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Hyperion

Your first hour

This is a checklist for the first hour after the setup wizard. Each part says what to look at and what a good result is. The sidebar groups are named as the panel shows them: Overview, Operations, Products, Security, Logs, Cluster, Account and Administration.

1. Read the dashboard

Section titled “1. Read the dashboard”

Open Dashboard. The header shows the server’s name, public IPv4 address (click it to copy), the agent version and the number of nodes. The tiles show Websites (active, suspended, failed), Server disk, Backups on disk (and how much is off-site), Traffic · 24h and Services. Warnings from every node appear above the tiles, worst first. A red or yellow Services tile or a banner about services means something is down.

2. Check service health

Section titled “2. Check service health”

Open Service health in Operations. Each node has a row, with the worst first. A good result is a verdict that nothing needs a look. Open the node’s row to see each service, restart it or install optional software such as Redis or ClamAV later.

3. Close the gaps the wizard left

Section titled “3. Close the gaps the wizard left”

The wizard’s last page lists what you skipped. Settings has one page per topic, grouped as Basics, Communication, Data, Security and Cluster.

  • Panel address. If the dashboard still opens on an IP address with a certificate warning, set the panel domain. Create the DNS record first.
  • Let’s Encrypt contact. Settings, HTTPS & previews shows whether a contact is set. Without one the panel cannot get a trusted certificate.
  • Mail. Settings, Mail holds the relay, and a test message to check it. Alerts, password reset emails and customer letters depend on it. See Set up the outgoing mail relay.
  • Off-site backups. Settings, Backups, Off-site copies. The warning “Nothing is copied off-site” stays until you add a target. See Copy backups off-site.
  • Trash. Deleting a site removes it for good unless you turn on Move deleted sites to Trash first under Settings, Backups, Trash. Turn it on before anyone deletes anything. See Set how long backups are kept.

4. Add your first website

Section titled “4. Add your first website”
  1. Click Add a website on the dashboard. Create a website explains every field.
  2. Choose a type: WordPress website, Static website, PHP application, App behind a proxy or Redirect.
  3. Enter the Domain. The domain’s DNS must already point at this server for the certificate to be issued.
  4. Click the create button. The page follows a background job with named steps.

When it ends, open the site from Hostings. Its page has tabs: Overview, WordPress, Domains & SSL, Backups, Settings & limits, Monitoring & logs, Traffic, Emails, FTP & SFTP, Access, Move / copy and Danger zone. The files go in /home/<system-user>/<domain>/htdocs on the node.

5. Take a first backup

Section titled “5. Take a first backup”

On the site, open Backups and click Back up now. When the job finishes, Last archive shows the time and ok. If you added an off-site target, the copy goes there when it finishes.

6. Add a second administrator

Section titled “6. Add a second administrator”

A single account is a single point of failure. Open Users in Administration, expand Add user, fill in the fields and choose a role (Owner, Administrator, Operator, Customer or Read-only), then click Create user. Owners and Administrators must enroll two-factor sign-in the first time they sign in, by default. See Add and manage panel users.

7. Know where to look when something is wrong

Section titled “7. Know where to look when something is wrong”
You want Look at
What a slow action is doing Background jobs
Who did what Audit log
Why a mail did not arrive Email log
Whether a service is up Service health
The server itself hyperion status and hyperion logs -f in a shell

Next

Section titled “Next”