Requirements

Listed are the web server requirements for website software produced by GiantIsland.com. Below is a summary of those website requirements, including what you will need to install, run, and use GiantIsland.com Website Products:

Microsoft Windows 2000/XP/ Vista Computer - Once you download the installation folder, you will need to uncompress the product root folder to your desktop. A Windows computer allows you to unzip or uncompress these pages without additional software. (You may also use WinZip or Mac StuffIt).
Microsoft Windows Website/Server - The Web requirements include a website hosted on Windows Server 2000,2003, or 2008 with the following settings:
- ASP Classic (3.0) - You must enable this on the website/server. This is already setup for you by most Windows Server Host Providers.
- ASP.NET, version 1.1 or later - You must enable this on the website/server. This is already setup for you by most Windows Server Host Providers.
- Read/Write Permissions - Web server requirements include read/write permissions on all product physical folders and pages, and for both ASP.NET and the ASP anonymous user accounts on the web server. This is very easy for most Host Providers to setup for you.

*Note: When active, the product pages have a built-in alert and error-checking system, which can provide some assistance and feedback to you on the requirements for your website, should any of the required items listed above be disabled on your website or server. We also offer free support by email concerning all issues you may have installing our software.

Did you know that GoDaddy, our hosting partner, offers Windows-based website hosting that is compatible with our products? You may get a very affordable website for your Island product at GoDaddy.com by clicking the link image to the left! Be sure to follow our GoDaddy setup instructions here, once you are setup with your new site. It will help you setup our product on your new site quickly. It's that easy!

Detailed Requirements

Windows Computer - When installing, you will be required to download our software, after purchase, to a Windows computer or PC. The web pages are stored "compressed" using Windows 2000,XP, or Vista. So, we prefer you use a Windows computer when downloading, so you can easily uncompress the downloaded software pages. If you do not, you may still uncompress our scripts on older Windows machines if you have a copy of WinZip Software. Either Windows XP/Vista or a copy of WinZip software will allow you to extract the files. (Note: Apple Macintosh computer users may try "StuffIt" to uncompress the product folder to their desktops).
Website - You are required to have a website on the Web in order to use our software. There are many affordable and even free website hosting companies online you can use, if you do not have a website, or your website will not support our software. We recommend you consider buying a very affordable Microsoft Windows hosted website for your software, if you do not have one, as well as web domain. Are partner, GoDaddy, fully supports our products. You may get a Windows website for free or a very small fee when you buy a domain!
Because our software supports traditional features inside a typical IIs Windows web server environment, once you get your website running, it's just a matter of uploading our software to your website in order to get started!
IMPORTANT: Sorry, our software in general will not run on Linux or Unix, even though many now support ASP/VBScript and ASP.NET using Mono. The main reason is MSXML, which is required for our built in XML database to run on the server. If you have a package that allows MSXML and VBScript/.NET to run successfully, then our software may work on your alternative server system.
Windows Website Server - Requires that your website server must be a Microsoft Windows web server (IIs). Any of the following will support the software:
- Windows Server 2000 (highly recommended)
- Windows Server 2003 (highly recommended)
- Windows Server 2008 (highly recommended)
- Windows 2000 Professional, XP Professional, Vista Professional with IIs. If you choose to run the software from your home PC, you may do so as well, as long as you have IIs running on your box.
- *Some additional Microsoft Server packages may also run the site. Please check with your Host Provider if they are running any of these servers. In any case, they must run IIs version 4, 5 or 6.
Windows Website Settings - In addition, the Windows Web Server requirements include setup with the following features. These must be setup in order to run successfully on the server:
- ASP Classic (3.0) must be setup to run on the web server and site
- ASP.NET, version 1.1 or later must be setup to run on the web server and site
- MSXML installed on the server (by default, is on almost all Windows servers - installed with Internet Explorer)
- Because our products read and write media to the web server, they must have "read/write/delete/modify" permissions set on the root folder of the website for the "IUSR_" and "ASP_NET"/"NETWORK_SERVICES" accounts. (Note: The IUSR controls permissions for the ASP and MSXML write access identities. The ASP_NET and NETWORK_SERVICES affect ASP.NET process accounts. The IUSR can be applied directly to the web product folder itself, but the ASP.NET permission must be applied from the web root. Both permissions must be set to allow inheritance and propogate on down through all folders and scripting pages contained inside the website, especially the "web product" folders and pages (example: the "ImageIsland" folder on the web server)

Keep in mind, all web server requirements are the sole responsibility of your Host Provider, who must support and install all these technologies on the web server that supports your hosted website. In all cases, your host provider can easily check and verify these technologies are present, or simply add them free of charge, as they are all default properties of IIs on most Windows web servers.

