Introduction to Cloudways Hosting and Practical Notes for Setting up a WordPress Website

After going through numerous web hosting providers, I finally chose Cloudways, which allowed my websites to have a lightning-fast loading experience. It put an end to the two-month-long futile attempts at optimizing website speed, and my clients were finally able to smile. This article shares my practical notes on the problems encountered and the solutions found while setting up a WordPress website on Cloudways hosting (Last updated: 2023-01-15).

“Practical experience sharing, not just online information compilation.” – Irving

Let me quickly provide some background on the situation. I had been using Godaddy hosting for a long time, but since spring 2020, the hosting located in Asia started to become increasingly slow. Even before that, it was already “barely satisfactory” in terms of speed. It was so slow that I had to call Godaddy customer service at least twice, and they acknowledged receiving similar feedback. I asked them to investigate the issue. Since the client relied heavily on the website for sales, the slow loading speed was causing significant problems. It took so long for webpages to load that one could go for a 10-minute jog outside and come back only to find the page still loading.

The browsing speed of a webpage is the top priority for optimizing the user experience of any website. It is the most fundamental and crucial aspect!

In the browsing experience, the speed at which webpages load takes precedence over all flashy interactive effects. Without ensuring this, no matter how great the design or content is, it becomes inconsequential.

As the website was built using WordPress, I also upgraded my hosting plan with Godaddy, moving from the flagship version of shared hosting to the starter version of managed WordPress hosting (2GB RAM, 1 CPU). I tried numerous caching plugins, CDN configurations, image optimization, and other techniques that could potentially improve the performance of the WordPress website, but to no avail. The only feedback I received from the client was, “It seems to be faster by just one second…”

So I started to think from the root cause, perhaps the web hosting itself was the issue. Resolutely, I made the decision to switch! The client was initially resistant because they had experienced a lot of trouble and constant issues in the past. But facing such a “persistent problem is a torment.” So I suggested that I try a new approach first, by testing the hosting configuration with Cloudways. If the results were excellent, then we could proceed with the switch.

After switching the web hosting, we were rewarded with the magical experience of lightning-fast website loading, like stumbling upon an oasis after years of thirst in the desert.

All screenshots related to Cloudways in this article are based on the latest official presentation by Cloudways.

Building a WordPress website with Cloudways

Cloudways hosting and pricing.

After researching, I found that Cloudways itself is not a hosting provider, but rather a platform that allows you to install other hosting services. Currently, it supports installations from 3 hosting providers:

1. DigitalOcean
2. Google Cloud Platform ( GCP )
3. Amazon Web Services ( AWS )

Except for AWS and GCP, the prices are relatively high, while others are more affordable. For the client, I ended up choosing the $42/month plan from DigitalOcean hosting (Cloudways’ latest plans are subject to the official website information, and there has been a slight increase in costs). This transformed the website browsing experience from taking ten seconds to load the homepage to an “instant” experience. It made me realize that almost all the optimization plugins and image optimizations I had previously installed were not the “key reasons” for slowing down the website speed. It suddenly felt like all the efforts were almost in vain! However, I gained solid experience from this, which is to prioritize selecting a reliable hosting provider as the first step to achieve a website performance score of at least 80. After that, you can gradually enhance the performance inch by inch.

Basic requirements for website hosting

• I have used hosting providers in the United States such as Godaddy, Siteground, and Dreamhost, as well as hosting providers in Taiwan like Yuan Jhen (遠振), Pimo (捕夢網), and a self-hosted solution by an engineer. Through the painful experiences, I have compiled the following basic requirements for website hosting:
• Host Performance and Stability: Good host performance and stability are absolutely essential and the most important factors. There should be no instances of slow connection or unexplained downtime.
• User-Friendly Control Panel: A user-friendly control panel that allows easy access to functions and settings can save a lot of unnecessary effort.
• Quick Setup of Test Websites: The ability to quickly set up test websites can save time and resources. It should not be necessary to bind the website to a domain or create it on a subdomain for testing purposes.
• Official Technical Support: Due to the complexity of host configurations, having round-the-clock real-time technical support for inquiries, troubleshooting, and problem resolution is considerate and reliable.

