are able to use a computer that has a web browser installed on it.

The main features of PHPMyAdmin allow you to create new tables in your database, as well as to edit and delete others which you have created previously in your database; you can also view and modify the data that has been entered into each individual table, which means that you can easily delete a row for example if you think it might be a fraudulent sign up, in the case that you are running an online shop or some sort of membership system for your website or online community. If you have decided to go with your own install of PHPMyAdmin on your control panel-less server, then you are also given the ability to create new databases on the fly through the system if you are logged into it as the server administrator, or if you are running it on a Linux machine - ‘root’; this makes PHPMyAdmin an all in one solution for someone who wants to be able to manage their stand-alone MySQL databases server on the fly without having to use a desktop database management system.

With the use of PHPMyAdmin in conjunction with a hosting control panel, such as cPanel or Plesk, you are able to manage all the MySQL databases that you have created without the need to open a new window or new program session each time you want to administer a different database; this means that if you are wanting to mange multiple databases that you have created for different purposes throughout your website, you are able to do so without having to use a complicated desktop database management system that might not even let you administer multiple databases, forcing you to open a new session to the server that you are wanting to use each time you want to manage a different databases, even if all the databases that you want to manage are hosted on the same server.

If you are using a control panel in conjunction with PHPMyAdmin, then you will not be able to use it to create new databases for your hosting account, since it is a limit that most web hosts choose to put on the web based administration program since it easily allows customers to create more databases than they are allowed to limited by the amount that has been assigned to their web hosting account; in this case you will have to use your web hosting control panel to add, edit and delete MySQL databases for your web hosting account.

In most cases, you will be using PHPMyAdmin to manage MySQL databases that you have created to be used in conjunction with your PHP based website or application that you are hosting within your web hosting account, which in most cases should be either Plesk or cPanel based to give you the most functionality; this is because PHP and MySQL are known to be the best combination when it comes to databases and scripting languages, since both are open source and can run on either the Linux operating system or on Windows based systems, meaning that PHP and MySQL based websites and applications can be hosted in almost any environment - other combinations are only able to run in certain environments, for example MSSQL and ASP.NET based applications will only run on Windows based servers.

As previously mentioned, MySQL is a database technology that is commonly used in conjunction with the PHP server side scripting language to give developers maximum flexibility when it comes to building their websites and what functionality they are able to achieve with the use of MySQL as the database engine to drive the backends of their websites and projects.

Launching PHPMyAdmin From cPanel

PHPMyAdmin comes installed as default with any cPanel installation, meaning that once you have cPanel installed and configured correctly, you can quickly and easily setup a web hosting account and start adding the databases that you want or need; once you have done that, you can then start using PHPMyAdmin to administer your MySQL databases. Launching PHPMyAdmin from cPanel is a relatively easy task, and is one that can be carried out from any internet connected location, just so long that you can access cPanel from the web browser that you are using; in order to launch PHPMyAdmin from cPanel, you will need to select the icon labeled ‘PHPMyAdmin’ from the ‘databases’ section of cPanel:

One thing to note is that through PHPMyAdmin in cPanel, you are able to administer all the MySQL databases that you have created under your web hosting account, meaning that you don’t have to launch a new window of PHPMyAdmin each time you want to administer a different MySQL database that you have under your web hosting account. Once you have selected the appropriate icon, you should be directed to a page notifying you that PHPMyAdmin is loading, then after that to the PHPMyAdmin homepage:

Launching PHPMyAdmin From Plesk

PHPMyAdmin is also available with both the Linux and Windows versions of the Plesk control panel to allow you to manage any MySQL databases that you have created or want to create within your Plesk based website hosting account; this means that you are able to host your PHP based website or application in a Windows or Linux based environment just so long as the Plesk control panel is installed and that the web server has been appropriately configured to allow this. In order to launch PHPMyAdmin for a MySQL database that you have created through Plesk, you will first need to select the ‘databases’ icon from the hosting control panel for the domain that you want to manage the database for:

You will then be presented with a list of databases that you have previously created in your Plesk website hosting account, the following features are displayed along with the databases name:

• database type (circled red) - this is shown as an image: if the database is a MySQL database then a dolphin will appear in the column concerned, and if it is a Microsoft SQL database then the Microsoft Windows logo will be displayed within this column
• name (circled green) - this is the name of the actual database which you chosen when you were creating it, this is the name that you will need to use in your server side scripts if you are wanting to use them in conjunction with a database that you have created
• server (circled blue) - this is the server that the database is hosted on, in most cases this is the local server on which your website is hosted, although the name of the external database hosting server will be displayed if different
• web admin (circled purple) - if you click on the image in this column, it will load the necessary web administration panel for the database that you have selected it for.

