Knowledgebase Archives - Page 3 of 5

How to import and export a database via SSH

You can easily import/export your database using phpMyAdmin menu in cPanel. To do so, follow the instructions here. It allows processing only the databases that do not exceed 50Mb. If your database is bigger, you will need to use SSH commands.

Shell access is disabled on Shared servers by default, so if shell access was not enabled for your account previously, first of all, enable it with the help of this article.

The next step is to log into your account via SSH. This tutorial will guide you through this process.

Note that before performing an export or import, you will need to assign a database to a user. You can do it in cPanel > MySQL Databases menu > Add a User to a Database option:

Make sure that you enable All Privileges option:

You can find more instructions on database creation and assigning it to a user here.

In order to import a database, use the following command:

mysql -u dbusername -pdbpassword dbname < /path/to/file/file.sql

You can also use:

mysql -u dbusername -p’dbpassword’ dbname < /path/to/file/file.sql

mysql -u dbusername -p dbname < /path/to/file/file.sql

In order to export, use this one:

mysqldump -u dbusername -pdbpassword dbname > /path/to/file/file.sql

The variable in italics are the following:

dbusername: the name of a database user assigned to this database (it should be in the format of CPANELUSERNAME_DATABASEUSER), or your cPanel username
dbpassword: the database user password (if you use a database user as a username) or your cPanel password (if you use your cPanel username as a username)

NOTE: No space between -p key and the password if you enter it in the command.

dbname: the name of your database you are importing to or exporting from. It should be created in your cPanel. The format is the following: CPANELUSERNAME_DATABASENAME
/path/to/file/file.sql: the path to the mysql dump that you are importing to (then a new file will be created) or exporting from your cPanel account. Here you can use both relative and absolute path formats. If you are in the folder with the file, you can just type the file name with the extension. With the absolute path, for example, it will be the following: /home/CPANEL_USERNAME/public_html/database.sql

If you do not receive any error or notification after pressing Enter, it means that the command was performed successfully.

Let us provide with an example.

We will use the following settings:

dbusername: nctests_user (as a database user), nctests (as a cPanel username)
dbpassword: 123qwe
dbname: nctests_database
path to the file: /home/nctests/public_html/databases/db_file.sql

After defining all the variables, the command will look the following way:

Database import

mysql -u nctests_user -p123qwe nctests_database < /home/nctests/public_html/databases/db_file.sql

NOTE: You can also use the following command:

mysql -u nctests_user -p nctests_database < /home/nctests/public_html/databases/db_file.sql

This way, you need to enter the password in the next line:

Database export

mysqldump -u nctests_user -p123qwe nctests_database > /home/nctests/public_html/databases/db_file.sql

NOTE: You can also use the following command:

mysqldump -u nctests_user -p nctests_database > /home/nctests/public_html/databases/db_file.sql

This way, you need to enter the password in the next line:

That’s it!

How to work with scripts in Softaculous

Softaculous is a great tool in cPanel that allows installing different scripts like WordPress, Joomla, Magento, etc. in a click of a button.

However, Softaculous is not just a script installer, it has a number of features, which can make managing your website much easier! So, taking a few minutes to look through this article will definitely show you how to manage your websites in a more efficient way.

First of all, you need to open the Softaculous menu in cPanel. It is located under the Exclusive for Namecheap customers section section of cPanel:

Then you can start managing your scripts through Softaculous using this guidance. It will teach you how to:

1. Install software
2. Import an installation
3. Set up auto-backups and auto-upgrades
4. Backup software
5. Restore backups
6. Upgrade software

7. Clone an installation

8. Create Staging

9. Remove an installation

Install a software

You can install different software on your site in several clicks using the Softaculous auto-installer following this article.

Import an installation

If you are using one of CMS scripts available in Softaculous, but the initial installation was performed in a different way, you can import the installation to Softaculous. You need to know the name of the installed script, and then you are ready to proceed with these steps to import it:

1. Find a script you would like to import using Search or Categories in Softaculous:

2. After you click on the name of the script you wish to import, you will see the main page of that script in Softaculous. Navigate to Import tab:

3. Select a domain name from the drop-down menu and type in a directory where the installation is currently located. In our example we have the WordPress installation in the root folder of nctest.info, so we will keep In Directory field empty. If you have an installation in the subdirectory of your domain, like in nctest.info/wordpress, you will need to type ‘wordpress’:

3. Click on Import button. You will see Congratulations page if everything’s done properly.

Set up auto-backups and auto-upgrades

It is possible to set up auto-backups and auto-upgrades of your script on the installation stage. However, if you forgot to do it, you can enable these options at any other moment. In order to do it, follow the steps:

1. Open All Installations page of Softaculous:

2. Locate the required installation and click on Edit icon:

3. There, you need to put checkmarks in a few checkboxes (as shown in the screenshot below) in order to manage auto-backups and auto-upgrades of your website installation:

4. Click on Save Installation Details at the bottom of the page.

Make sure that you check the notes below carefully:

NOTE 1: Auto-upgrades may fail or break your website, but Softaculous always makes a backup of your installation right before performing an auto-upgrade, so you will be able to return back to a working version of your website by restoring that backup.

