Providing DNN4Less with access to your Server/Local Machine

In order to investigate issues, provide setup guidance or to troubleshoot reported problems, DNN4Less support technicians may require access to any one of your local machine, web server and database.

We understand that this kind of access information is sensitive, and are best kept to a need-to-know basis. With this in mind, we will only require access to your systems where it is absolutely necessary.

We have taken every precaution to ensure that our systems which store access information are highly secure. However, there are additional precautions that we advise our customers take before providing us with access credentials.

In all cases where we require access to your systems, we will make it clear to you exactly what access is needed, and why.

Summary of this article

1. When providing a technician with access to one of your systems, it is always best to change the password of HOST/ADMIN/ADMINISTRATOR account being provided to a random password temporarily, while the issue is being traced by us.
2. Once your issue has been resolved, you should change the passwords of all provided accounts as soon as possible.
3. In all issues that require access to your systems, the technician will make it clear to you exactly what access he or she needs to, and why.

Access to your systems

Depending on the task which needs to be performed, a DNN4Less technician may require access to one of your systems. Where the system supports user account based access, we strongly advise that you change the password of HOST/ADMIN/ADMINISTRATOR account being provided to a random password for DNN4Less support for the duration of the issue, with only the essential permissions to your systems.

1. Change the existing password of HOST/ADMIN/ADMINISTRATOR account with a random and complex password.
2. Once your issue has been resolved, you should change its password as soon as possible.

Please note that we may require access to specific user accounts (such as your own) in order to diagnose user or account-specific problems. In this case, we advise that you change the account's password before providing us with the credentials, and changing your password again after the issue has been resolved.

Access to a Server Administrator account

More often than not, we will require access to an administrator account on your DNN4Less Virtual rivate Server or Dedicated Server. Follow the steps outlined in the Access to your systems section of this article.

Access to an FTP account

In order to repair or trace problems, DNN4Less support may require access to the files of your webites. Follow the steps outlined in the Access to your systems section of this article.

Make sure that this account is a user-level account that has access to the directory in which your website is installed, unless our technician specifically requests an unrestricted access account (see below).

'Root' (unrestricted access) to your server

If a technician asks for 'root access' to your server (a root account with unrestricted permissions), please do not be alarmed. Only in the rarest of cases will we ask for such access - i.e. when our ability to diagnose and resolve your issue absolutely requires it (such as generating or monitoring server logs, or making server configuration changes).

When providing us with root/unrestricted access to your systems, it is imperative that you follow the temporary account creation steps outlined in the Access to your systems section of this article.

Access to other systems

A DNN4Less technician may require access to another of your systems; such as to a POP3 or IMAP e-mail account when diagnosing e-mail problems, or direct access to your database in order to perform repairs.

When providing access to your other systems, we advise you follow the procedures described in the Access to your systems section of this article.

Firewalls and IP based authentication

If your systems use or are protected by IP address authentication (e.g. if you have a firewall), please let us know and we will provide you with the list of our office IP addresses to allow through.

Due to company network policy, I am unable to provide access

If this is the case, please inform us and we will discuss the options with you (such as shared and supervised remote control).