In order to launch PHPMyAdmin for a MySQL database that you have hosted within your website hosting account, you will need to select the web administration icon for a MySQL database that you have hosted within your web hosting account; PHPMyAdmin should then load for the database that you have selected to administrate. One thing to note is that unlike the cPanel version of PHPMyAdmin, the Plesk version will only administer one database at a time meaning that you will have to go back to the Plesk control panel and launch a new session of PHPMyAdmin for each individual database that you want to administer.

The PHPMyAdmin Homepage

Once you have launched PHPMyAdmin from either Plesk or cPanel, you should be taken to the homepage where you can then start to administer the database or databases concerned, with ease. PHPMyAdmin is able to provide you with many different details about the server on which you are hosted, and specifically the MySQL installation that is hosted on the same server as your website, these details might be needed when you are developing your PHP based website or application; the main details that the PHPMyAdmin homepage is able to provide you with include:

• MySQL server version (circled red) - this piece of information is important when developing PHP based websites and applications, since newer versions of PHP might not be compatible with older versions of MySQL and newer versions of MySQL might notbe compatible with older versions of PHP, which is normally the case in most situations
• server and username (circled green) - these two pieces of information are important since you will need them when developing server side PHP based scripts and applications which are going to be utilizing the MySQL database that you are administrating - the server name is the server on which the database is hosted, and the username is what you will need to gain access to the database concerned along with the password that you have specified for the username
• MySQL character set (circled blue) - this piece of information might be important to you when you are developing language related applications, which might be using a range of different languages and characters.

If you have decided to go with a stand-alone MySQL server with a manual PHPMyAdmin installation, then you will also be given the ability to create new MySQL databases through the PHPMyAdmin control panel, although this isn’t possible if you are using a cPanel or Plesk installation meaning that you will have to use your hosting control panel if you want to create new databases for use with your dynamic websites or applications. Links are also provided on the homepage to take you to different parts of the control panel to allow you to manage and administer different features of your MySQL databases, these will be discussed further on.

Administrating a Database

To administrate a MySQL database that you have hosted within your web hosting account, you will need to select one that you have created from within PHPMyAdmin. You will see that all the MySQL databases you have created under your hosting account are listed down on the left hand side of PHPMyAdmin if you are using the cPanel version, and if you are using the Plesk version you should notice that the MySQL database that you have chosen to administrate is listed down on the left hand panel as well:

Once you have clicked on the name of the database that you want to administrate, you should be redirected to the following management page for the database that you want to administrate:

From the management page for the database that you have chosen to create, you are able to carry out the following actions to help administrate your MySQL database effectively:

• create new tables - you will probably find that you will need to create new tables for your database every so often if you are looking to expand the functionality of your PHP based website or application, and new tables will be needed to hold the data so that the new parts of your website or application are able to function dynamically like the rest of the website or application
• management of existing tables - if you already have tables created in the MySQL database that you are managing, then you are able to edit and delete them from the same screen where you can create them from - this means that you can manage your tables easily and effectively through your web browser with the help of PHPMyAdmin.

The above options are available under the ’structure’ tab of the database management panel, other available options include:

• SQL (circled red) - you can use this part of the database management panel to execute SQL queries on your database, for example to create a mass of a new tables without doing it manually, or to do a lookup on your database so that you can search and pull up a specific record that you might have stored within your MySQL database
• search (circled green) - you can use this feature of the database management panel to search through all the records which you have stored in your database, and pull up a specific one for modification or deletion if needed
• query (circled blue) - this feature works in the same way as the SQL feature does, although it is much more manual an better for beginners since it allows you to specify the actual search parameters yourself, meaning that PHPMyAdmin will automatically create the necessary SQL query - basically it works in the same way but without the need for you to enter your own complete SQL query
• export (circled purple) - the export feature of PHPMyAdmin creates a ‘dump’ of your database which is basically an SQL file which you can download and use as a backup of your database, meaning that if your database does happen to get deleted for any reason then all you have to do is run the SQL query contained within the dump file which will then automatically recreate your original database for you
• import (circled yellow) - the import feature of PHPMyAdmin is the opposite to the export feature, meaning that it allows you to import any dumps that you have taken of your database.

Creating a New Table

As mentioned previously, you may want to be creating new tables for your database from time to time so that you are able expand the functionality of your PHP based website or application that is interacting with the MySQL database that you are currently managing through PHPMyAdmin. With expanded functionality, you might be able to bring in more visitors to your website if you are expanding it by increasing the number of services that you are able to provide your customers with, for example. In order to create a new table, you will first need to select the structures tab from the database management panel of the database that you are managing:

Once on the structure page, you will then need to scroll down to the section labeled ‘create a new table on database x’, and will need to enter the following details to aid in the creation of your new table:

• name (circled red) - this is the name that you want to give your table, you should make the name relevant to what the table is going to be used for - i.e. you should call it ‘members’ if it is going to be holding information related to the members of your website
• number of fields (circled green) - this is the number of different rows of data that you want your new table to have, a field is individual meaning that one field is dedicated to one piece of information i.e. a telephone number.

