FlashPanel

Create and manage websites ​

This page explains how to create a website on your server and how to handle basic management tasks. If you are new to FlashPanel, start with Getting started.

Create website ​

  1. Open the server, select Sites in the server menu, then click the New Site button.

    When creating a new site on your FlashPanel server, the following options are available:

    • Server: The server that will host the website.
    • Use Free Domain: Use a free subdomain for testing. Free domains are for testing purposes only; their DNS records are automatically deleted after 14 days.
    • Domain Name: The domain name (or IP address) of the website.
    • Aliases: Alias domains for the website (optional). See Alias Domain.
    • Proxy Port: The local port your application listens on, for Node.js, Python... apps (optional).
    • Root Document: The website's root directory that is publicly accessible via the Internet. For Laravel applications, this is usually the /public directory.
    • Select PHP Version: If you have multiple versions of PHP installed on your server, you can choose which version serves the website. This option only appears when PHP is installed on the server.
    • Enabled Wildcard Subdomain: Point all non-existing subdomains to the current website.
    • Website Isolation: Install the website under its own Linux user account, helping to prevent malicious code from spreading between websites. When enabled, enter the Website Isolation Username and Password (click the key icon to generate a random password).
    • Create Database: Create a new database for the website. When enabled, enter the Database Name.

  2. Enter the information > Click Create Site

Install source code ​

Once the website has been created in FlashPanel, you can install source code or an application from the site's Install Source Code menu. This menu item only appears while the site has no source code installed.

Available options are: Self Upload, Git, GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, WordPress, phpMyAdmin, Uptime Kuma, ImunifyAV, Chatwoot, n8n and Roundcube. See Source Code Installation for detailed instructions.

Default website ​

When a website has just been created and has no source code yet, visiting its domain shows the default FlashPanel welcome page. This confirms that the domain points to the server and the web server is running.

To change the default page used for new websites on the server: open the server home page > Utilities group > Default Page, edit the HTML (the right pane shows a live preview), then click Save.

When you are ready to move your application to its production domain, create a website with your domain.

View the Nginx configuration ​

FlashPanel generates the Nginx configuration for each website from the options you choose (domain, Root Document, PHP version, Proxy Port, SSL...). To see the configuration that is actually in use:

  1. On the site management page > open the Nginx menu > Configuration.
  2. Click the View Configuration button. The configuration file opens in read-only mode.

To add custom configuration, redirects or access restrictions, see Nginx.

TIP

If your server uses Apache instead of Nginx, the menu is Apache and the View Configuration button shows the site's Apache configuration file.

PHP version ​

If your server has multiple versions of PHP installed, you can switch the version your website uses at any time.

  1. On the site management page > Open Settings > Update PHP Version section
  2. Select the PHP version and click the Update button

WARNING

When switching the PHP version your website uses, make sure that:

  • Your server has all the PHP extensions/modules your website needs installed for that version. Missing modules can make your website unresponsive.

  • You also update your site's deploy script to call the correct PHP version when running any PHP commands.