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About ServerPilot

What Is ServerPilot?

ServerPilot is a cloud service for hosting WordPress and other PHP websites on servers at DigitalOcean, Amazon, Google, or any other server provider.

How ServerPilot Works

To use ServerPilot, you only need an account at a server provider such as DigitalOcean. And, of course, you'll need a ServerPilot account.

Server Requirements

To use ServerPilot, your server must meet the following system requirements: Operating System Ubuntu LTS 18.04, 20.04, or 22.04 Architecture 64-bit Kernel >= 3.

Economy Plan Features

ServerPilot's Economy plan offers free SSL certifications and HTTP/2 deployment, multiple apps and system users with app isolation, firewall configuration, server security updates, database management, multiple PHP versions, a one-click WordPress installer, Brotli support, and API access.

Business Plan Features

Along with all features of the Economy plan, ServerPilot's Business plan offers server and app resource usage statistics, a log viewer, and priority support.

First Class Plan Features

Along with all features of the Business plan, ServerPilot's First Class plan offers slow script warnings, app request and performance statistics, and high priority support.

What Are Apps?

Apps are your web applications. Sometimes people call apps "websites." Supported Languages ServerPilot currently supports PHP 7.2, PHP 7.3, PHP 7.

What ServerPilot Installs

ServerPilot installs various packages on your server. Some of these packages are from Ubuntu's repositories. Other packages are provided by us.

Why ServerPilot Installs Its Own Nginx, Apache, and PHP Packages

ServerPilot builds our own "deb" packages of Nginx, Apache, and PHP. We do not install the versions of these provided by Ubuntu.

How to Change the Database Password

To change a database user's password, follow the steps below. First, open your app in ServerPilot and click Databases.

How to Create a Database

Many PHP apps require a MySQL database. You can create MySQL databases for apps in ServerPilot. First, open your app in ServerPilot and go to the Databases tab.

How to Enable Two-Factor Authentication

With two-factor authentication (2FA), you can further secure your ServerPilot account. ServerPilot supports Google Authenticator for two-factor authentication. To get started, first install the Google Authenticator app on your phone.

What Are System Users?

System users are SSH/SFTP users that ServerPilot creates on your server. Every app belongs to and runs as one of these system users.

Cloning and Resizing Servers

It is only safe to clone or resize a server managed by ServerPilot if you shut down the original server before you bring the new server online.

How to Have Servers on Different Plans

If you have multiple servers but don't need all of the servers on the same plan, you can set a different plan for each server.

How to Upgrade Your Account

It's easy to upgrade your ServerPilot trial period account to a paid account. First, open the Billing tab of your Account page in ServerPilot.

Swap Is Enabled

ServerPilot enables 512 MB of swap space on your server. If your server already had swap space enabled when you connected it to ServerPilot, then no additional swap space is added.

How Changing Your root Password and SSH Port Affects ServerPilot

After the initial installation, ServerPilot does not depend upon SSH or your root password in any way, so you may change the SSH port, disable password authentication, etc.

How to Delete a Server

Deleting a server from ServerPilot should only be done if you are absolutely sure you never want the server to be connected to ServerPilot again.

How to Delete an App

You can remove an app from your server by deleting the app through ServerPilot. This removes the app and all of its files and databases from your server.

Deleting Servers

If you want to move a server to another ServerPilot account, do not delete the server from ServerPilot. Instead, follow our guide to transferring servers.

How ServerPilot Configures Your LAMP/LEMP Stack

ServerPilot configures a LAMP/LEMP stack on your server. LAMP stands for Linux + Apache + MySQL + PHP. As ServerPilot also configures Nginx on your server, this is sometimes called a LEMP stack because Nginx is pronounced "

How to Add and Remove Domains

If you didn't set your app's domain when you created it in ServerPilot (or if you need to change it), don't fret.

How to Change a System User Password

If you forget the SSH/SFTP password for one of your system users, you can change it in ServerPilot. First, select your server from your list of connected servers.

How to Change Your Account Email Address and Password

Changing your ServerPilot account email address and password can be done from the Account screen in ServerPilot. Changing Your Email Address To change the email address on your account, open the Email tab on the Account page.

How to Confirm HTTP/2 Works on Your Site

Google Chrome offers a quick and easy way to check if HTTP/2 is supported on your SSL-enabled site. First, visit your site in Chrome over HTTPS.

How to Create an App

ServerPilot makes it easy to create PHP apps and manually install them onto your server using SFTP. An app is a web application, such as WordPress, Magento, Joomla, or Drupal.

How to Rename Your Server

It's easy to change your server's display name in ServerPilot. You must already have an app created before completing these instructions.

How to Transfer a Server between Accounts

ServerPilot makes it simple to move servers between accounts. First, initiate the transfer to the other account by opening the server's Owner tab in ServerPilot.

How to Understand Your Fullest Disk in ServerPilot

On the Business and First Class plans, ServerPilot will track your server's memory and CPU usage as well as its fullest disk.

How to View Your Invoices

Your monthly invoices are available for viewing and printing in ServerPilot. These will include your company's billing information and each of the servers on your account.

Reconnecting Servers

You do not need to take any action in ServerPilot to reconnect a server that has been offline. Once your server comes back online, it will once again show as "

Restoring from a Server Snapshot

When you restore your server from a backup, keep the following things in mind as it reconnects to ServerPilot.

Root User Guide

Every server has a root user that has full privileges to do anything on the server. Being able to do anything is a dangerous ability.

System User Guide

An app can only be owned by a single system user. Multiple systems users cannot access the same app.

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