Fortunately, there are many ways to protect your website from the threat of malware and other cybersecurity issues. Many hosting providers enable customers to configure a range of site security settings using the popular Linux control dashboard cPanel. 

In this post, we’ll explain what website security is and why it’s important. We’ll also provide seven actionable tips that you can use to improve your site security and protect your website with cPanel. Ready? Let’s get started!

Why Protecting Your Website Is Important

It takes time and money to create a high-quality website for your business. However, without the right level of security, you could be putting your site at risk. 

According to cybersecurity statistics published by Forbes, one in three Americans have been a victim of ransomware attacks, and only five percent of companies ensure that their folders are properly protected.  That’s why it’s so important for site owners to take steps to secure their websites on a regular basis.

However, although protecting against cybercrime is one of the main benefits of maintaining good site security protocols, there are also some other benefits, including: 

• It helps to keep your employees safe. In the same way that your website can be at risk of malware attacks, your workers can be too. Viruses can pass from device to device. Therefore, if your site becomes infected, the devices your team members use to access the site may become compromised too.
• It can prevent your website from going down. Site owners should aim for as little website downtime as possible. Good cybersecurity measures can help you achieve this. By putting protective measures in place before attacks happen, you can prevent malware from causing issues that make you take your site offline to fix them. 
• It can inspire confidence in your customers. For online businesses, reputation is everything, even when it comes to your website. By following good cybersecurity protocols and sharing this with your customers, you can help them feel safe and secure when using your site. 

Next, we’ll take a look at cPanel, a commonly used control panel for WordPress sites. You can use it to make your website more secure without investing in any expensive plugins. 

A Brief Introduction to cPanel

cPanel is a control application that enables you to carry out server tasks for your WordPress website:

It isn’t the only application of this type available, but it’s the most commonly used Linux control panel. cPanel provides users with an easy-to-use interface for carrying out essential server-side maintenance tasks, including:

• File management
• Database management 
• Email management
• Site backups 

It can make your site easier to manage due to its automated processes and 24/7 support team. As such, it could be worth considering if you’re looking to save time and effort on your website management.

There are also several ways in which you can use cPanel to enhance cybersecurity. Next, we’ll take a look at some of the things you can do to protect your website with this application. 

How to Protect Your Website With cPanel (7 Essential Tips)

There are many site security plugins that you can use to enhance your cybersecurity. However, many of these are premium plugins that aren’t available for free. By using cPanel, you can secure your website using tools already at your disposal, so you don’t have to spend a penny. Here are our top seven tips for protecting your website with cPanel.

1.  Update cPanel Regularly 

Outdated elements on your website can lead to serious vulnerabilities. This is also true for cPanel. If it isn’t up to date, you could be leaving your site open to attacks and breaches. 

Additionally, you could be missing out on access to new security features by using an outdated version. Updates are used to fix bugs, add new features, and improve the security of cPanel. As such, it could be a good idea to ensure that you are always using the latest version of the software.

The good news is that keeping cPanel up to date is fairly easy. Depending on your hosting package, you may not need to manually update it at all, as the system administrators may take care of it for you.

If you do need to update it manually, start by logging into WebHost Manager (WHM). In the upper right corner of the main WHM screen, you should be able to see the current version of cPanel you’re running:

If a new version is available, you’ll also see a box just underneath this giving you the option to Update Now. All you have to do is click on this and wait for it to finish upgrading (it might take a while). Note that the Update Now box isn’t visible in the image above, as we’re currently already running the latest stable build. 

2. Choose Strong Passwords and Regularly Update Them

It’s imperative to ensure that all of your site entry points are protected by strong passwords. Without secure passwords in place, seasoned cybercriminals can easily infiltrate your site and install malware. 

Thankfully, with cPanel, it’s easy for you to reset your password. It even comes with a password generator to help you protect your site using strong credentials. To keep your site as safe as possible, it’s recommended that you change all passwords on a regular basis. Configuring them around once a month is usually sufficient. 