NOTE 2: When using Backup Rotation option, you are allowed to set 10 copies maximum per each script you have installed using Softaculous. Thus, when the eleventh copy of your site is generated, it will replace the earliest backup file, the first one, generated for the website installation.

NOTE 3: It is not recommended setting Backup Rotation to more than 4 copies in order not to violate Namecheap Acceptable Use Policy, which states: ‘NO more than 10 GB of a shared hosting account can be allocated to any archive files’.

NOTE 4: Backups created manually will be stored for 28 days. Once this period is over, the backup copy will be removed from the server. Since our hosting service is not intended for storing backup files and other data not related to the website’s operation itself, be advised to download backup files to your local device if you need to store them more than 28 days.

Backup software

Creating a current backup of your website installation is a very simple process with Softaculous. It is enough to do the following:

1. Click on All Installations icon:

2. Locate the required installation and click on Backup icon:

3. Choose whether you would like to back up the entire installation, database or directory with files. Also, you can add a note to your backup and will see some general info about your installation:

4. Click on Backup Installation to start generating the backup.

Restore backups

If something went wrong and your website got corrupted, you can stay calm if you have a backup. Backup restoration allows returning the website to its previous state, and you can do it following these steps:

1. Navigate to Backups and Restore section in Softaculous:

2. There, you can find all available backups of all your websites’ installations. You can choose any of those backups to restore, download or remove using appropriate icons. Also, you will be able to check notes left at the moment of the backup creation. For this, you need to mouse over the notepad icon to see them:

3. After you click on Restore icon, you may choose whether you would like to restore a database or directory with files or both:

4. Once you are ready, click Restore Installation. Several minutes after your installation is returned to its previous state!

Upgrade software

Softaculous allows upgrading software with just one click when you need it. If auto-upgrade is not set up for your installation, you can follow these simple steps to perform an upgrade:

1. Open All Installations page in Softaculous:

2. If a new version of your software is available, you will see a small Upgrade icon under Version section. Click on it:

3. On the next page, it is necessary to check the box Create Backup. It is critical since such automatic upgrades may break your website.

Moreover, before performing an upgrade it is recommended to create another backup of your installation or of the whole account following these instructions:

4. Then click Upgrade to start the process.

It can take a few minutes to complete the process and then you’ll get Congratulations message. It is recommended to check the installation of your website to make sure the upgrade has not broken your website.

If it has broken your website, you will need to restore the backup following the instructions from the Restore backups section of this article.

Clone an installation

If you would like to move/copy the current installation to another directory or even domain, Clone option is exactly what you need.

NOTE 1: Clone option is available for a few scripts only at the moment.

NOTE 2: It may be necessary to update some links/paths in the database of your installation after cloning. Not all of them may be re-assigned to the new domain/directory automatically

Let’s say you have mistakenly installed WordPress to the /wp subfolder instead of the root folder of your domain. In this case, you will need to do the following:

1. Open All Installations page of Softaculous:

2. Click on Clone button:

3. On the next screen, you will see information about the current installation you are cloning. Also, you will need to specify a domain name where you are trying to clone your installation, choose In Directory field and set some other options:

NOTE: In Directory field should be empty if you would like to clone the installation to the root directory of your domain.

4. Click on Clone Installation when you are ready.

Create Staging

As the name suggests, the Create Staging option allows for the testing of upgrades and/or other changes before pushing it to live installation.

1. First, open the All Installations page to see your current website’s installations. See below:

2. Find the installation you want to create staging for and click on Create Staging.

3. Now fill in the respective details for your staging installation:

The protocol
The domain name in question
The directory you wish to set for installation
The database name

4. Click on the Create Staging button.

5. On the next page you will see the website URL and the respective link to that website’s dashboard.

PLEASE NOTE: The admin/user account login details will be the same as the ones you used for source installation.

6. As soon as your staging installation is ready, you can now select Push to Live.

PLEASE NOTE: Every time you select Push to Live, Softaculous will automatically create a backup.

