Knowledge base

This guide presents the different actions that can be performed on a MySQL table, depending on the permissions granted to a user.

Actions on tables based on user permissions…

… on shared web hosting

Read + Write + Admin

GRANT SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, CREATE, DROP, INDEX, ALTER, CREATE TEMPORARY TABLES, LOCK TABLES, CREATE VIEW, SHOW VIEW

Read + Write

GRANT SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, CREATE TEMPORARY TABLES, LOCK TABLE

Read

GRANT SELECT

… on Cloud Server

Read + Write + Admin

GRANT ALL

Read + Write

GRANT SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, CREATE TEMPORARY TABLES, LOCK TABLES

Read

GRANT SELECT

This guide will help you install n8n on Infomaniak, a powerful and extensible workflow automation solution.

Preamble

• Unlike tools like Zapier or Make, n8n, a “fair-code” workflow automation tool, can be self-hosted, allowing you to maintain full control over your data while connecting hundreds of services via an intuitive visual interface.

Installing n8n

Prerequisites

• A Node.js type site (v22 recommended).
• Stop the Node.js application from your Node.js site dashboard before performing any technical operations.

To configure your hosting (via the Infomaniak Manager):

1. Click here to access your site management on the Infomaniak Manager (need help?).
2. Click directly on the name assigned to the site concerned:
   
3. Stop the application if necessary, then click on Manage advanced settings:
   
4. Click on the Node.js tab to access the settings.
5. Select a recent version (e.g., 24 or higher).

6. Enter the following command, replacing https://domaine.xyz with your site's actual address:

   N8N_RELEASE_TYPE="stable" NODE_ENV="production" N8N_EDITOR_BASE_URL="https://domaine.xyz" WEBHOOK_URL="https://domaine.xyz" GENERIC_TIMEZONE="Europe/Zurich" /srv/customer/node_modules/.bin/n8n start

7. Specify 5678 for the listening port.
8. Enable the "Set build command" checkbox.

9. Enter the following command:

   cd && npm install n8n@latest sqlite3

10. Click on Save:
    
11. Start the Build step by clicking the Start button under Application Build:
    
12. On the main page, click the Start (or Restart) button:
    
13. Wait a few minutes, then go to your site's URL (e.g., https://domain.xyz).
14. On your first connection, n8n will ask you to create an owner account to secure your instance.

Your n8n instance is now operational! You can start creating your automations.

If you encounter an error indicating that the port is already in use during startup:

1. Temporarily change the Node.js Version in the settings (e.g., switch from v24 to v23) and save. This forces a complete shutdown of the processes.
2. Set the desired version (v24) and save again.
3. Restart the application.

Update n8n

It is recommended to regularly update your n8n instance to benefit from the latest features and security fixes. Two methods are available to you:

Method 1: via the Infomaniak Manager (Recommended)

To update n8n, simply restart the application build process:

• First, check in the Advanced Settings that your build command uses the @latest tag:

  cd && npm install n8n@latest sqlite3

• Click the Launch button under the Application Build section.
• Important: do not delete the node_modules folder; the system will handle updating the existing packages to their latest versions:
  

Method 2: via an SSH connection

If you prefer to use the command line, you can update n8n directly from the Node.js environment:

1. Connect to your server via SSH.

2. Navigate to the application directory and start the update:

   cd /srv/customer
   npm update n8n

3. Once the operation is complete, restart the application from the Infomaniak Manager to apply the changes.

This guide provides suggestions for improvement to reduce the response time of your Infomaniak Web Hosting.

Preamble

• TTFB, or *Time To First Byte*, is a unit of measurement used to evaluate the response speed of a web server.
• TTFB measures the time between an HTTP request from a user or browser and the receipt of the first byte of the page to be viewed.
• This delay is particularly important. It can be part of the SEO criteria taken into account by search engines like Google.

