Knowledge base

This step-by-step guide explains:

• how to transfer a domain name to Infomaniak,
• how to move a website to Infomaniak without interruption,
• how to back up your old emails to manage them with Infomaniak.

If you need help to transfer your site to Infomaniak, don't hesitate to call on our partners.

1. Why use Infomaniak for your domain names, websites and email?

• Expertise: Infomaniak has been hosting websites for over 20 years. We are a recognized player around the whole world in terms of hosting and online solutions. Infomaniak is the No. 1 hosting service provider in Switzerland in terms of revenue, and No. 2 in terms of the number of sites hosted.
• Security: all our clients' data is hosted on servers located in Switzerland belonging to Infomaniak. Our solutions are systematically developed and maintained by our engineers in our offices in Geneva, Switzerland.
• Support: with more than 1,000 articles and videos, our knowledge base allows our customers to immediately answer the vast majority of their own questions, and our customer service is open from Monday to Saturday. We help our customers get the full potential from our products by telephone and email.
• Responsible: Infomaniak is 100% committed to sustainable, responsible development through concrete actions, such as adopting the ISO 14001 standard, or creating the greenest datacentre in Switzerland. We offset 100% of the CO2 emissions that we generate through our activities and 100% of the energy we use is from renewable sources.
• Passionate: we love what we do and are pleased to offer high-end solutions at affordable prices. We are continually improving and enriching our services, based on market trends and customer needs.

By consolidating your domain names, websites, and emails with Infomaniak, you can simplify the management of your bills and your services. For example, linking a domain name with your website and your email address will be automatic. That way, you won't need to manually configure your DNS with another registrar (registration office).

2. Transferring a domain name to Infomaniak

The domain name is the address you enter in a browser to view a site, such as infomaniak.com

It's possible to transfer a domain name from one registrar to another.

These are the steps to follow to transfer a domain name to Infomaniak:

1. log in with the registrar that currently manages your domain name
2. get the transfer code from your current registrar for the domain name to be transferred (help)
3. order the domain name to be transferred to Infomaniak
4. During the transfer, be sure to keep the current DNS for the domain name
5. enter the transfer code when prompted

3. Moving a website to Infomaniak

All the sites you visit are stored (hosted) with companies usually referred to as web hosts. If you already have a website, it's possible to trust Infomaniak with the management of its hosting without interrupting the operation of your current site and without inconveniencing your loyal visitors :)

Here are the steps to take in order to move your current site to Infomaniak:

1. using an FTP program, back up all the files on your site with your current web host
2. back up your MySQL databases if you use any
3. order the Infomaniak hosting of your choice with the current domain name of your website
4. from our Manager, create an FTP account (help)
5. using an FTP program, send your website files that you saved in step 1 in your hosting's Web folder (you can also use our FTP Manager(help) to upload a .zip of your data and unzip everything from the tool)
6. from our admin console, create a new MySQL database with a user who has full rights to the database (help)
7. from our Manager, import the backup of your database to the database that has just been created (help)
8. in the configuration file of your web app (WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, etc.), adapt the following information based on the parameters shown in our Manager (help):
   • the database name
   • the database server
   • the database username
   • the database user's password
9. test your website using the preview address (help)
10. don't forget to follow chapter 5 of this guide to redirect your domain name to your new hosting!

Warning: the procedure described is only valid if the domain name does not change. If this is not the case, you should make the necessary adjustments to your MySQL databases if you use any. Steps 2, 6, 7, and 8 are not necessary if your site does not use a database.

4. Moving the management of your emails to Infomaniak

By outsourcing the management of your mails to Infomaniak, you can have a WorkSpace account.

WorkSpace is a comprehensive online solution for viewing and managing your emails, contacts, calendars, tasks and bookmarks online. It also lets you sync your contacts and calendars with a smartphone, tablet or email software.

