Shared hosting

How to add a site?

2014-01-26

This article explains how to add a site in the control panel, change its settings and change its main domain.

Before you add a site:

  • register the domain name with a registrar;
  • order hosting in the billing panel;
  • point the domain to the hosting (set our NS, see "How to connect a domain to hosting (our NS)").

How to add a site

  1. Log in to the control panel and open "WWW" -> "WWW domains".
  2. Click "Create site".
  3. Enter the "Domain", for example example.com, and the "PHP version" (for a static site, "No PHP (static site)").
  4. Check the other fields:
    • "Document root" - leave it empty, the site files will be in the www/<domain> directory;
    • "Aliases (additional domains)" - for example www.example.com;
    • "IP addresses" - at least one IPv4 is required;
    • "Redirect to HTTPS" - turn it on if you plan to use SSL;
    • "Enable human-readable URL processing" - for WordPress, Laravel and other CMSs with "pretty" links;
    • "Create a DNS zone with records" - leave it on if the domain will use our NS.
  5. Click "Create site".

How to add a site?

After that, upload the site files to the www/<domain> directory via "File manager", FTP or SFTP. Then issue an SSL certificate (see "How to get a free Let's Encrypt SSL certificate?").

How to change site settings

Click the site in the "WWW domains" list: aliases, PHP, SSL, compression, cache, redirects and other settings are there. More details: "Site (WWW domain) settings".

How to add a site?

Recommendations

A few tips worth keeping in mind when you set up a new site:

  • We recommend ordering a dedicated IP address (see "Dedicated IP address").
  • You can also choose an IPv6 address: more and more internet services move to IPv6.
  • Use an admin e-mail on the site's domain (for example admin@example.com), not on mail.ru, yandex.ru, etc.
  • Compression and cache are set on the site's "Optimization" tab. For compression, we recommend medium values, around 5.
  • Be sure to turn on caching of static files (the expires header): search engines require it, and the site loads faster.

How to change the main domain of a site

The site files are kept; only the domain they are attached to changes:

  1. Delete the old site in "WWW domains" without checking "Also delete site files".
  2. Rename the site directory in "File manager" to the new domain name (or enter the old directory in the "Document root" field when you create the site).
  3. Create a site with the new domain.
  4. Issue a new SSL certificate for it.

Important

  • The panel creates the needed directories itself. Do not delete system directories of the account (logs, mod-tmp, etc.): this can break your sites.
  • Do not delete site logs by hand: clear them in "Logs" (the "Clear" button) or set up rotation.