You will then be redirected to the management screen for the table that you have just created, where you will be able to create and manage the fields that you want your new table to contain and in order to help manage and organize the data that you want to store in your new MySQL database efficiently. You should create new tables for each different section of your website to help keep the stored data as segregated as possible to ensure maximum ease when administrating your MySQL database in the future. You should also use as many fields as possible to help keep the stored data segregated, just as you would with tables; if you keep your data organized then will be easier to view and find through the PHPMyAdmin MySQL database management system, and it will be much easier for your scripts and web pages to find the data that you want.

Creating a Field

Fields are the individual table rows in which MySQL stores your data, whether it be the data that you have entered into it through PHPMyAdmin or the data that has been added when visitors sign up to your website. Fields are needed to ensure that your database can be used properly, to store data; without fields in tables, data can’t be stored in your database since there isn’t any way that the data can be categorized and stored in the correct place as would be possible with the use of fields. In order to create a new field under the table that you have previously created, you will need to select a table from the ’structure’ tab of the management panel for the database that you are administrating; you will then be prompted to enter the following data in order to create a new field for the table concerned:

• field (circled red) - this is the name that you want to give your new field, you should make the name relevant to the data that is going to be stored within it - you need to give a field a name since it needs to be identifiable so that it can be used in conjunction with your PHP based websites and applications
• type (circled green) - this is the type of data that you are going to be storing in your new field - the two main types of data are varchar and int, a varchar being just regular words including numbers and int being short for ‘integer’ which in other words is a number which means that this would be the type if you are storing phone numbers under your new field
• length/values (circled blue) - this is what you want to limit the length of the data in the field to - if you are going to be using your database in conjunction with a PHP based website or application then you needn’t worry about this option since you can use your own code in your scripts to limit the length of certain fields
• null (circled purple) - if you choose to make the field null, then you are allowing for the field to be empty when used, meaning that you could end up having many blank fields - if you choose to make it not null then there will have to be data in the field for it to be entered into the MySQL database properly
• extra/auto-increment (circled orange) - if you want to make this the primary field which will be the id field for each separate database record, then you might want to turn on auto increment to ensure that each individual record receives an individual id when it is created or entered into the MySQL database that you are managing
• primary key (circled pink) - if you choose to make the field that you are creating the primary key field, then it will be the one which holds the individual key to identify each different record if needed, it is recommended that you make this field auto-increment as well to ensure that each record receives an individual id.

Once you click ‘create’, you should then be redirected to a page hopefully telling you that your new field has been successfully created and that you can start adding data using it. In most cases you are able to create as many different fields in your database tables as you want, although it is recommended that you only create the ones which you need, since too many can start to affect the performance of your database as well as MySQL in general. One thing to note is that every table needs a primary key field which should auto increment to ensure that each individual record which is created within the table receives a unique id so that they can easily distinguished between and sorted easily.

With the use of MySQL databases, you can easily expand the possibilities and functionality of your PHP based website or application since you are able to make use of the dynamics of having a database and using server side components to make the most out of your web hosting account. For example, you could start a membership system for your website to allow visitors to sign up and view premium content, and in this case a MySQL database would come in handy since you would need somewhere to centrally store the details of all the people who have signed up to your website.

Creating a Dump/Backup

You should regularly backup the contents of your database to ensure that if it does happen to get deleted or corrupted for some reason or another, you can easily restore it without experiencing too much unneeded downtime allowing you to get your website up and running again quicker than others who don’t have any sort of database backup might be able to. In most cases, the database is the centre or heart of your website and without it your website wouldn’t be able to run since all the website’s content is stored within it, and if your website has no content or is broken then you ight find your visitors going elsewhere - it is because of this that you should always take regular backups of your database to ensure that you don’t loose any website critical data or information that can’t get deleted. In order to create your dump/backup, you will first need to navigate to the ‘export’ tab of the database that you want to backup:

You will then be asked to select which tables you want to backup in the case that you are backing up an entire database, by default all the tables that your database contains are selected. You are given a number of different formats that your dump or backup can be downloaded as, some of these different formats being:

• CSV - comma separated values - this is a common file format that is usable on almost any operating system because of its age, dating back to the early days of business computing - is normally used with tabular data, such as that which you are trying to backup from your MySQL database
• CSV for MS Excel 2000 - comma separated values for Microsoft Excel 2000 - see above, the only difference being that this one is designed for use with Excel 2000
• Microsoft Word 2000
• PDF - portable document format - created by Adobe to allow easy exchange of documents, in most cases it is a read-only format meaning that you will be unable to modify the data contained within the backup
• SQL - structured query language - this will create an SQL file which will contain the code which you can easily run as an SQL query on another database or on a new one if the database that you happen to be administrating gets deleted or lost for some reason or another - will restore all original data in seconds, although the timescale does depend on the amount of data being backed up or restored
• XML - extensible markup language - this is normally used by developers since it allows them to specify and create their own tags when they are coding websites or applications - with a backup it utilizes custom tags to arrange the data efficiently within the file that you will be able to download.