Here are the steps to take in order to manage your emails with Infomaniak:

1. if necessary, order a Mail hosting (help)
2. from our Manager, create the required mail addresses (help)
3. configure your WorkSpace account (help) or your email software with your new addresses (help)
4. use our synchronisation tools (syncimap/imapsync) to automatically copy and rehouse the content of the old email address to the new address, box by box or in batches (help)

If WorkSpace is used:

1. import contacts to the address book (help) and import a calendar to the WorkSpace calendar (help) configure the synchronisation of contacts and calendars with your smartphone/tablet (help)

5. Activate your new hosting

Now, you just need to point your domain name to the Infomaniak hosting:

1. open the Manager (manager.infomaniak.com)
2. go to Domain name
3. click on the domain name in question
4. in the left side menu, click on theManaging DNS
5. click on DNS Servers
6. click on Change DNS servers
7. tick the Infomaniak DNS servers box and click on Confirm

6. Wait up to 48 hours and then cancel your old services

Updating the DNS for your domain name can take up to 48 hours. It is therefore possible that your domain will still point to your old web host for 48 hours.

Once that time has elapsed, don't forget to terminate your services (email, website hosting, etc.) with your old hosting service provider.

Congratulations :) Your site and your emails are now hosted with Infomaniak.

Thank you for your trust.

Some of our tools use technologies that will only run on the latest web browsers. As a result, we have chosen to disable access to older browsers (old versions of Firefox or Internet Explorer, etc.) to prevent issues during use.

The FTP File Manager, our control panel for VOD and streaming products, as well as our Webmail system, may not work with Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 and below, or with screens with a lower resolution than 1024x768.

Occasionally, even if you have the latest version of a given browser, it may be set up to run in compatbility mode, i.e. it presents itself as an earlier version to sites visited (which may resolve certain display issues, for example). You should therefore check within your browser that you have not enabled such a mode: Internet Explorer 9 (IE9), Internet Explorer 10 (IE10)

There is no longer any reason not to move to a recent version of a browser such as Mozilla Firefox. That way, you can be sure that any security flaws are regularly patched and that you can view sites with any of the latest technologies that they may contain. Therefore, we do not offer support for issue encountered with the aforementioned browsers and resolutions.


To access the old Webmail system, please go to https://webmail1.infomaniak.ch

An alias is a second domain name linked to an existing site.

For example, for the site "example.com" to also be reachable with "www.example.com", you must add it as an alias to the "example.com" domain. In this example, "example.com" is the parent site of the "www.example.com" alias.

Generally, the "www" alias is already added and present but the procedure will also be useful to you when you want to point a second domain name to your site.

 

Prerequisite

If the domain name (that will become the alias) or its DNS zone is managed by Infomaniak, everything is OK. Otherwise:

• the A Record of the domain name must point to Infomaniak (help)
• to simplify, you can entrust us with the management of your domain name

 

Adding an alias to an existing site:

1. open the Manager (manager.infomaniak.com)
2. go to Web Hosting
3. click on the hosting/domain name in question
4. under Sites at the lower right, click on the site concerned
5. under Domains at the lower right, click on Add
6. enter the alias domain name(s) to be added, separating them with the Enter key
7. if the alias or its DNS zone is managed by Infomaniak, it is possible to automatically update the DNS entries. If not, make the necessary changes through your registrar or transfer the management of the domain name to Infomaniak: https://www.infomaniak.com/en/support/faq/1814/domain-name-transferring-to-infomaniak
8. click on Confirm to finish the procedure

It can take up to 48 hours for the alias to point to the parent site.

This guide explains how to change the password for most of our services. It is not possible to read the password currently in place because it is encrypted, the only solution is to apply a new one over the old one.

Change the password to access the Manager and WorkSpace

• https://faq.infomaniak.com/2193

Change an email address password (email account

• do it from WorkSpace: https://faq.infomaniak.com/711
• do it from the Mail hosting control panel: https://faq.infomaniak.com/1321

Change the user password for a MySQL database

• https://faq.infomaniak.com/846

Change the user password for a FTP account

• https://faq.infomaniak.com/916

When your domain name is registered elsewhere (supplier/third party registers) and you want to benefit from hosting with Infomaniak, you need to order a DNS zone.

This will also be particularly useful if the provider who manages your domain name does not offer DNS zone management.

Ordering a DNS zone

1. Log in to your admin console
2. Order a domain, indicating the domain name registered elsewhere
3. Make sure that DNS zone management is selected:

This guide explains how to manually pay your invoices and what the accepted payment methods are. If the invoices are not paid within the time specified, the services concerned are blocked, then terminated thereafter. In case of problems, it is therefore important to respond quickly.

