Knowledge base

The Cloud Server plan enables you to set up several hosting spaces ("FTP spaces", for which you set up your FTP/SSH accounts) into which you add websites ("Apache vhosts" for the specified domain).

Allocate your websites to hosting spaces as you wish. You can configure them by indicating the root directory along with details such as the memory_limit and max_execution_time settings.

Web tools are available such as cronjobs, My WordPress Site (enabling you to use WordPress easily) or access and error logs. It is also possible to add specific Apache modules or install a caching system.

Managed: we manage the software part, meaning you cannot freely configure the server (no customised installation, for example). Only specific programs can be installed by us. Find out more

Unmanaged: we only manage the hardware and we install the Windows or Linux version selected with the order. There is no intervention on the software level. The Server comes under "your responsibility". You can reboot the server through Infomaniak Manager and a snapshot system is available.

If you are hesitant to take a Cloud Server and you expect to host a lot of video content, you can pair shared hosting with a VOD space. That solves overload problems on a site as it allows you to unlink the audiovisual content from your shared hosting and thus have a video storage space which easily supports significant increases in load. You will also have access to detailed statistics concerning the viewing of your videos.

This guide explains how to change the server configuration of a site with Web hosting and a managed Cloud Server.

The difference between .user.ini and .htaccess files

• Apache is the HTTP server. It is configured with a .htaccess file placed in the root of the website.
• PHP is a programming language used to create dynamic web pages via an HTTP server. It is possible to customize the PHP commands using a .user.ini file. These changes will be effective in the folder and sub-folders where the .user.ini file is located

We will now illustrate 3 ways to modify the server configuration of a site.

1. Changing the PHP configuration via the Manager

Most settings (e.g., max_input_vars, allow_url_fopen, memory_limit, etc.) can be configured via the Manager:

1. Open the Manager (manager.infomaniak.com)
2. Go to Web Hosting
3. If necessary, click the hosting/domain name concerned
4. Under Sites at the bottom, click the domain name of the site concerned
5. Click Advanced settings
6. Under the PHP and Apache tabs, adjust the configuration of the site as needed
7. Save

2. Changing the PHP configuration via the .user.ini file

For the PHP commands not present in the Manager, you must define the desired values in the .user.ini file. For example:

max_file_uploads = 20

The list of existing commands can be found on the official PHP website but the elements with "PHP_INI_SYSTEM" in the "Editable" column as well as max_input_time, memory_limit and mysqli.default_socket cannot be used.

3. Changing the PHP configuration in CLI

To customize the PHP commands using a command line interface (CLI) or in CRON tasks, you must define the desired values in a .user.ini file and then call the PHP executable with the -c .user.ini option

The following example enables the modification of the memory available for PHP:

~/web$ echo -e '' >memory-limit.php
~/web$ php memory-limit.php
memory_limit: 512M
~/web$ echo 'memory_limit = 1024M' >.user.ini
~/web$ php -c .user.ini memory-limit.php
memory_limit: 1024M
~/web$

The following example enables allow_url_fopen for the WP CLI tool (specifically allows the recovery of extensions):

php -d allow_url_fopen=On ~/bin/wp package install trepmal/wp-revisions-cli

Useful resources

• How to create a .htaccess or .user.ini file
• Changing the PHP version of an Internet site
• Enabling Gzip compression
• Enabling Google's PageSpeed Tools
• Increasing the memory and runtime of scripts

This guide explains how to add a site (your-site2.com) or a subdomain (xxx.your-site.com) to your existing hosting.

During this multisite / multidomain (virtual host) management, the disk space and resources of your hosting will be divided between your sites/subdomains.