Conclusion

In conclusion, PHPMyAdmin is a powerful third party web based database administration tool that will allow you to effectively manage all of your MySQL databases with ease from any internet connected location in the world, thus allowing you to manage your MySQL databases whilst you are on the move. With its management features you are given the ability to create and manage both tables and fields within your MySQL databases so that you can effectively manage and organize the data which you want them to hold; this means that can easily access the information held by your database from your PHP based websites and applications, giving your website maximum flexibility when it comes to expanding the functionality of it. You are given many different expansion options for your PHP based website or application when it comes to MySQL since you can easily create different features that utilize a database to hold your data in either the short term or the long term.

PHPMyAdmin is also an industry leader when it comes to open source database management systems, since it is bundled with both the cPanel and Plesk web hosting control panels, meaning that you are given a large amount of freedom to configure your MySQL databases the way you want them to be when it comes down to being hosting on a shared hosting package utilizes either Plesk or cPanel to manage your website as well as the other on the server as well as the server itself on which you are hosted. If you choose to use PHPMyAdmin on a stand-alone MySQL server then you are given even more advanced functionalities, such as the ability to use it to create new databases if you are logged into it as the root or administrator user thus meaning that you don’t need a third party control panel if you just want to administrate the databases that you are hosting on your server.

PHPMyAdmin is the right solution for you if you are looking to administrate your databases whether you are on the fly, at home or in your office; it contains features that make it superior to may desktop database management systems which gives one advantage, but the best advantage has to be the fact that it is web based meaning that you can access it from any internet connected location, and use any of its features - meaning that for example you could be sitting on a beach in Hawaii with a wifi laptop and be creating new tables for your database so that at the same time you are able to expand the functionality of your PHP website or application - although thats the last thing almost anyone would be doing! PHPMyAdmin is an open source application, meaning that it is freely available for download and use by anyone and can be used as many times as one wants to, meaning that you aren’t restricted by any license terms as you would be with a commercial application of the same type.

As mentioned previously, PHP and MySQL make the best programming and database combination since they are both open source and come with a range of tools and add-ons that allow you to make the most out of both. If you are looking to learn a dynamic server side language which you can use in conjunction with a database system, then you should look no further than PHP and MySQL - there are also a wide range of tutorials available in this blog and on the internet that you can use to aid you in the learning process. You can also buy a wide range of commercial books based around teaching you PHP and MySQL.

Creating a Database in Plesk Control Panel

Plesk gives you the ability to create MySQL databases in both its Linux and Windows forms; if you purchase the necessary add-ons then it can also connect to PostgreSQL and MSSQL servers to create both types of database; PostgreSQL is only normally found on Linux, and MSSQL is for Windows hosting only. Third party web based database control panels are built into Plesk and Plesk automatically logs you in to the relevant one when you want to administrate a database over the internet from a location that might happen to not be your own computer; in the case of MySQL databases, PHPMyAdmin is supplied to allow you to manage any MySQL databases that you might have hosted within your shared Plesk website hosting account - if you are hosted on the Windows platform and are utilizing Microsoft SQL databases then ASP.NET Enterprise Manager is supplied to allow you to view and manage any MSSQL databases that you have hosted under your account.

In most cases you will be using a database along with a dynamic web page language within your website so that your website is able to communicate with the database so it can pull data to be displayed, as well as store it within the database so that it can be easily accessed again. Plesk also gives you the ability to create users so that the databases you create can be accessed by the scripts that you have created within your web space; without these database users, scripts and other programs that you want to use to access your database or databases won’t be usable since they won’t be able to access the database.

Since Plesk gives you the ability to create multiple databases under many different database platforms, it gives you the ability to host many different web applications in a number of dynamic server side scripting languages so that the applications that you do create can easily interact with the databases that you have created within your shared Plesk website hosting account.

Creating a MySQL Database

In order to create a MySQL database from within Plesk, you will first need to navigate to the hosting control panel for the domain that you want to create the new MySQL database for. If you don’t know how to find your way to the hosting control panel for the domain that you want to create a new MySQL database for them you should take a look at this article; in the article noted you will also find other Plesk related tutorials which will help you get your new website off the ground in your new Plesk website hosting account. Once you have reached the hosting control panel for the domain which the MySQL database is going to be created for, you will need to select the ‘databases’ icon:

You should then be presented with the following screen, which also provides you with options to manage the databases that you might have already created using the Plesk control panel:

You will then need to select the ‘add new database’ icon, which will then redirect you into the database creation wizard. Once redirected, you will be asked to enter the following details:

• database name (circled red) - this is the name that you want to give the actual database, Plesk suggests that you begin the database name with your Plesk login followed by an underscore, it is after the underscore that you should enter the desired database alias
• database type (circled green) - this is where you select what database program you want the new database to be created in, if there is no more than one option then this field will not be shown - in the cases of Windows based Plesk website hosting, you are able to choose between MySQL and MSSQL databases, although the options are dependent on what database engines your web host has installed on your hosting server and what options they have enabled within their Plesk license. In our case we want to be creating a MySQL database.

