If you haven’t heard of a skeleton directory and you are using FTP out the wazoo to create sites which have the same core files, then you need to be using the skeleton directory. Basically what it does is uses the files you have added to the skeleton directory when creating new accounts in your WHM.
Here is a little screen shot of what the heck i am talking about if your a newb. Don’t be afraid to ask if you have no idea what I mean, because if you do have a reseller account and are using it to create lots of sites with these core files it can literally save you hours of time.
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42 Responses for "Save Time With Skeleton Directories"
OK, here’s kind of a stupid question but is it a new account and a new package for each domain for each store. Or is it one account and package with add on domains. Also how much space and bandwidth should the package have. You can probably guess what step I’m on?
Thank you, thank you , thank you! I have been stuggling with uploading files, and kept timing out with every install. Hostgator refused to tell me how to do this eventhough I’ll be installing the same software over and over again:)
Great tip and great timing as I just up graded there yesterday (after some hassles) and was not looking forward to using ftp to create 80ish new accounts and having to ftp everything again.
@emma
I have followed Hostgator advice and set it at “quota 400mb and bandwidth 8000mb” for each site.
The important thing is to review usage at a later date on your most popular site and rest as necessary.
But if I do that, I will have that many FTP accounts. So, when the BANS software gets updated, I will have to open each account and FTP the files. But if I have one account with 100 BANS, I will just have “1″ FTP account and be able to upload the files much faster.
Great tip! I stumbled across this functionality last week when I was getting started with my reseller account. Fortunately I found it before I created more than 4 or 5 sites. The time savings is HUGE. It was taking me on the order of 5-6 minutes to upload the BANS files, with the SKEL dir it’s down to 8-10 seconds!
Here are a couple of tips to go along with this one:
1. I had to up the disk quota for my default reseller account domain from 2MB to 10MB. If I remember correctly the BANS files take up about 8MB.
2. Go ahead and change the properties con the /cont/cont.php to 777 in the SKEL folder, that will take another step out of the install procedure.
3. When you are logged into your reseller account Control Panel, you should see a drop down box at the top that lists all your domains. By choosing another domain from the drop down list, you can actually access the Control Panel for that domain without logging out/logging in. Another big time saver!
4. (Goes along with number 3) Use the File Manager applet in the Control Panel to delete the install.php and change the properties on cont/cont.php. Easy and quick and much faster than creating an FTP account, connecting, etc, etc.
[Justin, I’m gonna take a shot at Steve’s question. Hope you don’t mind.]
Steve, yes and no. I use FireFTP in FireFox. I didn’t create the 100 ftp accounts in FireFTP because I didn’t need to. When it comes time to update BANS again I may have to, but that’s down the road and I’ll cross that bridge when (if) I get to it. I’m kinda keeping my fingers crossed that I’ll find some way to do it on the server side since copying from one server folder to another is WAY faster than FTP uploading, not to mention easier on the bandwidth allocation.
And yes, it would be easier to use one BANS install but if that account or domain got banned or de-indexed for some reason the all 100 of your sites are gone, not just the one. From where I stand that’s a pretty big risk.
Hope that helps.
Now if I could just figure out some scripting solution to create my databases too….
I don’t think Justin would mind Pay it forward, remember. The goal is to help each other like Vic and Justin are doing.
You made a good point about the banning part. The deindexing by Google would not be for the whole package but for one domain. But HG may disable the package.
Yes, I will cross my fingers that BANs don’t get updated too often. Maybe they will make it an automatic thing later on.
I will have to change my strategy now.
My ban package is now 10MB(more graphics, safe) and 1GB/month.
[…] the monthly quota, only one domain will be affected and not the whole package. Plus, using the Justin’s method, I will save a lot of time when creating a BANS site. I just hope the software don’t get […]
Justin, REALLY helpful vid! I finally got a couple bans uploaded last night. I’m starting to get a clue and this should really help out. Also thanks to jtrigsby for his excellent comment.
Maybe I can help those that don’t have the reseller account, like me. I have a folder on my desktop. When I have a new site to add files to, I open my folder, just drag files over by FTP, and then change copy.
Emma, you need to have a reseller accoun for this. It is when you creat a new account in the Web Host Manager. Also as far as a package that you are creating, I would go with like 200-300mb for bans sites and about 500mb for bandwidth. This is for trickle traffic, and that is more than enough for BANS.
