Detailed description of installing web applications on purchased hosting.
The process of starting the web app hosting service can be divided into 2 main parts
Installing Web App
Installing process any of the web apps takes place in Plesk server control panel, so you need to log in there to start. But before you begin, make sure that:
- Your hosting service is active. Log in to customer dashboard on www.smartxhosting.com, go to Services and check status of Web App Hosting service. We activate services shortly after payment confirmation.
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Your domain is properly configured and pointing to your server. If you registered or transferred domain during ordering process, DNS zone should be configured automatically and all you need to do is wait for changes to propagate.
If you use domain registered in other registrar, you need to change DNS servers there to those shown in your domain DNS zone in customer dashboard. Go to Services -> Web App Hosting -> DNS Settings, edit DNS zone for domain related to web app hosting service and find entries for NS records. Set these entries as DNS servers in current domain registrar and wait for changes to propagate.
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You have at least one active email account. Some web applications may require you to receive an email during installation process, so we recommend create one before installing an app.
To create email account login to customer dashboard at www.smartxhosting.com and go to Services -> Web App Hosting -> Email Addresses and press "Create Email Account" button. Then fill in the form and click "Create" button.
Step 1: Login to Plesk server control panel
If you have your service active and domain properly configured, you may login to Plesk control panel to start web app installation procedure. To do so, go to the service setting in customer dashboard and click Plesk link in the sidebar menu or Plesk tile in One Click Login section.
You will be automatically logged in to server control panel where you can take the next steps of installing your selected web app.
Step 2: Install SSL certificate for your domain
This step is optional in most cases, but we strongly recommend to take it, because SSL certificate is base security feature for every web service. We provide free of charge SSL certificate from Let's Encrypt. It will be installed automatically if DNS settings for your domain are correct and propagated. If you want to speed up issuing certificate process, you can install it manualy. To do so click SSL/TLS Certificates icon in server control panel.
On the next page you can choose what kind of certificate you want to install. We offer various selection of premium paid certificates as well as free one from Let's Encrypt. To install free SSL certificate click "Install" button at the bottom of the screen.
Now, provide an email address for administrative purposes and select areas you want to secure. We recommend these selected on the screen below. To issue your SSL certificate click the "Get it free" button.
If there was no errors during the issue process, you should see a page with information that your domain has been secured. Now you are ready to go to the next step of installation procedure.
Step 3: Checking destination directory
Important note! To make sure that your web application will work properly you need to check if the destination directory is empty before starting the installation.
To check if there no files in destination directory click "Files" icon on the main page of server control panel and go the "httpdocs" folder. If there are any files there, archive them if necessary and then delete them.
Step 4: Checking app PHP requirements
Each application requires different PHP version to work. To make sure you server is prepared correctly check requirements of your desired application here:
Then make necessary adjustments in server control panel. To do so click "PHP" icon in the server control panel dashboard and choose the right PHP version in the PHP support menu, as shown below.
Step 5: App Installer
Once you have SSL certificate successfully installed, email account created and destination folder checked, you can proceed to App Installer, a tool we will use to select and install web application.
After clicking App Installer link in server control panel a new tab will open in your browser with a app installation tool. You will see a list of all available web applications to install.
You can filter the view by selecting desired category in the menu on the left side of the screen. Please note that the list of available applications may vary as we refreshing it regularly.
If you have selected your application to install, click the "Install" button on the chosen tile i follow the instructions displayed on the screen.
Please note that there is an alternative way of installing web applications on purchased hosting using customer dashboard instead of server control panel. If you want to use this method, please refer to this guide.