7. On the next page you will see two ways to push installation:

By default
By customization

The Default Push will replace all the files of your live installation with the staging installation ones, effectively erasing the live database import from your staging installation.
With the Custom Push you will be given the opportunity to select those files, databases, table structures, and table data you would like to push.

8. Once you’ve selected your chosen way, click on the Push to Live button. Depending on the size of your installation, the time it takes to go live will vary.

Remove an installation

Deleting an installation is an easy process as well thanks to Softaculous:

1. Open All Installations page to see your current website installations:

2. Find the installation you would like to remove and click on the red cross:

3. On the next screen, you will see general information about the installation you are removing and will be able to choose whether all data of this installation should be removed or not:

4. Click on Remove Installation button.

That’s it!

How to create and restore backups in cPanel

In this article you can find the guidelines on creating and restoring backups in cPanel:

for cPanel paper_lantern theme
for cPanel x3 theme

for cPanel paper_lantern theme:

The Backups menu in the section Files allows you to generate/restore backups of:

a full cPanel account
a MySQL database
mail filters
mail forwarders

How to create a full cPanel backup

A full cPanel backup includes all account files, databases, email accounts and settings.
We recommend creating a full cPanel backup before any major data modification/migration.

1. Go to cPanel > Files section > Backup menu:

2. Click on Download a Full Website Backup:

3. By default, a full cPanel backup will be saved into your account home directory.
Go ahead and change Backup Destination if you would like to choose another target location for the backup.

Click on Generate Backup to proceed:

4. You will see the following message notifying about the start of the backup generation process:

5. Click on Go Back to monitor the status of the generation process real time.

The green checkmark next to the backup name will indicate that the backup generation has been completed.
You can now either download it or navigate to the remote server to see if the backup is there:

How to restore a full cPanel backup

Note that you cannot automatically restore full cPanel backups through your cPanel interface if you have a shared or reseller account with us.
To have it restored, you will need to submit a ticket to our Hosting – Support department.

If you have a VPS or Dedicated server with root access, you can restore the full cPanel backup yourself in WHM > Restore a Full Backup/cpmove File.

NOTE: This will overwrite all the existing files, so before proceeding make sure there is nothing important left.

for cPanel x3 theme:

The Backups menu in the section Files allows you to generate/restore backups of:

a full cPanel account
a MySQL database
mail filters
mail forwarders

How to create a full cPanel backup

A full cPanel backup includes all account files, databases, email accounts and settings.
We recommend creating a full cPanel backup before any major data modification/migration.

1. Go to cPanel > Files section > Backups menu:

2. Click on Download or Generate a Full Website backup:

3. By default, a full cPanel backup will be saved into your account home directory.
Go ahead and change Backup Destination if you would like to choose another target location for the backup.

Click on Generate Backup to proceed:

4. You will see the following message notifying about the start of the backup generation process:

5. Click on Go Back to monitor the status of the generation process real time.

The green checkmark next to the backup name will indicate that the backup generation has been completed.
You can now either download it or navigate to the remote server to see if the backup is there:

How to restore a full cPanel backup

If you have a VPS or Dedicated server with root access, you can restore the full cPanel backup yourself in WHM > Restore a Full Backup/cpmove File.

NOTE: This will overwrite all the existing files, so before proceeding make sure there is nothing important left.

That’s it!

Reseller Hosting – Getting Started

In this article you will find all the basic information on where to start from with our Reseller Hosting Service.
The following items are to be explained here:

1. Package Information

Welcome Guide Email
Email with Addons

2. Preparing the Domain Name

How to manage Personal Nameservers

3. Preparing the Reseller Account. Description of WHM main functions

How to use Feature Manager in WHM
How to create a new package in WHM
How to create a new cPanel Account in WHM
How to change a password/contact email address for a cPanel account in WHM
How to change a package for a particular cPanel account in WHM
How to edit Resource Limits in WHM
How to edit DNS Zone of a particular Domain Name in WHM

4. WHMCS Billing Platform

How to install WHMCS
Namecheap Domain Registration module in WHMCS

* Module Configuration
* General Settings
* Domain Sync Mode
* Debug Mode

Namecheap SSL Certificates module in WHMCS

PACKAGE INFORMATION

Welcome Guide Email

Once your Reseller Hosting account is activated, you will receive a Welcome Guide Email containing the information about your hosting package, including WHM/cPanel access details, Addons, FTP details and other important references.

You can check an example of such an email right here.

Email with Addons

If you choose some additional services for your hosting account, or in case some of them are included into the package already like SSL Certificate or Private Nameservers, you will receive an additional email message containing the detailed information about them, for example IP addresses for Private Nameservers, etc.

You can also take a look at an example of such email message here.

