Try visiting the address http://127.0.0.1 which should display your web page if Neptune is online. Ensure that your port number is set to 80 by clicking Change Site Settings and selecting the Advanced tab.

If you are having trouble accessing your page from over the Internet, but can view it from your local computer, disable any firewall software (installed by default on Windows XP), or allow incoming TCP connections to port 80. For instructions on how to enable this under Windows XP click here.

This suggests another program (most likely a web server) is using port 80 of your computer. There are several possible ways around this-firstly, you could close the program presently using the port on your computer. If you have Windows NT/2000/XP (usually the server editions), Microsoft's Internet Information Services could be running. Evaluate whether you need this functionality and if possible remove the HTTP ("Web site") role.

Alternatively, click the change site settings link in the main window and go to the Advanced tab. From there you can change the port number to a different value (try 81, or any number less than about 32,000), but remember to include it when quoting the address of your site, for example

http://123.123.123.123
becomes:
http://123.123.123.123:81

To prevent users using unnecessary resources on your computer, Neptune automatically limits the maximum number of simultaneous connections per user to 4. Once a user has 'maxed out' their connections, Neptune waits a short time (120 seconds by default) before the ports are available to them. Once the lockout is lifted, subsequent access attempts are granted. You can change the number of simultaneous connections per user on the Options > Connections tab.

When upgrading Neptune you must first un-install all previous versions, then the new version of the software must be installed in a new directory. To retain settings from a previous version, you may wish to save the file 'Global.dat' and place it in the new version's directory.

Click Change Site Settings, then the Security tab. Click Add and type the name of the directory or file to protect, e.g. \images or \index.htm. Do this for as many resources as you wish to protect, then click Edit Users > Add and specify the user name and password which will be required for access. Return to the Security tab and double-click one of the protected directories, and select the user(s) who will have access to it from the list.

Click Change Site Settings, then the Virtual Folders tab. Click Add, select the folder you wish to share from the list and click OK. You are now prompted for a name that will be used to access the folder as a sub-folder of the root directory. For example, if you choose 'public' as the name, visitors to your site can access the folder via the address http://mysite.com/public.

You can use the example files found in the free Neptune Resource Kit to allow visitors to upload files to your website. The option to Allow file uploads must be ticked in the Change Site Settings window.

Download Neptune Resource Kit
(Zip file, 138 KB)

Right-click your Internet connection (which should be located in Network Connections or Connect To on the Start Menu) and choose Properties. Click Advanced, then Settings. Tick the checkbox next to “Web Server (HTTP)” and click OK, then OK again.

Type the address of your website followed by 'remote.console', for example http://mysite.com/remote.console to access Neptune's Remote Console feature. By default this is protected by a password, so you will have to enable user access to the resource by clicking Change Site Settings, then the Security tab.

Go to Options > General. Choose the options to Run Neptune when I start my computer and Go online automatically. These will enable Neptune to start serving your website as soon as your computer is started up. In order for files to be viewed on the Internet, an appropriate connection must also be made at this time. You may also opt to Start in the System Tray if you would like Neptune to be initially hidden from view.

The feature is not to upload files to an FTP server at your web host. The addition of the ‘FTP Address Upload’ feature was to allow users to redirect visitors to their current IP address, either by uploading a text file containing the address, such as ‘My Site.txt’ or a scripted HTML page that automatically redirects visitors to the site to your current server’s IP.

Neptune features two methods that allow you to access your site when you're away from your computer. The first is by using a free DynDNS account, in which a domain name such as mysite.dyndns.org is set to point at your current IP address. Your site would then be accessible via the address http://mysite.dyndns.org no matter how often your IP address changed.

The alternative enables you to upload a text file containing your current IP address to an FTP server. For users who don't have a static or memorable IP address, especially modem users, the ability to periodically upload the current address of your site allows you to access your files when away from your computer.

Assuming you own webspace at a free hosting provider, you might upload files via the FTP server ftp.freehosting.com
Your personal webspace might be accessible via the address http://www.freehosting.com/1234
Neptune would periodically upload a text file named "SiteName.txt" containing your current IP address, so that you could view this file over the Internet and retrieve your current address.
In addition, you can choose to create a 'redirect page' which will send visitors from your free webspace to your current IP address. For example all visitors to http://www.freehosting.com/1234/redirect.htm would be sent to your server’s current address, such as http://123.123.123.123.

Generally speaking, .com, .co.uk, and similar addresses must be purchased from a site such as www.freeparking.co.uk. There are free alternatives, however, such as DynDNS.

With this service you can sign-up for a name such as http://mysite.dyndns.org for free. For example, http://silverforge.dyndns.org points to our website www.silver-forge.com.

We took the decision in July 2004 to change the name of what was Cintel Orion to Neptune Web Server. A concensus was reached that the old name did not properly differentiate our product from the competition. We hope the new product name can be as powerful a symbol for easy-to-use personal web servers as Orion was.