Knowledge base

This guide explains step by step:

• 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.

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 the 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 for 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 Manager, create a new MySQL database with a user who has full rights to the database (using)
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 admin console (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. Where applicable, 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)

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. click on the Managing DNS button
5. click on the Change DNS servers button
6. tick the Infomaniak name servers box and click on Save

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, hosting your sites, etc.) with your old hosting service provider.

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

Thank you for your trust.

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 this as an alias to the domain "example.com". In this example, "example.com" is the parent site of the alias "www.example.com"

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

Adding an alias to an existing site:

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 little arrow next to the Add Site button
5. on the drop-down menu, hit Add aliases
6. enter the alias domain name to be added
7. if necessary, choose the parent site of the alias domain
8. 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://faq.infomaniak.com/1814
9. click on Save to finish the procedure

It could take up to 48 hrs 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/2145

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 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.

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. in 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 th etop right, click on Pending orders
3. click on the order to be paid
4. click on the Actions button then on See the invoice pro forma

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 0.1 EUR to 9999 EUR or 0.1 CHF to 9999 CHF.

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 at 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 your PHP commands with a .user.ini file, and these will be effective in the folders and subfolders where the .user.ini file is placed.

We are now going to show 3 ways of changing the server configuration for a site.

1. Changing the PHP configuration via the console

Certain settings (e.g. allow_url_fopen or memory_limit) can be configured via the console:

1. open the admin console (https://manager.infomaniak.com)
2. go to Hosting
3. Click on the relevant hosting/domain name
4. Under Sites, click on the relevant site's domain name
5. adjust the site configuration as needed

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

To customise the PHP commands via a web browser, the values required need to be specified in a .user.ini file

The following example allows the max_input_vars variable to be changed:

max_input_vars=3000

3. Changing the PHP configuration via CLI

To customise PHP commands via a command line interface (CLI) or in CRON tasks,the values required need to be specified in a .user.ini file, and the executable PHP then needs to be called with the -c .user.ini option

The following example allows the memory available for PHP to be changed:

~/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$

Useful resources

• How to create a .htaccess or .user.ini
• Changing the PHP version for a website
• Enabling Gzip compression
• Enabling Google PageSpeed Tools
• 301 redirection support
• Increasing the memory and runtime for scripts

My WordPress Site allows you to create and update an evolving and ergonomic website without any programming expertise. It is based on the most widely used content management system in the world, WordPress.

Discover our hostings which are compatible with My WordPress Site

Installing WordPress on the site of your choice

Uninstalling a WordPress site

Find out more

• Discover our hostings which are optimised for WordPress
• Install a free SSL certificate and adapt a WordPress site's links

This guide explains how to migrate an old hosting to our current deal.

Our new hostings are a lot more reliable, flexible andsecure. Find out more

Migrating an old hosting to our new deal

1. open the manager (manager.infomaniak.com)
2. go to Hosting
3. click on the hosting/domain name concerned
4. click on Change deal

Then carefully follow the guide befitting your situation:

1. keep your current site (recommended)
2. remove the contents of your hosting and create a new site (ideal for starting again from scratch)
3. keep your current site and move to a Cloud Server

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 back of the guide

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

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 "Server" menu -> "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)

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

CentOS = centos

Debian Jessie = debian

Debian Wheezy (and previous versions) = root

Ubuntu = ubuntu

Fedora = fedora

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, click on the version to be configured for the entire website
6. click on Save to save the changes

The change is effective immediately and permanently.

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.