NOTE: A number of Addons may vary depending on the type of the Reseller package you choose. You can check available Reseller Hosting packages here. To view full technical specification of the package, click on the Tech Specs tab at the bottom of the page.

PREPARING the DOMAIN NAME

Once the hosting account is active, you will need to point the domain name to our nameservers or Personal Nameservers if such are included into the package. You will find nameservers in the Welcome Guide email after the package activation.

How to Manage Personal Nameservers

If you have Personal Nameservers included into your hosting package, you will need to register and set them on the side of your Domain Name Registrar.

In case the domain name is registered with Namecheap, use this tutorial to create Personal Nameservers.

NOTE: IP Addresses for Personal Nameservers are also provided in the Welcome Guide Email.

Once registered, you can set them for your Namecheap domain following the guide here.

PREPARING THE RESELLER ACCOUNT. DESCRIPTION OF MAIN WHM FUNCTIONS

Once you receive the Welcome Guide email and get access to WHM, you can start learning WHM basics and get a few things done. Find the description of main WHM functions below.

How to use Feature Manager in WHM

Feature Manager is an interface that allows creating a list of features that will be available for particular cPanel accounts.

In order to create a specific Feature List, do the following:

1. In WHM navigate to the Feature Manager menu in the section Packages
2. Type in the name of the list you wish to create next to the Feature List Name field and click on the AddFeature List button:

3. Once done, choose the newly created list from the drop-down menu next to the Edit a Feature List field and click on the Edit button:

4. You will be forwarded to the list of features available on our server. Simply pick up the required ones and click on Save at the bottom of the page.

How to create new packages in WHM

A hosting package is simply a set of functions, limitations and resources each cPanel account may have within a Reseller Hosting Account. Basically, having different packages with a different set of functions and limitations allows providing a range of hosting accounts based on particular features.

NOTE: It is recommended to configure a hosting package prior to creating a new cPanel account in WHM to simplify further cPanel accounts management process.

To create a new package in WHM, you will need to do the following:

1. Log into WHM using http://domain.com/whm or https://hostname_server/whm.
2. Navigate to the Add a Package menu in the section Packages.
3. Set appropriate quotas in the Resources section.
4. Choose required settings for the package in Settings, including Feature List.
5. Click on the Add button:

How to create new cPanel Accounts in WHM

In order to create a fresh cPanel account in WHM you need to do the following:

1. In WHM navigate to the Create a New Account menu in Account Functions
2. Fill in the gaps and choose appropriate settings in the following sections:

Domain Information
Package Settings
DNS Settings
Mail Routing Settings

3. Click on the Create button:

For a more detailed and illustrative explanation, feel free to refer to our video tutorial here.

How to reset a password/contact email address for a cPanel account in WHM

If you need to change a password or a contact email address for a particular cPanel account, you can do this in the following way:

1. Navigate to the List Accounts menu
2. Click on ‘+’ next to the cPanel account you need to change the information for
3. Change the password or email account in corresponding fields and confirm by clicking on Change:

How to change a package for a particular cPanel account in WHM

In order to change a package for a cPanel account you will need to do the following:

1. Navigate to the Upgrade/Downgrade an Account menu
2. Choose the account you wish to upgrade/downgrade in Account Selection and click on the Modifybutton:

3. In the next windows you will need to choose the required package from the Available Packages list and click on the Upgrade/Downgrade button:

Feel free to use our video tutorial for a more illustrative example here.

How to edit Resource Limits in WHM

Resource Limits is a WHM function that allows allocating available system resources to cPanel users. It may be useful in order to prevent some accounts from overusing server resources.

Apart from resource limits stipulated by a package, it is possible to adjust the limits for a cPanel account particularly. This can be done in the following way:

1. In WHM navigate to the Modify an Account menu
2. Choose the account you wish to adjust the limits for in the Account Selection field and click on the Modify button
3. You will be forwarded to thte account modification window, and specific resources can be adjusted in the Resource Limits section accordingly.

How to edit DNS Zone of a particular Domain Name in WHM

A DNS Zone is an administrative portion of DNS settings that belongs to a domain name.
In other words, every domain name has certain DNS settings and in order to keep them all together, a DNS Zone file was designed. A DNS Zone can be easily edited via WHM >> Edit DNS Zone menu.

To edit DNS Zone, follow the steps below:

1. In WHM navigate to the Edit DNS Zone menu on the left-side bar.
2. Choose the account you wish to adjust the settings for in the Choose a Zone to Edit list and click on the Edit button:

3. You will be forwarded to the DNS settings modification window where different DNS records types including A, CNAME, TXT, SOA, NS, MX etc. can be adjusted accordingly.

More details on this tool can be found here.

