Hosting

Introduction

cPanel Hosting

When you login to your cPanel hosting service, this is what you should expect to see:

Database Setup

The Databases panel is used to create a database and database user for Joomla.

Select the MySQL Databases item and enter a database name in the form. The first part of the form is predefined. The rest is up to to you. It should be short and perhaps not obvious - jblog for example.

In the same form, go down to the Add New User section. Enter a user name. This can be anything you like. It will be used in your Joomla configuration file so it is not something you need to remember. Use the password generator to create an unmemorable password and copy it to a text editor - you will need it during Joomla installation.

In the same form, go down to Add User to Database. Select the user you created and the database you created from the drop-down lists and then click the Add button. A form to Manage Privileges opens. Select the All Privileges check box and then click the Make Changes button.

That is it - you now have a database ready for a Joomla installation.

Upload Joomla Source

At some stage you will have downloaded the Joomla source code zip file to your own laptop or desktop computer. You now have to decide how to structure your site. The document root for your site is the public_html folder. You could put Joomla there. However, that prevents you from using another application on the same site. For example, you could have two entirely separate Joomla installations, one for production (public viewing) and one for testing (private viewing). So you could create a folder within public_html, named j4 for example, and upload Joomla there. You could have another folder named j4test and put another copy of Joomla there. The illustration below shows such a set-up with two Joomla websites.

When you have decided on your structure, select you chosen Joomla folder in File Manager and click the Upload button. In the upload form, select the Joomla source zip file on your local computer to upload it to the selected folder. After upload, go back to File Manager, select the zip file and click the Extract button. After extraction, you can select and delete the zip file.

That is it! You are ready to install Joomla.

What is joomla.com?

joomla.com is a domain name used to allow individuals to create personal instances of the Joomla CMS in subdomains of the form alice.joomla.com, bob.joomla.com and so on. The subdomains are managed by the CloudAccess.net hosting service. With your own subdomain you can build and maintain a completely free Joomla website for an unlimited time. The free site features all of the Joomla CMS core functionalities that make building a website easy and flexible.

Launching your first Joomla.com site

If you are new to Joomla and would like to see it in action without downloading and setting it up yourself the process to launch your new Joomla website has never been easier! To get started, navigate to the main launch.joomla.org page and enter the information requested in the sequence of forms, mostly appearing in pop-up dialog boxes.

Step 1: Enter a suitable subdomain name

Alice and Bob are probably taken but you can choose any name that is easy to type and to remember.

Step 2: Select Your Joomla Version

As this is a new installation it is best to select the latest stable version.

Step 3: Create an account

Fill in your personal details and select the Register button.

Notes

• Email Address: Your email address is used to login to your Cloud Control Panel (CCP) and to send you messages to complete the set up of your account. It must be a valid account. It is also used for a Super User account in your free joomla.com site.
• Country: This data is used to track where the signups come from.
• Terms of Service: You are required to agree to the Terms of Service available from the link adjacent to the check box. If you agree to sign up for the Joomla marketing campaign you will be sent occasional Joomla marketing emails. This is not a requirement.
• Problems: If the form does not accept your personal data please send an e-mail with your registration details, whether you want Joomla 4 or 5 and what .joomla.com subdomain you want to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - the account will then be created manually.

Step 4: Unlock Premium Features

If you do not wish to Unlock Premium Features for $5 per month you can select NOT NOW to proceed with your free site.

You will shortly receive a 6 digit token on the phone number that you entered.

Step 5: Verify Account

Use the token to complete the process - you will be logged in to the CloudAccess.net control panel (CCP).

Step 6: CloudAccess.net Control Panel

You will also receive an email with your free site login credentials. It may take a few minutes for your free Joomla site to become available. If you have any problems, open a New Ticket in the CPP and the support team will fix whatever needs fixing.

Important: Remember to login at least once a month and select the Renew button in time to keep your free site alive!

Step 7: Access your site

To access your site you can select the Login button in your CPP Your Products panel. It will take you directly to the Administrator Dashboard of your site. Or you can go directly to the subdomain you created (for example myalias.joomla.org/administrator/) and login with the credentials sent to the email address you registered with.

It is a simple as that and once your site is up and running, you can start creating content (articles, menu items, modules) right away. You do not need any extensions to build a stunning fully functional website!

CPP Tools

Joomla is managed almost entirely from its Administrator pages. However, from time to time it is useful to have access to system tools for problem solving purposes. Select the Manage button in the CPP Your Products page for access to these tools.

phpMyAdmin

phpMyAdmin is a utility used to work directly with databases. It really requires experience but experience can be built up as and when problems occur. For access, navigate via Application / Database and then Login to phpMyAdmin.

