The cPanel has a Backup Wizard that lets you easily backup and restore all or parts of your domain files and databases.

1. Login to domains.skidmore.edu.
2. In the Search Box at the top of the page, search for “Backup Wizard”, or under Files click on Backup Wizard.

3. If you click the “Backup” button, you will have the option to create a full or partial backup. A full backup will create an archive of all the files and configurations on your website. You can only use this to move your account to another server, or to keep a local copy of your files. You can’t restore full backups through your cPanel interface. In order to restore files, you’ll need to download partial backups.

Mapping your domain is an important part of domains.skidmore.edu; it reinforces the idea that you don’t necessary need to host all your own applications. You should, however, be mindful of making your web presences part of a domain you control. If you would like to map a subdomain and have not yet created it, use this tutorial on creating subdomains before proceeding. To map your domain, or a subdomain, to Blogger, use these steps:

1. To get started you’ll need to login to your control panel by going to the domains.skidmore.edu homepage and logging in. 
2. Here you’ll login with you Skidmore username and password. 
3. Once logged in you’ll be at the homepage of your control panel. The easiest way to navigate the panel is using the search feature in the top right panel. Click the Search box and type “DNS” (without the quotes). Click on Advanced Zone Editor and you will automatically be directed to the DNS Advanced Zone Editor page. Or, you can scroll down and click on the DNS Advanced Zone Editor button on the cPanel.
4. Find the domain, or subdomain, you want to map to Blogger in the list of Zone File Records. Under the Action column, click Edit. 
5. Leave the Name, and TTL fields set to their defaults. Update the Type drop-down menu to CNAME, and the Address field to ghs.google.com. Click Edit Record when you are done. Keep this window open; you will need it in later steps. 
6. In a new window, go to the Blogger website, and login with your Blogger/Google username and password. 
7. From your Blogger Dashboard, find the blog you’d like to use, expand the More Options menu, and click Settings. 
8. On the “Basic Settings” page, find the Publishing section, and click the Setup a 3rd party URL for your blog link. 
9. Under Advanced Settings, type the full subdomain or domain you are mapping into the box, leave the Use missing files host? option set to No, then click Save. 
10. You will be presented with a message that your domain cannot be verified, along with information about your existing DNS entry, and an additional DNS entry that needs to be made. This is normal. Copy the second entry under the Name, Label, or Host entry to your clipboard. 
11. Go back to the window or tab containing the Advanced DNS Zone Editor in your create.ou.edu cPanel. In the Add a Record section, paste the text you just copied into the Name field. This information will be different for each domain. Set the TTL field to 14400, and the Type drop-down menu to CNAME. 
12. Go back to the window or tab containing the Blogger Advanced settings panel, and copy the second entry under the Destination, Target, or Points to column to your clipboard. 
13. Go back to the window or tab containing the Advanced DNS Zone Editor in your create.ou.edu cPanel. In the Zone File Records section, find the domain you were editing Action for and paste the text you just copied into the CNAME field. This information will be different for each domain. Click Edit record when you are done. 
14. Return to the window or tab containing the Blogger Advanced settings panel, and click Save.
15. If everything was successful, your domain will now appear as the Blog Address. Keep in mind that it may take up to 72 hours for your domain or subdomain to correctly point all visitors to the correct location.

Skidmore Domains’s Installatron offers 9 e-commerce applications. However, members of the Skidmore College and Skidmore Institute of International Studies community are not allowed to utilize these applications to actually conduct sales or make money.

In Skidmore’s Web Policies under ‘Guidelines for All Web Pages’, section 1b, it states:

Unauthorized use of Skidmore College’s Web sites for commercial purposes is prohibited. Personal or institutional Web pages may not be used for direct advertising for personal profit or gain.

Under section 1d of the ‘Guidelines for Student Organization Sites, Personal Pages and Postings’, it further states that:

The College will review complaints, questions, and concerns regarding allegations of copyright infringement, misuse of intellectual property, harassment, use of College Web resources for commercial purposes, and other legal issues. If the complaint is valid, the College will contact the student organization’s Web editor and request immediate revision of the Web page and/or removal of inappropriate materials in compliance with College policies, intellectual property law, and guidelines for responsible use of computing resources. The College may shut down the Web site if there is inadequate or no response from the student organization. Illegal, irresponsible, or unethical activities may result in loss of privileges or penalties consistent with the judicial procedures and policies of the College.

