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Webhosting – EN

7 min read

The Central Computing Services (ZID) of the University of Applied Arts Vienna provides organizational units (institutes, departments, etc.) with the option to host their websites on their own platform. This facilitates creating and administrating web pages.

This article only refers to the hosting of websites. Should you be interested in your own virtual server, please refer to the article Server Hosting.

Websites hosted by ZID are set at a standard of a 10 GB web space and a *.uni-ak.ac.at domain. On request, we can arrange for other domains, however, for this we will need information regarding your cost center. In addition, we need a substantiated rationale as to why you require a *.ac.at domain.

We recommend that you send your request mail with the reference: “Requesting a Webhosting Domain yourdomainname.uni-ak.ac.at” addressed to: helpdesk@uni-ak.ac.at and also give us the information which CMS (standard: WordPress) we may pre-install for you. This would save you from having to deal with the step of an application installation yourselves. Should you not wish to use a standard WordPress, please let us know in your request mail which CMS you would like to use so that we can check for you whether the intended CMS is compatible with our webhosting platform.

Maintenance #

Maintenance and updates of the website are your own responsibility. Central Computing Services (ZID) only provide the web space including the DNS entry (*.uni-ak.ac.at domain).

First Steps #

We will have sent you access data for you to log on to https://plesk-zid-02.uni-ak.ac.at:8443. In „Language of programme interface“ (Sprache der Oberfläche) you can select either German or English.

You can see your domain on the not yet configured interface and you can select a number of settings.

The recommended first step is to install a web application. Please click on „Applications“ („Anwendungen“).

You can now select WordPress, Joomla or Drupal, and you will find further applications under „All available applications“ („ Alle verfügbaren Anwendungen “). We have prepared a guideline for WordPress and Joomla as they are the most common Content Management Systems.

To install, please click on „Install“ („Installieren“) or select the option „Customized installation“ (Benutzerdefinierte Installation“) from the drop-down menu.

WordPress #

When after the installation of WordPress you click on „WordPress“ on the left hand side, you will see that a new page with your domain has been created. The default name of that page is „My CMS“.

WP-Toolkit: Security Status #

It is important that you first of all update the security of the page and optimize it with the help of the WP-Toolkit. To do so, click on the button „View“ next to the display „Security Status“ and select the options you would like to optimize. You can also reverse the security optimizations that you already carried out by clicking on „Revert“ („Zurücksetzen“).

When you have finished, click on „Secure“ and wait a few minutes.

Please note that the Security Status may not get updated automatically. Therefore refresh the Security Status after some minutes by closing and re-opening it in order to ensure that it is now “Secure”.

Once your page is completely secure, it will be marked with a tick under „Secure“.

Security Status „OK“ means that there are still some security gaps but none are of a critical or a high security risk.

Updates WordPress, Plugins, Themes in Plesk #

WP Admin Access via Plesk #

In order to manage the page on use of the classic WP Admin, click on „Login“ („Anmelden“), or alternatively use the classic URL: https://yourdomainname.uni-ak.ac.at/wp-login.php

This website is a standard template. Once logged in, you can start to design the web page.

For example, you can change the theme under „Design“. Under „Posts“ „Beiträge“ you can set up and edit new contributions. Under „Media“ („Medien“) you can upload files, and under „Pages“ („Seiten“) you can create and adapt new pages.

Furthermore, you can install plugins, or activate and deactivate them.

Under „User“ („Benutzer“) you can set up alter user profiles.

You can set up a new user by clicking on „Add New“ („Neu hinzufügen“). Should the password be weaker than the standard requirement, you can tick „ Confirm the use of a weak password “ („Bestätige die Verwendung eines schwachen Passworts“). Please ensure that you assign the correct role to the user.

Please see the following link for further information:

https://de.support.wordpress.com/user-roles/ (30.01.2018)

You will find further information in the official Support-Documentation and in the Word Press Installation guide.

Joomla #

After Joomla has been installed, you can manage the application in the following ways:

1. On the lefthand side, click on „Applications“ („Anwendungen“) and then on the required application.

2. Go to „Websites & Domains“ and subsequently click on „Joomla“ at the domain.

In „Applications“ („Anwendungen“) you can deal with admin tasks, such as enable or disable automatic updates, check the name of the website (default: MyCMS) and see the admin password:

In „Change Settings“ „Einstellungen ändern“ you can change the setting for updates, change the admin password, configure the database user name and the database user password:

Click on „Administrative interface“ to carry out admin tasks of the site. Click on „Site“ to view the current page.

To log on to the Joomla Webinterface, enter the following data:

(The user name equals the value/characters at „Administrator login“ („Administratoranmeldung“)).

The web interface:

After logging in successfully:

Under „Content“ („Inhalt“) you can create new contributions, edit existing contributions, set up categories, and upload/edit media.

Under „Users“ („Benutzer“) you can set up new users, create user groups, issue/alter user rights, etc.

You will find further information on the Joomla official Website .

File Manager #

Under https://plesk-zid-02.uni-ak.ac.at:8443 you can upload files directly without an FTP-Client.

Important: Files must always be uploaded to „httpdocs“! This is the folder in which you will also find all sub-folders for your website, such as for example „wp_content/uploads/“ for WordPress.

If you nevertheless wish to use SFTP, you can find your FTP User under the item „FTP-Access“ („FTP-Zugang“). The same user can also log in with an SSH Client.

Should the SFTP/SSH-Login not work, please enter “plesk-zid-02.uni-ak.ac.at:22” as the server..

User accounts #

Here you can add further user accounts for the Plesk-WebGUI for your domain.

FAQ #

Resolve update problem of WP-Plugins or WordPress 5.x.x #

After a WP-Plugin or WP 5.x.x Update it can happen that the website gets stuck in the service or maintenance mode. A maintenance notice will be displayed and both visitors and WP Admin can no longer access the website.

Simply use SFTP via FileZilla or File Manager in Plesk to delete the .maintenance file from the main directory of the website. This will reinstate website access.

Source: https://www.wp-wartung24.de/maintenance-modus-waehrend-wordpress-updates/

Backup of WordPress webpages in connection with Plesk #

Please first of all check all the steps listed below. If you can still not find the required backup, please send an e-mail to: helpdesk@uni-ak.ac.at and give us your full domain name.

1) Does your login to the WP Admin interface work?

2) Did you install the WP Plugin “UpdraftPlus – Backup/Restore”?

3) If “UpdraftPlus – Backup/Restore” is installed, are there perhaps any backups?

4) What are your settings in “Updraft Plus – Backup/Restore”?

5) Should you not find any backups here, what is the exact path and file/folder name, and what is the date you wish to have restored?

Recommended SFTP Clients #