To change your cPanel password, log in and head to the Preferences tab, then click on Passwords and Security: 

Next, you’ll be prompted to input your old password, as well as your new updated password. You’ll also see a score that tells you how weak or strong your credentials are. If your chosen password is too weak, you might want to click on Password Generator instead. This will automatically generate a new, stronger login: 

Once you’ve done that, copy the generated password and paste it into the New Password field. Also, be sure to save it in a secure location that you can access in case you forget it and need a reminder. 

When you’re ready, click on Save Password Now! Once you’ve done that, your update should be complete, and you can start using your new credentials. 

3. Password Protect Your Vulnerable Directories 

In addition to having a strong password for your cPanel account, it’s equally important to password protect your vulnerable directories. Doing this in cPanel enables you to limit access to certain content for specific users.

Once you’ve added password protection to a directory, your site will prompt visitors to enter a username and password in their web browsers before they can access it. This helps to keep sensitive content secure from unauthorized access.

To add password protection to a directory, start by logging into cPanel. Next, scroll down to the Files section and click on Directory Privacy:

Here, you should be able to see a list of all your directories. Click on Edit next to the name of the folder you want to protect. On the next page, tick the box next to the text that says Password protect this directory. Then, type in a name for the protected directory below and click on Save:

Once you’ve done that, you should see a brief ‘success’ message. Click on Go Back, then enter a Username and Password in the appropriate text boxes, and then click on Save.

Note: You can also automatically generate a strong password by clicking on the Password Generator button:

If you ever want to remove the password protection, repeat the steps above to navigate to the directory again. Then, clear the Password protect this directory checkbox.

4. Enable cPHulk Brute-Force Protection

cPHulk is another useful service provided by cPanel that helps to protect your server against brute force attacks. These attacks involve an attacker using an automated system to attempt to guess your username and passwords by repeatedly trying different combinations in rapid succession.

Using cPHulk through cPanel will enable you to block the IP address or accounts exhibiting suspicious behavior automatically. This prevents attackers from carrying out any further attempts to log in, thus preventing them from gaining unauthorized access and installing malware on your site.

To enable CPHulk Brite-Force protection, you’ll first need to log in to WHM. From there, navigate to Security Center in the left-hand sidebar, and click on cPHulk Brute Force Protection:

Next, you can toggle the button to ON to enable cPHulk protection:

Once it’s enabled, you can tweak the Configuration Settings. For example, you can specify how many failed login attempts are required to lock IP addresses out, and how long they should be locked out for. Once you’re done making changes, click on Save:

Note that aside from Configuration Settings, several other tabs are available on this page: Whitelist Management, Blacklist Management, and History Reports.

You can whitelist and blacklist certain IP addresses manually by navigating to the appropriate tab. This is useful in certain circumstances. For example, it may be a good idea to whitelist your own IP to avoid a lockout from your server.

If you ever need to see a log of what actions cPHulk has taken, you can do so by clicking on the History Reports tab. 

5. Protect Against Hotlinking 

Hotlinking (sometimes called ‘direct linking’) refers to when another website links out directly to content hosted on your website, such as image files. When visitors to their website load the page, your site serves the image files they see. This allows the other website to effectively ‘steal’ your bandwidth and use it to show pictures to their visitors. 

Naturally, this is something you’ll probably want to avoid. Fortunately, you can do so easily. All you have to do is configure hotlink protection using cPanel. Here’s how to go about it.

First, log in to cPanel and scroll down to the Security section. Then, click on the Hotlink Protection icon:

On the next page, you can toggle Hotlink protection ON or OFF. You can also change your configuration settings. For example, you might want to specify certain URLs that are allowed to access your files (cPanel will automatically populate this box with suggested local URLs):

Next, you can also specify the specific file extensions you want to block direct access to by adding them to the Block direct access for the following extensions box (make sure you separate each file extension by a comma):

Again, the above box should be automatically pre-populated with commonly hotlinked file extensions. However, you might want to add extra file extensions that aren’t already included. 

You can also add a URL to the Redirect requests to the following URL text box:

This will serve users from blocked sites with the specified URL page instead of the hotlinked file. Once you’re done making changes to the settings, just click on Submit.

