Web Hosting
Managed shared hosting. You buy a package, which is a pool of storage and a support level, and inside that package you create one or more sites. A site is one set of hostnames, one runtime, its own files, and any databases it needs.
Each site gets a browser console, a cron scheduler, on-demand backups and SFTP access. You do not manage servers, containers or web server configuration.
Ordering is not instant
A hosting order waits for a person
Most of our products are set up automatically. Hosting is not. After you pay, the order sits in manual fulfilment until it is processed by hand, and nothing in the portal counts that down for you.
Plan for it. If you need a site live at a fixed date, order the package a few working days ahead.
The flow has two steps, and they are easy to confuse:
- You order a package. Once it is fulfilled, it shows up under Web Hosting in the dashboard as an empty package.
- You create the site yourself. Use Add site on the package. You choose the site name, the hostnames, the runtime and the web server. This part is immediate.
A site you just created starts in Provisioning and turns Active once it is serving. Until then the portal shows the status badge and nothing else.
The site name is a short slug, and it is unique across all customers, not just your account. If it is taken you get:
site name already in useInvalid names are rejected with the rule spelled out:
invalid site name (3-32 chars, lowercase letters/digits/hyphens, must start with a letter)Storage is one pool for the whole package
Every site in a package draws on the same storage figure. What counts towards it:
| Counted | Not counted |
|---|---|
| The files of every site in the package | Backups you have created |
| Database size, data plus indexes | |
| Mailboxes on domains attached to a site |
Usage is measured once an hour, so deletions lag
The number in the portal is a measurement, not a live counter. Delete 20 GB and the figure stays where it was until the next hourly run. Do not delete more files because the first deletion "did nothing".
Going over the package size does not block anything. Writes keep working, the site keeps serving, and nothing is suspended. The excess is metered hourly and billed as a separate line item on your next invoice. The current rate is on the Web Hosting product page.
The portal shows the state as a plain sentence on the package:
2.1 GB over package quota — overage will be billedChanging plan
Change plan on a site offers larger packages only. There is no downgrade in the portal, and the API refuses one:
target product must be a higher tierAn upgrade takes effect immediately and is prorated against your current billing period. It raises the package size; it does not move, resize or restart anything. To move to a smaller package, contact support.
What is not included
Say what you need up front, because none of these are settings you can switch on:
- No SSH shell. File transfer is SFTP only, and one-off commands run through the console in the portal.
- No SSH public keys. SFTP authenticates with a password.
- No file manager in the browser and no phpMyAdmin. Files go over SFTP, databases over their credentials.
- No working
mail(). There is no mail transfer agent in the runtime, so PHP'smail()has nothing to hand the message to. Send through SMTP instead. - No root, no package installation. Everything runs as an unprivileged user and only
/appsurvives a restart. - No
/healthz. That path is reserved on every runtime and never reaches your code.
Start here
| Page | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Domains, DNS and HTTPS | Which hostnames you may use, the records to set, www, certificates |
| Runtime and PHP settings | PHP versions, nginx or Apache, document root, the settings you can change |
| Files, console and cron | SFTP, the directory layout, one-off commands, scheduled tasks |
| Databases | MariaDB, credentials, rotation, connection limits |
| Backups and restore | On-demand backups, what is in them, what restore actually does |
| Troubleshooting | Indexed by the error you are seeing |
What's next
- Domains, DNS and HTTPS, because a new site serves nothing until DNS points at us
- Files, console and cron to get your code onto the site