This guide explains why a website may be "broken" or no longer display anything, following a password change at the level of a Web Hosting.

Broken link with the database

When your website and more particularly a script (CMS, WordPress, Prestashop or any other application using MySQL databases) can no longer connect to the MySQL MariaDB or other database, an error message may be displayed, such as:

• Erreur lors de la connexion à la base de données
• Database Error: Unable to connect to the database:Could not connect to MySQL
• Link to database cannot be established

Remember your last action...

In the event of an error on your site, you should always examine the recent history. In this case, has there been...

1. ... an action on your part regarding the configuration file of the script in question? Has it been touched, modified, moved?
   
   Sometimes, the involuntary insertion of a space before or after a word can cut the link between the web server and the database server. Go back over your file modifications.
   If necessary, restore an old version of the files that you have modified recently.
    
2. ... an action regarding the database password in the Infomaniak Manager?
   
   If you change the password of your database via the Infomaniak Manager, then your script, which retrieves its information from the databases, will no longer display anything.Changing something in the Infomaniak Manager means you have to change it everywhere else. This change that you made in the Manager must also be reported / reflected in the script's configuration file by connecting via FTP and modifying the appropriate file, usually "wp-config.php", "configuration.php" or similar.
    
3. ... a server move announced by Infomaniak?
   
   If this error follows a server move or another operation announced by email and related to the product in question, do not hesitate to contact Infomaniak support.

This guide details the management of access and security for your databases (MySQL, MariaDB, and MongoDB) on a Managed Cloud Server.

Preamble

• The firewall is accessible in your Manager even if no Apache site is configured (useful for Node.js-only projects, for example).
• Regarding access to MySQL databases from another Infomaniak Web Hosting, refer to this other guide.
• Regarding MongoDB:
  • To ensure the security of your data, the system blocks registration if you attempt to disable local_only mode without enabling authentication.
  • Infomaniak's automatic backups do not include MongoDB databases.

Allow outgoing access (Infomaniak → external)

From an Infomaniak Web Hosting or Cloud Server, requests to external databases are allowed by default without port restrictions.

Allow incoming access (external → Infomaniak)

To access your databases from the outside, you must have a Cloud Server and open the corresponding ports in the firewall of your server:

• MySQL / MariaDB: port 3306 (TCP)
• MongoDB: port 27017 (TCP)

Configure remote access for MongoDB

By default, MongoDB only accepts local connections.

To allow remote access via Fast Installer, you must adjust the configuration while adhering to strict security rules.

1. Click here to access the management of your Cloud Server on the Infomaniak Manager (need help?).
2. Click directly on the name assigned to the Cloud Server in question.
3. Click on Fast Installer in the left sidebar.
4. Click on MongoDB.
5. Click on the action menu ⋮ to the right of the instance and choose Configure.
6. Disable the local_only option.
7. Enable the authentification option.
8. Save the changes:
   

This guide explains how to download or export an SSL certificate from the Infomaniak Manager.

Preamble

• The download of the certificate produces a file in .zip format.
• The archive contains the .key and .crt files (as well as _windows.pfx & .protected.key depending on the type of certificate):
  
• It is recommended to store this certificate and its private key in a secure location, as the latter could allow access to your encrypted data.

Export or download an SSL certificate

To access the management of your certificates:

1. Click here to access the management of your product on the Infomaniak Manager (need help?):
   
2. Filter your certificate types if necessary by clicking on the icon dedicated to this effect.
3. Display the different types of certificates such as Let's Encrypt, Sectigo DV & EV...
4. Add the certificates that need to be displayed.
5. Apply the filters:
   
6. The table now only displays the types of certificates you have selected.

Export a Let's Encrypt certificate

1. Click directly on the name assigned to the certificate Let's Encrypt in the list:
   
2. Click on the action menu ⋮ to the right of the object concerned in the table that appears.
3. Choose Export the certificate and follow the instructions to download the archive to your device:
   

Export a Sectigo certificate

1. Click directly on the name assigned to the certificate in the list of certificates.
2. Click on the Manage button.
3. Click on Download the certificate and follow the instructions to download the archive to your device:
   

This guide explains how to resolve access errors to your Web Hosting following an IP address change (e.g., server migration).