Suggestions for improving TTFB

To speed up the site and achieve a better TTFB value:

• Use a content delivery network (CDN).
• Optimize the site's code.
• Optimize database queries.
• Limit HTTP requests.
• Embed CSS and JavaScript in your HTML pages to avoid calling external resources.
• Use an RFPL (*Response First, Process Later*) caching system.

Refer to the article from Criticalcase (in English) for more information.

Test the server response speed

If you are unsure about the server response speed, you can create an index2.html file that will be saved at the same level as the index.html (or .php) file, and thus perform an optimization test (e.g., domain.xyz/index2.html) without the main site/CMS being taken into account.

If the response time is normal, this means that the slowness comes from the site and not the server.

To go further

Refer to the following resources:

• Google recommendations
• GTmetrix recommendations
• Test the response speed of your site from several countries
• Test the response speed of your site
• Optimize a site

This guide explains how to transfer to Infomaniak web data (site, FTP, databases) currently hosted elsewhere, for example with a competitor.

Prerequisites

• Have an Infomaniak web hosting (order if necessary).
• Add a blank website to the Infomaniak hosting.

Specific guides

Click on the link corresponding to the data to be retrieved:

• Site hosted by the hoster Swisscom.
• Site built with the technology WordPress.

Guides for any other hoster

To retrieve any other site, follow the procedure below.

1. Retrieve the web data

a. HTML, PHP, etc. files by FTP

To retrieve web data on your hard drive, you need to connect via FTP with a free FTP software/client such as Filezilla. To do this, you need the server address with the hoster, the FTP username and password.

1. Open an FTP software/client such as Filezilla.
2. Connect to the server with the FTP information.
3. Download the files corresponding to your site to your hard drive.

b. Export MySQL databases

Unless your site is static and simply in HTML, a dynamic site usually requires databases that need to be exported from their management interface, usually PHPmyAdmin:

1. Log in to the Control Panel of your current provider from a web browser such as Brave or Firefox.
2. Access PHPMyAdmin.
3. Connect to the server with the MySQL information.
4. Click on Export to configure the database export and then download your SQL data to your hard drive.

2. Send these Web data to Infomaniak

a. HTML, PHP, etc. files by FTP

Access the Infomaniak website and activate the FTP section:

1. Click here to access the management of your website on the Infomaniak Manager (need help?).
2. Click directly on the name assigned to the product concerned.
3. Click on FTP / SSH in the left sidebar menu.
4. Click on the Add button to create a new FTP / SSH account.
5. Open an FTP software/client like Filezilla.
6. Connect to the Infomaniak server with the FTP information obtained in step 4 above.
7. Transfer the files from the hard drive (obtained in step 1.a.3) to the server in the folder corresponding to your Infomaniak site.

b. Import MySQL databases

Access Infomaniak Web Hosting and activate the MySQL section:

1. Click here to access the management of your product on the Infomaniak Manager (need help?).
2. Click directly on the name assigned to the product concerned.
3. Click on Databases in the left sidebar menu.
4. Click on the Add button.
5. Enter a database name after the already filled prefix.
6. Click on the box to Create an associated user.
7. Enter a username after the already filled prefix.
8. Enter a password.
9. Click on Validate.
10. Click on the blue Import button.
11. Click on Select a file.
12. Select the SQL files on the hard drive (obtained in step 1.b.4).
13. Choose the database created in step 5 above as the destination.
14. Click on the blue Import button.

c. Adapt the site for the new infrastructure

If you are using an application like WordPress, Joomla, Drupal or another web application (ownCloud, phpBB, etc.) using a database, adapt the following information in the appropriate configuration file from the information available in the Manager so that your site works:

• the name of the database
• the database server
• the username that accesses the database
• the password of the username that accesses the database

Refer to these other guides to adapt the configuration file: WordPress and Joomla.

Learn more

• Recreate an editable website without retrieving your data
• Ensure that the domain directs traffic to Infomaniak
• Switch to Infomaniak as your hosting provider

This guide helps resolve an issue with the PrestaShop v9.x CMS regarding PDF invoice generation from the administration panel (Back Office), particularly when the French language is used.