WHMCS BILLING PLATFORM

WHMCS is an all-in-one client management, billing and support system with set-valued features designed specifically for online businesses. Before the installation and configuration process, you can check out the WHMCS demo here.

How to install WHMCS

We highly recommend using the Softaculous script-installer as it is the easiest and the most convenient way to install the WHMCS Billing platform in a few clicks. Furthermore, Softaculous is included into a Reseller Hosting Account by default and is integrated into cPanel.

Feel free to check our video tutorial that explains how to install WHMCS using the Softaculous script installer here.

Namecheap Domain Registration module in WHMCS

Namecheap.com WHMCS Registrar module is an open-source plugin provided free of charge. It was specifically designed with the purpose of integrating Namecheap as a Domain Registrar into the WHMCS platform.

NOTE: You can alternatively use the built-in Namecheap Registrar module in WHMCS. However, we highly recommend using our own module due to constant updates, implementation of new features and advanced functionality.

You can download the plugin right here and install it following the instructions provided on the same page.

Module Configuration

To access module configuration settings, follow the steps below:

1. Log into WHMCS Admin panel
2. Navigate to Setup >> Products/Services >> Domain Registrars menu:

3. In the list of Domain Registrars available, find Namecheap and click on the Configure button. You need to indicate the following information there:

Username: your Namecheap username
Password: Namecheap API key. To get it, you need to log into Namecheap Account, mouse over your Namecheap username >> Manage Profile >> API Access menu
PromotionCode: here you can use Domain Registration Promo Code. Available promo codes can be checked here

NOTE: In order to have API enabled for your account, you should meet one of the following requirements:

have at least 20 domains under your account
have at least $50 on your account balance
have at least $50 spent within last 2 years

Still, you are free to test our API through the Sandbox environment at www.sandbox.namecheap.com

It is also possible to run WHMCS in a test mode. This is useful to test how the configured system will work prior to making it available for public. For this, you may register a Sandbox account and get corresponding access details here.

SandboxUsername: your Sandbox Username
SandboxPassword: Sandbox API key. Sandbox API Key can be retrieved in the same way as the Namecheap API key right here
TestMode: By choosing this option, all the APIs will be forwarded to the Sandbox environment using the corresponding Sandbox Credentials
DebugMode: This option allows identifying and investigating issues with remote API systems. It will make a record of all the API calls sent to the Registrar and all the responses sent back

General Settings

General Settings of the module are available in WHMCS Admin panel >> Setup >> General Settings menu >> Domains tab:

Here you can adjust different Domain-related settings to make the domain registration process even more comfortable for your customers:

Enable Renewal Orders – this option allows domain renewals from the WHMCS client’s area
Auto Renew on Payment – with these settings enabled, the system will automatically renew domain names in WHMCS after the payment is processed
Auto Renew Requires Product – only free domains with the corresponding active service (hosting account, email subscription, etc.) will be auto-renewed
Default Auto Renewal Setting – this option will auto-generate invoices for expiring domain names. This also can be adjusted for every domain name particularly in Clients >> Domain Registrations >> choose the domain name >> select Disable Auto Renew setting
Domain Sync Enabled – enables automated synchronization with the Domain Registrar
Domain Sync Notify Only – the synchronization with the Domain Registrar will not be performed automatically; email notifications will be sent to Admin instead
Allow IDN Domains – this setting will disable A-Z; 0-9 cross-check character validation for domain names entered via the WHMCS client area
Bulk Check TLDs – this option includes TLDs that you want to check in addition to the TLD the client selects during the order
Use Clients Details – this setting allows specifying the details/information that will be publicly displayed during WHOIS lookup for the domains registered through WHMCS

More information on additional options can be found here.

Domain Sync Mode

Domain Sync Mode allows setting up synchronization between WHMCS module and Domain Name Registrar to keep all the domain-related information up-to-date. This includes any domain name status changes, renewals, expiration dates, etc.

To enable this feature, simply navigate to Setup >> General Settings >> Domains and check the Domain Sync Enabled option:

Once this is done, you will need to set up a Cron Job which will be responsible for synchronization in a Reseller’s cPanel account. To do this, simply follow the steps below:

for cPanel paper_lantern theme
for cPanel x3 theme

for cPanel paper_lantern theme:

1. Log into the Reseller’s cPanel account: http://domain.com/cpanel or https://hostname_server/cpanel.

2. Click on the Cron Jobs menu under the Advanced section:

3. In the Common Settings section choose the Once a week option and insert the following string into the Command field:

/usr/bin/php /home/cpanel_username/public_html/path_to_WHMCS/crons/domainsync.php

NOTE: Make sure that you replace the ‘cpanel_username’ part with your actual cPanel username provided in the Welcome Guide email and ‘path_to_WHMCS’ with the actual path to your WHMCS installation.

