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# DirectAdmin

  • Overview
  • Prerequisites
  • Configure in PanelAlpha
  • Verify the connection
  • Install the connector (WP-CLI)
  • Plan configuration
  • Troubleshooting

# Overview

PanelAlpha can connect to DirectAdmin to provision and manage WordPress hosting on shared hosting environments.

# Prerequisites

  • DirectAdmin server reachable from PanelAlpha.
  • DirectAdmin administrator credentials (password or Login Key).
  • Ability to upload/install a DirectAdmin plugin (the connector).

# Configure in PanelAlpha

Log into your PanelAlpha admin area, hover over Configuration in the side menu and open: Servers → Hosting Services. You will see there a list of already installed servers, including the one added on the level of platform installation via wizard.

  1. Name - Enter the server name.
  2. Type - Select the type - choose DirectAdmin.
  3. Group - Select a group of servers from those created in the previous step, or create a new group from these place.
  4. IP/Hostname - Enter the server IP address or hostname.
  5. Username - Enter username for which the token has been generated.
  6. Password/Login Key - Use your password or the previously generated Login Key (opens new window).
  7. SSL Verification - Keep it disabled to get successful results of the test connection.
  8. Onboarding Domain (Optional) - If a domain is entered here, it will be used for instance creation instead of the domain specified in the plan configuration with the Quick or Superquick onboarding method selected. This is useful when multiple servers are assigned to a single group in Hosting Servers.
  9. Test Connection - Check if connection is successful.

Note: The credentials provided (Username and Password/Login Key) must be for the DirectAdmin administrator account, not a reseller account.

Important! Please refer to the DirectAdmin official documentation to learn how to generate the login Key for a user or use the password instead. Please read the following article (opens new window), section: "Creating a Login Key".

# Verify the connection

Use Test Connection. If the test succeeds, you can proceed.

# Install the connector (WP-CLI)

After a successful connection test, install the connector in DirectAdmin:

  1. Download the connector that will be necessary to complete the installation

  2. Next, log in to your DirectAdmin panel as an administrator and navigate to the 'Plugin Manager'.

  3. While in the 'Add Plugin' section, opt for the 'File' option and select the 'panelalpha.tar.gz' package for upload. Then, click the 'Add Plugin' button.

  4. Upon successful upload and installation of the plugin, it should appear in the list of plugins.

  5. Finally, verify the success of the integration test. To complete the process, click on "Add Server".

# Plan configuration

When creating a plan, go to the Hosting step. After choosing DirectAdmin as a server type and selecting a server group, additional configuration will appear:

  • Package - the DirectAdmin package that should be used for new accounts.
  • IP Address - the IP address that should be assigned to the new account (if applicable on your server).

# Troubleshooting

  1. If the administrator wants to allow customers to create a subdomain on another user's domain then he should disable this option: check_subdomain_owner=0 in DirectAdmin.
  • Set check_subdomain_owner=0 in your directadmin.conf and restart DirectAdmin to disable it.

Once ready, DirectAdmin will not verify the domain owner.
For more information you may refer to the DirectAdmin documentation (opens new window).

  1. It is possible to change the deault MySQL host. To do so, just execute the following command:
docker compose -f /opt/panelalpha/app/docker-compose.yml exec -T api php artisan server:set-details ID db_host VALUE

Where:

  • VALUE - the target host that will replace the current one (eg.: localhost:/tmp/mysql.sock)

  • ID - The PanelAlpha Server ID number (eg.: 1 for DA-Warsaw)