Preamble

• To save time, your system maintains a lookup table between domain names and IP addresses.
• If the site changes "home" (IP), your computer tries to knock on the old door.
• Clearing the cache forces it to request the new address from the DNS servers.

Clear the DNS cache…

… on Windows

Use the command prompt to refresh your network settings:

1. Open the Start menu.
2. Type cmd and validate.
3. In the black window that opens, type the following command and press Enter:
   ipconfig /flushdns

… on macOS

On recent versions of macOS, the procedure is done via the Terminal:

• Open the Terminal (via Spotlight or Applications > Utilities).
• Copy and paste the following command:
  sudo dscacheutil -flushcache; sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder
• Enter your session password (it will not be displayed during entry) and validate.

… on Linux

Most modern distributions use systemd-resolved. Open your terminal and run:

• sudo resolvectl flush-caches

Note: If you are using an older service, the command sudo systemctl restart nscd is still valid.

This guide provides solutions to errors of the type “Malicious site! The website has been reported as a malicious site and has been blocked based on your security preferences” ("STOP! This Website Can Harm Your Computer!" in English).‍

Who put this message?

This error message or warning…

• ... IS NOT added by Infomaniak.
• ... is generated by Google based on https://www.stopbadware.org/.
• ... may no longer appear directly because…
  • ... you are no longer indexed by Google.
  • ... you are using a browser that does not rely on Google's checks.

What to do?

If this does not concern the site you are managing, refer to Google's help on this subject.

If the site is yours, refer to the advice below:

• Check the source code of the published page: there is surely additional code compared to the still healthy pages; it may be a malicious iframe or any inclusion…
• On the page in question, click on the "Why was this site blocked" button and follow the instructions…
• Refer to the Google documentation on this subject.
• Monitor the vulnerability detection tool which may resolve the issue in the meantime.

This guide helps resolve a potential error 530 by reducing the number of simultaneous FTP connections to Web Hosting.

Resolve error 530

The error message 530 Sorry, the maximum number of clients (25) for this user are already connected generally appears following multiple and simultaneous connections with an FTP software/client that poorly manages disconnections or attempts to open multiple connections at once thinking it will speed up the download.

Once you have encountered this error, you need to close the FTP program and wait 30 minutes so that the server terminates the active connections and you can reconnect.

You can also create a new FTP user and connect with it.

To avoid this situation with FileZilla, go to the menu Edit -> Settings then under the Transfers tab and set the number of simultaneous transfers to 2.

This guide explains how to manage the files of a Web Hosting with an FTP software/client.

Preamble

• To easily and quickly manage the files of your web hosting without having to install an application or enter FTP credentials, use the Web FTP on the Manager (it allows, among other things, CHOWN and file compression/decompression zip).
• The various services offered by Infomaniak are all compatible with the corresponding standard protocols (FTP/S3/Swift for storage, for example), therefore if you encounter a problem with third-party software, contact its publisher or a Partner and consult the support policy as well as article 11.9 of the Infomaniak Terms and Conditions.
• Regarding the protocols supported by Infomaniak (FTP, SFTP, etc.) depending on your hosting offer (Starter, Node.js, etc.), refer to this other guide.

Parameters to provide for FTP software

Prerequisites

• Create an FTP/SSH account.
• Install an FTP software/client like Filezilla, Cyberduck, Commander One, Transmit, etc.

Regardless of your FTP software/client, the 3 essential parameters for configuring FTP access are always:

1. Hostname: FTP server address
2. Username: FTP account name
3. Password: that of the FTP account
   
    
   • The port number is usually left at default.
   • The connection type and mode are usually left at default.
   • If a limit on the number of simultaneous connections is offered, it is recommended to activate it.

Obtain the connection information to the hosting

You will find all the information on your Infomaniak Manager:

1. Click here to access the management of your hosting on the Infomaniak Manager (need help?).
2. Click directly on the name assigned to the hosting concerned:
   
3. Click on FTP (or FTP / SSH) in the left sidebar
   

1. FTP Hostname

The hostname to use in your FTP software/client is specified at the top of the page obtained in point 3 above and an icon allows you to copy the address to the clipboard.

