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Using ISPmanager 5 to manage your Virtual Server

Overview

Using the ISPmanager 5 Control Panel, you can easily manage your Virtual Server. With ISPmanager 5 you can install server applications such as Tomcat or WildFly, stop/start/restart services, and install web applications like WordPress or Drupal. You can also add users, e-mail addresses, web sites, and configure general Virtual Server settings.

This user guide exists to help you with eApps specific functions related to using the ISPmanager 5 Control Panel. More general functions are covered by the official ISPmanager 5 Help system and will be referenced where necessary.

How to tell which version of ISPmanager you are using
Installing Server Applications
Managing Services - Stop, Start, and Restart
Backing up your Virtual Server using ISPmanager
Using the File Manager
Adding Users

How to tell which version of ISPmanager you are using

There are two versions of ISPmanager available: ISPmanager 4 and ISPmanager 5. Both work in very similar ways, but have some differences in functionality. Generally, a Virtual Server created before 26 September 2014 will be ISPmanager 4, and a Virtual Server created on or after that date will be ISPmanager 5. You could also have ISPmanager 5 Virtual Servers if you upgraded your Virtual Server from ISPmanager 4 to ISPmanager 5. Depending on when the individual Virtual Servers in your account were created, you could have both ISPmanager 4 and ISPmanager 5 available to you.

To verify which version of ISPmanager you have, log in to ISPmanager, and look at the navigation pane under the logo on the left. You can find the login credentials and a link to the ISPmanager control panel from the details page for your Virtual Server in your Customer Portal.

If your navigation pane looks like this you have ISPmanager 5 and are looking at the correct user guide:

If your navigation pane looks like this you have ISPmanager 4, and should be using the Using ISPmanager 4 to manage your Virtual Server documentation.

Installing Server Applications

Server Applications, called Features in ISPmanager 5, are generally applications that run at the server level, often as a service. These include applications like Tomcat, Apache, MySQL, and WildFly.

Installing Server Applications is done from Settings > Features. This takes you to the Features screen, where you can see which applications are installed and which are available to install.

Before installing a Feature, check to see if there is a User Guide specific to that application - there may be requirements and prerequisites that have to be met before an application will install correctly. For example, you will need to install the correct version of Java SE before you can install WildFly or Tomcat or the installation will fail. All User Guides for Virtual Servers are located here: Virtual Server User Guides

To install a Feature, click on the name to highlight it, and then click on Resume in the upper left hand corner. When the Feature install is complete, the application will be listed in the Installed column (you may have to refresh the screen to see this).

Applications that are specific to a website, like WordPress or Drupal, are installed from Web-scripts. See the Web-scripts User Guide for more information on how to install these applications.

Managing Services - Stop, Start, and Restart

Services on your Virtual Server will sometimes need to be stopped, started, or restarted. Services can include the Apache web server, the JBoss Java application server, or a database server such as MySQL or PostgreSQL.

Manage these services from System > Services. This takes you to the Services screen, where you can see what Services are running on the Virtual Server and can be managed from this screen.

(Note - this screen shows the services running on a default ISPmanager 5 install. Your Services screen will look different depending on which applications are installed and which services are running on your Virtual Server)

To manage a service, click on the name of the service once to highlight it, and then click Stop, Start, or Restart in the upper left corner. This will perform the selected action on the service.

Some services can also be managed from the command line of the Virtual Server. See the User Guide for that application for more information.

Backing up your Virtual Server using ISPmanager

ISPmanager will allow you to backup certain files and directories on your Virtual Server on a scheduled basis, and store them either on your VS or on a remote server of your own choosing. The backup created in ISPmanager does not back up your entire Virtual Server, nor is it a replacement for the backup solutions available from eApps. Please make sure to evaluate your backup needs carefully.

To create backups in ISPmanager 5, go to Backups > Settings. More information about the ISPmanager 4 backup system can be found here - File Backups in ISPmanager 5

eApps offers two backup services: a Basic Backup and an Enterprise Backup. More information can be found here - eApps Backup Services

Using the File Manager

Using the File manager in ISPmanager you can edit, upload, download, and otherwise manage the files on your Virtual Server. Which files you have access to will depend on which user you are logged in to ISPmanager as. For example, the root user will have access to system level files, but a non-root user will only have access to the files owned by that specific user.

The File Manager is located at System > File manager. More information about the ISPmanager 5 File Manager can be found here - File Manager.