The sync mode is configured now and all the domain-related information will be synchronized with the WHMCS system.

for cPanel x3 theme:

1. Log into the Reseller’s cPanel account: http://domain.com/cpanel or https://hostname_server/cpanel.
2. Click on the Cron Jobs menu under the Advanced section:

3. In the Common Settings section choose the Once a week option and insert the following string into the Command field:

/usr/bin/php /home/cpanel_username/public_html/path_to_WHMCS/crons/domainsync.php

NOTE: Make sure that you replace the ‘cpanel_username’ part with your actual cPanel username provided in the Welcome Guide email and ‘path_to_WHMCS’ with the actual path to your WHMCS installation.

The sync mode is configured now and all the domain-related information will be synchronized with the WHMCS system.

Debug Mode

The Debug Mode feature allows identifying and investigating any issues with API systems, recording and displaying output results of all the API calls sent to the Registrar and all the responses received back.

NOTE: It is highly recommended to enable Debug Mode only in case of any issues with Module behavior. Make sure that you have not enabled it permanently as it will result in massive log archives on the server side which will take a good part of disk space.

To enable Debug Mode, go to Setup >> Products/Services >> Domain Registrars:

Next to Namecheap, click on the Configure button and select the DebugMode option there. Then click on Save Changes to confirm:

In order to enable/disable debug logging and view the logs, you will need to open Utilities >> Logs >> Module Log menu:

You will find the Enable/Disable Debug Logging and Reset Debug Module Log buttons there:

All the API calls will be listed in the Request field and all the responses from the remote system can be found in the Response field correspondingly.

Namecheap SSL Certificates module in WHMCS

Namecheap.com WHMCS SLL Certificates plugin is an open-source plugin that is provided free of charge. The module is fully integrated with Namecheap, and it completely interacts with our API, which allows automating and managing SSL sales with Namecheap in full.

We have a corresponding KnowledgeBase category dedicated to the module’s general information and configuration settings here. To have a quick access to any required section, use the navigation list below:

1. Before you begin
2. Sandbox and Production environments
3. Download and installation
4. Setting up products and pricing
5. Order process and welcome emails in WHMCS
6. SSL activation from WHMCS
7. Reissue, renewal and synchronization
8. Debugging and addon functions
9. Multi-domain certificates
10. FAQs

What is the difference between shared hosting and VPS?

It is the same difference as between a dedicated server and usual shared hosting.

With a VPS, you receive all the power of dedicated hosting with the ability to have your own set of services and customizable disk space. With shared hosting, you have limited administrative access and can’t customize software configurations, while with a VPS you can perform any actions from your control panel and don’t need to contact technical support with every single request.

Why should I choose VPS hosting?

Virtual Private Server is the right choice for developers, webmasters, resellers and simply for those who run resource-intensive websites. We use KVM and VMware technologies for virtualization, that is why each VPS performs and executes exactly like an independent physical machine and therefore offers security and flexibility for your sites, independence from neighbors, full control over your hosting environment and power of a dedicated server at an affordable price. KVM delivers 133% increase in disk speed performance comparing to XEN technology. Both KVM and VMware VPSs has got their own customers, and we respect all those customers.

What is a VPS?

With a VPS, you open a world of possibilities that would not be possible on shared hosting because of restrictions.

VPS stands for Virtual Private Server. This refers to the partitioning of a physical server into multiple servers. In effect, each one acts just like a dedicated server, you get all the features of a dedicated server but at a lower price. Each VPS has its own operating system, and each can be rebooted separately. These operating systems each receive a specific share of the resources of the physical server, no more and no less, they are isolated from each other so that one cannot interfere with another. If one VPS experiences problems or tries to use too much memory or CPU resources, it has no effect on the others.

There are many advantages to selecting a VPS, it costs less than a fully dedicated server and provides a great deal of freedom and flexibility over the limitations and restrictions of shared hosting. You are limited only by the capabilities of the VPS, so select one powerful enough to meet your needs. You can always upgrade later if you decide it becomes necessary.

As for virtualization technologies we offer KVM VPS servers.

Since you are supposed to manage your VPS yourself, we recommend you have a good understanding of Linux commands and are familiar with the WHM/cPanel control panel. You can get a VPS without WHM/cPanel, but in this case, you would need to have very advanced knowledge of Linux.

If you don’t feel you have the technical expertise necessary to manage your own VPS, there is no need to let that stop you – you can select full management for an additional fee.

