Access to web site hosting settings and files

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batherst

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

#68769 28-Sep-2010 04:47

Hi all,

Im wondering if any one can shed some light on this issue for me;

I currently have a website hosted with a hosting co, now i wanted to have full admin access to the cpanel section on the website but the hosting company have said they dont give customers these admin rights as they are worried there Intellectual property is at risk.

This not being a major, i have found that when i wanted them to make changes to the site (minor ones) such as chaning 3 small pieces of txt they wanted to charge me $215, and im sure i can modify the site myself if i have had the full admin rights.

So what im wanting to know is. if i go to move hosting providers how am i going to be able to get into the site to make any changes? (the current hosting co designed my site)

any thoughts/help appreciated

CADMAX

274 posts

Ultimate Geek

#385276 28-Sep-2010 07:53

well what is your contract? a know a lot of places that will do the same as what you are having issues with now. i can see your point and i can see theirs.

so you could move your site and make your own or pay some one to make a new site for you.
i know i charge a update fee of $20 for text per page (text has to be supplied) and the same for images.

i have given a big customers access to the admin panel and that give me a lot of pain.
so look at your contract with them and the bill you paid when they did the work day one.

lostangel

163 posts

Master Geek

#385285 28-Sep-2010 08:19

Let me understand this a little better.

You pay a company to both design and host the site?
The site is your intellectual property, they hold no copyright?
You want to edit a bit of text in your html/script serverd pages?

If the answers are yes to the questions you should be given at least ftp access to the site to edit it yourself.

If you do not hold the copyright to the site, like if there is a contract whereby you were given a lower cost for the site in exchange for the web developer retaining copyright and ensuring their continued commission for updates, then I doubt they will be willing to give access to it.

If the latter applies, you may however be able to buy the site off them if it's what you want in a site and get it hosted elsewhere with you retaining control of it.

sampler

445 posts

Ultimate Geek

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Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#385302 28-Sep-2010 08:38

Setup correctly you should have a level of access to you own site which allows you to do almost anything yourself if needed. Edit files,Add/remove email accounts, wipe the whole site ...

Im not sure why you would need Cpanel admin level access to edit a file(s),

Is your site based on some type of framework like Wordpress or Joomla (etc) ?

If your not sure but dont want to publish the domain of your site here send me a PM and I will take a little look and confirm the info you need.

Cheers

Lee

sleemanj

1490 posts

Uber Geek

#385375 28-Sep-2010 11:10

Common garden "lock in". The present company doesn't want you to leave, and they also want to charge you absurd amounts of money, solution (for them) don't let you near the server., don't let you have "your site" to take as you please.

If we assume this is a static site, there is no database involved, then your solution, assuming you have copyright to it, is to use a mirroring/site download tool (on linux I'd use wget) to grab the files as best you can over HTTP and then move to a new host (assuming you have control over the domain name).

If it's a dynamic site, ie, there probably is some administative area and a database involved, then, well you are probably stuck with either staying with the rip off merchants, or starting from scratch because dollars to donuts you only have the ability to use the system when it's on their server, you won't have any right to take that system somewhere else even if you could.

---
James Sleeman
I sell lots of stuff for electronic enthusiasts...

marpada

475 posts

Ultimate Geek

#385384 28-Sep-2010 11:23

You should not need full administrative access to the server (WHM?) to just modify a few files in your web space, FTP or Cpanel file manager should be ok (notice that sometimes there are some permission conflicts when a file was created from a CMS and the ftp user has no rights to edit it, but this can be easily solved using some addons). If you could provide further information about the issue we could give
better help.

If the server is a shared one and they granted you full access you could access and modify the data of all the customers in that server, so obviously your provider is strongly against it (it is like if an hotel lend the key of any root to any passenger who requested it).
If you really want to have full access to your server, with the attached responsibility (take care of administration, security, etc) then I suggest you to rent a VPS or dedicated server.

batherst

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

#385455 28-Sep-2010 13:47

sleemanj: Common garden "lock in". The present company doesn't want you to leave, and they also want to charge you absurd amounts of money, solution (for them) don't let you near the server., don't let you have "your site" to take as you please.

If we assume this is a static site, there is no database involved, then your solution, assuming you have copyright to it, is to use a mirroring/site download tool (on linux I'd use wget) to grab the files as best you can over HTTP and then move to a new host (assuming you have control over the domain name).

If it's a dynamic site, ie, there probably is some administative area and a database involved, then, well you are probably stuck with either staying with the rip off merchants, or starting from scratch because dollars to donuts you only have the ability to use the system when it's on their server, you won't have any right to take that system somewhere else even if you could.

Thanks for all your replys. Yes the site has a database and is merchant based i guess. Iv only just taken over ownership of the site. The person i brought it with had never signed a contract when he set up the site last year nor did he see any terms and conditions. I was doing a bit of research last night with one of the design companies that this particular hositng company uses and they stataed in the terms and conditions that if the site it desigend by them which it was then it must be hosted on their servers.. so i guess thats answerd my question? The only access they have given me is to change my product images, prices, add new categories, so very basic access i guess.