Depending on the hosting plan that you purchased, you can host 1 or multiple websites on the same hosting plan. Because of this, you won’t have to purchase a separate hosting plan for every website you’d like to host, which can save you a lot of money. To add a domain to a website, you need to register it or already own it.
Linking a domain name to a website is something you can do in 2 steps:
- Adding your domain name to the DNS
- Adding the domain name to your web hosting plan
You can add your domain to the DNS and web hosting plan by following the steps below:
Step 1: Log in to My Cloud86
Start by logging in to My Cloud86 with the login details that you created when you registered. If you forgot your password, just click on Forgot password. A new password will then be emailed to the email address you registered with.
Step 2: Go to Manage DNS
On the left side of your screen, click on Domain names and then on Manage DNS.
Step 3: Select the correct hosting plan and enter your domain name
Find the hosting plan you’d like to add the domain name to. Then click on the button + Add DNS zone.
Enter the domain name you’d like to add to the DNS server here. Enter the domain name without www. in front of it. For example, enter yourdomain.com. Then click on Add.
Done! Your domain name has now been added to the DNS server and is accessible on the Internet. You can now link the domain to your website in Plesk.
Step 4: Click on Websites & Domains
Under the heading that says Manage Web Hosting, click on Websites & Domains. You’ll then be automatically logged in to the Plesk control panel where you can manage all parts of your hosting plan.
In the main menu of Plesk, click the Add Domain button at the top of your screen.
Please note: if you don’t see this button, you’ve reached the maximum limit of how many websites you can host on your hosting plan. Consider upgrading your plan or buying a separate plan to be able to host more websites.
Step 5: Select how you’d like to host a new website
On this screen, select how you’d like to host a new website. In this example, we’re using an empty website, but you can use any option that suits you.
Step 6: In the next screen, configure your new website:
Domain name: enter the domain name that you ordered which you’d like to add a website to.
Website files location: if you have multiple hosting plans in your account, you can choose to host your files on a separate document root. The FTP users of your website will then be the same. Once you’ve done this, your website will be added to your hosting plan.
Step 7: Configure hosting
To configure the rest of your hosting plan, scroll down to the relevant domain name and click on Hosting Settings.
Hosting settings
- Hosting type: select web hosting.
- Enable DNS service (optional): you can check this box so you can. manage your DNS separately.
- Enable email service (optional): you can check this box so you can email with your website.
- Main folder (root): this folder stores your files. You normally don’t have to change this.
- Preferred domain: we recommend selecting the domain without ‘www’ in front of it (the first one), as it’s easier for people to type in your website. If you select ‘none,’ the domain will be automatically 301-redirected.
- Set up security with an SSL/TLS certificate
- Secure domain with Let’s Encrypt: we recommend enabling this option to automatically secure your website with a free SSL certificate.
- Email address: enter the email address where you’d like to receive notifications related to your free SSL certificate.