Holy cow! That’s enough reason to get the re-seller account in and of itself. I’ve been hesitant about getting a re-seller account, because I’ve been real pleased with my hosting. I’ve thought I would wait until I had enough income to cover it off the BANS site I already have. Maybe I should go ahead to Hostgator…….hmm.
OK Steve, basically this is for the initial creation of the account, not for upgrades etc. This is just a way for you to not have to FTP when you make a brand new site to set up through your WHM. Yes, for upgrades if you have any in the future you will need use FTP for each individual account to upload any file or whatever may be needed.
Definitely Anthony. A reseller account in my opinion just has a better feel to it. I would definitely set one up. The extra 10-15 bucks a month is worth it.
Justin, I switch to your method this morning and it does make it faster.
One question: Why 200-300MB space? It only takes 8MB of space. Add a few graphic like a banner and you should be okay with 10MB. I don’t think that you have that much overhead with the text on each page(header,footer). Why so much space?
LOL Steve, I just use that amount in general. sometimes I use the space for other things. It really does not matter, and sure 10-20 MB should be enough.
Thanks Steve, I still don’t know what I’m doing yet but I set up three of them. I’m trying to do it the Justin Way but I haven’t worked through it yet. I get some MySql errors. Once I get the hang of it though I’m going to blow through these first 100.
holy cow what a time saver!!!
can anyone say 5 hundred bans site and running!!!
thats my goal, now that i’ve been taught this trick
man, with vics call to action and now your time saver no one has any excuse not to do bans out the wazoo!!
oh side note, i am looking forward to adding those sweet aged domains to my bans role real soon, man i am way too stoked!
I have an aged domain that I setup yesterday(late) and already got 20 clicks since yesterday. But I did not sell anything yet on it. I did not even do a BMD run or made a top banners. Being old is good
I’m following along with Vic’s 100 BANS site plan and I know he recommends a reseller account and from what I see here I can tell it’s about ease.
What I’m not sure of is the hosting package at Hostgator - it looks like the reseller accounts allow less bandwidth than the best shared accounts. Can anyone explain why I need the reseller account, other than convenience, and what plan is going to be required (Hostgator) for 100 BANS sites??
Don’t worry about the bandwidth. You are going to target a 3 keywords so it will be trickle traffic. If you see a site that’s getting more traffic(great), you can always increase it’s monthly bandwidth.
BTW, does anyone know if putting the BANS files in the skeleton directory mean that all your sites have to be activated with BANS or will you still be able to put up regular sites, blogs, etc.?
Anyone around that can help me with this? So am i right, I have to install BANS twice, once on my public html and then again in skel? I dont know, I think I am messing up big-time. I have a reseller account with many accounts. Just tried setting up my first one.. I am trying to do this right from the beginning so my next 100s of sites are easier.
Just set up a hostgator reseller account yesterday and am trying to upload BANS to the skeleton directory. Has something changes with hostgator because I can’t find the skeleton directory per your video.
Scott, I am not sure. I don’t think anything has changed. Remember the skeleton directory will be only in one place. Thats the Cpanel of of the primary domain under the file manager. Hope hat helps.
Yeah Duh - I guess i wasn’t looking at the primary domain. I found it finally.
Now that I found it I’m having a hell of a time uploading the files from BANS. Is there some setup I have to complete on Hostgator to be able to upload?
I’m getting error messages on the script and themes folders.
Yeah, i am definitely missing something. I uploaded to skeleton directory. Whenever I add a new domain, I see that 8MB is already used and in the cpanel, BUT I dont understand how to install from there. Every other site (installed the long way) its installed in public html and you go to domain/admin and install from there. On the new accounts with just the skel the /admin doesnt exist. I dont see how/where the files in the skel are accessed to create the site- if that makes any sense.
42 Responses for "Save Time With Skeleton Directories"
That’s what I’m talking about Justin. I want to automate everything and I’d rather set it up right the first time. Thanks for your help.
OK, here’s kind of a stupid question but is it a new account and a new package for each domain for each store. Or is it one account and package with add on domains. Also how much space and bandwidth should the package have. You can probably guess what step I’m on?
Thank you, thank you , thank you! I have been stuggling with uploading files, and kept timing out with every install. Hostgator refused to tell me how to do this eventhough I’ll be installing the same software over and over again:)
Justin
Great tip and great timing as I just up graded there yesterday (after some hassles) and was not looking forward to using ftp to create 80ish new accounts and having to ftp everything again.