The problem

When attempting to view or download a PDF invoice for an order in French, PrestaShop (version 9.x) returns a 500 Error. This malfunction is due to an incompatibility between the PDF generation library (TCPDF) using the default font (helvetica) and the hosting configurations.

Define a compatible font

The solution is to force the use of the more compatible font freesans via a custom configuration file.

To do this:

1. Access your PrestaShop 9.x installation via FTP or the File Manager.
2. Navigate to the /config/ directory.
3. Create a new file named defines_custom.inc.php.

4. Edit the file defines_custom.inc.php and add the following content:

   <?php
   /**
    * Avoid error PDF, force font 'freesans'.
    */
   define('PDF_FONT_NAME_MAIN', 'freesans');

5. Save the file and test the generation of a French invoice.

This guide explains how to save WordPress data to a backup space on Swiss Backup, the independent Swiss cloud backup solution.

Preamble

• If the backups offered by Infomaniak do not meet or no longer meet your availability or security needs, or if your site is hosted elsewhere, your data can be backed up via an S3 Compatible connection on Infomaniak's servers; this ensures that you do not lose anything.

Install and configure the UpdraftPlus extension

Prerequisites

• Have a Swiss Backup space from Infomaniak with available device quota (minimum 1) for an iCloud backup.
• Add 1 device of type Cloud to obtain the S3 Compatible parameters.

Next:

1. Add the WordPress extension UpdraftPlus which offers backup of WordPress data to S3 Compatible location.
2. Click on Settings then UpdraftPlus Backups:
   
3. Click on Settings then S3-Compatible (Generic):
   
4. Further down, fill in the fields according to the information specific to your device.
   
5. Here is the type of information you should have in your possession and that you need to specify in the different fields to create the connection:
   

You can then schedule your backups at regular intervals.

Download the backup manually

Your backups made via UpdraftPlus - S3 can be retrieved via an S3 compatible client, Cyberduck for example.

Restore an UpdraftPlus backup

Refer to this official guide in English.

This guide explains how to rename a Web hosting present in the Infomaniak Manager within your Organization.

Preamble

• A Web hosting is, schematically, the storage space reserved for hosting one or more of your websites.
• By default, your Infomaniak hosting takes the name of the first site you add to this hosting:
  • You own the domain name "domaine.xyz" and want a site with this domain name...
  • You buy a Web hosting that will be automatically named "domaine.xyz" even if you later add a second site "toto.com".
• The hosting can be renamed with a more generic name like "My Websites" to better reflect its actual content.
• This renaming is intended to improve the readability/understanding of the products listed in your Manager and has strictly no impact on the addresses of the websites: refer to this other guide to act on the domain name.

Renaming a Web hosting

To access the Web hosting to perform the name change:

1. Click here to access the management of your product on the Infomaniak Manager (need help?).
2. Click directly on the name assigned to the product concerned.
3. Click on the Manage button.
4. Click on Edit name:
   
5. Enter the desired name.
6. Click on Save.

This guide covers data protection regulations in Switzerland and Europe, and the measures taken by Infomaniak to secure your customer data and data within Web Hosting and Mail Services.

Understanding the difference between data security and data privacy

Data security aims to prevent unauthorized access to your information. It relies on measures such as encryption, firewalls, or VPNs. A security breach can have disastrous consequences: imagine a hacker stealing your entire customer database and demanding a ransom to recover it. This type of attack – ransomware – can cripple a company overnight.

Data privacy concerns who can access your information and how it is used. Even if your data is secure against hacking, it can be collected, analyzed, and resold… perfectly legally.

Example: you carefully store your customers' information, but without realizing it, a service you use shares – anonymously – this data with third parties. Result? Your competitors can obtain valuable insights into your market and target your own customers without ever needing to hack into your systems.