File Manager Actions

In the File Manager you can carry out various actions on directories and files using the buttons at the top right of the screen. Which actions are available to you will depend on the type of file or directory you have selected.

Editing Files in the File Manager

Using the File manager, you can edit plain text files on your Virtual Server. A plain text file is one that is written in plain text, as opposed to an application or binary file, which is created by compiling the file in whatever programming language it was written in. Image files are also binary files.

If you try to edit a binary file, you will see this error - Error: Unable to modify the binary file

Depending on the file type, you may get an encoding error when trying to edit a file.

If you get this error, click on the drop down list, and choose ASCII or UTF-8 from the list. (The error mentions UTF-8, but you can still choose that option).

You will need to confirm that you want to reopen the file with the new encoding in order to proceed. Then you can edit the file.

Adding Users

ISPmanager 5 has a built-in wizard that will guide you through the process of adding a User. As part of adding a User you can also add a Web-domain and a Mail domain.

If you are creating a new website or adding a Mail domain that has a new user, this is the process to use.

To start, go to Accounts > Users. This will take you to the New user screen, starting with Step 1 - New user.

Step 1 - New user

Only four items are required in this section: Login, Template, Password, and (password) Confirmation.

• Login - this is the name of the user who will own the website. This name must be in lowercase letters and is usually a variation of the user's actual name. For example, "Bob Smith" would be "bsmith." Generally only letters and numbers are used.

• Template - change without template to Default. This is not strictly required, but the Default template has a set of options for Limits and Access that most users find acceptable. You can make changes to the Limits and Access at any time.

• Password - this is the password the user will use to login to ISPmanager and manage their site. This needs to be a strong password. If the password is easily guessed then a malicious hacker could gain access to that website. ISPmanager has a function to generate a random password and it is strongly recommended that you use that feature. If you create your own password, ISPmanager will tell you the password strength.

• Confirmation - if you use the password generator in ISPmanager, the password will be automatically entered here. If you create your own password you will need to retype it here.

On this same page are sections for Limits, Access, and Default value. Generally the default values are fine, but if you want this use to have shell (SSH) access, make sure to check Shell access under Access, and if you have PHP installed and this user will have a website will use PHP, check PHP as Apache module.

Once you have added the user, click Next.

Step 2 - Additional information

The web-domain and mail domain are added in this section. If you are going to allow this user to connect to the website using FTP or SFTP that can also be configured on this screen. More information about setting up a website can be found here - Website configuration, and more information on setting up e-mail addresses can be found here - E-mail configuration.

• Create the selected objects automatically - if you want to have most of the information for FTP-user, web-domain, and mail domain added automatically, make sure that this is checked. If you uncheck this box, all you will be creating is the user.

• Add FTP-user - if you want the user being created to also have access to the Virtual Server via SFTP or FTP (usually so they can upload content to their websites) make sure this box is checked.

• Name of the FTP-user - this will be pre populated with the name of the user.

• Add web-domain - make sure this box is checked if you are creating a website.

• Name of the web-domain - this is the FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name) for your website. Only use the domain name, and not an alias or CNAME. What this means is that if you have the domain name of example.com, you will enter that as the name. DO NOT enter something like www.example.com as the Name.

  • Correct - a domain name like domain.com or example.com for Name
  • Incorrect - entering something like www.domain.com or www.example.com for Name

• IP address - if you have more than one IP address provisioned for the Virtual Server, select the one you want to use for this website from the drop down list. If there is only one IP address available, then that will be pre-selected.

• Add mail domain - if you are going to have e-mail for this website, you can add the domain as a mail domain here.

• Name of the mail domain - the same rules for the web-domain apply for the mail domain - FQDN, and no CNAME or alias. Use the exact same name for the mail domain as you did for the web-domain.

• IP addrress - if you have more than one IP address provisioned for the Virtual Server, select the one you want to use for this website from the drop down list. If there is only one IP address available, then that will be pre-selected.

Once you have added the information for the FTP-user, web-domain, and mail domain, click Next.

Step 3 - Confirmation

This screen shows the results from Step 2. If you need to make any changes, click Back. Otherwise, click Finish.

This will take you back to the Accounts > Users - List of users screen. The user you just created will be listed here.

Warning: if you delete the user from ISPmanager, then ALL the files owned by that user will be deleted. This means any websites, e-mail domains and e-mail addresses, databases, etc, that are owned by that user will also be deleted.