How to create a website on the server with ISPmanager

We have a server where ISPmanager is installed and we want to create a website on that server.

Creating user

Create a user who will own the site. ISPmanager → Accounts → Users → click Add. Activate PHP and SSL for the newly created user.

Configuring name server

The simplest way is to use registrar's name servers that do not require additional server configuration.

If the registrar provides name servers, in the member area order DNS-hosting (we need Secondary), and specify IP address of your server in the A record.

If your registrar does not provide names servers, configure name servers so that your site can be accessible by its name. There are several ways how to do that. We can use the most economical way when our server is used for as one name server, and a free service is used as a slave (we'll take the most popular ns2.trifle.net ).

Create a web-domain in ISPmanager → Domains → Web-domains → Add.

Configure records for our domain in ISPmanager → Domains → Domain names → Records.

1.1.1.1 — IP address of your server domain.com — domain name ns2.trifle.net — any free service

For domain.com domain's registrar specify servers together with IP addresses, i.e. records will look like this:
```
ns1.domain.com/1.1.1.1
ns2.trifle.net/195.24.128.164
```
Register and specify your data on free secondary trifle.net .

Checking performance

To open your site by its name, you should wait for some time after you configured name servers and changed data. DNS cache can be updated up to 72 hours. We don't want to wait for so long, so we will perform the following operations on your PC:

If Unix -based OS is installed on your PC, add the following record into the /etc/hosts file:
```
 1.1.1.1 domain.com
```
1.1.1.1 — IP address of your server domain.com — domain names
If you use Windows, add the following record into the file C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
```
 1.1.1.1 domain.com
```
1.1.1.1 — IP address of your server domain.com — domain name

Now you can access the site by its name and see the welcome message: "domain.com has been just created."

Once DNS cache is updated, delete the above settings.

Adding site content on the server

If your site already has some content (for example, a third-party organization created a site for you and provided ready-to-use files), you should upload files to the server.

Log into ISPmanager with privileges of the site owner. ISPmanager → Accounts → Users — select our user — Log in.

Open the site directory in the File manager. ISPmanager → WWW → Web-domains → select your site → Directory.

Upload the site's file to the server. Click the Upload icon → file type → File from the local computer → Select (you can select either all the files or only one).

Now your site is accessible at domain.com.

Installing CMS on the server

If the site is not ready yet and you do not want to be preoccupied with partition languages/programming, you may use a CMS to easily add content to your site.

Followings are the steps you need to complete to install a free CMS WordPress (installation guide can be found in the official documentation .

Log into ISPmanager with privileges of the owner of your site. ISPmanager → Accounts → Users → our user → Log in.

Download the installation archive from developers site into our server. ISPmanager — WWW — Web-domains — select your site — Directory — Upload.

In the form that will open specify URL of the installation archive.

Unpack the archive into the current directory — Extract.

The Installation Wizard is accessible at http://domain.com/wordpress , and all the content that we are going to add through CMS can be found here. We need the content to be accessible at domain.com. So, we move all the data received from the WordPress directory into the root directory of the site.

Browse to the WordPress directory → select all the files → Copy → select domain.com in the directory tree — click Ok.

Open http://domain.com in your browser and follow the steps of the Installation Wizard.

During the installation process, you will need to provide data for accessing the database. ISPmanager — Databases — Add.

After completing the installation, the CRM will be accessible at http://domain.com/wp-admin . Now you can proceed with adding content to your site. Refer to the official documentation .

Installing an SSL certificate

All out software products by default run through the SSL protocol (https://) that is used for secure data transfer on the Internet. An SSL certificate is used for secure connection between a server and a client's browser in order to identify the server.

For the ISPmanager control panel and our newly created website a self-signed certificate is used.

To be able to open the site through a secure protocol, and to display the green sign in the address bar, you should buy an SSL certificate from the Certification Authority and then install it.

Select a required SSL certificate here . Our site is not a shop and we are not going to receive payments, so we need the simplest certificate, such as RapidSSL .
After we pay for the order, you will receive the confirmation email to the mailbox that you provided an approval email. Follow the steps described in that email to confirm the order.
Soon you will receive the email from the Certification Authority containing the certificate's archive.
Install the certificate through ISPmanager. Log into ISPmanager with privileges of the site owner. ISPmanager → Accounts → Users → select our user — Log in.

Then, ISPmanager → WWW → SSL certificates → Add → Certificate types → Existing → provide any name for the certificate, provide the data received into the fields.

The SSL certificates installation guide can be found here .

Activate the certificate for our site — ISPmanager → WWW → Web-domains → select your site → Edit → Show hidden fields — in the drop-down list select the SSL certificate.

Now you can access your website at https://domain.com through a secure connection.

Documentation