Backup

It is important to keep regular site backups of the files and database. Many users install a free Akeeba backup extension to do site backups from within Joomla. You can also create backups via Applications / Manage Backups and select the Create Backup button.

File Explorer

Access to files is sometimes useful, for example to examine Joomla log files that are not directly available from within the Joomla Administrator pages. Access is available via Server / File Explorer and the httpsdocs drop-down list.

How to get help when using joomla.com?

Since most of the platform’s functionality overlaps with that of the Joomla! CMS, users are also encouraged to seek help in the Joomla! Forum and in this Wiki Documentation.

Test upcoming releases with joomla.com

Tests are important in an open source project like Joomla as they provide quality assurance for upcoming releases. You can help with testing of new features and bug fixes by installing the Joomla Patchtester](https://github.com/joomla-extensions/patchtester/releases) extension in your free Joomla site. No special skills are required to become a tester! If you have never tested pull requests, the Joomla Documentation provides all the [tutorials you need. So be part of it, start testing Joomla today.

Caveats: You will need a GitHub account and a GitHub token. You will not be able to test pull requests involving CSS and JavaScript changes requiring NPM Resource Changes.

If you want to create a Joomla website, you first need to decide on an approach. There are several options – which one is best depends on your project.

To set up a website on the internet, you need:

• A unique name (domain)
• Storage space on the internet (webspace)

Many hosting providers offer these services with a range of features.

• Free Hosting (Ideal for beginners) – Want to get started quickly and get to know Joomla? Then use joomla.com – a free service from Joomla that lets you get started straight away. It’s ideal for testing and for simple websites. For larger projects, you can upgrade to paid premium features later or switch to another provider.
• cPanel Hosting (Ease of management) – cPanel is a handy control panel for your web space. It allows you to manage your website easily with just a few clicks, without having to type in complicated computer commands. (Note: There are also other control panels, such as Plesk or ISPConfig, which operate in the same way but look different.)
• Auto Installer Installation (1-Klick-Installation) – Many providers offer an automatic installation feature that allows you to set up Joomla very easily with just a click. However, there is a major catch: you often don’t know whether the provider is actually installing the latest and most secure version of Joomla. Experts therefore generally advise against using this automatic installation feature.
• Moving Installation Directory (e.g. for testing) – Sometimes you might want to try out a new version of Joomla without disrupting your main website. To do this, you can temporarily move a second copy of Joomla into a subfolder. This article explains exactly how to do this.
• Local Setup (On your own PC) – You can also install Joomla directly on your own computer or on a small server (such as the Raspberry Pi). As there are many different ways to do this, we have devoted an entire chapter to this topic. Tip: If you’re looking for detailed, step-by-step installation instructions, see the article Installing Joomla in the Getting Started section. Everything is explained in great detail there.

Many times you install Joomla in a sub-directory and then want to move it to a higher level directory, here's a short tutorial on how to do it.

Say you have installed Joomla in the following folder: public_html/tryjoomla. Now that you are satisfied with the site, you'll want to move to public_html.

1. Move all the files from the sub-directory (i.e., public_html/tryjoomla) to the upper level directory (i.e., public_html). You can use your favourite FTP client or the control panel that your hosting service provides.
2. Download and open the configuration.php file in a text editor.
3. Simply remove the tryjoomla folder name from the path. Look for the following lines

   var $live_site = '';
   var $log_path = '/home/username/public_html/tryjoomla/administrator/logs';
   var $tmp_path = '/home/username/public_html/tryjoomla/tmp';
   var $ftp_root = 'public_html/tryjoomla';
   

   Change to:

   var $live_site = '';
   var $log_path = '/home/username/public_html/administrator/logs';
   var $tmp_path = '/home/username/public_html/tmp';
   var $ftp_root = 'public_html';
   

   N.B. The $live_site variable rarely needs to be given a value. But if it was given a value during installation then edit that path as well.

   var $live_site = 'http://www.example.com/tryjoomla';
   

   Change to:

   var $live_site = 'http://www.example.com';
   

4. Check your site's .htaccess file. The subfolder should be removed there as well. The RewriteBase directive should be commented out. Check for a RewriteRule that contains the old subdirectory.
5. Verify that no redirect orders to the old subdirectory are in place in your hosting control panel.
6. If you have cache enabled, login to the administrator backend (which will now be at http://www.example.com/administrator and not http://www.example.com/tryjoomla/administrator). Go to System / Cache and delete all cache files.