Starter Offer - Basic Web Page

If the domain indicated is not functional (does not point to the hosting IP address, for example), then use the IP address as the host name, in the form 123.45.678.123 (refer to this other guide).

Paid Web Hosting

Use the host name in the form xyzb.ftp.infomaniak.com, for example.

2. FTP Username

The username is the name of the account to be created in your Manager: xyzb_abcdefg, for example.

3. FTP User Password

The FTP user password is defined by the creator of the FTP account. If you forget it, edit the FTP account by clicking on it and set a new password.

It is not possible to display a password that has already been applied; you need to apply a new password if you no longer have the currently defined password.

Once the connection is established…

When you enter the 3 required parameters, your FTP application should display the directory structure of your hosting:

This guide concerns the MySQL query cache which, when enabled, stores the results of already executed queries in memory.

Preamble

• MySQL Query Cache allows to speed up subsequent identical queries by avoiding to execute them again.
• This can improve the overall performance of the database server by reducing the load and decreasing the response time for frequent queries.

query_cache_type ON or OFF?

On Shared Web Hosting (i.e. excluding Cloud Server) MySQL Query Cache is neither enabled nor enableable.

On Cloud Server, enable MySQL Query Cache via Fast Installer.

This guide explains how to modify the value of the PHP directive include_path.

Modify the include_path

Like any other PHP parameter, include_path is defined in the .user.ini file.

Here is an example of a path to use in your .user.ini file:

include_path = ".:/home/clients/123456789a12345b12fc345d/web/www.domain.xyz/include"

• The dot (.) at the beginning allows you to keep the current directory in the search.
• The colon (:) is used as a separator between the different folders.

Refer to this other guide about phpinfo to verify that your new directive has been taken into account (the modification may take a few minutes to appear).

This guide shows you how to modify the error_reporting() directive on your website.

Enable error reporting

Enter the following 2 pieces of information in your .user.ini file:

display_errors=on
error_reporting=E_ALL & ~E_NOTICE & ~E_STRICT

If your browser does not display any errors or warnings, then there are none.

Disable PHP error display

For WordPress, edit the wp-config.php file and replace the line:

define('WP_DEBUG', false);

with:

ini_set('display_errors','Off');
ini_set('error_reporting', E_ALL );
define('WP_DEBUG', false);
define('WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false);

Otherwise, you can add the following code to the .user.ini file:

display_errors=off

This guide is intended for developers and webmasters experiencing issues with the display of special characters (e.g., accents, Arabic characters, Chinese characters, emojis, etc.), whether on an Infomaniak website or in its database.

Preamble

• Common causes of incorrectly displayed characters that appear in place of special characters or emojis like ??:
  • PHP connection in utf8 instead of utf8mb4
  • MySQL table or column in latin1 or utf8 instead of utf8mb4
  • SQL file encoded differently from the import parameter
  • HTML/CSS/JS files incorrectly encoded
  • Missing or incorrect declaration of the charset in HTML, PHP, or HTTP
• Common solutions:
  • Use utf8mb4 everywhere: database, connections, tables, columns, files, headers
  • Validate the encoding of all files and dumps
  • Test the display of emojis, accents, and other multilingual characters
• Also refer to this other guide to force another encoding when connecting to a MySQL database.

1. Use UTF-8 or UTF-8MB4 everywhere

The utf8 encoding of MySQL does not support 4-byte characters, such as emojis. These will display as ??. Therefore, you need to use utf8mb4, which is a complete implementation of UTF-8.