You won’t have root access, and it will act much like a shared hosting plan, but you will still make the decisions.

cPanel is required if you choose full management for a VPS.

How to log in to WordPress using Softaculous

Softaculous allows you to install and manage WordPress in a few clicks. It is not just easy to install programs by using it, it is a big time saver because it automates many tasks related to software installation. In this guide, we will show you how to log in to a website’s dashboard using Softaculous.

1. Log in to your cPanel account:

2. Scroll to the bottom of the page, find ‘Softaculous App Installer’ and click the WordPress icon:

3. Navigate to All Installations menu:

4. When working with a CMS, you’ll generally need to log in to it as an Administrator. In order to proceed, click the Admin icon:

You are in. Feel free to manage your website!

How to reset WordPress admin password

There are three ways to reset a lost WordPress dashboard password:

Using the Lost Password option
Using Softaculous Apps installer
In the database

Using the Lost Password option

1. Open your WordPress administrative login page – it is usually located in http://yourdomain.com/wp-admin.

2. Click on the Lost your password? option, fill out the username or email address > Get New Password:

3. Log into your email account, which is set as your administrative WordPress contact. You can find the email message with the password reset URL there, click on it:

4. Enter your new strong password twice on the opened page > Reset password:

Using Softaculous Apps installer

In order to change the password for your WordPress admin user, follow next steps:

1. Log into cPanel and navigate to Softaculous Apps Installer menu:

2. In the Softaculous interface find All Installations icon in the top right corner:

3. In this menu you will see Scripts Installations list. Select the one you need to change the admin password for and click on Edit Details (pencil icon) next to it:

4. Next you will see installation details page. Scroll down to Admin Account section. Here you need to enter your current username and the new password in Admin Password field:

5. Once done, scroll down to the bottom of the page and hit Save installation details button:

6. After that you will receive the message about the successful update:

Feel free to log in to WordPress admin panel using the new password.

Reset the password via the database

If Lost your password? confirmation emails do not arrive, or if you have no access to the email account linked to your administrative dashboard, you can reset your password via MySQL database:

1. Log into your cPanel > section Files > File manager and navigate to the document root of your WordPress website:

2. To check what database is used for your WordPress website, open the wp-config.php file located in:

3. Go to cPanel > Databases section > phpMyAdmin:

4. Select the database in question, table wp-users and click on Edit next to the admin user:

5. On the next page, type in your new strong password into the user_pass box, select MD5 in the Function column and click Go:

You can now go back to the WordPress dashboard page and try to log in with the new password.

How to move WordPress from a subfolder

This article will take you through the process of moving your WordPress website from the subfolderyourdomain.com/wp to the domain root – yourdomain.com:

NOTE: Before proceeding with any changes, make sure that you generate a full backup of your website. If you’ve created your site using Softaculous script installer, feel free to refer to this guide as well (step #4 – Backup software).

for cPanel paper_lantern theme:
Re-installation
Redirection
File migration and Database update

Re-installation

If you just installed your website and have done no or little development, WordPress re-installation will be the easiest way out.

You just need to go back to cPanel > Exclusive for Namecheap Customers section > Softaculous Apps Installer menu:

Create a new one, make sure the In Directory field is empty and proceed with the installation:

Do not forget to uninstall /subfolder website by hitting the red cross in All Installations menu:

Redirection

If the website is pretty much done and re-installation is not acceptable, you can set up a hidden redirect – the installation will remain in the subfolder, but your website homepage will be yourdomain.com.

Take into account that this redirect will make /subfolder disappear only on the homepage, links will still have it – e.g., yourdomain.com/subfolder/contactus.

If it sounds alright to you, add the following redirect to .htaccess file in the domain web root (replacing yourdomain.com with your actual domain name and subfolder with your subfolder):

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^(www\.)?yourdomain.com$
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !(/|\.[^/]*)$
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.yourdomain.com/$1/ [L,R=301]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^(www\.)?yourdomain.com$
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/subfolder/
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /subfolder/$1

1. Navigate to Files section > File Manager:

2. Move to the root folder for your WordPress installation – public_html in case it is the main domain for your account.

Once there, make sure that Show Hidden files (dotfiles) option is enabled in Settings menu:

3. Locate .htaccess file, right-click > Edit:

4. If there is no .htaccess file located in your File manager, feel free to create a new one using File option:

You are ready to add the redirect rule and save it.

File migration and Database update

If the option above does not work for you, and you would like to make sure there is no /subfolder on your website, you can go this way.

NOTE: We highly recommend to back up website files and the database before proceeding.

