Your hosting account is ready: initial setup checklist

Gather the five details needed for initial setup

If you cannot access the site after setup, follow the website troubleshooting guide. Use the hosting limits guide to assess resource usage.

1. Verify your account and service details

First find the service you purchased in the customer portal. Compare the product name, service term, disk allowance and other resource limits with your order. Obtain the control panel address, server name and assigned IP from that service's access instructions.

The customer portal and hosting control panel may be different applications. Logging into one does not always give automatic access to the other. Store credentials in a password manager and grant access only to people working on the relevant project. Enable two-factor authentication if the panel supports it.

2. Add the domain to the correct account

Check that the primary or additional domain is spelled correctly in the hosting panel. The web root is the folder containing files published on that domain. Some panels use public_html, others use httpdocs or another domain-specific folder; do not assume a generic folder name.

If you have not pointed your domain yet, you can set up and test in the new environment first. DNS can remain with another provider. Use the DNS guide to check whether you need to change only a web record or the nameservers; do not accidentally delete email records.

3. Prepare the application's requirements

Find the PHP and database versions your application supports in its official documentation. Verify that the required PHP extensions are enabled. Choosing a newer version alone is not enough; the theme, plugins and custom code must also be compatible.

If a database is needed, create one and a user dedicated to that application. Grant the user the necessary permissions on the correct database; obtain the connection address and port from the panel. For the common 'database connection failed' error, first check the database name, username, password and server address.

4. Place files securely

Use the panel's file manager or a secure transfer method supported by the service. SFTP and FTPS are different protocols; verify which your panel supports. Upload files to the correct web root. If you extract a large archive on the server, do not leave the archive copy in a publicly accessible directory after installation.

Update production database and domain details in configuration files. Keep file permissions within the application's recommended scope; do not grant unrestricted write permissions to every directory to solve an issue. If moving an existing website, follow the migration checklist.

5. Verify DNS, HTTPS and email separately

Once the website works in the target environment, point the DNS record to the verified IP or service name. After certificate issuance, test access over HTTPS. Check that the root domain and www variant lead to the expected address.

If mailboxes are included in the hosting service, create accounts in the panel. Test incoming and outgoing mail with an external address; a working website does not prove email also works correctly. If email uses an external provider, preserve its MX and TXT records.

6. Complete the post-launch checks

• Do the homepage, inner pages, images and file downloads open?
• Do form messages reach the expected address?
• Do login, search and any ordering functions work?
• Have noindex directives or access restrictions left over from testing been removed?
• Are the backup scope, renewal date and responsible person defined?
• Have test files, old backup archives and temporary accounts been removed?

If an error occurs, do not change several settings at once. Record the exact error text and the step where it happened, then provide the details in the support request preparation guide.