FDPA & GDPR

In Switzerland, the FDPA (Federal Act on Data Protection) and nFDPA (for the "new Act" in force since September 2023) protect the privacy of residents by regulating the collection and processing of personal data by organizations.

The EU's GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), which has been in effect since May 2018, affects global companies that process the data of European residents, including in Switzerland. While the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP) applies to the data of Swiss residents, the GDPR concerns the data of EU residents. Swiss companies that manage European data must comply with the GDPR requirements, including the designation of a Data Protection Officer and the performance of Impact Assessments in the event of risky processing.

Your Role as an Infomaniak Customer

With regard to the data hosted that belongs to you – and in particular if this data contains personal data of your visitors, contacts or customers – it is your responsibility to ensure its compliance.

When processing this personal data, it is essential to inform users about the purpose and methods of this processing. This is generally done through a privacy policy or a data processing agreement (DPA).

Agreement between Data Controller and Data Processor

A DPA (Data Processing Agreement), called AVV (Auftragsverarbeitungsvertrag) in German, ATD (Accordo di Trattamento dei Dati) in Italian and CTA (Contrato de Tratamiento de Datos) in Spanish, translates to Data Processing Agreement or Data Processing Contract.

This is a mandatory contract provided for by the GDPR between a data controller and a data processor. It defines the purpose, duration, and nature of the processing, as well as the obligations and security measures. Its objective is to protect the personal data entrusted to a service provider.

This GDPR certificate (in PDF format) can be generated and downloaded from the Manager (accessible to users of the organization who are owners or administrators):

1. Click here to access the Data Processing Agreement (DPA) management in the Infomaniak Manager (need help?).
2. Click the Generate button to download the customized PDF document:
   

Here are some tips:

It is crucial to differentiate between the security of the infrastructure where your data is hosted and the management and implementation of data on your side. As a hosting provider, Infomaniak acts as a data processor for your GDPR-related obligations. In this context, its privacy policy and cookie policy, as well as its terms and conditions, provide you with the necessary guarantees regarding its compliance as a data processor.

Infomaniak's Role

Like companies that work with user data, Infomaniak must comply with the LPD and, because some of its users are European citizens, also with the GDPR:

• the data privacy policy details the data that Infomaniak stores to provide and deliver its services
• the policy related to the protection of your personal data describes Infomaniak's commitments as a subcontractor that hosts all of your data, including personal data

This guide details the resource exhaustion errors that can occur when managing and visiting a website.

Introduction

• Resource limits are put in place to maintain the integrity, stability, and performance of the shared server, while ensuring a fair experience for all users.
• If a website or application requires significantly more resources, it may be necessary to switch to a Cloud Server or another type of virtual hosting where resources are allocated more flexibly.

Error Origin

Fatal error: Maximum execution time of 30 seconds exceeded

This error occurs when the server sets a time limit for script execution, usually to prevent tasks from taking too long. For example, if a script attempts to resize many large images in a single operation, it may exceed the allowed execution time limit. The server imposes this limit to ensure a quick response to user requests. The path often mentioned in the error can indicate a more precise origin (e.g., Fatal error: Maximum execution time of 30 seconds exceeded in /home/www/1234567abc/web/wp-includes/media.php on line 123).

memory_limit exceeded

This error occurs when a script or application uses more memory than it is allocated. This can happen when a script processes a large volume of data or when there is a memory leak. For example, an image management script may consume more memory than allowed, which results in this error.

Troubleshooting steps

Here are some suggestions for resolving these errors:

• Check the scripts that make multiple connections to the server to display data.
• Optimize the script(s) in question so that they require fewer resources.
• Increase the limits for the site in question to allow the script to perform all its functions and/or limit the number of simultaneous connections (especially on a Cloud Server where the limits (RAM, execution time, simultaneous connections) can be increased significantly).
• Migrate your hosting to a Cloud Server.

Also, please refer to this other guide.