One you have clicked the ‘ok’ button after entering the relevant details to aid in the creation of your database, you will be redirected to the management screen for the database that you have just created. In order to make your database usable from within your web pages and server side scripts that you have hosted within your hosting account, you will need to select the ‘add new user’ option:

You will then be prompted to enter the following details to aid in the creation of your database user:

• database username (circled red) - this is the username that you will use to gain access to your newly created database externally, for example from a script or web page that you are hosting within your Plesk hosting account or from your desktop database management browser if you have chosen not to use the supplied third party web based database management system
• password (circled green) - it is highly important that you password protect your newly created database user, since hackers might be able to gain access to your database and steal the data contained if the user account concerned doesn’t have a password on it.

Once you have done that, you should then be able to use the provided details to gain access to your new MySQL database from your PHP and ASP based scripts and web pages that you are hosting within your web space, you will also be able to use a desktop database management program to manage the contents of your new MySQL database.

One thing to note is that the ability to create MSSQL or PostgreSQL databases in the Windows and Linux versions of Plesk, respectively, is dictated by the Plesk license that your web host has installed on your web hosting server. For example, it costs extra for a web host to purchase a Plesk license that enables them and their clients to have access to MSSQL database creation and management facilities, and the same can be applied to PostgreSQL even though it isn’t a database engine that is widely used these days. Also, the third party management programs for databases that have been created in Plesk are dependent on what your web host has installed on your hosting server, which means that if you don’t want to use a certain program then you might have to resort to using a desktop based database management system, and these tend to have more features than web based systems meaning that you will have more control over your databases.

Creating a Subdomain in Plesk Control Panel

Subdomains are domains that you can create under your hosted domain name; they take on the form of a new name as the forename, and then the second part of the address is your main domain name. Subdomains are a good way to section your website off into different parts if you are providing many different services, or if you want to give different parts of your website their own identity without the need for directories which can easily become very messy. Search engines can also favour subdomains in some situations because they see them as separate domain names, and will rate them above directories in most situations. If you are wanting to sell different products or services under the same company name, but don’t want the websites for each product to be collectively dumped under one domain name, then you should try and utilize subdomains within your website setup where possible.

Subdomains are basically address DNS records that have been automatically setup by Plesk to point back to the same server that your website is hosted on; however, you can also utilize the advance DNS settings feature if you wish to use subdomains but want to have the content that they are going to display or the service that they are going to be used for hosted on another server - this will be done via the setup of advanced address records and with the use of IP addresses of other servers through the Plesk control panel.

However, most people rarely use subdomains since they are seen as ‘tacky’ by some and others prefer to just use the simple structure of directories when they are designing and building their website which they will then host within their Plesk shared website hosting account. The good thing with subdomains though, is that like directories you can choose what you want the name of the subdomain that you are setting up to be - this means that you can use subdomains for hosting absolutely any content you want.

Creating a Subdomain

In order to create a subdomain for any domain that you have hosted under your shared Plesk website hosting account, you will navigate to the hosting control panel for the domain that you want to create a subdomain for. If you don’t know how to navigate to your hosting control panel for the domain that you want to create a subdomain, then you should refer to this article since it contains the information on how to reach the section of Plesk in question and many other tutorials related to Plesk that you might find helpful. Once you have reached the hosting control panel for the domain that you want to create the subdomain for, you will need to select the ’subdomain’ icon:

You should then reach the following screen:

As you can see, from the subdomain section of Plesk you are able to utilize the following subdomain related features which ensures that you are able to make the most of them:

• tools - using the option in this section, you are able to create subdomains under the domain that you have chosen when entering the hosting control panel, which means that you can make the most of this Plesk feature, for example to split your website up into different sections
• subdomains - under this section you can manage any subdomains that you have previously created under the chosen domain name, allowing you to delete them and sort them alphabetically in ascending and descending orders if you have many to manage.

In order to enter the subdomain creation process, you will need to select the following icon from the ‘tools’ section of the page that you are on:

Once you have clicked that icon, you should then be presented with the following page:

You will need to choose the type of file hosting that you want to use for your new subdomain, and you have two different options that you are able to choose from dependent on what you want:

• physcial hosting - if you choose physical hosting for your new subdomain, then the contents of the subdomain will be contained in a folder that is separate from the main website root, which also means that you are able to customize the hosting environment for the new subdomain that you are creating
• subdomain subfolder - although you are able to customize the hosting environment with this type of subdomain, the contents are hosted in folder that is located in the root of your main website, which does have the ability to create some problems to an extent.

