Sites

A site is a web site with its own files, a web server and HTTPS on your domain. Under the hood it is an app with a volume of its own, so it gets what apps get: certificates by themselves, HTTP/3, logs, sleep when idle. You only see the parts a site needs.

Make one

Open Sites and choose New site.

1. Name: for you; it is not a hostname.
2. Kind: PHP, or Static files served by Caddy.
3. For PHP, a server and a PHP version (8.1 to 8.4):
   • Caddy: fast and simple, the default.
   • OpenLiteSpeed: reads .htaccess files, for WordPress and Laravel rewrite rules.
   • nginx, with PHP-FPM.
4. A Starter kit: Blank, a Landing page, or WordPress, Joomla, Nextcloud or Laravel. The last four come with their files and a MariaDB database of their own, already connected.
5. A Domain, if you have one ready: a name under a domain you have proved (Domains and DNS).

Put your files in public/: that folder is the site’s web root.

The site’s page

• Overview: its state, names, disk use and traffic.
• Names: the names it answers on, and Redirects that send other names to its first one. Certificates are ordered and renewed by themselves; Custom TLS certificate takes your own PEM chain and key for one name instead, until you remove it.
• PHP: the server and version, and memory_limit, upload_max_filesize (with post_max_size) and max_execution_time. A change restarts the site within a few seconds.
• Files: the site’s files in the browser.
• Cron: commands on a schedule, five fields in UTC such as */15 * * * *, run with the site’s PHP and its files at /srv/site, for example php /srv/site/public/wp-cron.php. Run now starts one at once. A job runs as whoever last saved it, while they may still manage the site.
• SFTP: accounts that see this site’s files only, signing in with a password (shown once) or your SSH keys. The tab shows the address: sftp -P <port> <login>@<host>. There is no plain FTP.
• Database: give the site a database, or connect one you have (Databases).
• Backups: the site’s restore points, and a restore of its files in one step, where your operator backs up volumes.
• Logs: what the web server wrote and the HTTP requests to its names.
• Settings: Sleep when idle, and delete.

Sleep when idle

A site stops after 10 minutes without visitors and wakes on the next visit, so it costs nothing while idle. The first visit after a sleep takes a few seconds. Turn it off under Settings.

Good to know

• Changing the server or PHP version restarts the site: a few seconds without answers. Its volume is on one server, so it can’t run a second copy during the switch.
• Files you upload count toward the site’s disk, shown on Overview.
• Moving from DirectAdmin? The velrix import directadmin command brings sites, databases, mail and DNS across (The velrix command).