(Note: Please read our Support Section on server requirements and other setup issues prior to purchasing our Web Products so you can verify your website and server will support the minimum requirements. If you have any additional questions, please contact your ISP or Web Hosting Provider for information on the type of web server your website uses. We cannot control nor infuence your website and server setup or configuration because of the secure relationship your Host Provider has with you, their customer. But we do recommend you send them to this page for more information if they are having any problems. They may also contact us by email.)

Additional Questions

Can I run your product on a Linux or other non-Windows web server?

No, unfortunately, you cannot run our product on any other server system but Microsoft Windows. Some Linux (Apache) servers may support ASP 3.0 Classic, and even Mono for .NET. Because those servers do not support other required services, such as Microsoft's MSXML, they will not support our software, at this time. In order to run our software, you must have a Windows Server (IIs), as described above in our Requirements area. If you find the product was uploaded and will not run because you are using another type of server, you have two choices. You can either ask your Host Provider to move your website to a Windows Server with the supporting features listed above, or purchase another website that uses Windows. If you elect to move your site, please make sure it is not running dynamic data or scripts that only work on that type of server.

If you have your ISP or Host Provider move your site to a Windows Server, make sure your site is written in plain html or made up of other non-scripting pages and such a move will not adversly affect your existing website. For that reason, in most cases, if you are not on a Windows server, and think you might be using dynamic pages, we recomend you purchase a very cheap hosting plan with Windows, and upload our web product there. You can then link to this second site from your first site, use a new domain you purchase, or creatively use other methods to link to your product on this new website.

What programming language is your product written in?

Our products are written in Microsoft's Active Server Page scripting language called VBScript, with a few special supporting pages written in Microsoft's newer ASP.NET, version 1.1 or later, framework and the C# language. Parts of our VBScripted pages also rely on Microsoft's MSXML libraries, and are used to access our unique XML database technologies. All data in the products we offer are controlled and managed my MSXML. Because MSXML is found on all Microsoft servers and platforms, we use this technology in creating and managing data in all our products. Because our products are so dependent on ASP, ASP.NET and MSXML, we require that all users have a Windows web server (IIs) for their site, and that all technologies are present and enabled on the servers. By default, Microsoft has these technologies present and enabled on most of their web server product line, so in most cases, you dont have to do anything when uploading and installing your web product on a Windows server.

How do I know if my website will support your web products? What server do I have? What server am I using or running?

That is a very good question! There are many ways to find out if your website is hosted on a Windows server (IIs) and has the required features. First, you need to know if your site is hosted on a "Windows Server". If you already have a website and it is functional, you can simply type the url to your site in the box below and press submit to get a response. If you see "Microsoft", "IIs", or "Windows" in the text returned, then you are using a web server compatible with our products:

Another way is to simply email your Host Provider and ask them? Send them our summary of requirements above. Send them only the server requirements information or ask them up front, "Is my website hosted on a Windows web server?". If they say yes, find out if they can setup some services for you, like ASP Classic 3.0, ASP.NET, version 1.1 or later, and the list of permissions outlined above? Thats it!

Another option for you is to download ImageIsle from our website, which is a free version. Upload that to your server and see what you get! If you see some serious error pages, its likely you are not on a Windows web server. If you see the web product interface in your browser, scroll down to the bottom and see if there are any "errors" listed. Do the same when uploading an item into the system. If you see errors at the bottom of the page or get error pages themselves when uploading, your web server may be missing support for one or more needed features. Check our FAQ Section for detailed errors to find out what they mean.

Recommended Web Hosting

Do you need a website? Are you looking for a host provider that supports our web products? We recommend the following website hosting packages:

GoDaddy Website Purchase Area - You can setup our software quickly on GoDaddy.com! (setup instructions)
Brinkster.com

* Note - Be sure to choose "Windows Hosting" when you purchase your site. Sites are very affordable and even free in some cases! These host providers have all the items needed to support our products. You may still need to give the product directory full Write permissions in order to upload items to their server. GoDaddy.com has a simple Directory Management tool that will help you with that process. If you use GoDaddy, we have complete instructions in our FAQ area on how to setup all your requirements for your GiantIsland product right on the server, and without any assistance. You can setup your product quickly with their tools and get up and running fast!

Do I need any special Web Browser to use your Products?

No! All our products are built on Web Standards and XHTML coding, so are fully compatible with the general World Wide Web standards, and are cross-browser compatible with a wide range of agents.