The main components that you are able to customize are:

• subdomain (circled red) - this is the name that you want to give the actual new subdomain
• site home directory (circled green) - this is the directory in which you want the contents of the new subdomain to reside
• services (circled blue) - you are able to configure the individual services that you want to use with your new subdomain.

Once you click the ok button, you should be presented with a screen hopefully confirming that your new subdomain has been successfully created and is ready for use! One thing to note is that subdomains can take a while to work globally since the DNS has be updated so that they can actually be accessed publicly from the internet.

Getting Started with Plesk Control Panel

Plesk is the control panel that many web hosts use to provide their clients with both Linux based website hosting and Windows based website hosting. Plesk is complicated control panel, since it incorporates many different features that you are able to use to administer nearly any aspect of your website and website hosting package that you have purchased from your web host. In order for you to be able to make the most of your web hosting package, and to be able to administer your website with ease, you will need to be able to find your way around the Plesk control panel and must know how to use certain features in ways that will be able to benefit you and your website. If you are unable to use Plesk correctly to ensure that you can administer your website correctly, you might find that you are unable to get your website back online in the case that you have changed web hosts, and if you are uploading your website for the first time then you might find that you are unable to setup any aspect of your website such as email accounts and FTP accounts that are needed to allow you to upload your website into your web space. For those who are new to Plesk, this article shall help you setup the most important aspects of your website including FTP accounts to allow you to upload your website to your web space; screenshots have been included as well to make the learning process for Plesk as easy for you as possible, meaning that you should be able to have your website running on your new Plesk website hosting account in no time.

First Logging Into Plesk - The Desktop

When you first log into Plesk, you will be presented with the ‘desktop’ screen which was first introduced into the control panel in version 8, and is a place where you are able to place links to your most used parts of Plesk which means that you can access the sections that are most important to you with ease. The ‘desktop’ screen that you are presented with should look like this:

The ‘desktop’ feature of Plesk also provides you with counters that tell you how much space you have left for use in your web hosting account out of the space that was assigned to your account on sign up. The amount of bandwidth that you have left for use with your website or websites is also shown, which means that you are able to see how long your website will be online until you have to purchase more bandwidth. Other tools are provided so that you are able to manage your package without having to investigate each domain that you have hosted to ensure that you have enough space and bandwidth left for use with your account.

Viewing the Domains That You’re Hosting and Other Domain Features

Like anyone who has a Plesk website hosting account, you will want to be viewing the domains that you have hosted on your hosting account and will want to be able to access them for easy management. At some point, you might also consider adding new domains to your web hosting account so that you can make use of any spare web space or bandwidth that you might have, although you might want to reserve a small amount for other websites since you can easily find that your other websites are running out of bandwidth or space for a reason such as an increased visitor count. In order for you to view domains that you have hosted, and to create new domains, you will want to access the domain section of Plesk which can be found in the left panel of Plesk (circled red):

The domains page in Plesk should provide you with the following options for domains:

• add new domain - this option allows you to add more domains to your Plesk website hosting package so that you can host their email and websites, as well as other relevant services that might be provided by your web host
• domain templates - you can use domain templates as bases for hosting packages for domains which you want to host within your account, since multiple options are provided to allow you to create different templates with different specifications
• summary report - this will show you all the domains that you are hosting and will provide you with data on how much disk space they are using and how much bandwidth they have used for the current month, you will also be able to see data such as the amount of mailboxes each domain has setup
• traffic - this Plesk feature will provide you with a report showing you how much bandwidth each domain that you have hosted is using, as well as the bandwidth cap which has been placed on the domain - a graphical counter for each domain should be displayed as well.

Creating a Domain

You should already be in the domains section of Plesk, meaning that you are in the right place if you want to add your domain to your website hosting package so that you can host the email addresses and website that are related to it. When creating domains within Plesk, you have the option to create one using one of two formats - with the use of a domain template, and without the use of a domain template. If you choose to create a domain using a domain template, then you need to ensure that you have at least one domain template created within your web hosting account; with the use of a domain template, you are creating your domain based on a set of parameters that you specified when creating the template. If you are creating a domain without a template, then you will need to specify the necessary configuration settings in the process of setting up the domain concerned. To enter the domain creation wizard, you will need to select ‘add domain’ from the domains screen (circled red):

You will then be directed to a screen (below) where you will need to enter the following variables regarding your domain:

• domain name (circled red) - it is highly suggested that you check the box labeled ‘WWW’ which precedes the domain name box, since if people try and type in ‘www.yourdomain.com’, they will be unable to reach your website
• domain template (circled green) - if you have your own custom rules set out, then you should choose a template for use with the new domain.