6. Utilize Patchman by SITELOCK

Patchman is a really useful security service that helps to prevent your site from being hacked. Once installed, it will automatically scan your website for malware. If it detects any potential threats, it immediately emails you to notify you of them. If you don’t resolve the issue within 24 hours, Patchman will quarantine the affected files to protect your site:

Not only that, but Patchman also detects whether your WordPress, Drupa, or Joomla installation requires patching. Again, it will notify you of this by email and automatically apply the patch if you don’t fix it yourself within a week.

A2 Hosting has partnered with Patchman to provide our web hosting customers with free malware and vulnerability scans. Therefore, if you have a web hosting account with us, Patchman should already be enabled for your domain. 

However, if you want to manage your settings or carry out specific administrative tasks, you can do so by accessing the Patchman dashboard. To get to the dashboard, start by logging into cPanel, then click on Patchman in the Advanced section:

From here, you can run manual scans, view detected items and applications, and carry out manual actions. For example, you can review potential malware and choose to either ignore it or quarantine it:

Utilizing Patchman is one of the best ways to protect your website from security threats. However, not all hosting providers include access to it. Therefore, it may be a good idea to choose a hosting service provider that partners with the service.

7. Use Secure Shell File Transfer Protocol (SFTP)

SFTP stands for Secure Shell File Transfer Protocol. As the name suggests, it’s a secure version of the regular File Transfer Protocol (FTP). It uses the Secure Shell protocol to encrypt transfers.

If you didn’t already know, FTP is how you transfer files between your computer and your hosting server to make them accessible to the public and vice-versa. These files are often confidential and may include sensitive data such as usernames and passwords.

The problem is that the original FTP protocol doesn’t encrypt this data, which leaves it vulnerable to interception by attackers. If you want to prevent hackers from getting access to your data, it’s recommended that you encrypt it by using STFP instead.

In order to transfer files using SFTP, you’ll need your main cPanel account’s private key for authentication. To find it, log in to cPanel and scroll down to the Security section. Then, click on SSH Access:

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On the next page, click on Manage SSH Keys:

If you already have a public/private key pair, you can use those for SFTP transfers. If you don’t already have one, you can generate a new one by clicking on Generate a New Key:

Once you’ve generated a new key, go back to the Manage SSH Keys interface, and click on the Manage link next to the new key. Next, click on the Authorize button to allow it:

Go back and scroll down to Private Keys and click on View/Download. The next page should display your SSH key details. You can click on Download Key to save it somewhere safe to your computer:

Once you’ve done all the above, your site is ready for an SFTP connection. You can open your preferred FTP client and use the private key you downloaded to connect via SFTP.

Conclusion

Keeping your site safe from malicious activity and malware is extremely important. Fortunately, cPanel offers you several ways to ensure that your site is secure and protected. 

Here’s a quick recap of how to protect your website using cPanel:

1. Update cPanel regularly. 
2. Choose strong passwords and update them regularly. 
3. Password protect your vulnerable directories. 
4. Enable cPHulk Brute-Force protection.
5. Protect against hotlinking.
6. Utilize Patchman by SITELOCK.
7. Use Secure Shell File Transfer Protocol (SFTP).

If you’re looking for a hosting provider that understands the importance of site security and reliable hosting, check out our affordable Linux hosting plans!

Image credit: Free-Photos.

The post How to Protect Your Website With cPanel (7 Essential Tips) appeared first on The A2 Posting.

Continue reading to discover what a web host manager is and why it is important. Learn what types of web host managers are available to business owners and web professionals like you and explore the benefits of using WHMCS for your websites. Finally, learn how you and your team can experience the advantages of web hosting with the assistance of A2 Hosting.

What Is a Web Host Manager?

A Web Host Manager (WHM) is a computer program that grants users like you the ability to supervise various cPanel-based sites. It allows you to manage your dedicated server or Virtual Private Server (VPS). This control dashboard provides you with administrative access to the back end of cPanel.

As an end-user, you can utilize WHM in tandem with cPanel to set up individual accounts, add new domains, handle hosting features, and conduct basic maintenance. It is possible for you to oversee MySQL databases and to add and remove email accounts with the assistance of WHM.

Why Is a Web Host Manager Important?

A Web Host Manager (WHM) is important because of its connection to cPanel. This website utility enables you to efficiently handle the operation and maintenance of your websites. It provides numerous functions that are related to database, domain management, backup, mail, and security.

cPanel’s automated and configurable platform allows you to create and automate all server management tasks. However, WHM is necessary to maximize the usefulness of cPanel. After all, cPanel needs the support of WHM to supervise multiple accounts.