This guide helps you diagnose and resolve the error "Your connection is not private" (or NET::ERR_CERT_AUTHORITY_INVALID). This security alert can affect both visitors to a site and its administrators.

Preamble

• This alert is a protection mechanism for your browser.
• It indicates that a secure connection could not be established with the server for one of the following reasons:
  • The site does not have an SSL/TLS security certificate.
  • The installed certificate is expired or misconfigured.
  • The connection between your device and the server is intercepted or disrupted.
• Warning: on a site displaying this error, the data you enter (passwords, card numbers) are not encrypted and can be intercepted by third parties.

Solutions for visitors

If you encounter this error on a site you do not manage, the problem may sometimes come from your own configuration. Here are the points to check:

• Check the time on your device: if your computer or smartphone is not set to the correct date/time, the certificate validation will systematically fail.
• Test in private browsing: if the error disappears, clear your browser's cache and cookies.
• Check your network: avoid public Wi-Fi networks that may force their own login portals.
• Antivirus and Firewall: some security software analyzes HTTPS connections and can cause false positives.

Solutions for Infomaniak site owners

If you are the site administrator, you must ensure that your SSL certificate is active and valid to cover all your domain names.

1. Is the SSL certificate installed?

If your site is still in HTTP, you need to generate a certificate (free via Let's Encrypt or paid). Learn about the certificates available at Infomaniak.

Important: if you have added aliases (secondary domain names) to your site after installing SSL, you must update the certificate to include them.

2. Check validity and expiration

At Infomaniak, certificates are renewed automatically, but a technical issue may sometimes occur. To check the status of your certificate:

1. Click here to access the management of your certificates in the Manager (need help?).
2. Check the status and expiration date in the dashboard:
   

3. Force HTTPS and fix "Mixed Content"

If your certificate is valid but the error persists (or the padlock is not green), it is possible that your site is still loading elements (images, scripts) over HTTP. To fix this, refer to this other guide.

This guide explains how to transfer data (Web, Mail, Domain) currently hosted by Swisscom to Infomaniak. The first year of Web + Mail hosting (learn more) is offered to Swisscom customers who decide to switch to Infomaniak!

Transfer your Swisscom services to Infomaniak

1. Transfer the website.
2. Transfer emails.
3. Transfer the domain name.

Why join Infomaniak?

By consolidating your domain names, websites, and email addresses with Infomaniak, you simplify the management of your invoices and services. Additionally, linking your domains will be done automatically with your website and email address. You will therefore not need to manually configure the DNS of your domains with another registrar.

• Infomaniak, the Ethical Cloud
• Infomaniak's eco-responsible approach

This guide explains how to transfer to Infomaniak Web data (site, FTP, databases) currently hosted by Swisscom, which has ended its hosting offer in May 2024. Furthermore, Infomaniak offers you the first year of Web + Mail hosting (learn more)!

Prerequisites

• Have an Infomaniak Web hosting (order if necessary).
• Add a blank website to the Infomaniak hosting.
• If you use a WordPress interface to manage your site at Swisscom, refer to this other guide illustrating a simplified method.

Transfer the site from Swisscom to Infomaniak

To retrieve any other site, created with HomepageTool or not, follow the procedure below.

1. Retrieve Web data from Swisscom

a. HTML, PHP, etc. files via FTP

To retrieve Web data on your hard drive, you need to connect via FTP with an FTP software/client like Filezilla (free). To do this, you need the Swisscom server address, FTP username, and password. If you do not have this information:

1. Log in to the Swisscom HCP Control Panel (login.hostcenter.com) from a Web browser like Brave or Edge.
2. Click on Manage account:
   
3. Click on FTP accounts (in the Data storage section):
   
4. Click on Add to create an FTP account if necessary:
   
5. Open an FTP software/client like Filezilla.
6. Log in to the Swisscom server with the FTP information obtained in step 3 above.
7. Download the files corresponding to your Swisscom site to your hard drive.