The above mentioned requirements are just the “basic expectations” for a web hosting service, meaning they represent the minimum level of satisfaction. If any of these four points are missing, it can create a significant psychological impact and greatly diminish the overall value, especially when it comes to being unable to provide proper justification to clients regarding their websites.

The hosting experience with Cloudways exceeded expectations, making the entire setup process incredibly simple!

I genuinely think Cloudways has fantastic features!

One-click WordPress installation

Introduction: 1-Click launch for multiple apps (including WordPress, WooCommerce, and Magento).

Description: Most popular hosting providers offer the feature of one-click installation for applications, and Cloudways excels in providing a user-friendly and intuitive experience within a clean interface. The setup process involves selecting the hosting, choosing the desired application for installation, naming it, and categorizing it under a project. Understanding this logic during initial use makes it easy to navigate and get started quickly.

Easy backup, restore, and clone of websites

Introduction: Backups — Schedule time & frequency.

Description: You can configure the frequency of automatic backups (as often as every hour or as infrequent as once every seven days), the time of backups (specific hour and minute), and the retention period for keeping backup data (from one week up to four weeks). Backup and restore operations are straightforward, but it’s important to note that the configuration for automatic backups is set at the server level (applies to all websites hosted on the server), while restoring backups and manual backups are performed at the app level (specifically for selected websites). Additionally, cloning a website is also effortless.

Quickly create a staging site

Introduction: Dev-friendly staging environment.

Description: Creating a testing site is crucial! It is essential for internal functionality testing, plugin testing, external showcase for client review, backend training, and more. Cloudways offers a fast website creation process, and once the site is created, it automatically generates a test URL for browsing and sharing. If you want to bind a domain to the staging site, that’s also possible!

Categorize all created websites with project folders

Introduction: Smart organization of clients and websites with the Projects Feature.

Description: This feature is truly beyond expectations! Not only can you create project folders with different names to categorize all your websites, but it also facilitates management. I didn’t have this feature with the numerous hosting providers I used before, and when the number of websites exceeded ten or more, the backend became increasingly chaotic. It was always a hassle to find a specific website amidst the clutter. @@

Install unlimited websites

Introduction: No Limitation on the number of websites or visits per server

Description: In Cloudways, you can install an unlimited number of websites on each hosting server, and you can easily add a new server as well. Each server requires a separate paid plan, so it depends on your needs. With good server performance, you don’t have to worry about installing many websites, big or small. In the past, on slower hosting servers, I was hesitant to create too many websites because I was afraid of resource consumption.

Free Website Security Certificates

Introduction: Free SSL Certificates for all your websites

Description: You can install both free and paid certificates, but using the free Let’s Encrypt certificate is sufficient. After binding the domain, you can install it and enable automatic renewal (Auto Renewal).

24/7 Online Technical Support

Introduction: 24/7 Expert Human Support: Our expert engineers are there for you 24/7 to assist you with whatever query you have, either via Live Chat or Tickets.

Description: This is the most convenient and comprehensive online technical support presentation I have ever seen. The Help Center is always fixed on the right side of the backend with a clickable button that opens up all the resources, including Knowledge Base, Live Chat, Create a Ticket, and Community. Among them, I frequently use Live Chat for efficient real-time conversations.

Upgrade server specifications anytime

Introduction: Flexibility to scale server size.

Description: If you feel that 2GB of RAM is not sufficient, you can directly upgrade the server size, with a maximum capacity of up to 128GB. The interface is extremely user-friendly, making the process feel effortless and straightforward.

Quickly set up CDN: CloudwaysCDN

Introduction: Built-in CloudwaysCDN

Description: You can quickly enable CDN to enhance the website browsing experience. The cost is also affordable, with a charge of $1 for every 25GB of traffic per application (additional usage will cost $0.04 per GB). Personally, I haven’t configured it because the speed is already “instantaneous”. Currently, I don’t have this requirement.

Real-time notifications of server or website status

Introduction: Real-time server and website performance insights delivered across different channels by CloudwaysBot

Description: You can configure various channels such as Slack, Email, etc., to notify your team members about the current status or performance of the server. Real-time server health alerts are available.