What Types of Web Host Managers Are Available?

There is a wide range of web host managers (WHM) that are available to business owners and web professionals such as yourself. The type of WHM that is suitable for you depends on the particular needs of your business team.

These are the popular types of web hosting plans:

1. Shared Web Hosting

Shared web hosting involves the sharing of CPU (Central Processing Unit), RAM (Random Access Memory), and other server resources by multiple websites. This hosting type is suitable for you if you only need entry-level website hosting at a relatively affordable cost.

2. Virtual Private Server (VPS) Hosting

VPS hosting allows every website to be hosted in its own dedicated space on a server while sharing a physical server with other websites at the same time. It is a viable option for you if you need more storage space and customization features without having to splurge on dedicated server hosting.

3. Dedicated Server Hosting

Dedicated server hosting is a form of hosting where your website has one dedicated server so you don’t have to share your resources. It is the ideal choice for you if you are willing to invest in its premium cost so you can access a higher level of resource allocation and control for your website.

4. Managed Hosting

Managed hosting is a form of service where the provider is fully or partially responsible for the regular management of the hardware, operating systems, and applications involved in web hosting. It is appropriate for you if you wish to relegate the technical aspects of web hosting to your provider.

What Are the Benefits of Using WHMCS?

A2 Hosting offers the benefit of using WHMCS to help navigate the backend of your website. These are the major benefits that you and your team can experience if you use Web Host Manager Complete Solution (WHMCS) for your website:

1. Multiple Functions

WHMCS makes it simple and easy for you to manage your website because of its multiple functions. Its handy suite of tools enables you to fulfill the following tasks:

• Keep track of your websites regularly
• Create, suspend, or delete your cPanel accounts
• Monitor and change the DNS zones of your domains
• Grant permission to keep track of your server status and data
• Configure the support requests of your clients via cPanel
• Set up your default page as you form a new account
• Make adjustments to your client user names and domain names
• Personalize your hosting and control panel with your branding
• Oversee the cPanel and change the aspects which do not require SQL access

2. Increased Cyber Security

Using WHMCS can increase the online security of your websites. Just in case one of your sites is compromised because of a cybercrime attack, a WHMCS will minimize the risk that your other websites will also be affected. A WHMCS also prevents hackers from finding out that the various accounts on different cPanels are linked to the same WHM account.

3. Greater Flexibility

WHMCS offers you flexibility by allowing you to adjust your bandwidth and disk space. These adjustments are critical to the continuous operations of your website, which may crash or become suspended if it goes over the maximum bandwidth.

4. Efficient Credit Card Processing

WHMCS enables your multiple websites to accept credit card payments from your customers. Your site will need an SSL certificate and dedicated IP address to process credit card transactions. Since only one dedicated IP address is allowed for each cPanel, you can choose a Reseller account that lets you manage multiple cPanels.

What Types of Hosting Plans Are Offered by A2 Hosting?

The right hosting plan will make it possible for you to achieve your work goals so you can grow your business.

No matter what type of web host manager you require for your websites, A2 Hosting offers a wide range of feature-rich hosting plans that you can choose from. We can empower you to manage your websites through our Shared Web Hosting, Dedicated Hosting, VPS Hosting, WordPress Hosting, and Reseller Hosting.

Contact our sales team to discover which one of these powerful A2 Hosting solutions is perfect for your business needs.

The post Why Do I Need a Web Host Manager? appeared first on The A2 Posting.

Thankfully, there are tools that can simplify these essential website management tasks. This gives you more time to concentrate on growing your website.

In this article, we’ll share nine ways that cPanel can simplify your website management. We’ll show you how to perform all the most important WordPress management tasks, and even how to manage multiple sites from a single cPanel dashboard. Let’s get started!

What Is cPanel (And Why Is It Important?)

cPanel is a web- and Linux-based Graphical Interface (GUI) and management system. Using cPanel, you can perform a range of hosting-related tasks. This includes organizing files, creating email accounts, and managing domains.

