New to hosting-need help

Hey everyone. I just started reselling hosting as a favour to a friend. I got a free trial on hosting at DSVR, and they seem really nice, helpful, etc. But I am completely new at this, and I'm having trouble with what seems like should be the simplest things, like setting up e-mail on the mail server for my friend. I've been surfing, but I can't find anything that helps me sort of figure out where to start; what the basics are, you know?

From my numerous emails to the support team, I've picked up one or two things, but I'm not really sure how they fit into the big picture. For instance, from what I've had to do to get the server to allow *.shtml files I've learned that I'm essentially configuring the server (which I belive is Apache 2.0, but I'm not sure). I've been to the Apache pages, and printed off a whole bunch of stuff, but again the big picture is missing.

Anybody out there want to point me in the right direction? Like is there a site that explains server config in general for the complete beginner? I really want to spend my time designing, not configuring a server...

Thanks in advance,
Leslie
(aka Kodiak)