Skip to content


For Contributors

Search the FAQ:

How do I connect to ibiblio?
Sep. 24, 2010
ibiblio maintains login.ibiblio.org to provide shell and sFTP access for its many contributors. You should use it for ssh, sftp, and scp connections. SCP/SFTP can do everything telnet and FTP clients can do, but they are encrypted and secure.

UNIX and Linux: OpenSSH is widely available and comes installed on most Linux systems.

Windows: Lots of folks use Putty, a free ssh client for Windows. WinSCP is a free secure file transfer application.

Macintosh: Mac OS X comes with OpenSSH already installed. Fugu is a nice graphical application for ssh, scp, and sftp.

I can't log in... or I lost my password...
Sep. 24, 2010
If you have trouble connecting or have forgotten your password, please fill out the form at http://ibiblio.org/help. NOTE: Please make sure you are using login.ibiblio.org and not www.ibiblio.org, ftp.ibiblio.org, ibiblio.org, etc. Thanks.

Can I have a mailing list?
Sep. 24, 2010
ibiblio has stopped accepting new mailing list requests due to the number of free and inexpensive alternatives available. We've compiled a list of commercial options.

Can I have a database?
Sep. 24, 2010
ibiblio runs MySQL on mysql.ibiblio.org. To request an account or troubleshoot problems with the server, please use the help form.

How can I add searching to my web pages?
Sep. 24, 2010
If you need full-text searching of your site, you should use what we use: Google. See Google custom search for more information.

Do you do virtual hosting?
Sep. 24, 2010
We will be happy to host your files under www.yourdomain.org , .net, or .com. Please see the page on hosting a domain at ibiblio for more information.

How much do your services cost?
Sep. 24, 2010
We offer these relatively standard services at no charge and in the spirit of open information exchange. As we are not-for-profit and a part of the University, we are not allowed to sell things from ibiblio servers and are not allowed to house pages that display banner ads for commercial websites. If you would like to request a service you believe we should provide, wish to report a problem with our machines or recommend that we upgrade something, please use the help form.

How do I get an email address for ibiblio.org or for my hosted domain?
May. 27, 2011
Given the large number of free, high quality email providers, ibiblio does not offer email accounts. Try Gmail, Yahoo mail, FastMail, or even Facebook. Google has a free Google Apps option for hosted domain email up to 10 addresses.

I need help understanding how to manage a Wordpress installation.
Sep. 24, 2010
Try reading our document on installing and upgrading Wordpress at ibiblio.

How can I repay you?
Sep. 24, 2010
We would be honored if you included one of our "Hosted by ibiblio" images at the bottom of your site's home page. You may choose an image size and format from http://www.ibiblio.org/hosted/.

You can also contribute to ibiblio. Send your or your organization's tax-deductible contributions to:

Ibiblio.org
Campus Box 3456
University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3456
Re: Donation

Make checks payable to University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill with a note "for ibiblio.org"

I'm having problems installing/configuring/repairing my kernel/video display/ethernet card/such-and-such software. Can you help me?
Sep. 24, 2010
Sorry, but we don't do tech support. Try using Google or your favorite search engine.

Can I have access to my web site's Apache transaction log files?
Sep. 24, 2010
Unfortunately, we cannot provide access to log files. We recommend Google Analytics, Yahoo Web Analytics, or another hosted web analytics service to collect usage metrics.

I just received a message telling me my account was going to be deleted. Is this true? And more generally, how will Ibiblio contact me if it does need to get in touch with me?
Sep. 24, 2010
Ibiblio will only contact you via the following channels: The ibiblio-announce or webgroup mailing list, or personally from an employee. What this means is that ibiblio will never contact you using an alias address "admin", "support", "root", "info" (the list literally goes on and on).

If you have recieved a strange email from one of these addresses, telling you your account is suspended or revoked, it is a virus, and not from ibiblio.

Again, to be extra clear, ibiblio will not contact you with strange aliases. You will only receive personal contact from ibiblio staffers, directly to your account, or via the ibiblio-announce or webgroup mailing lists.

Is there a development server?
Sep. 24, 2010
ibiblio has a limited development environment for contributors. If you run a site in our /public/html directory, you can access a dev version of the site by browsing to www-test.ibiblio.org/your_directory

If you currently are virtual hosted, you can access your dev environment by browsing to http://www.yourvhost.org.test.ibiblio.org/

How do I change my password?
Sep. 24, 2010
After you log into login.ibiblio.org via SSH (see How do I connecto to ibiblio?), you may type the passwd command at the prompt. You will be prompted for your current password and to enter your new password twice. A typical session looks like the following:

$ passwd
Changing password for user <your username>.
Changing password for <your username>
(current) UNIX password:
New password:
Retype new password:
passwd: all authentication tokens updated successfully.


This will also change the password for your ibiblio email.

How can I connect to my MySQL database with a GUI client?
Sep. 24, 2010
Our firewall will not allow you to connect a MySQL client directly to any of the ibiblio MySQL servers. However, you can establish an SSH tunnel that will allow you to connect indirectly.

How it works

An SSH tunnel is an encrypted channel between two machines; in this case between your computer and mysql.ibiblio.org. SSH connects the two machines by using a third machine as the tunnel; in this case login.ibiblio.org acts as the tunnel. Your computer sends encrypted information to the tunnel machine and the tunnel machine forwards the data to the remote machine. When you establish a tunnel you assign a local port number that will be forwarded via the tunnel to a port on the remote machine. This allows you to pretend that a service running on the remote machine is actually running on your computer. So, to connect your MySQL client to mysql.ibiblio.org, create a tunnel on local port 3306 to port 3306 on mysql.ibiblio.org using login.ibiblio.org as the tunnel.

Setting it up

On Linux, Mac OS X, or Cygwin, you can use SSH command line client create an SSH tunnel:

$ ssh -T -L 3306:mysql.ibiblio.org:3306 username@login.ibiblio.org

This establishes the SSH tunnel. The -T
option suppresses the TTY allocation meaning you will not start a new shell with this SSH session. The -L option establishes local port 3306 as the local end of the tunnel, mysql.ibiblio.org as the remote end of the tunnel, and 3306 as the remote port. The final parameter, username@login.ibibilo.org, tells SSH to use login.ibiblio.org as the tunnel and names your account as the requesting user. Now, any packets that I send to local port 3306 will be encrypted and sent to login.ibiblio.org where they will be decrypted and routed to mysql.ibibilo.org on port 3306.

On Windows, use PuTTY to create an SSH tunnel. Excellent instructions are available here. The MySQL port number on all ibiblio MySQL servers is the default: 3306.

Once the SSH tunnel is established direct your MySQL client to connect to localhost (generally 127.0.0.1) port 3306.

Why can't I use FTP to access ibiblio.org?
Sep. 24, 2010
We have disabled FTP access to ibiblio.org for security reasons. Please see the FAQ item on connecting to ibiblio for recommendations.

How do I access my ibiblio gmail account?
Apr. 21, 2011
You can login to ibiblio here.
If you have forgotten your username or password or encounter any other problems, submit a help ticket.