You can use cPanel to manage multiple websites from a single user interface. This makes cPanel a popular choice for WordPress agencies who need to manage multiple clients, affiliate marketers, and hosting resellers.

There are several control panels available for WordPress. However, cPanel is one of the most popular, with cPanel claiming that over 70 million sites are managed using their software. To help meet the needs of our customers, at A2 Hosting we offer cPanel with all our hosting accounts.

Although we’ll be focusing on cPanel throughout this article, cPanel has two user interfaces. These interfaces are cPanel and Web Host Manager (WHM), which is a server management interface. WHM is particularly useful for launching your own reseller hosting business, as it enables you to perform essential reseller tasks, including creating your own hosting packages.

How to Access the cPanel Dashboard

At A2 Hosting, we provide cPanel with all our hosting packages. This ensures our customers can manage their websites, without having to configure additional tools.

If you’re already an A2 Hosting customer, there are several ways to access cPanel. You can log into the A2 Hosting client area, then select cPanel Login.

Alternatively, you can access cPanel by heading over to your website and appending :2083 to your URL. For example, if your website is www.mysite.com, you can access cPanel at the following: www.mysite.com:2083.

You can also access cPanel by adding /cpanel to the end of your URL. For example, www.mysite.com/cpanel.

If your site is new there’s a chance the Domain Name System (DNS) records may have not yet propagated on the server. If none of the above techniques work, you can access cPanel using your website’s IP address. You can find your site’s IP address by logging into the A2 Hosting client area, then selecting Account Details.

This will open the Product Details screen, which contains your IP address. You can access cPanel by entering this IP address, and again appending :2083 to the full address.

9 cPanel Tips to Simplify Your Website Management

You can use cPanel to perform a range of essential website management tasks, so let’s explore some of them! Here are nine ways that cPanel can simplify your day-to-day website admin.

1. Install Applications to Your Server

Applications can be useful for adding extra features to your website. Other applications can help simplify common tasks, or provide useful data such as visitor analytics.

You can install applications on your website or hosting account from the command line. However, this isn’t the most user-friendly approach, and the command line is only useful if you already know which application you want to install.

Auto-installers such as Softaculous automate the installation process using predefined scripts. There are various auto-installers available, but at A2 Hosting we provide Softaculous to all our customers. It’s a popular script library that features hundreds of scripts for open source and commercial web applications.

They also typically provide a GUI for browsing the available applications.

You’ll select the application that you want to install, and enter any information required to configure this application. The auto-installer will automatically organize the database configuration, user permissions, web, and server files. It will then install the application in question. This can make it significantly easier to add applications to your website, while also reducing the possibility for human error.

Using Softaculous, you can explore categories of web applications ranging from social networking, to advert management, e-commerce, and customer support. You can often install these applications with a single click. Even if additional configuration is required, Softaculous will prompt you to enter the necessary information via its graphical user interface.

Even for complex applications, you can often complete the necessary configuration and add the application to your server within seconds. The cPanel dashboard will also prompt you to install any available updates. Even if you install a long list of applications, this makes it easy to ensure all your applications are kept up-to-date.

2. Manage Multiple Domains From a Single cPanel Account

Sometimes you may want to operate multiple websites. Instead of purchasing a separate hosting account for each domain, you can add multiple add-on domains to the same account. You can then split your account’s resources between these various domains. This can save you money, and also provides a central hub where you can manage all your domains.

You can add domains to your hosting account, using cPanel’s Addon Domains tool:

In New Domain Name, type the domain that you want to add. After entering this information, cPanel should populate the Subdomain and Document Root automatically.

If you want to use File Transfer Protocol (FTP) with this domain, select the Create an FTP account associated with this Addon Domain checkbox. You can then select Add Domain, and cPanel will add this domain to your hosting account. You can repeat these steps, to create multiple add-on domains.

3. Verify Your Analytics

Monitoring your website is essential for providing the best possible visitor experience. By analyzing important metrics such as traffic and visitor behavior, you can continuously identify opportunities for improvement. This can help you create a plan for growing your audience, driving conversions, and increasing your revenue.

