Quickstart
We want to make sure that setting up your Hostway account and hosting your site with Hostway is quick and easy. The following overview quickly explains the steps you will follow while going through the setup wizard to activate your account.
If you are looking for more extensive information with examples, please check out the Getting Started Guide in our Help Section.
1. Logging Into Your Account
2. Setting Your Account Passwords
3. Setting Up Your Email
4. Uploading Files
5. Domain Name Registration
6. Publishing Your Site
1. Logging Into Your Account
When you sign up for hosting with Hostway and your order is processed, you’ll receive a confirmation email that provides login instructions and a temporary username and password that will allow you to access SiteControl, Hostway’s online control panel, to set up your account.
With SiteControl, you can manage your account at anytime and from any location, as long as you have an Internet connection and a browser.
In order to activate your account, you must finish the initial set up of SiteControl and change your SiteControl password and set a password for your Master User account.
For more information see Logging Into Your Account in our Help Section.
2. Setting Up Your SiteControl Panel
As soon as you click the link to activate your account, the Change SiteControl Password page appears. It’s important to choose a memorable yet secret password for your account so that access to your site is protected.
When you login to SiteControl, two different user accounts are already set up for you:
- The Customer Account, which enables you to manage all aspects of your account.
- The Master User Account enables you to connect to the Web server using SSH (UNIX platforms only) and FTP (uploading your files) as well as to connect to the mail server to retrieve, read and send email.
To change your passwords, click Change to get to the Change Master Account Password page. Then, enter the password you want to use for the Master User account. Retype the password to confirm, and then click Set Password. You will use this password with your Master User name.
The Initial set up will then guide you to set up your email and FTP clients (see 3. and 4. below), however we recommend that to get you started quickly, you skip these sections and complete them after you have finished your SiteControl set up.
Once you arrive at the final Overview page, your set up is complete and you will be able to carry on setting up your email and FTP users within your SiteControl Panel.
For more information see Setting Your Account Passwords in our Help Section.
3. Setting Up Your Email
Every Hostway hosting plan comes with at least one email account. We know that sending and retrieving email is mission critical to you. We have created a system where you can access the email for your account in several ways.
You can use Hostway’s Web-based email interface, SiteMail or a traditional email client, such as Microsoft Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbird, to check your mail. If you would like to use an email client to check your mail, you will need to configure it to work with Hostway’s mail server. If you do not want to use an email client, you can skip this step.
On the Email Page in SiteControl, click on the email client you would like to use and detailed instructions for setting up the selected email client will be displayed. Follow these simple steps to setup your email accounts.
For more information see Setting Up Email in our Help Section.
4. Uploading Files
When you are ready to publish your Web site, you can upload files to the Web server using FTP or a Web-development application such as Microsoft FrontPage. SiteControl provides the information you will need to connect to and transfer files to and from the Web server using the selected method. We won’t go into too much detail here, but we provide you with all the information you need to get your site uploaded and tested.
For more information see Uploading Files in our Help Section.
5. Domain Name Registration
Before visitors can access your site on the Internet and you can begin using your new email accounts, however, you must ensure that you have a registered domain name.
If you need to register your domain name, you can do so directly within SiteControl or within the Domain Names section of this website. (You may have chosen to register your domain when you placed your hosting order.) If your domain name is registered with a registrar other than Hostway, you can transfer your domain to Hostway if you prefer. You can also attempt to transfer your registration by using our Transfer tool in Sitecontrol – login to SiteControl, click on domain name, and then click on transfer domain name to Hostway.
If you are transferring your domain name, the process usually takes 24-72 hours, so be patient! Also, it’s recommended not to cancel hosting with your current provider until your new site is transferred to Hostway to ensure there is no downtime.
For more information on Domain Transfer go here or see Domain Name Registration in our Help Section.
6. Publishing Your Site
Hostway provides you unlimited access to your Web server 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, allowing you to set up, change or maintain your Web site at any time.
The most common method of uploading Web files is FTP. FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol . It is a protocol that enables you to transfer files between computers on the Internet. FTP is most commonly used to transfer Web page files from an individual’s computer to the Web server hosting the Web site. You can also use FTP to download files from a Web site to your own computer.
Hostway provides a Web-based FTP tool that enables you to quickly and easily connect to your Web server directly from within SiteControl. Because you use this tool while logged in to SiteControl, the application is able to use your account information to automatically establish a connection and authenticate you. To access the built-in FTP tool, select the Website Tools section in SiteControl and then click the Web-based FTP link.
There are also a number of third-party FTP applications you can use. Many of these can be downloaded from the Internet or purchased online. Many Web development applications also provide utilities that enable you to publish your Web site files. Some of these include Macromedia Dreamweaver and Microsoft FrontPage. You can also use the Windows 2000 and WindowsXP Add Network Place component to upload files.
Once you have uploaded your site, be sure to test it to make sure the information is there and the links work.
If you don’t have a site just yet, use Hostway SiteBuilder to create one in a matter of minutes. You can get access to Hostway SiteBuilder through SiteControl under the Web Site Tools section. To learn more about Hostway SiteBuilder, click here.
For more information see Publishing Your Site in our Help Section.
* All prices exclude VAT where applicable. All plans, packages and offers are subject to terms and conditions of sale available on the site.
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