b. Export MySQL databases

Unless your site is static and simply in HTML, a dynamic site most often requires databases that need to be exported from their administration interface, PHPmyAdmin:

1. Log in to the HCP Swisscom Control Panel (login.hostcenter.com) from a web browser like Brave or Firefox.
2. Click on Databases > MySQL from the main menu.
3. Click on Edit to the right of the corresponding database:
   
4. Click (optional step) on the blue button Add a new database user to create a user and password that will have access to the database.
5. Click on the blue link Web-Admin URL to access PHPMyAdmin:
   
6. Log in to the Swisscom server with the usual MySQL information or obtained in point 4 above.
7. Click on Export to configure the database export.
8. Click on Go to download your SQL data to your hard drive:
   

2. Send Web data to Infomaniak

a. HTML, PHP, etc. files via FTP

Access Infomaniak Web Hosting and activate the FTP section:

1. Click here to access the management of your product on the Infomaniak Manager (need help?).
2. Click directly on the name assigned to the product concerned.
3. Click on FTP / SSH in the left sidebar menu.
4. Click on the Add button to create a new FTP / SSH account.
5. Open an FTP software/client like Filezilla.
6. Log in to the Infomaniak server with the FTP information obtained in point 4 above.
7. Transfer the files from the hard drive (obtained in point 1.a.5) to the server in the folder corresponding to your Infomaniak site.

b. Import MySQL databases

Access Infomaniak Web Hosting and activate the MySQL section:

1. Click here to access the management of your product on the Infomaniak Manager (need help?).
2. Click directly on the name assigned to the product concerned.
3. Click on Databases in the left sidebar menu.
4. Click the Add button.
5. Enter a database name after the already entered prefix.
6. Click the box to Create an associated user.
7. Enter a username after the already entered prefix.
8. Enter a password.
9. Click Validate.
10. Click the blue Import button.
11. Click Select a file.
12. Select the SQL files on the hard drive (obtained in step 1.b.6).
13. Choose the database created in step 5 above as the destination.
14. Click the blue Import button.

c. Adapt the site for the new infrastructure

If you are using an application such as WordPress, Joomla, Drupal or another web application (ownCloud, phpBB, etc.) using a database, adapt the following information in the appropriate configuration file from the information available on the Manager so that your site works:

• the name of the database
• the database server
• the username that accesses the database
• the password of the username that accesses the database

Refer to these other guides to adapt the configuration file: WordPress and Joomla.

Learn more

• Recreate an editable site without retrieving your data
• Ensure that the domain directs traffic to Infomaniak
• Swisscom data migration guide

This guide explains how to transfer a website on which WordPress is installed, using one of its extensions, Duplicator.

Prerequisites

• Order a Web Hosting / Cloud Server if you don't already have one.
• Create a website on your new hosting without installing Infomaniak WordPress.

Complete WordPress Site Backup

To back up all the files and the database of a WordPress site:

1. Install and activate the Duplicator plugin from the WordPress administration interface.
2. Open the plugin dashboard from the main WordPress menu.
3. Follow the wizard to create a new backup package.
4. Download the installer (installer.php file, typically) and the archive (.zip file, typically) to your computer at the end of the process.

If necessary, consult this installation guide in video format.

Preparing for Site Restoration

On your web hosting:

1. Create an FTP account.
2. Create a MySQL database.
3. Upload the installer and archive created in step 1 to your hosting via FTP.

Note the following information:

• the FTP host server
• the FTP account name
• the FTP account password
• the database host server
• the database name
• the database user password

Restoring a WordPress Site

To restore the WordPress site to your desired domain name:

1. Go to the installer URL (e.g., www.domain.xyz/installer.php).
2. Check the Connect and Remove All Data box and enter the requested database information.
3. In step 2 (Update) of the restoration process, you can specify the new domain name for the WordPress site under New settings.
4. At the end of the restoration, test the site and delete the archive and the Duplicator plugin installer.