For a content management system, an online store or any more advanced website to run at all, you need a database and web server (web hosting). It is always a computer or a program that can work with all kinds of scripts and requests. For our purposes, what matters most is that the server can process PHP scripts, handle HTTP requests and work with the SQL language.
The software most often used to run a web server is Apache, mainly thanks to its versatility across different platforms. It supports Windows, Linux and Unix.
The most widely used database for web applications is MySQL, and for storing the data of a content management system it is, given its security and integrity, a suitable choice for most web applications.
For database management, an application is also most often used that lets you work with tables and data in a simplified form. This application is called phpMyAdmin and you will find it on our hosting.
This administration differs from the administration of your website itself mainly in that it sets up how the background services run. So for you to upload your website to the web hosting and have it “visible” to the general public, everything must first be set up correctly.
The sequence of steps needed to start running a website for the public is as follows (you will learn everything you need later in this article, the points are just to give you an idea):
- correctly set DNS records
- have a database created
- have an FTP account created
- only at this step can you upload your website files to FTP
- if you also want to use your own mailboxes, you have to create them in the web hosting admin panel
After your web hosting is set up, you will receive several sets of access details for managing the individual parts of the service package. In the rest of the article we offer a brief summary of them, with links to the relevant categories.
At this point we would like to point out that most users have everything set up by us, because they have their websites with us, so most of them are interested in setting up email. If that is the case for you too, you can go straight to step 2.
1. FTP and FTPS
Use the FTP protocol to access the files in your web hosting. We recommend using its encrypted variant FTPS (SSL), which most decent FTP clients should support. Specifically, you can use explicit SSL (FTPES), where the FTP client connects to port 21 and then switches to encrypted mode. Implicit SSL by connecting directly to port 990 is not possible.
Upload files that should be publicly accessible to the web subdirectory.
FTP access works immediately after your web hosting is set up and you can upload files right away, there is no need to wait for the domain to be pointed in DNS.
When you finish working with an FTP account, we recommend locking it, and unlocking it again before you use it next time.
You will find the article on setting up a new FTP account under the title How to create an FTP account and manage files.
2. Emails
With every web hosting you get mailboxes, that is, the option to create them.
Mailboxes are managed (created, reconfigured, deleted) in the admin panel. More in the article Creating a new email account.
The interface for working with a specific mailbox (settings, sending and reading mail) - Web email client
To receive emails in your email client, you can use the POP3 and IMAP protocols, and for sending you can use our SMTP server. We recommend using their encrypted variants POP3S, IMAPS and SMTPS. You will find these email programs and instructions for setting them up in the articles Setting up email in Microsoft Outlook and Setting up email in Mozilla Thunderbird.
The specific POP3, IMAP and SMTP server addresses for your web hosting are given in the articles mentioned above.
3. DNS settings
If you use our DNS servers for the domain you ordered web hosting for, we will take care of the correct setup.
If you do not use our DNS, you need to set the required A records for the website and MX records for email to use the web hosting. You will find the specific settings in the article DNS / DNS records.
If, for example, you are moving web hosting to us from another company and want to upload, prepare and test your website first, before you make the DNS change, your website is accessible immediately after setup through a special URL, the exact form of which we will tell you after you contact us.
4. Databases
You can create any number of MySQL databases for your web hosting. You can do so in the admin panel.
The article How to access the database will help you with setting up, creating and managing a database.
5. PHP
PHP is available on the web hosting in version 5.3, with 5.4 as the default.
You will find more information about choosing and configuring PHP in the article Choosing a PHP version.