Add team members for collaborative server management

Introduction: Seamless Team Collaboration: You can add your team members/clients to your servers/applications with a very fine-grained level of control in your hand.

Description: Adding team members is also incredibly fast! You can assign specific permissions to team members, such as Billing Access, Support Access, and Console Access (Full Access, Limited Access). I have used GoDaddy before and attempting to add team members was a consistent failure. I tested it multiple times, but it was extremely difficult to use, and I’m not sure why.

If you think Cloudways sounds great, why not give it a try with their free trial! If you have any questions, feel free to email me at irving520@gmail.com. I’m always available for discussions.

I have already created three or more websites using Cloudways, and the experience has been quite good! However, there are still some details to pay attention to during the process, and I encountered some “issues” that needed to be resolved. I will explain them one by one as follows:

You need to undergo mobile SMS and email verification before you can avail the three-day trial.

Taking DigitalOcean hosting as an example, the trial plan only allows you to select the Server Size: 2GB, and it cannot be exceeded unless you directly upgrade to a paid plan. The free trial period lasts for a maximum of three days. There are six location options for hosting: London, San Francisco, Singapore, New York, Amsterdam, and each hosting location is different.

Important Notice: Binding a mobile phone number is required to continue using the service, and each mobile phone number can only be associated with one Cloudways account. This means that a second Cloudways account cannot be set up with a previously bound mobile phone number.

24/7 Online Technical Support

Due to the complexity of server configurations, there are often details that require assistance. For simple questions, you can use Google or refer to the official forum. Another convenient way to find answers is through direct inquiries. Personally, my favorite method is the Live Chat feature, which allows for real-time conversations. It has helped me efficiently resolve more challenging issues.

The Help Center provides four types of technical support:

1. Knowledge Base
2. Live Chat
3. Create a Ticket (Please note that selecting a paid plan is necessary to access this feature.)
4. Community

Server system status notifications

Server system status notifications

You can configure notifications in various ways, and I personally find it convenient to subscribe via email to receive direct updates. You can easily set it up by visiting the Cloudways System Status webpage.

CloudwaysBot – Virtual Assistant for Hosting

CloudwaysBot can be considered as the virtual assistant for Cloudways hosting. It provides regular notifications regarding your Cloudways account, servers, applications, security, billing, and overall performance. I have also set up other notification channels such as Email and Slack for CloudwaysBot. You can refer to the CloudwaysBot Starting Guide for configuration instructions and the tutorial “How to Integrate Slack With CloudwaysBot” for setting up Slack integration.

How to Set Up FTP?

FTP Permission Settings

Cloudways FTP has two levels of permissions: Administrator and Member.

Administrator: Master Credentials

• At the server level, there will be only one account that cannot be deleted or modified.
• It has access to browse all files within the servers.
• Please keep it confidential and do not disclose it to others.

Members: Application Credentials

• At the application level, multiple accounts can be created, modified, and deleted.
• They have access restricted to their respective websites only.

How to create FTP for members?

In the Application Credentials section, click on ADD after entering the Username and Password. Follow this path to configure: Applications > Application Management > Access Details > Application Credentials, then click on ADD.

Cloudways FTP Login Tips

Issue: I used to log in smoothly before, but recently I encountered some difficulties. Later, I found a solution through the automated response feature of the online customer support. Here is the solution I gathered:

• Adding your IP to the whitelist (Whitelist IP) in the Cloudways backend: Please refer to How to Manage IP Access for SSH and SFTP Connections
• If you have set the “Block all IP addresses, except those on the Whitelist” option in the Security settings of the Servers level, you need to add your network connection’s IP to the whitelist (Whitelist IP) in order to access FTP. Follow these steps:
  1. First, obtain the IP address of your network location and copy it using a tool. What Is My IP Address
     • If you are unable to SSH/SFTP, please make sure that your IP is whitelisted, you can get your IP from here
  2. Access the Cloudways backend and navigate to the following path: Server -> Security -> Add IP -> Save Changes. Then, add the copied IP address and save the changes.
     • Here’s how you can quickly whitelist your IP: Server -> Security -> Add IP -> Save Changes
• To set up an FTP account for each website (application)
  • To enable SSH at the application level, navigate to Application Management > Application Settings > GENERAL and set SSH ACCESS to Enable.
    • Also, If you are using application user credentials, please enable SSH access for application: How to Enable SSH Access for Application Users

How to upload files to the server using FTP?