@emma
I have followed Hostgator advice and set it at “quota 400mb and bandwidth 8000mb” for each site.
The important thing is to review usage at a later date on your most popular site and rest as necessary.
Dave2.0
Nice tip!
But if I do that, I will have that many FTP accounts. So, when the BANS software gets updated, I will have to open each account and FTP the files. But if I have one account with 100 BANS, I will just have “1″ FTP account and be able to upload the files much faster.
I my missing something here?
Hey Justin,
Great tip! I stumbled across this functionality last week when I was getting started with my reseller account. Fortunately I found it before I created more than 4 or 5 sites. The time savings is HUGE. It was taking me on the order of 5-6 minutes to upload the BANS files, with the SKEL dir it’s down to 8-10 seconds!
Here are a couple of tips to go along with this one:
1. I had to up the disk quota for my default reseller account domain from 2MB to 10MB. If I remember correctly the BANS files take up about 8MB.
2. Go ahead and change the properties con the /cont/cont.php to 777 in the SKEL folder, that will take another step out of the install procedure.
3. When you are logged into your reseller account Control Panel, you should see a drop down box at the top that lists all your domains. By choosing another domain from the drop down list, you can actually access the Control Panel for that domain without logging out/logging in. Another big time saver!
4. (Goes along with number 3) Use the File Manager applet in the Control Panel to delete the install.php and change the properties on cont/cont.php. Easy and quick and much faster than creating an FTP account, connecting, etc, etc.
[Justin, I’m gonna take a shot at Steve’s question. Hope you don’t mind.]
Steve, yes and no. I use FireFTP in FireFox. I didn’t create the 100 ftp accounts in FireFTP because I didn’t need to. When it comes time to update BANS again I may have to, but that’s down the road and I’ll cross that bridge when (if) I get to it. I’m kinda keeping my fingers crossed that I’ll find some way to do it on the server side since copying from one server folder to another is WAY faster than FTP uploading, not to mention easier on the bandwidth allocation.
And yes, it would be easier to use one BANS install but if that account or domain got banned or de-indexed for some reason the all 100 of your sites are gone, not just the one. From where I stand that’s a pretty big risk.
Hope that helps.
Now if I could just figure out some scripting solution to create my databases too….
Thom
I don’t think Justin would mind
Pay it forward, remember. The goal is to help each other like Vic and Justin are doing.
You made a good point about the banning part. The deindexing by Google would not be for the whole package but for one domain. But HG may disable the package.
Yes, I will cross my fingers that BANs don’t get updated too often. Maybe they will make it an automatic thing later on.
I will have to change my strategy now.
My ban package is now 10MB(more graphics, safe) and 1GB/month.
[…] the monthly quota, only one domain will be affected and not the whole package. Plus, using the Justin’s method, I will save a lot of time when creating a BANS site. I just hope the software don’t get […]
Justin, REALLY helpful vid! I finally got a couple bans uploaded last night. I’m starting to get a clue and this should really help out. Also thanks to jtrigsby for his excellent comment.
Chris, glad you were able to finally start them.
Thanks to jtrigsby, Justing for your tips on this.
Maybe I can help those that don’t have the reseller account, like me. I have a folder on my desktop. When I have a new site to add files to, I open my folder, just drag files over by FTP, and then change copy.
Emma, you need to have a reseller accoun for this. It is when you creat a new account in the Web Host Manager. Also as far as a package that you are creating, I would go with like 200-300mb for bans sites and about 500mb for bandwidth. This is for trickle traffic, and that is more than enough for BANS.
Holy cow! That’s enough reason to get the re-seller account in and of itself. I’ve been hesitant about getting a re-seller account, because I’ve been real pleased with my hosting. I’ve thought I would wait until I had enough income to cover it off the BANS site I already have. Maybe I should go ahead to Hostgator…….hmm.
OK Steve, basically this is for the initial creation of the account, not for upgrades etc. This is just a way for you to not have to FTP when you make a brand new site to set up through your WHM. Yes, for upgrades if you have any in the future you will need use FTP for each individual account to upload any file or whatever may be needed.
Definitely Anthony. A reseller account in my opinion just has a better feel to it. I would definitely set one up. The extra 10-15 bucks a month is worth it.