Mapping your domain is an important part of domains.skidmore.edu; it reinforces the idea that you don’t necessary need to host all your own applications. You should, however, be mindful of making your web presences part of a domain you control. If you would like to map a subdomain and have not yet created it, use this tutorial on creating subdomains before proceeding. To map your domain, or a subdomain, to Tumblr, use these steps:

1. To get started you’ll need to login to your control panel by logging into domains.skidmore.edu/dashboard. 
2. Here you’ll login with you Skidmore username and password. 
3. Once logged in you’ll be at the homepage of your control panel. The easiest way to navigate the cPanel is using the search feature in the top right panel. Click the Search box and type “DNS” (without the quotes). As you type, the cPanel page will begin to narrow down results. Find and click on Advanced DNS Zone Editor to continue. 
4. Find the domain, or subdomain, you want to map to Tumblr in the list of Zone File Records. Under the Action column, click Edit. 
5. Leave the Name, and TTL fields set to their defaults. Update the Type drop-down menu to CNAME, and the Address field to domains.tumblr.com. Click Edit Record when you are done. 
6. Visit the Tumblr website, and login with your Tumblr username and password. 
7. After logging in, click the Tumblr Settings icon.
8. For the Tumblog you’d like to use under the Username click the pencil icon to edit these settings.
9. Check the Use a custom domain checkbox. Type the name of the domain or subdomain you want to map to Tumblr into the box, then click Test your domain. 
10. If your domain mapping was successful, you’ll see a message that your domain is now pointing to Tumblr. Click the Save button before leaving the page. Keep in mind that it may take up to 72 hours for your domain or subdomain to correctly point all visitors to the correct location.

LimeSurvey is a survey making tool that allows you to easily create and execute a variety of assessments. Some of the features available in this application are:

• Unlimited number of surveys, questions, and participants
• Multi-lingual surveys: 80 different languages supported
• Surveys can be shared via a link, or you can send tokens so only specific users can access the survey
• Send invitations and reminders by email
• Ready-made importable questions & surveys
• 28 different question types with more to come
• Conditions for questions depending on earlier answers
• Anonymous and non-anonymous surveys
• Integrate pictures and movies into a survey
• Printable versions of your survey

Installing LimeSurvey

1. To get started you’ll need to log in to your control panel (https://domains.skidmore.edu/dashboard) using your Skidmore username and password.

2. Once logged in you’ll be at the homepage of your control panel. Navigate to the Installatron by looking under the ‘Software’ section or typing “Installatron” into the search bar at the upper right corner of the page.

3. Click on the Applications Browser tab (the one with the star). Then select LimeSurvey under the ‘Apps for Surveys and Statistics’ section.

4. This page gives you more information about the LimeSurvey software. To begin the install, click ‘install this application’ in the upper right-hand corner.

5. On the next page the installer will ask for some information about this install. The first thing you’ll want to do is decide where to install it. If you’re wanting to install LimeSurvey on your main domain, you can leave the directory area empty. If you created a subdomain, you can select it from the dropdown menu. You also have the option of installing LimeSurvey in a subfolder by typing in the folder name in the Directory field. Click here for more information about subdomains and subfolders.

6. By default the installer will automatically backup your website and update it anytime a new version comes out. While we recommend you keep this option, it is possible to only do minor updates, or turn them off completely. The installer will also create a database for you automatically, but if you’ve already created one for this website you can choose Let me manage the database settings and enter the details. Click Install to continue. 

7. The installer will take just a few moments to install LimeSurvey and a progress bar will keep you updated. When it is complete you will see a link to your new LimeSurvey site as well as a link to the backend administrative section below it.

8. Congratulations, you have now completed the installation of LimeSurvey! Click the administrative link to log in and begin creating surveys with your new LimeSurvey installation.

Using LimeSurvey

You can learn how to use this application in the official LimeSurvey Manual. This support documentation wiki can help you get started by showing you how to do the following:

• Set your user preferences after your first login
• Create a survey
• Administer a survey
• Manage your surveys
• How to design a good survey

Domain mapping, simply put, is deciding where visitors should be directed when they visit various pieces of your website. Domains and subdomains can be mapped directly to folders located within your webhosting account, where you may have installed WordPress, Omeka, MediaWiki, or other web applications. Domains and subdomains can also be mapped to some third-party providers.

Scalar is a free, open source authoring and publishing platform that’s designed to make it easy for authors to write long-form, born-digital scholarship online. Scalar enables users to assemble media from multiple sources and juxtapose them with their own writing in a variety of ways, with minimal technical expertise required. More fundamentally, Scalar is a semantic web authoring tool that brings a considered balance between standardization and structural flexibility to all kinds of material.

Scalar also features a built-in open API that allows you blend your Scalar content with other data sources, build your own visualizations, or create completely new interfaces for your materials. You can see some custom designed Scalar sites on this Skidmore Domains Apps Showcase site.

1. To get started you’ll need to log in to your control panel (https://domains.skidmore.edu/dashboard) using your Skidmore username and password.

2. Once logged in you’ll be at the homepage of your control panel. Navigate to the Installatron by looking under the ‘Software’ section or typing “Installatron” into the search bar at the upper right corner of the page.

3. Click on the Applications Browser tab (the one with the star). Then select Scalar under the ‘Apps for Content Management’ section.

