Install and manage a CMS like WordPress, Joomla, Prestashop, OpenCart, and create a staging site with Softaculous

Install a content management system (CMS)

  1. Log in to your cPanel account.
  2. Scroll down to Softaculous Apps Installer section.
  3. If you see the CMS or category that you want, click on that. If not, click on any icon there to reach the Softaculous page, or scroll up to the Software section and click on the Softaculous Apps Installer.
  4. On the top left side, you can use the search to find the CMS that you want. To try it out, type WordPress and then click on the search result.
  5. Then, click the Install Now button and follow the instructions there.

 

Manage installations

If you didn't use the Softaculous Apps Installer to install your CMS, you can log in to your cPanel and use the File Manager, phpMyAdmin (database), and MySQL® Databases to manage your installation. However, you can still import and manage your installations through Softaculous. See below and then return to this section.

If you installed your content management system (CMS) using the Softaculous Apps Installer or if you have already imported your website(s), follow these instructions to manage the installations:

  1. Log in to your cPanel account.
  2. Scroll down to the Software section or search for "softaculous". Click on Softaculous Apps Installer.
  3. Click on Softaculous Apps Installer.
  4. At the top right, you will find some icons. Click on the box icon to view All Installations.
  5. You can there manage your installations, update information/plugins/themes, create a staging site, delete a website, and more.

 

Import website into Softaculous

This will make a live site manageable by Softaculous. Read the above to have an idea of the benefits of having your website in Softaculous and for accessing Softaculous.

  1. Type "WordPress", or the CMS that your website uses, into the left side search field. Click on WordPress, or the CMS that you're using.
  2. Click on Import.
  3. In the "From This server" tab, select the protocol (it is usually https://, but if your website doesn't have SSL, choose http://, and if your website does include the "www", then include that as well) and select the domain (if you only have 1, it will already be selected). If you don't have your site in another directory, meaning that you don't have it installed in a subfolder (e.g.,: https://example.com/subfolder/), then don't enter any text in the "In Directory" field (we usually leave this field empty).
  4. Click on the Import button.

 

Create a staging site

Creating a staging site (or development environment) helps you have a backup of your site for testing and development purposes. Note that creating a staging site is effectively cloning your current live site and you will thus use nearly double the storage space that you have now.

To set up a staging environment, follow these instructions:

  1. Log in to your cPanel account.
  2. Scroll down to the Software section or search for "softaculous". Click on Softaculous Apps Installer.
  3. At the top right, you will find some icons. Click on the box icon to view All Installations. Then, you'll see your website there. If your website is displayed, skip to the next step. If your website is not displayed, import your website as explained above.
  4. In All Installations, click the icon that has 2 lined sheets of papers and 2 arrows, if you hover it over it, it says Create Staging.
  5. Where it says "In Directory", type a name in that field such as staging. This would make your staging site https://example.com/staging/
  6. Decide if you want to check "Disable Search Engine Visibility". If it's a development site, you will probably want to check this.
  7. Click on the Create Staging button. This will clone your live site exactly as it is into a staging site. You can delete it anytime in All Installations.
  8. You can now edit your staging site. If you want to push the updates live (meaning to bring all updates that you've done to the staging site into the live site), then go to All Installations and click on the Push to Live icon, which is a new icon next to the Create Staging icon.
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