There are several monitoring tools and platforms available for WordPress, including Google Analytics. However, these tools often require a significant amount of setup.

cPanel provides its own Advanced Web Statistics (AWStats) tool that you can use with zero setup. AWStats is an open-source analytics tool that provides data on traffic volume, source, and the type of traffic. AWStats also provides detailed information about the people who visit your site, including their Operating System (OS) and web browser.

This information can help you monitor your site’s performance, even if you’re not using a dedicated analytics platform. However, you can also use AWStats to verify the information in third-party tracking tools, including Google Analytics.

Google Analytics can provide a wealth of information, but this data isn’t always accurate. AWStats is based on the log files created by your web server. This means AWStats is typically more accurate than tools such as Google Analytics.

Most notably, Google Analytics relies on cookies in order to collect visitor information. Data regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Cookie Law mean that many visitors now need to opt into cookies. With many people worried about online privacy, a significant portion of your visitors may choose not to allow cookies. This can interfere with your Google Analytics data.

AWStats doesn’t rely on cookies. While AWStats isn’t as comprehensive as Google Analytics, it can be a useful resource for determining whether your Google Analytics data is accurate.

4. Manage Your Files

WordPress has a built-in media uploader that you can use for common resources such as videos and images. You can also upload themes and plugins via the WordPress admin dashboard. However, sometimes an error on your site may prevent you from uploading a particular resource using WordPress’ built-in features. In these instances, uploading a file manually may help you troubleshoot the problem, or even fix the error you’re encountering.

You could upload and manage your files using the File Transfer Protocol (FTP). However, FTP can be difficult for anyone who isn’t already familiar with the protocol.

cPanel’s File Manager provides an accessible GUI. This can make it easy to upload files to your server. To launch this tool, select File Manager from the cPanel dashboard.

You can then select the Upload tab, and choose the files(s) that you want to upload. Alternatively, you can create files directly within your website’s file system. This can save you a considerable amount of time when working with simple files.

5. Monitor Your Website’s Performance

Performance can have a huge impact on your site’s success. Studies have shown that almost half of visitors abandon a site that takes longer than three seconds to load. However, any delay can have a negative impact on bounce rate. Studies suggest that as page load times increase from one to three seconds, the average bounce rate increases by 32 percent. If your site is slow to load, you’ll struggle to attract and retain an audience.

Google also uses page speed as a ranking factor. If your site isn’t performing well, it could negatively impact your Search Engine Optimization (SEO). This can reduce the number of people discovering your site for the first time, and stall your website’s growth.

To help retain and grow your audience, it’s important to monitor your site’s performance. This helps you resolve issues before they cause too much damage.

You can evaluate your site’s performance using cPanel’s Resource Usage tool. This tool can help you identify any applications or services that are hogging your resources. This tool can also help you gauge whether it’s time to upgrade your hosting package. This is particularly important if you’re experiencing an upsurge in traffic.

In cPanel, select Resource usage. You’ll now see a summary of your account, including information about any performance issues your sites have experienced in the past 24 hours. You’ll also receive a warning if your site is about to hit its resource limits.

You can view resource usage information for the current day by selecting the Current usage tab. This displays a series of graphs including processes, CPU usage, and physical memory usage.

Creating and analyzing snapshots can also be a useful way to troubleshoot performance issues. To get started with usage snapshots, select the Snapshots tab.

6. Create Additional MySQL Databases

Every time someone visits your site, they make a request that’s sent to your server. The PHP programming language receives this request, retrieves the necessary information from a MySQL database, and presents this information to the visitor.

When you install WordPress, it prompts you to create a database by providing a database name, host, username, and password. However, you can also create a database manually using cPanel’s MySQL Database Wizard. This can be useful if you’re migrating to a new host, or building a test website.

To create a new database, select MySQL Database Wizard from the cPanel dashboard. You can then follow the instructions to create a database, and add a new user with All Privileges.

At some point you may want to review all the databases you’ve created. You can either use cPanel’s MySQL Databases tool, or phpMyAdmin. Both of these tools are accessible from the main cPanel dashboard.

If you select phpMyAdmin, you’ll see a list of all your databases. You can also use phpMyAdmin to perform a range of database-related tasks, including adding triggers, and exporting your database.