You will then be asked to choose which type of hosting (below) you want your new domain to have, and the different types of hosting come in the following three forms:

• physical hosting (circled red) - this means that the website and domain for the domain will be hosted on the server hard drive physically, and that anything else relating to the domain such as the DNS will also be hosted off the server concerned
• standard forwarding (circled green) - this means that anyone who enters your domain name into their web browser will be automatically redirected to another website of your choice - the URL of the destination website will be displayed within the visitor’s browser address bar
• framed forwarding (circled blue) - this means that anyone who enters your domain will be redirected to another website of your choice, but unlike standard forwarding your domain, the one which is entered is retained within the visitor’s browser address bar.

If you choose the physical hosting option (below), then you will be asked to select and enter a range of parameters related to the domain that you want to host within your Plesk website hosting account. The main parameters which you should set out for your domain include:

• FTP/Microsoft Frontpage password
• amount of disk space to be assigned
• which scripting languages will be supported within the domain’s hosting environment.

If you choose the standard forwarding option (below), then you will be asked to enter the domain (destination URL) which you want your website’s visitors to be sent to; the same is applicable for the framed forwarding option.

After Domain Creation

Once you have completed the necessary steps to create your domain in Plesk, and have assigned it to have either physical hosting, or some type of forwarding (either standard or framed) you will be redirected to the management panel where you will be able to start configuring other aspects of your domain’s hosting if you have chosen for it to have physical hosting, and where you will be able to change the destination URL if you have chosen to use some type of forwarding to forward your website’s visitors to another website of your choice. The management panel for a domain with physical hosting should look like this:

As you can see from the above picture, the management panel allows you to take control of the following main features related to your domains hosting:

• mail - this includes the management of email accounts as well as the link to the webmail panel
• DNS settings - this area allows you to manage the DNS settings that are hosted for your domain
• databases - you can manage the databases for your domain through Plesk, and access the necessary web administration panel (PHPMyAdmin for MySQL databases and ASP.NET enterprise manager for MSSQL databases) to enable you to remotely manage your website’s databases
• certificates - you are given the ability to install SSL certificates within your web space without the need for any intervention from your web host, just as long as you have a dedicated IP address that you are able to use for the certificate
• ODBC data sources - in the case of Windows based Plesk hosting, you are given the option to create DSN connections to databases that you can then integrate into your classic ASP and ASP.NET based web pages and scripts.

Other features provided allow you to control and configure certain settings to enable you to customize your hosting environment; for example you are able to customize certain settings related to the running of the ASP.NET scripting language through the section labeled ‘ASP.NET’. If you want to view the website that you have uploaded for your new domain, but the necessary DNS has still not taken effect then you can use the site preview function to fully interact with the content that you have uploaded into your web space.

Uploading Your Website Into Your Web Space

There are two ways in which you can put the files related to your web space, these are via a simple FTP session and via the file manager that is built into Plesk to allow you to manage the files that you have hosted within your web space.

In order to upload your website via FTP, you will need to an FTP account so that you are able to login to your web space through your chosen FTP program; to create an FTP account, you will need to go to the FTP account manager which is reachable through the hosting management panel (circled in red):

If you have no FTP accounts created for your web space, then you will need to select ‘add new FTP account’ (circled green):

Once you have reached the page where you are able to create new FTP accounts, you will be asked to enter the following data to ensure that an FTP account can be created successfully:

• FTP account name (circled red) - the chosen FTP account name will be the name which is used to login to your FTP space along with the chosen password
• home directory (circled green) - this is the highest level directory that the account being created will have access to, for example if you enter ‘httpdocs’ then the account will only be able to access any folder under the directory ‘httpdocs’
• disk space (circled blue) - you are able to set the amount of disk space that one FTP account is able to use up
• read and write permissions (circled purple) - if you give an account read permissions, then it is able to view the contents of all directories to which it is allowed access, and if you give it write permissions then it is able to paste and upload files into any directories to which it has access.

Once you have create an FTP account for use with your website, you can proceed to accessing your web space via FTP using your chosen FTP explorer with the login details that you provided when creating the FTP account that you are going to use.

You can also upload your websites files using the built in Plesk file manager if you feel that you don’t want to use FTP to transfer the files from your computer to your web space so that they are viewable by your website’s visitors. In order to do this, you will need to select the file manager option from the hosting management screen:

Once you have done that, you should then navigate your way to the directory in which you want to upload the file - one thing to note is that you are unable to upload files into your ‘home’ directory, since this is where all the important directories related to your website reside. Once you have reached your chosen directory, you should choose the ‘add new file’ button located near the top of the screen:

Once you have reached this screen, you will be presented with three upload boxes in which you can click the ‘browse’ button (circled red) to navigate to a file on your computer that you want to upload to your web space. You should ensure that you have the upload radio button checked near the top of the screen (circled green):

Once you have clicked the ‘ok’ button near the bottom of the screen, the chosen file should then proceed to be uploaded.