Issue encountered: When I tried to upload files using FileZilla, I encountered a “permission denied” error. I contacted the live chat support and learned that I needed to perform a reset. You can refer to the documentation “How Can I Reset File and Folder Permissions of an Application” for more information. After performing the reset, I was able to upload files via FTP. In the future, if I encounter a similar situation, I just need to reset again.

Upgrading and Downgrading Servers

Considerations when upgrading servers

During the server upgrade process, it cannot be stopped. If you are using Amazon or GCE servers, it is relatively easy; however, if you are using DigitalOcean, Vultr, or Linode servers, it involves a “cloning” process. The upgrade process typically takes around ten minutes, depending on the size of your website’s data. In my case, with a website size of 6GB, the process took less than eight minutes, which is quite fast! It is advisable to perform the upgrade during off-peak hours because the website’s connection may slow down or even disconnect during the upgrade.

Below is the prompt information displayed during the server upgrade:

SCALING WARNING

You are about to scale up your server. Please remember that once you initiate the scaling process, it cannot be stopped until it is completed.

If you are scaling a GCE or Amazon server, you can scale it down easily. But for DigitalOcean, Vultr and Linode servers, you have to go through the process of cloning.

Additionally, scaling can take up to 10 minutes, depending on the size of your data.

During the scaling process your website may run slowly or become inaccessible for a few minutes. Therefore, it is best to perform this activity during off-peak hours.

If you want to scale your server now, click on the “Proceed” button. Otherwise, click on the “Cancel” button.

Considerations for Downgrading a Server

When downgrading a server, it is necessary to clone the original server. The time required for cloning depends on the size of the files. After the cloning process is complete, the settings of the original server need to be manually reconfigured. This includes actions such as domain binding, updating DNS records, SSL configuration, and more. You can refer to the guide “How to Clone Your Server” for detailed instructions.

Adding Team Members to Manage Servers

Adding Team Members to Manage Servers

Adding and configuring team members is quite easy, primarily done through email authorization. You can disable user permissions and set up hierarchical permission levels. The email address of the added member cannot be the primary registration email address for Cloudways. Refer to: How to Create and Update Team Members

Domain Registration

Cloudways does not provide domain registration services. Therefore, if you want to use Cloudways for hosting your website, you will need to purchase a domain from another platform. Popular domain registration platforms include Godaddy and Namecheap.

Execution Steps

1. Start by configuring the domain name in Cloudways (Figure 1).
2. In the hosting provider’s backend where you purchased the domain, set the A Record to the IP address. You can refer to “How Do I Take My Website Live from Cloudways?” for detailed instructions provided by the official documentation for popular hosting providers such as GoDaddy, Namecheap, DreamHost, Cloudflare, and Freenom.
3. Configure SSL certificate for your website in Cloudways using the free Let’s Encrypt SSL (Figure 2). Refer to “How to Install Let’s Encrypt SSL Certificate on Your Application” for instructions.

After binding a URL to a website in Cloudways, how long does it take for DNS to propagate?

Typically, it takes 24 to 48 hours for DNS propagation, although in some cases, it can happen within minutes.

Creating or updating DNS records takes time to propagate through the different regions of the world. It often takes 24 to 48 hours and sometimes it propagates within few minutes depending upon whom DNS provider is

You can use DNS checking tools to verify if it has taken effect or not

Whatsmydns

Description: DNS Checker — DNS Propagation Check & DNS Lookup. Instant DNS Propagation Check. Global DNS Lookup and DNS Propagation Checker. Check your DNS records around the world.

Host Configuration

The configuration settings for the host depend on the installed WordPress theme. Each theme may have different requirements in terms of values. You can refer to the official documentation of the purchased theme to view the specific values required.