1. File migration

Go to your website folder using FTP or File Manager:

Select All files > Move them to the domain document root (in our example, from public_html/wp_subfolderto public_html):

Once done, go back to the domain document root to make sure all files have been moved:

2. Database update

You can update old URL references with the new ones in the database either using search and replace scripts or using text editors. Below we provide the guidelines using the latter:

1. To begin with, you will need to locate the database associated with your website. Right-click on the file > View or Edit option:

You will see the database name in this line:

3. The next steps is to download the backup of the database. It can be done in your cPanel > Files section > Backup menu:

4. Unzip the downloaded file. Now you can open .sql file with some text editor and update all the URL references.

Hit Ctrl + F and select Replace option. Fill out the corresponding fields, Find – your old domain, Replace – your new domain) and hit Replace All:

5. Once done, you should get the output like this:

Make sure that you save the changes.

6. Now you can upload the updated database to your cPanel account. To be on the safe side, we suggest creating a new database (instead of dropping the existing one) and connect it to your WordPress side.

To do so, move to Databases section > MySQL Databases menu:

7. Follow the steps below to create a new database and user for it:

Keep these details, you will need to use them a bit later.

8. After that you can upload the database using phpMyAdmin menu in Databases section:

9. Select the newly created database from the list on the left and use switch to Import tab. There you will need to use Browse option to pick up the database .sql file from your local device:

NOTE: If your database is more than 50Mb, import the database following the steps in this guide.

10. Once done, you will need to update wp-config.php file in your installation root folder:

The fields to be changed are:

define ‘DB_NAME’ line – the name of the new database you’ve created in MySQL Databases menu.
define ‘DB_USER’ line – the name of the new user you you’ve created in MySQL Databases menu.
define ‘DB_PASSWORD’ line – the new password you’ve set for database user in MySQL Databases menu.

Save the changes and feel free to check your website.

If everything is working fine, you may delete the old database you used for the website.

11. It is also advised to re-generate the permalinks to make sure they have the new URL. You can do it in your WordPress dashboard in Settings menu > Permalinks.

So if you had Post name, you need to switch it to Plain, for instance, save the changes and then revert everything back:

for cPanel x3 theme:

Re-installation
Redirection
File migration and Database update

Re-installation

If you just installed your website and have done no or little development, WordPress re-installation will be the easiest way out.

You just need to go back to cPanel > Software/Services section > Softaculous > WordPress, make sure the In Directory field is empty and proceed with the installation.

Do not forget to uninstall the /wp website in Softaculous once done:

Redirection

If the website is pretty much done and re-installation is not acceptable, you can set up a hidden redirect – the installation will remain in the /wp subfolder, but your website homepage will be yourdomain.com.

Take into account that this redirect will make /wp disappear only on the homepage, links will still have it – e.g., yourdomain.com/wp/contactus.

If it sounds alright to you, add the following redirect to the .htaccess file in the domain web root (replacing yourdomain.com with your actual domain name and wp with your subfolder)

File migration and Database update

If the variants above do not work for you, and you would like to make sure there is no /wp on your website, you can go with this option.

We highly recommend to back up website files and the database before proceeding.

1. File migration

Go to your website folder using FTP or File Manager:

Select All files > Move them to the domain document root (in our example, from public_html/wp to public_html):

Once done, go back to the domain document root to make sure all files have been moved:

2. Database update

You can update old URL references with the new ones in the database either using search and replace scripts or using text editors.

Below we provide the guidelines using the latter.

Check what database is used for your WordPress website. You can check it in the wp-config.php file located in the WordPress installation folder:

Go to cPanel > Databases section > phpMyAdmin.

Select the database in question and click on Export > Go:

The database will be downloaded to your computer. Now you need to open it and update all yourdomain.com/wp references with yourdomain.com.Once opened, click Ctrl+F and choose the tab Replace. Fill out the fields below correspondingly > Replace All:

Once done, the prompt below will display the result:

Save the updated database and exit the application.
Now go back to cPanel > Databases section > phpMyAdmin and select your database.
Check all tables using the option below and select Drop from the drop-down menu:

On the next page, confirm the actions by clicking Yes:

Once the old tables are dropped, go back and select the database > Import:

Choose the updated database from your computer files to upload > Go:

You will see a green status bar – this will indicate that the database has been successfully imported. On your right, a database tables tree will appear:

Go back to your website and refresh the page to check the results:

Category Archive Knowledgebase

How to import and export a database via SSH

How to work with scripts in Softaculous

How to create and restore backups in cPanel

Reseller Hosting – Getting Started

What is the difference between shared hosting and VPS?

Why should I choose VPS hosting?

What is a VPS?

How to log in to WordPress using Softaculous

How to reset WordPress admin password

How to move WordPress from a subfolder