2. HTML – Correct declaration of encoding

In the <head> of your HTML pages:

<meta charset="UTF-8">

Also ensure that CSS/JS files are saved in UTF-8 (without BOM).

header('Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8');

$connection = mysql_connect($host, $user, $pass);
mysql_set_charset('utf8mb4', $connection);

 $dsn = "mysql:host=localhost;dbname=ma_base;charset=utf8mb4";
$pdo = new PDO($dsn, $user, $pass, [
    PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE => PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION
]);

ALTER DATABASE ma_base CHARACTER SET = utf8mb4 COLLATE = utf8mb4_unicode_ci;
ALTER TABLE ma_table CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;

mysqli_query($conn, "SET NAMES 'utf8mb4'");
mysqli_query($conn, "SET CHARACTER SET 'utf8mb4'");

AddDefaultCharset utf-8
Header set Content-Type "text/html; charset=utf-8"
# Pour PHP
php_value default_charset UTF-8
php_value mbstring.internal_encoding UTF-8

iconv -f ISO-8859-1 -t UTF-8 dump.sql > dump_utf8.sql

This guide explains how to use the Web FTP file manager, which allows you to easily and quickly manage the content of your Web Hosting.

Preamble

• The online service Web FTP / FTP Manager allows you to…
  • … create files.
  • … navigate through directories.
  • … transfer files of less than 50 MB between your computer and the server:
    
    • including by drag-and-drop directly from your computer to the Web FTP window:
      
    • To exceed this limit and for background work options, resume transfers after disconnection, limit bandwidth, etc., use an FTP software/client.
  • … manipulate existing files (copy, rename, move, delete, …).
  • … edit and view text, php, and html files of less than 1 MB.
• Web FTP does not require any specific access as long as you have management rights on a hosting present in the Infomaniak Manager and you are connected to it.
  • Therefore, there is no need to have an FTP account and password; the Infomaniak account password is sufficient.

Access the server via Web FTP

To quickly access the site's server via FTP or SSH:

1. Click here to access the management of your hosting on the Infomaniak Manager (need help?).
2. Click directly on the name assigned to the hosting in question:
   
3. Click on FTP / SSH in the left sidebar.
4. Click on the Web FTP or SSH console buttons available to you:
   

This guide explains how to optimize a website managed on a Web Hosting to make it faster and offer smooth navigation to all your visitors, regardless of their connection speed.

The role of the host

1. Your hosting server is functioning normally and has not encountered any incidents in the last 48 hours.
2. The network infrastructure has not experienced any disruptions during this same period.

The role of the site owner and the webmaster

Infomaniak does not intervene on the content of the servers or on the development of the sites. The creation and maintenance of a site are distinct professions, although they use the tools and services provided by the host.

Analyze the cause of the slowness

Here are the actions to take if you notice slowness on your site:

1. Apply the Google PageSpeed Insights recommendations. These points concern the design of the site and not the server configuration. Refer to this other guide if the test recommends enabling resource compression.
2. In case of slowness noticed from abroad, activate the DNS Fast Anycast.
3. Install a caching system to reduce redundant database access and speed up display.
4. Consider using a CDN.
5. Test the server response time or TTFB.
6. Scan your hosting to detect any potential viruses.
7. Purge your databases regularly by deleting unnecessary entries.
8. Use the latest PHP version compatible with your site or CMS.
9. Avoid images, counters, or media hosted on external servers: if they are unreachable, your site will appear slow.
10. Disable unnecessary or resource-intensive WordPress extensions.
11. Keep your CMS and web applications up to date regularly.
12. Limit the impact of overly aggressive indexing robots by configuring a Crawl-delay.
13. Analyze the error-logs: correcting the errors generated by your site improves its performance.
14. Check the slowlogs to identify SQL queries taking more than 5 seconds to execute and optimize them (optimization examples).
15. Add a server cache engine like Memcached (available on Cloud server only).
16. Increase the max_children value (only on Cloud server).

If the problem persists

If you or your webmaster cannot find the source of the slowdowns, contact Infomaniak support in writing, providing the following information:

1. Name of the hosted site.
2. Exact dates and times of the slowdowns.
3. Name of the database or FTP account possibly involved.
4. Your public IP address during tests (visible on https://www.infomaniak.com/ip).
5. Type of slowdown (display, FTP transfers, etc.).
6. Indicate if you can normally access the Infomaniak site during these episodes.
7. Complete result of a traceroute to 84.16.66.66.
8. Result of a speed test on speedtest.net by selecting Infomaniak as the destination server.

If your needs evolve

If shared hosting is no longer sufficient, consider switching to a Cloud Server. Your site can be easily migrated to benefit from dedicated resources and advanced caching technologies.

