The devil is in the details...are you trying to create the dat file on the external server? If so , the dat file will need to be written from the script on the external server. Have you checked the data you're passing the second script to make sure it's getting it? Write a simple script on the 2nd(external) server and simply write a file to the location that you are attempting to write to in the CGI script. If this works, then copy that algorithm into your script and see if your test file is written when you call the second script that displays "thank you". If it is, then there is something wrong with your initial file I/O used to create the DAT file. If not then you may have permissions issues related to the uid that the webserver is running under. Also, is the file being created on the external server with no content? or is it just not being created? If you are able to create the file and nothing is getting put in it... I would wager you aren't receiving the processed form data you are trying to write. I'm rambling because without any code we can only guesstimate your intentions.