Do you want to simplify your life and automatically renew certain products?

How do I pay a bill or renew a product?

To renew a product from the admin console:

1. open the Manager (manager.infomaniak.com)
2. in the upper right corner, click on Product(s) to renew or invoice(s) to pay
3. tick the invoices to pay and click on the Pay my selection button
4. choose a payment method and complete the process
   (choose IBAN to obtain a pro forma invoice before payment)

How do I pay for a pending order?

1. open the Manager (manager.infomaniak.com)
2. at the top right, click on Pending orders
3. click on the order to be paid
4. click on Pay for the order
5. choose a means of payment and finish the process

How to display or print the invoice for a pending order

1. open the Manager (manager.infomaniak.com)
2. at the top right, click on Pending orders
3. click on the order to be paid
4. click on the Actions button then on See the pro forma invoice

Accepted means of payment

To pay for a new order, a renewal or a change of deal, you can use:

• Visa, MasterCard, Carte Bleue
• PostFinance card (if the currency is CHF)
• IBAN transfer (any bank fees must be paid by you)
• PayPal
• the prepaid account (it is possible to use the available balance and pay the rest of an invoice by another payment method)

Accepted payment methods for crediting a prepaid account

• Visa, MasterCard, Carte Bleue
• PostFinance card (if the currency is CHF)
• IBAN transfer (any bank fees must be paid by you)

2 important notes:

• for the moment, payment by the prepaid account cannot (yet) be used for automated payments: you must manually pay every invoice, even if the prepaid account is sufficiently loaded,
• the limits of a deposit on prepaid account are from EUR 0.1 to EUR 9999 or CHF 0.1 to CHF 9999.

To learn more

• Enable or disable automatic renewal
• Add or change a payment method

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

The difference between the .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 customise the PHP commands using a .user.inifile, 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 Manager

Certain settings (e.g. allow_url_fopen or memory_limit) can be configured via Manager

1. open Manager (manager.infomaniak.com)
2. go to Hosting
3. click on the hosting/domain name concerned
4. under Sites below click on the domain name of the site concerned
5. click on Advanced parameters
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

To customise the PHP commands using a Web browser, you must define the values desired in the .user.ini file

The following example illustrates changing the max_input_vars variable

max_input_vars=3000

3. Changing the PHP configuration in CLI

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

The following example illustrates changing the memory available for PHP:

~/web$ echo -e '<?php echo "memory_limit: " . ini_get("memory_limit") . "n"; ?>' >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 activates allow_url_fopen for the WP CLI tool (specifically allows recovering 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
• Activate Gzip compression
• Activate Google's PageSpeed Tools
• Support 301 type redirections
• Increasing the memory and runtime of scripts

My 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 My 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.

Launch a command with root rights

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

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From a 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 which 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).

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From 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 on the "Load" button to load your private key. Then just 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] = here, put "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)

 

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

CentOS = centos

Debian Stretch = debian

Debian Jessie = debian

Debian Wheezy (and previous versions) = root

Ubuntu = ubuntu

Fedora = fedora

This guide explains how to change the PHP version available for your site.

Changing the PHP version used on a website

You can easily change the PHP version used throughout a website:

1. Open the Manager (manager.infomaniak.com)
2. Go to Hosting
3. Click on the hosting/domain name in question
4. Under Sites, click on the domain name of the site to be configured
5. Under PHP version on the left, click on Change
6. Select the desired version and click on Save to save the changes

The change is effective immediately and is permanent.

Changing the PHP version used in a specific directory

It is possible to use different PHP versions on the same website.

For example, you can configure folder X with PHP 5.6, and folder Y with PHP 7.0. If necessary, you can even switch from one version of PHP to another without interrupting your website.

The PHP version used by default is PHP 7.

To configure a folder and its subfolders with another version of PHP:

1. If necessary, create a .htaccess file in the folder to be configured (help)
2. Insert this code in the .htaccess file and save your changes:
   • For PHP 5.5: SetEnv PHP_VERSION 5.5
   • for PHP 5.6: SetEnv PHP_VERSION 5.6
   • etc.

The change is effective immediately.