4. This page gives you more information about the Scalar software. To begin the install, click ‘install this application’ in the upper right-hand corner.

5. On the next page the installer will ask for some information about this install. The first thing you’ll want to do is decide where to install it. If you’re wanting to install Scalar on your main domain, you can leave the directory area empty. If you created a subdomain, you can select it from the dropdown menu. You also have the option of installing Scalar in a subfolder by typing in the folder name in the Directory field. Click here for more information about subdomains and subfolders.

6. By default the installer will automatically backup your website and update it anytime a new version comes out. While we recommend you keep this option, it is possible to only do minor updates, or turn them off completely. The installer will also create a database for you automatically, but if you’ve already created one for this website you can choose Let me manage the database settings and enter the details. Click Install to continue. 

7. The installer will take just a few moments to install Scalar and a progress bar will keep you updated. When it is complete you will see links to your new Scalar site.

8. Congratulations, you have now completed the installation of Scalar! Click the top link to log in to your Scalar installation.

Using Scalar

You can learn how to use this application in the official Scalar 2 User Guide or Scalar 1 User Guide depending on which format version you choose. These support guides will help you get started and begin publishing with Scalar.

Video Tutorial & Ideas

Known is a social publishing platform that combines aspects of blogging and social media. It’s very easy to use and works like a Facebook group or Tumblr.  You can invite up to 200 users to collaborate by sharing posts, status updates, photos, and audio.  You can also make your own events or RSVP to external events. Known integrates with a number of social networks. When you publish on Known, you can choose to syndicate your content to a variety of sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr, Soundcloud, and more. It also has the following features:

• Use hashtags with any content to categorize and organize what you publish
• Privacy settings that let you make posts or the whole site public, private, or for members only
• View, edit, and post from any device (tablets, smartphones, etc.)
• Import posts from a WordPress site

1. To get started you’ll need to log in to your control panel (https://domains.skidmore.edu/dashboard) using your Skidmore username and password.

2. Once logged in you’ll be at the homepage of your control panel. Navigate to the Installatron by looking under the ‘Software’ section or typing “Installatron” into the search bar at the upper right corner of the page.

3. Click on the Applications Browser tab (the one with the star). Then select Known under the ‘Apps for Content Management’ section.

4. This page gives you more information about the Known software. In order to connect Known to your social media accounts, you will need to install it on a subdomain. Before you proceed with this installation, first create a new subdomain. Once you have set up the subdomain, you can install Known by clicking ‘install this application’ in the upper right-hand corner.

5. On the next page the installer will ask for some information about this install. Select the subdomain you created from the dropdown menu. You also have the option of installing Known in a subfolder by typing in the folder name in the Directory field. Click here for more information about subdomains and subfolders.

6. By default the installer will automatically backup your website and update it anytime a new version comes out. While we recommend you keep this option, it is possible to only do minor updates, or turn them off completely. The installer will also create a database for you automatically, but if you’ve already created one for this website you can choose Let me manage the database settings and enter the details. Click Install to continue. 

7. The installer will take just a few moments to install Known and a progress bar will keep you updated. When it is complete you will see a link to your new Known site as well as a link to the backend administrative section of the site.

8. Congratulations, you have now completed the installation of Known! Click the second link to log in to your Known site.

Using Known

You can learn how to use this application in the official Known Guides. These support guides will help you get started and begin posting content on your Known.

Remember back before everyone had computers that fit in their pocket, how companies would ship a book full of phone numbers to your doorstep? We might have known who we were looking for, but we needed to look up phone numbers unless they were your crazy relatives that you learned to memorize. When you get your own domain name, by default it’s nothing more than a shortcut, an address, or (to fit this very imperfect analogy) a phone number. When you type a domain name into the address bar of your browser, someone has to identify it and tell it what to display. That’s where a name server comes in.

A name server is a computer, running as a server, that keeps a record of all the domain names that are associated with it and keeps track of where those domains should go. In the case of domains.skidmore.edu the name server is the same computer that runs the hosting. You can peek behind the hood and see this in action by going to the 'Websites and Domains' tab of your panel account and clicking on 'DNS Settings'. You see, DNS stands for Domain Name System and the name server on domains.skidmore.edu gives control to it to identify what should be displayed when someone types in your domain. Consider the fact that you might have one or more subdomains in your account. The name server and DNS are able to identify those subdomains and let the world wide web know that they exist and point to some files/folders on a computer somewhere.

When you signed up for a domain through the domains.skidmore.edu system your name servers were chosen for you. So when people type in your address, the server responds with information about your account. When you migrate an account away from one hosting platform like domains.skidmore.edu and onto a new service, it will require you to change the name servers so that your domain name points to a new server with its own files and structure. It’s also possible to have subdomains that point to entirely different servers than domains.skidmore.edu. For example, you could have a subdomain that looks to Tumblr for files.