Justin, I switch to your method this morning and it does make it faster.
One question: Why 200-300MB space? It only takes 8MB of space. Add a few graphic like a banner and you should be okay with 10MB. I don’t think that you have that much overhead with the text on each page(header,footer). Why so much space?
Thanks
LOL Steve, I just use that amount in general. sometimes I use the space for other things. It really does not matter, and sure 10-20 MB should be enough.
Thanks Steve, I still don’t know what I’m doing yet but I set up three of them. I’m trying to do it the Justin Way but I haven’t worked through it yet. I get some MySql errors. Once I get the hang of it though I’m going to blow through these first 100.
So if I go about it the way that Justin is talking about then I will be creating accounts under one package for all of my BANS correct?
My other question would be, if one of the sites in your BANS package gets deindexed, will that effect the other sites in the same package?
Pierce this should not affect the other sites. Each site is separate when setting these up.
Thank you for the clarification.
Justin,
Excellent tip! You just saved a lot of people a ton of time.
I think so Denise. You want automation, I will give you automation! LOL
What a timesaver!! Thank you so much.
Your John. Anything to make it easier!
holy cow what a time saver!!!
can anyone say 5 hundred bans site and running!!!
thats my goal, now that i’ve been taught this trick
man, with vics call to action and now your time saver no one has any excuse not to do bans out the wazoo!!
oh side note, i am looking forward to adding those sweet aged domains to my bans role real soon, man i am way too stoked!
I have an aged domain that I setup yesterday(late) and already got 20 clicks since yesterday. But I did not sell anything yet on it. I did not even do a BMD run or made a top banners. Being old is good
Very nice!
Hi everyone,
I’m following along with Vic’s 100 BANS site plan and I know he recommends a reseller account and from what I see here I can tell it’s about ease.
What I’m not sure of is the hosting package at Hostgator - it looks like the reseller accounts allow less bandwidth than the best shared accounts. Can anyone explain why I need the reseller account, other than convenience, and what plan is going to be required (Hostgator) for 100 BANS sites??
Thanks to anyone who can help.
Don’t worry about the bandwidth. You are going to target a 3 keywords so it will be trickle traffic. If you see a site that’s getting more traffic(great), you can always increase it’s monthly bandwidth.
Use the first plan($25/month).
Steve thanks for the answer.
BTW, does anyone know if putting the BANS files in the skeleton directory mean that all your sites have to be activated with BANS or will you still be able to put up regular sites, blogs, etc.?
No trouble.
Every new domain will have the BANS files. Just delete them and upload WordPress after for example.
Ofcourse, that makes sense. It’s amazing how simple things can escape us at times.
Thanks again.
Hi. I just have a quick question about this method.
When you go to upload the BANS files in the public_ftp folder, do you upload each folder one at a time?
I’m having trouble doing this…
Nevermind..that was a dumb question..lol
Anyone around that can help me with this? So am i right, I have to install BANS twice, once on my public html and then again in skel? I dont know, I think I am messing up big-time. I have a reseller account with many accounts. Just tried setting up my first one.. I am trying to do this right from the beginning so my next 100s of sites are easier.
No - you just have to upload to skel directory as the video shows, and then each new account will already have the files installed, just like magic!
Justin,
Just set up a hostgator reseller account yesterday and am trying to upload BANS to the skeleton directory. Has something changes with hostgator because I can’t find the skeleton directory per your video.
Thanks,
Scott
Scott, I am not sure. I don’t think anything has changed. Remember the skeleton directory will be only in one place. Thats the Cpanel of of the primary domain under the file manager. Hope hat helps.
Yeah Duh - I guess i wasn’t looking at the primary domain. I found it finally.
Now that I found it I’m having a hell of a time uploading the files from BANS. Is there some setup I have to complete on Hostgator to be able to upload?
I’m getting error messages on the script and themes folders.
Thanks
Yeah, i am definitely missing something. I uploaded to skeleton directory. Whenever I add a new domain, I see that 8MB is already used and in the cpanel, BUT I dont understand how to install from there. Every other site (installed the long way) its installed in public html and you go to domain/admin and install from there. On the new accounts with just the skel the /admin doesnt exist. I dont see how/where the files in the skel are accessed to create the site- if that makes any sense.
yeah, so I end up having the files installed twice on any domain i manage to get working.
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