Upload Size

There was an error when attempting to upload a purchased template from a third-party platform in the WordPress backend. Upon investigation, it was discovered that there is a default limit of 10MB for uploads, while the template file size exceeded 20MB. To resolve this, I adjusted the UPLOAD SIZE in the Basic section of the Cloudways host to a higher value (as shown in the image, I increased it to 30MB). After making this adjustment, the template was successfully installed upon reuploading.

PHP Timezone

By default, it is blank and can be changed to your preferred time zone. For example, I selected the GMT+8:00 Taipei time zone.

How to set post_max_size?

You can directly modify the Upload Size to do so.

Refer to Allow to change post_max_size via server settings
The official documentation’s method of configuration seems to be not feasible: How to Change PHP-FPM Settings (it’s strange, I haven’t found the reason yet).

Backup and Restore

At the server level, scheduled backups are performed (these backups are mandatory and cannot be paused or canceled), and the host can be manually backed up. At the application level, manual backups and website backup restoration can be performed.

Server-level backups

Configure the frequency of automatic backups, the time of backups, and the duration for which data backups are retained.

Off-site backup size refers to the backups stored in Amazon S3 buckets, not your server disk space. This means that Cloudways’ default offline backup feature will create a separate backup of your website on Amazon servers without utilizing your hosting space.

Application-level backup and restore

You can choose a specific backup point in time to restore your website. Performing an ON-DEMAND BACKUP, which is a manual backup of the website application, may take several minutes. Feel free to attend to other tasks while the process completes. For more information, please refer to “How to Configure a Server-level Backup“

Three methods to clear website cache in Cloudways:

Issue: When a domain purchased from another company is linked to Cloudways, it may take a day or two for the DNS to propagate. After the gradual propagation, the website may experience broken layouts, and refreshing the webpage or updating content does not take effect.

Reason: Cloudways server generates cache automatically, regardless of whether a caching plugin is installed.

Method 1: Install the Breeze Cache Plugin by Cloudways in your WordPress website (recommended)

Once installed, it automatically clears the internal cache every 1440 minutes (one day) by default. It also clears the cache automatically whenever you publish new posts, pages, or comments, making it very convenient.

Cloudways Official Statement: It is not recommended to use two caching plugins simultaneously on any WordPress website. We strongly advise using Breeze as the sole caching plugin on your website. If you have any other caching plugin installed on your website, please make sure to deactivate it before installing Breeze.

Method 2: Access the website backend directly through FTP and delete the cache folder.

Using FTP, navigate to the cache folder of the website and rename or delete it. For example, you can rename the cache folder as “cache2”. Afterward, refresh the webpage to complete the update. During the website’s operation, the host will continue to automatically generate the cache folder to store the cache. You can repeat the process of renaming or deleting the folder as needed.

Path: /public_html/wp-content/cache

Method 3: Manually clear the cache in the Cloudways backend.

In the Cloudways backend, go to Servers, select Vanrnish in the Manage Services section, and click on Purge. However, it appears that clearing the cache using this method may not always be effective, as the webpages may not update as expected. The path for accessing this setting is: Cloudways > Servers > Manage Services > Varnish, then click on PURGE.

A severe issue occurred: I am unable to log into the website backend even after entering the username and password.

Customer Support Response: Actually you are using bot protection and WordPress plugin — Wordfence Security both which is not recommended. Two security plugins on same site may conflict with each other

Provide feedback and suggestions to Cloudways Customer Voice

Cloudways highly values its customers and their feedback! You can now share your feedback on how we can enhance Cloudways’ services, solutions, and products. Users can provide feedback and ideas to Cloudways, fostering a community for collaboration, growth, and improvement. Visit the Cloudwasy Community to join the conversation.

How to change the WordPress website admin password in Cloudways?

Changing the admin login credentials for a WordPress website in Cloudways may not be as straightforward as it is in platforms like Godaddy or Siteground. There are three methods to change the admin password, and I personally prefer using the third method.

1. How to Create a New WordPress Admin User Using Database
2. How to Reset WordPress User Password Using WordPress CLI
3. Contact the online customer support on the Cloudways official website and request their assistance in directly modifying the admin password.

The above is a compilation of all the experiences and problem-solving processes I have encountered since I started using Cloudways to host WordPress websites in 2020. This article will be continuously updated, and you can also periodically check the official Cloudways blog for updates.

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