Add a site or subdomain

1. Open the Manager (manager.infomaniak.com)
2. Go to Web Hosting or Cloud Server depending on your product
3. Click the hosting/domain name concerned
4. Go to Sites and click Add
5. Select the addition of a Domain or a Subdomain 
6. Enter the name of the Domain (e.g., your-site2.com) or a Subdomain (e.g., xxx.your-domain.com)
   • By default, the new site is added to the following directory: /sites/your-site2.com on your FTP server
   • To manually define its location, click Advanced Options (above the Confirm button) and tick Manually define the location, then enter a folder name
7. Under Advanced options, you can select a different PHP version from the recommended one
8. Finish the procedure using the Confirm button

Manage/display your sites

1. Open the Manager (manager.infomaniak.com)
2. Go to Web Hosting or Cloud Server depending on your product
3. Your different sites are displayed under Sites on the Dashboard of the hosting concerned 

Delete a site or a subdomain

1. Open the Manager (manager.infomaniak.com)
2. Go to Web Hosting 
3. Click the hosting/domain name concerned
4. Under Sites, click theicon to the right of site concerned and choose Unlink

Thank you for letting us host your online projects.

This guide will enable you to quickly use the basic functions of your new product. In case of problems, please consult our knowledge base before contacting  our support team.

You ordered a managed Cloud Server and you want...

1. To create a WordPress website with "My Easy Site"
2. To install a Web app (ownCloud, Joomla, Typo3, Drupal, phpBB, Simple Machines Forum, Magento, PrestaShop, etc.)
3. Manage your FTP accounts/users
4. Manage and publish files on your hosting via our FTP Manager
5. Manage your MySQL databases
6. Add a site or a subdomain to your hosting (multisite)
7. Preview your site even if your domain name does not yet point to the Infomaniak servers

Important: If your domain name is not managed by Infomaniak or your hosting is not managed under the same customer account as your domain name, follow this guide to configure DNS or the Records to link the domain name to your hosting.

Thank you for trusting us to host your online projects.

Here are some essential resources for getting off to a good start with your unmanaged Cloud Server:

Unmanaged Linux Cloud Server

• How to log in to your server using an SSH key
• What Linux distributions are supported?
• Formatting and mounting the Cloud Server data volume (important)

Unmanaged Windows Cloud Server

• How to log in to your Windows server
• What Windows versions are supported?

In the event of a problem, please check out our knowledge base. Generally speaking, our support team will only answer your questions regarding the hardware part of unmanaged Cloud servers.

WordPress Site enables you to create a dynamic, user-friendly website and keep it updated without any knowledge of programming. It is based on the world's most used content management system, WordPress.

Check out our hostings, which are compatible with WordPress Site

Installing WordPress on the site of your choice

1. Open the Manager (manager.infomaniak.com)
2. Go to Web Hosting
3. Click on the hosting/domain name in question
4. On the left-side menu, click on My Sites
5. click on WordPress & Apps
6. click on + New application
7. select WordPress and click on Install

Two types of installation are available to you: easy andadvanced to further customise your WordPress use.

In any case, you must  choose the site to install the application on (from a dropdown menu showing the sites present on your hosting) as well as a user name (login) and a password that you will use to connect to the WordPress dashboard (find out more: https://faq.infomaniak.com/2275).

Uninstalling a WordPress site

1. Open the Manager (manager.infomaniak.com)
2. Go to Web Hosting
3. Click on the hosting/domain name in question
4. On the left-side menu, click on  My Sites
5. Click on WordPress & Apps
6. on the chart, mouse over the WordPress you want to remove
7. Click on the trashcan icon In the upper right corner of the tile concerned
8. Confirm the uninstallation

Find out more

• Check out our hostings optimised for WordPress
• Installing a free SSL certificate and adapting the links of a WordPress site

This guide explains how to establish the first SSH connection to your unmanaged Cloud Server.

Launching a command with root rights

Type 'sudo su -: or 'sudo -s' (without the quotations) to launch a command with root rights. Learn more.

In Mac or Linux

To log in, you must open a terminal window and enter the following command:

ssh -i [key path] [user]@[server]

If you get the error message "WARNING: UNPROTECTED PRIVATE KEY FILE!", launch the following command:

chmod 400 [key path]

Meaning of the indications

[key path] = link to the file that contains the private key. As a reminder, when you ordered your unmanaged cloud server, you were prompted to generate a key pair or to upload your own public key (the rights must be sufficient, e.g. 0700).

[user] = see the end of the guide.