7. Upgrade (Or Downgrade) Your Version of PHP

As with all software, new versions of PHP can introduce security updates, performance improvements, and new features. To ensure you’re benefiting from these improvements, we recommend running the latest version of PHP. You can update PHP using cPanel’s Select PHP Version module.

You can also use cPanel to downgrade your PHP version. PHP can impact how your website functions, particularly if you’re using third-party themes and plugins. The code running in WordPress themes and plugins may use older functions that are no longer supported by newer versions of PHP. This can cause problems with your website.

Although we’d always recommend opting for plugins and themes that are compatible with the latest technologies, A2 Hosting servers support multiple versions of PHP. If you rely on a particular theme or plugin, you could use cPanel to temporarily downgrade your version of PHP.

When downgrading, we recommend notifying the plugin or theme’s developer about their PHP incompatibility. You may also want to look for an alternative theme or plugin, rather than running an outdated version of PHP indefinitely.

To upgrade or downgrade, navigate to the main cPanel dashboard and then select PHP Version. Your current version of PHP will be displayed along the top of the page. Now, select Current PHP Version, and choose a version of PHP from the list:

Here, you can also configure a range of PHP-related functions, by selecting the Options tab. These settings include specifying the maximum number of files that you can upload simultaneously, and the amount of memory a script can allocate.

8. Create a Backup with cPanel

It’s important to backup your WordPress website on a regular basis. If you encounter any issues with your WordPress website, a backup can be essential for resolving the problem. For example, if your site gets infected with malware, you can restore a version of your site that pre-dates infection.

Backups can be vital in the worst case scenario where someone hacks into your site and deletes all your content. Without a backup, you could lose months or even years of hard work, with no hope of recovering the lost data.

You can create your backups using cPanel. In the cPanel dashboard, select Backup Wizard. You can then download a compressed copy of all your website data. This includes your home directory and all your MySQL databases.

To start the backup process, select Back Up. Now, choose to either backup all the files on your website, or create a partial backup consisting of either your home directory, MySQL databases, or email forwarders and filters.

You’ll typically only create a full backup if you plan to move your account to another server. Note that if you do create a full backup, you’ll be unable to restore the backup using the cPanel interface.

Make sure your selection, and the Backup Wizard will create your backup. For added protection, you may want to consider uploading this file to an offsite data storage provider, rather than storing it locally on your computer.

9. Password-Protect Sensitive Directories

Security is a huge concern for many WordPress users. If someone manages to gain access to your WordPress file system, they could wreak havoc across your website.

There are ways to recover a hacked site. For example, you could restore a backup that pre-dates the attack. However, even if you do manage to recover your site, it will typically require a significant amount of work – and there’s no guarantee your efforts will be successful. By taking steps to protect your site now, you may save yourself a considerable amount of time and effort in the long run.

cPanel provides a range of security features that can help keep your website safe. This includes password-protecting sensitive directories.

Passwords can be particularly useful if you share your site with other people. This includes partners, freelance developers, and contributors. You can use password-protection to control which sections of your site these people have access to.

If the business relationship turns sour, these passwords can limit how much damage the disgruntled third party can inflict on your website. Passwords can also protect your site against accidental damage. For example, a co-worker who isn’t particularly tech-savvy may accidentally delete an important file or folder.

You can password-protect any part of the WordPress file system, using cPanel’s Directory Privacy. However, we particularly recommend protecting the public_html/wp-admin directory. This directory contains important files, but by default any third party can request access to your wp-admin folder.

To set up password protection, select Directory Privacy from the main cPanel dashboard. This should launch a new tab where you can explore the WordPress file system.

You can now navigate to the folder in question. Give this folder a click, and Directory Privacy will prompt you to create a password.

Conclusion

Running a successful WordPress website isn’t easy. All of your day-to-day admin tasks can leave you very little time to focus on creating new and exciting content for your website.

Thankfully, tools such as cPanel can take much of the pain out of WordPress management. This includes tasks such as:

1. Installing applications to your server.
2. Managing multiple domains from a single account.
3. Creating backups.
4. Password-protecting sensitives directories.

By opting for a hosting provider that offers cPanel as standard, you’ll have guaranteed access to a range of powerful and efficient website management tools. This can free up more time to focus on what really matters: creating great content, and growing your audience.

Image credit: Pixabay.

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