This guide is intended for developers who wish to use the ORM Propel on a hosting environment where command line access is restricted.

Preamble

• The ORM allows linking application objects to database tables. Data is manipulated via PHP objects rather than writing raw SQL.
• Propel is the abstraction layer that manages these interactions (relations, joins, pagination) to simplify code maintenance.

Particularities & limitations

• Propel is not pre-installed via Pear.
  • You must install it manually in your project.
  • It is imperative to download the "Conventional Package" version of Propel.
• CLI commands (such as propel-gen) are not executable on the server.
  • Consequently, Propel is only used in "Runtime" mode in production. Class generation (build) must be performed locally.
  • The workflow involves generating the code in a development environment and then transferring the resulting files to the server.
• Dependencies:
  • The full set of libraries required for Propel is available, except for Phing.
  • The absence of Phing does not impact production, as this tool is only required during the local generation phase.

This guide is intended for users who have chosen Infomaniak, a hosting provider committed to the planet: you will find below the details of the calculation method used to display CO2 on invoices, as well as tips to reduce your own digital footprint.

Preamble

• For Web hosting and Mail services, Infomaniak displays the amount of CO2 emitted annually, data that is based on a rigorous Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) method that adds two key factors:
  1. Material impact (Full life cycle)
     • Thanks to the emission factors of the ResilioDB database, the calculation includes the emissions generated during the manufacturing (BLD), transport (DIS) and end-of-life/recycling (EOL) of each piece of equipment (servers, RAM, disks, etc.).
  2. Energy impact (Actual consumption)
     • The actual electrical consumption of the servers is measured via IPMI probes.
     • This energy is then converted into CO2 equivalent according to Infomaniak's specific energy mix, which is very low in carbon (11.77g CO2eq/kWh).
• The total impact is then distributed according to the unit of use of the customers (per hosted website or per mailbox).

How can you act at your level?

If the hosting provider optimizes its infrastructures upstream, the end user also plays a key role. Here's how to reduce the footprint of your services.

For Websites

The goal is to minimize the energy consumption of servers and visitors' terminals:

• Technical optimization: Compress images, minify scripts, and use modern formats (WebP).
• Clean design: Limit autoplay videos, ads, and heavy scripts that consume bandwidth.
• Best practices: For WordPress in particular, it is recommended to consult the GreenIT sheets.

For Messaging

Email communication can also be optimized:

• Sobriety: Prefer plain text emails over HTML and limit heavy graphical signatures.
• Attachments: Prefer sending download links (via kDrive or SwissTransfer) to large attachments, or use the compressed PDF format.
• Cleanup: Unsubscribe from unnecessary newsletters and use tracking tools to avoid sending unopened emails.

It is recommended to regularly monitor statistics to improve ecological performance. While waiting for Infomaniak's future integrated tools, it is possible to audit the impact of web pages via GreenFrame.io.

This guide concerns website optimization and more specifically the use of a cache engine on it.

Preamble

• When Infomaniak notices that your website consumes more resources than other sites on the same server, an analysis is carried out.
  • Often, it turns out that a simple modification of a request or a parameter would allow you to optimize your site and reduce the server load.
  • You will then be contacted by email with the instructions to follow, which frequently include the installation or activation of a cache engine.
• Resource consumption is not necessarily related to the number of visitors.
  • A well-optimized, up-to-date site with a correctly configured cache engine can handle several tens of thousands of daily visitors, while a poorly optimized site can consume far too many resources with just a few visits per day.
• A cache engine temporarily stores frequently used data in order to provide it more quickly for new requests.
  • This significantly improves the speed of the site and reduces the load on databases or web services.
  • To install an advanced caching system (Redis, Memcached) on Infomaniak Cloud Server, refer to this guide.

Activate a cache engine...

... on WordPress

WordPress has many caching plugins. Here are the most popular and effective ones:

• WP Rocket (paid, the most powerful and simple "all-in-one" solution).
• WP Super Cache (free, developed by Automattic, very reliable).
• LiteSpeed Cache (free, extremely comprehensive).