[server] = IPv4 address of the server (indicated on your admin console in the menu "Server" > "Cloud" on the "Cloud Server" page).

In Windows

Windows does not allow you to connect using SSH natively, but you can enable Bash Shell (Windows 10 minimum) or download the following two free programs: PuTTY & PuTTYgen.

To start, your private key must be converted to be used with PuTTY.

To do this, open PuTTYgen and click the "Load" button to load your private key. Then, save your private key using the "Save private key" button.

Now open PuTTY and configure it with the following settings:

Under Session (in the left panel):

[HostName] = IPv4 address of the server (indicated on your admin console in the menu "Server" > "Cloud" on the "Cloud Server" page).

[Port] = leave the default port, i.e. port 22.

[Connection type] = enter "SSH".

Under Connection/SSH/Auth (in the left panel): Open your private key generated via PuTTYgen using the "Browse" button under "Private key file for authentication".

Lastly, press the "Open" button at the bottom of the window. A terminal will open and ask you for your username ([user] = see below).

Default user name [user] for unmanaged Cloud servers under:

Alma Linux = almalinux

archlinux = arch

CentOS = cloud-user

Debian Stretch = debian

Debian Jessie = debian

Debian Wheezy (and previous versions) = root

Fedora = fedora

FreeBsd = freebsd

Ubuntu = ubuntu

OpenBsd = openbsd

openSUSE LEAP 15 = opensuse

openSUSE 42 = root

rancherOs = rancher

SuSE linux Enterprise server = root

On a technical level

A hosting covers different websites. It is therefore possible to add several websites to a hosting (multisite management). In this case, the hosting resources (disk space, databases, runtimes and script memories, etc.) are shared between the different websites on the hosting.

For example, the basic Cloud Server plan contains 5 hostings and 20 websites. That means that you can create 20 website with 20 different domain/subdomain names which you can organise freely among your 5 hostings.

On an administrative level

You can assign rights at the level of a hosting. For example, you can assign the management of all sites contained on one hosting to one person.

However, it is impossible to restrict the management of certain sites within the same hosting.

However, you cancreate an FTP user limited to a specific folder (in this case, you'd have to limit the user to the folder where the site is located).

This guide explains how to modify your current Cloud Server offer (managed or not).

Managed Cloud Server

Increase CPU/RAM resources, number of accommodations/sites...

The basic Managed Cloud Server plan contains 5 hostings and 20 websites . To add additional hosting or modify the managed Cloud Server configuration:

1. open the Manager ( manager.infomaniak.com )
2. go to Cloud Server
3. click on the server concerned
4. click on the Manage  button then Modify the offer
5. make the desired adjustments and complete the procedure

Change accommodation size

Read modify the disk space of a hosting

Unmanaged cloud server (VPS Cloud)

Change storage size

To modify the configuration of your unmanaged Cloud Server:

1. open the Manager ( manager.infomaniak.com )
2. go to Cloud Server
3. click on the server concerned
4. click on the Manage  button then Modify the offer
5. make the desired adjustments and complete the procedure
6. extend volume after increasing storage volume

This guide explains how to enable the maintenance mode for a website in your hosting. The maintenance mode displays a customized message to your visitors during the resolution of a technical problem, for example. It is also possible to configure IP addresses which will bypass this page.

Enabling the maintenance mode

1. open the Manager (manager.infomaniak. com)
2. go to Web Hosting
3. click on the hosting/domain name concerned
4. on the left side panel, click on My Sites, then on the Page Editor
5. select the site concerned
6. click on the "+ Maintenance Page" rectangle
7. configure the display using the elements on the right (notably the Maintenance element)
8. click on Save & publish

Authorising IP addresses

It is possible to display a site without the maintenance mode. To do this, you need to give the IP addresses of the computers which should be able to bypass the maintenance mode:

1. enable the maintenance mode following the procedure above
2. go to the configuration page in the maintenance page (see the procedure above)
3. to the right, under Maintenance, click on Insert my IP address to authorise your computer to display the site without maintenance mode. It is also possible to enter the IP addresses to be authorised manually
4. click on Save and publish