Internet Services
The following services are available to Bur.st's users. You must sign-up as a user before you are able to request additional services.
User Account
A user account gives you the following access and services. To apply for a Bur.st account, visit the Sign-up page.
Email Account
A user account also gives you an e-mail address @bur.st. You can access this on shell.bur.st using a terminal mail client, via POP3/S or IMAP/S from any common email program (e.g. Eudora, Netscape Messenger etc), or via Bur.st's Webmail client. See the webmail section of the support page for more information.
Web page
A web-page can be uploaded via FTP, SCP or SFTP to your account and viewed as http://www.bur.st/~user. Users have detailed web logs emailed to them once a week. A virtual domain can also point to part of your web-space, such as www.domain.com. For more information please see the Domain Hosting section.
Unix Shell access
Unix shell access allows you to:
- Read your email using a terminal email client
- Encrypt it with a PGP client
- Use a terminal IRC/ICQ/MSN/AIM/Yahoo client
- Read Usenet news
- Run network diagnostics
- Browse the web using a text based browser
- Play with files in your web space and test CGI/PHP scripts
- Compile and write software
File storage
You can also use your account as an on line storage and backup area by uploading files to it. Bur.st's /home area is stored on mirror-ed drives so that a single drive failure doesn't result in data loss. Home directories can also be added to the nightly/weekly back-ups and off-site backups to protect from human error or disaster.
Additional Services
The following additional services are available to you once you have been given a normal account. Please request addition services here.
Domain hosting
Bur.st can also host your domain for you, eg yourcompany.com (and obviously www.yourcompany.com).
Bur.st has a number of redundant name-servers, located at logicaly and physicaly separate sites, to look after the DNS serving for your domain. Should you be familiar with BIND, you get full access to your domain's zone files to administer the zone yourself, otherwise you can direct queries/changes through .
Your email gets hosted on Bur.st's primary mail server, and backed up by a number of backup mail servers dotted around the country. Your domain is hosted "virtually", as in you then direct it to other email addresses or Bur.st POP3 accounts as you wish. You get full access to the aliases file to adminster it yourself, or you can email .
Finally, Bur.st's web-server can store your domain's web-site, so your users can go to "www.yourcompany.com". You receive a weekly email with basic statistics of hits to your web-page and can be given access to your web-logs for processing yourself with third-party web-log analysers.
You may combine the hosting needs of your domain if you wish. eg, you may wish to host web and mail on your own server, in which case you may choose to use Bur.st for full DNS hosting, back-up mail hosting/seconding and then host the email and web-pages yourself.
Domain seconding
If you're doing all your own mail/DNS/web hosting (eg, you're a hosting company or an ISP) and you need a backup in case your primary site goes down, Bur.st will provide you with DNS seconding for your domain on it's collection of backup NS servers.
These servers are logically separated (they use different Internet providers and often use more than one) and physically separated (they're in different buildings on different power and one is 4000km away in Sydney). They are all also on UPS and diesel generator power.
PHP, mySQL access, Perl and Python CGI web access
Bur.st can also add PHP, Perl and Python access to your web-site as well as providing you with mySQL data-base access.
To use PHP you must have a domain or bur.st subdomain hosted with us. PHP will not work in your www.bur.st/~user webpage.
Email alias
An alias or forwarder is where you have an email address user@bur.st forwarding to another account, such as the POP3 account provided by your ISP.
This is useful if you want a vanity email address, don't want people to see your real account's address, or don't want to be tied to an ISP for your email (you can change ISPs and simply point your alias to the new account without anyone noticing).
Data backup
If you require off-site backup of your vital data, Bur.st does nightly and weekly backups of data.
Sub-domains of "bur.st"
Bur.st happily gives out sub-domains of "bur.st", either hosted on your own machines, hosted on yours and seconded by Bur.st, or hosted entirely by Bur.st.
Request extra services
Domain addition/change
Use this form to add hosting for a new domain or to change an existing domain (eg, move it from the normal web-server to the PHP web-server).
Bur.st subdomain addition/change
Use this form if you would like a Bur.st subdomain.
Extra POP3 mailbox
Use this form if you would like an extra POP3 mailbox.
MySQL access
Use this form if you would like MySQL access for your http://www.bur.st/~user web page. If you were going to use it with an existing or new domain or subdomian, please use the Domain addition/change form or Bur.st subdomain addition/change form.
You will require an account for all extra services.
You are also required to be a donating-user for everything other than:
- Normal DNS/mail/web domain hosting (of a single domain)
- Normal DNS/mail/web sub-domain hosting (of a single sub-domain)
- DNS seconding
Bur.st is fueled by user donations.
- Visit this page to learn how to donate and help to keep us up and running.
- Donating users can request additional services by clicking here.
- If you do donate, fill out the donation form so it is registered with our system.
Bur.st is proud to be a member of the Western Australian Internet Association.