Standard activation procedure:

1. Log in to your WordPress administration.
2. Go to Extensions > Add.
3. Search for one of the mentioned plugins, install it, and then activate it.
4. Configure the cache options: page caching, CSS/JS minification, and especially Lazy Load for images.

Also, refer to this other guide on the subject.

… on Joomla (v4 & v5)

1. Go to System > Global Configuration.
2. Select the System tab.
3. In the Cache Settings section, enable the cache (the Conservative mode is the safest to start with).
4. Select the cache manager (default File).
5. Then go to System > Plugins and make sure the System - Cache plugin is enabled to cache entire pages.

… on PrestaShop (v1.7 & v8+)

1. Go to Advanced Parameters > Performance.
2. Smarty: check "Never recompile template files" (in production) and enable "Cache".
3. CCC (Combine, Compress and Cache): enable all options (Smart cache CSS, Smart cache JS, Apache optimization).
4. Cache: at the bottom of the page, enable "Use cache". On shared hosting, prioritize the file system; on Cloud Server, use Memcached.

… on Drupal (v9, v10 & v11)

Caching is natively integrated and very powerful on Drupal:

1. Go to Configuration > Development > Performance.
2. Check "Cache pages for anonymous users".
3. Set a duration for "Maximum cache lifetime in the browser and proxy" (e.g., 10 minutes).
4. Enable the aggregation of CSS and JavaScript files.

… on Contao (v4 & v5)

1. The cache is now mainly managed via the configuration file config/config.yaml or via the administration interface under Layout > Themes > Edit page layout.
2. Define a "Cache expiration delay" for the page in question.
3. Use the Contao Manager to clear the production cache (Symfony Cache) after structural changes.

Check the effectiveness

After activation, test your site with these free tools:

• Google PageSpeed Insights
• GTmetrix

This guide explains how to report a phishing attempt (Phishing, Fishing, Filoutage...) that you may be a victim of.

Preamble

• Phishing is an attempt at fraud and scam, aiming to obtain sensitive information fraudulently.
• Generally, the victim receives in their inbox a message seemingly coming from Infomaniak, their bank, or a trusted organization, indicating that a problem has occurred on their account or in their daily life:
  
• The goal of this identity theft is generally for the user to voluntarily go to a page and communicate private information that will then be exploited for various purposes, mainly financial.
• If it is not a message “pretending to be something it is not”, but only an unsolicited advertising message, it is better to report it as Spam.

Report a Phishing Email

Prerequisites

• Check that the spam filter is active.
• For more security, activate the mention of external mail.

Then, if you find an email of this type in your inbox directly, you have the possibility to act so that these messages decrease and eventually disappear from the messaging systems:

1. Click here to access the Infomaniak Web App Mail (online service ksuite.infomaniak.com/mail).
2. Open the phishing message.
3. Click on the action menu ⋮ on the right.
4. Click on Report the message.
5. From the menu that appears, select Report as phishing: 
   
6. Confirm sending for processing.
7. Delete the email

Once you have clicked on Report as phishing, an email is automatically sent to Infomaniak with all the necessary information to process the scam report.

In case of a more serious problem (when the message is directly addressed to you by an acquaintance or contact without it being a mass sending) it is recommended to intervene with an organization such as for example report.ncsc.admin.ch.

This guide explains how to view file activity on your Infomaniak hosting server.

FTP space activity logs

To know the activity of exchanges on your FTP space, contact Infomaniak support to request FTP logs by first authenticating with the credentials corresponding to the management of your web hosting.

Help reading logs: http://www.castaglia.org/proftpd/doc/xferlog.html

The possible indication information_schema does not concern you directly.

It is an internal database of MySQL that is a summary of the information from your own databases.

This guide concerns RTMP (Real-Time Messaging Protocol), a service that allows real-time multimedia content to be streamed over the Internet:

• This is a proprietary protocol developed by Adobe and its use requires the configuration of a dedicated RTMP server or the use of RTMP hosting services.
• Viewers can access the live stream using an RTMP-compatible media player, such as VLC.

By default, RTMP is blocked by Infomaniak security rules.

• Refer to this other guide to open the corresponding port.