Adding Sites To Your WordPress Optimized Template Server

Posted on by dpepper | Updated:
Category: Tutorials | Tags: WordPress
Reading Time: 4 minutes
Note:
Please note that this article is considered legacy documentation for an older account management system.

Pre-Flight Check

  • This article applies specifically to Liquid Web’s Managed WordPress servers.
    We will be adding a WordPress site directly through the Manage interface, the preferred method for WordPress Optimized Template servers.

Step #1: Open the Server Dashboard

  1. Log into your Manage dashboard and click the [+] button to the left of your WordPress Optimized Template server’s name to expand the dashboard.Open the Dashboard
  2. Click on the Sites button in your dashboard to launch the WordPress Sites view.Click on Sites

Step #2: Add A Site

  1. To add a site, click the Install a WordPress Site button, fill out the requested information, and then click Add Site to add the new site.Add a Site
    • Domain Name is the domain name you want to add to the server. If the domain name is using Liquid Web nameservers, a free SSL certificate will be ordered and installed on the domain, and WordPress will be configured to use the https protocol on the site. If the domain name is pointed elsewhere, an SSL can be added later.
    • Username is the WordPress admin user. The username specified here will be used to log into both WordPress and the site’s cPanel account. It must be 16 characters or fewer.
    • Email is the contact information for the site.
    • Password is the credential which will be used to log into both WordPress and cPanel. It should be a strong password, and can contain upper- and lower-case letters, numbers, and basic special characters such as underscores.
    • Verify Password requires you to enter the password again, and will alert you if it does not match what was entered on the Password field.
    • Automatic Updates allows you to choose between automatically updating WordPress itself (Core), WordPress and its plugins (Core and Plugins), or disabling automatic updates altogether (None). It is recommended to at least enable automatic updates for WordPress itself.
  2. The site now will be listed in your Sites dashboard, where you can change update preferences or install a free standard SSL on the domain.

Step #3: Review Settings

Once you return to the Sites dashboard in Manage, you’ll now see your new WordPress site listed in the WordPress Sites section. Click on the [+] next to the domain name to expand the view and configure options for the site.

Review Settings
  • Automatic Updates: You can choose to have the WordPress core or the WordPress core and all plugins updated automatically, or you can disable update Automatic Updates altogether. Simply click the Update button after making any changes to the selected option.
  • Automatic Backups: The WordPress installation automatically will be backed up on a daily basis, and 10 of the daily backups will be retained. Beginning on the 11th day, the oldest backup automatically will be deleted when a new one is created. You will see a list of each backup listed under Automatic Backups once the first backup has been taken.
  • Install Free Signed SSL: Automatic SSL installation is possible only when the site’s domain name is registered and pointed to Liquid Web’s nameservers. If the domain is new or using other nameservers, you can click Install Free Signed SSL to get an SSL certificate for the domain ordered and installed at no charge.
Note that WordPress Optimized Template Hosting includes a free standard domain SSL certificate covering the domain name of each WordPress site you add to the server. The server itself is protected by a self-signed SSL certificate to encrypt cPanel, mail, and ftp connections. If you would like to purchase a third-party verified SSL certificate to cover core services on your server, you can find instructions for ordering and installing an SSL certificate for your hostname at Install an SSL certificate on a Domain using cPanel, and you’ll find a guide to installing the certificate at Installing Service SSLs in cPanel. Should you need any assistance purchasing or installing an SSL certificate for the hostname, please feel free to contact a Heroic Support® technician.
  • Delete WordPress Site: The Delete WordPress Site button will completely remove the site and its associated cPanel account, and all data associated with the site immediately will be removed from the server. That data will not be recoverable, so it’s imperative that you confirm that you have a local backup of the site files before deleting any site.
Any local backups taken would be stored on the server; these types of backups would be deleted along with the rest of the files in the account if you were to delete the site. It is recommended that any such backups be downloaded to your local computer before you delete a site. Storm® backups, if you elected to configure them during server setup or enabled them later via the Backup tab in your Manage dashboard, do contain a full image of the server and would not be deleted by removing the account; however, restoring an individual file or site from a full-server backup is not a drag-and-drop process and can require significantly more time than restoring from a local backup.

Step #4: Access Your New Site

Once you’ve added the site, an email will automatically be sent to the address on file for your account. The “Welcome to your new WordPress site” email contains:

  • the WordPress site’s login URL
  • the site’s IP address (for adding or updating the domain’s DNS record)
  • instructions for obtaining your free SSL certificate (if it was not able to be installed automatically)
  • SFTP connection information

Once you have made any necessary DNS changes and they have had time to propagate, you should see a standard WordPress installation at the site’s URL. You then can log in and start working with your WordPress Optimized Template site.

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