Adding an Email Account in Plesk Control Panel

Plesk is a control panel which is used by many web hosts to provide their customers with Windows and Linux based hosting solutions so that they can easily serve their websites to their audiences, but at the same time provide their employees and colleagues with email solutions so that they are able to communicate with each other effectively and conveniently without the need for memos or any other type of paper based communications. Email is being increasingly used by people in today’s internet connected society to allow them to communicate almost instantly, and share other things such as computer files without the need for having to be face to face, which without emails people would have to be since there is no other electronic way to transfer computer files almost instantly; this means that you can communicate with someone on the other side of the world to you almost instantly without the need for having to be close to them, although something of this scenario is achievable with phone conversations.

Many companies are increasingly using electronic based communications such as emails to allow them to communicate with customers in many different areas; for example many companies are now providing customer support with the use of emails, and you are now also able to receive invoices for any purchases you have made whether they have been face to face or over the internet to your email address which means that you only have to print the invoice off if you need to, which means that the company from which you have received the invoice is saving in paper because in most cases people would throw the invoice away.

If you do not currently use emails within your company, then you should try and deploy some sort of email solution for your employees as appropriate, since you could improve your sales and customer satisfaction if you are able to provide your customers with email based support and sales advise, since it is one thing which many companies fail to provide; you might also be able to improve your employee production if they are able to communicate with each other more conveniently in a much quick fashion.

Unlike other forms of communication, you are normally able to store emails for as long as you want meaning that you are able to refer back to them in the future if needs be; you can also access them whilst mobile if needed since most new mobile devices such as mobile phones and PDAs have some sort of built in email application that allows you to download your emails from your email server as well as allowing you the ability to create and send emails whilst on the move, just so long as you have the appropriate mobile signal.

One downside with emails when compared to other forms of communication is that you can be easily targeted by spammers, which means that you will receive many unwanted and useless emails in your email inbox which you might not necessarily have asked for - although these emails might not do any harm, they can be very annoying and their contents can prove very disgusting and in some cases worrying; for example some spam emails request that you provide certain details to someone since there is a cash reward awaiting you - if you provide details then they will most likely be used for identity fraud and the cash reward that you have been promised probably doesn’t even exist - at the end of the day, the same message has probably been sent to thousands or even millions of unsuspecting people.

Spam however can be easily stopped with the use of anti spam programs, such as those that are normally installed on Plesk based web hosting servers; for example SpamAssassin is one of the best known free server side spam solutions and is used by many web hosts to help stop spam on most Windows and Linux based web hosting servers. You can also consider downloading a third party spam application that should scan any emails which you download into your desktop email browser; in some cases these can prove to be more effective than server side ones since most are more specific with the rule sets that they use to catch spam emails.

Adding an Email Account

Creating an email account in the Plesk control panel is a fairly simple process, although there are certain options that you should try and custom configure when setting up the email account in question. As previously mentioned, most web hosts utilizing Plesk allow you to use the SpamAssassin installation on the server on which your website resides to scan your incoming and outgoing email to ensure that none of it is spam; in some cases you are also able to use the server’s anti-virus to scan your incoming emails to ensure that you aren’t receiving any emails that contain malicious threats which you damage your computer and even steal any data that it happens to hold. To start off with, you will need to navigate to the mail control panel for the domain that you want to alter by selecting the mail icon on the domain’s hosting control panel:

You should then reach the following screen:

If you are unable to navigate to the hosting control panel for your domain, then please refer to this article which will discuss how to reach there; once there, you will be able to create and manage email accounts.

Once you have reached the email control panel, you will need to select the ‘Add New Mail Name Option’:

You should then reach a screen where you will be asked to enter the following details to aide in the creation of the email account:

• mail name (circled red) - this is what you want the name of the email address to be, the domain for which you are creating the email account should follow the text box preceded by the ‘@’ email symbol
• password (circled green) - it is important to ensure that you password protect your email account as to make sure that no one is able to gain unauthorized access to your emails
• control panel access (circled blue) - this is something which doesn’t need to be set unless you want to enable the person for which the account has been made for to manage their email account, it is not a factor that affects the running of the email address
• mail box quota (circled purple) - you should only set this if you want to put a limit on the amount of space out of your overall web space that you want to allow an email account to use, if you select unlimited then the account will be able to use up as much web space as you have left.

Once the email account has been created, you should then be taken to the mail control panel where you are able to manage the following features and aspects of the new email account:

• add new alias (circled red) - using this option you can create more aliases for which you want to be used with the email account concerned, any emails sent to an alias will be received under the email account for which the alias has been created
• preferences (circled green) - you can use this option if you want to manage factors such as the actual name of the email account as well as the password that you want to be used to access it
• mailbox (circled blue) - if you disable this option then the email account will no longer have a physical presence on the server which it resides, in this case you could then only use it as forwarding address
• redirect (circled purple) - if you enable this option then you will make any emails that are sent to the email account concerned be redirected to another email address of your choice
• auto-responder (circled pink) - if you enable this option then any emails that are sent to the account concerned will receive an automatic reply which you decide on yourself when enabling the feature.

Congratulations - you have just created and configured your first email account through Plesk!