Getting Started

You've decided to host with Opalstack? Thanks, that's great! ❤️

Ready to go? Let's get started! 🚀

Creating a new account

  1. Go to our signup page.

  2. Select Monthly or Yearly billing. The yearly discount is 12 months for the price of 10.

  3. Select your hosting plan:

    • The Value Stack, Single Stack, and Double Stack are managed shared hosting plans that include a 14-day free trial.

      The disk and RAM specifications for these plans are quotas for resources on a shared server. For example, the Single Stack plan includes 100 GB of disk storage and 1 GB of RAM, all of which are available for your files, data, applications, and email.

    • The VPS plans are virtual private servers which can provide more RAM and better isolation compared to shared hosting. New VPS plans are usually provisioned within a few hours (usually much less!) but may sometimes require up to 24 hours for setup.

      The disk and RAM specifications for these plans refer to the total capacity of the VPS. For example, the 2GB VPS plan is a virtual private server with 2 GB of RAM and 50 GB of storage which is used by the server operating system and services in addition to your files, data, and applications. The VPS plans include a separate 50 GB storage quota dedicated to email.

    • The Dedicated plans are dedicated bare-metal servers which provide even more RAM and raw power for demanding applications. New dedicated plans require a 1-3 day setup time (sometimes longer).

      The disk and RAM specifications for these plans refer to the total capacity of the server. For example, the 64GB Dedicated plan is a dedicated server with 64 GB of RAM and 2 TB of storage which is used by the server operating system and services in addition to your files, data, and applications. The dedicated plans include a separate 100 GB storage quota dedicated to email.

  4. Select your desired server location.

  5. Enter your email address in the space provided. Your email address will be used for billing, control panel password resets, and as a means for us to contact you regarding matters concerning your account.

  6. Enter the username for your account in the space provided. You'll use this name when you log in to the dashboard and the dashboard API.

    Usernames must meet the following requirements:

    • They may contain only lower-case alpha-numeric characters (a-z, 0-9)
    • They must be no more than 150 characters in length.
    • They must be unique -- that is, you cannot register with a username that already exists.

  7. Enter your desired account password in the space provided. You'll use this password when you log in to the dashboard and the dashboard API.

    Passwords must meet the following requirements:

    • Passwords must be from 10 to 64 characters in length
    • Passwords must contain 1 or more of each of the following types of characters:
      • Lowercase letters (a-z)
      • Uppercase letters (A-Z)
      • Numerals (0-9)
      • Special Characters (+-*/\.,:;!?#$%&@=^_~|<>()[]{})

  8. If you have a coupon or promo code enter it in the space provided.

  9. If you have any questions or instructions for the Opalstack support team, enter them into the space provided.

  10. Enter the following information for your credit card:

    • Card number
    • Card expiration date in the form of MM/YY.
    • 3-digit card verification code from the back of your card

    Our payment and billing processor is Stripe. We accept Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, JCB, Diners Club, and China UnionPay credit and debit cards.

    See also:

  11. Click the Sign Up button!

    • If there is a problem with the information you provided in the form, the fields with errors will be highlighted in red. Correct the entries in those fields and resubmit the form.
    • If all goes well, you'll be redirected to your Opalstack hosting dashboard, and you'll receive a welcome email a short while later.
    • You'll also receive an invitation to subscribe to our marketing/newsletter mailing list. If you don't wish to subscribe, just ignore the message and you won't receive marketing and newsletter emails from us.

That's it - you're ready to build your first site!

Building a Site

Overview

Sites on Opalstack are built from the following components:

  • Shell users which own your files and run your web applications.
  • Web applications which are routed to URI paths like /, /blog, etc.
  • Domains and subdomains which are assigned to complete the site.

Read on to learn how it's done!

1. Add a new Shell User and Application

  1. Click "Applications" in the dashboard sidebar, then click the "Add Shell User" button at the top the page. A form will appear.

  2. Select the server for your new shell user. This will be the server from which your site will be served.

  3. Enter the username that you want for the new shell user. This is the name that you'll use when you log in to SSH and SFTP as that user.

  4. Click the "Add Shell User" button on the form to save your new shell user.

  5. The new shell user is assigned a random initial password which is available in your dashboard notice log. We recommend you change the shell user's password after you have created it.

  6. Click on Applications in the dashboard sidebar and click "Add Application" near the upper right corner of the page. A form will appear.

  7. Enter a name for the application. This will be the name of the directory on the server that will be created for your application.

  8. Select the desired application type. Note that additional options may appear on the form after you've selected your application type.

  9. Select the shell user that you created in the preceeeding steps.

    Note

    You must create a new shell user before you can create a new application.

  10. Set the applicable options for the application type that you've selected.

  11. When all of the inputs are valid a "Add Application" button will appear on the form. Click the button to save your new application.

  12. The new application will appear in the application list with an initial status of "Installing". When the installation is complete the status will change to "Ready".

  13. Check your dashboard notice log for additional details about your application such as your initial username and password (if applicable) by clicking "Notice Log" in the dashboard sidebar.

2. Create a new Domain and Site

  1. Click on Domains in the dashboard sidebar and click "Add Your Domain" near the top right corner of the page. A form will appear.

  2. Enter the domain name in the space provided.

  3. If you want to add more domains or subdomains then click the "More" button on the form end enter the name of the new item. For example, if you want to use domain.com and www.domain.com, you'll need to create both of them.

  4. Click the button "Add All" button to save your new domains.

  5. Click on Domains in the dashboard sidebar and click "Add Site" near the top right corner of the page. A form will appear.

  6. Give the site a name to help you identify it in the dashboard. Site names must be lowercase alphanumeric characters only.

  7. Select your server and IP address.

  8. If you want to use HTTPS with your site, activate the "Automatic Let's Encrypt™ Certificate" option for the site.

  9. If you want to force HTTPS for all site traffic then activate the "Encrypt all traffic" option for the site.

  10. If the site will serve multiple domains and you want to redirect all of the traffic to the first domain assigned to the site then activate the "Route all traffic to a single domain" option for the site.

  11. Click "Add Domain to Site" on the form. A list of your domains will appear.

  12. Select your domain from the list.

  13. Repeat the previous 2 steps for each domain on the site.

  14. Click "Add Application to Site" on the form. A list of your applications will appear.

  15. Select your application from the list and enter / as the path in the field provided.

  16. When all of the inputs are valid an "Add Site" button will appear in the form. Click the button to save your new site.

🎉 Congratulations -- you now have a site!