WordPress Hosting & Softaculous: Simplifying Website Management

If you’re new to web hosting, installing WordPress, managing databases, and configuring settings can feel daunting. This is where a tool like Softaculous auto-installer comes to the rescue. Hosted.com always includes it with all WordPress Hosting plans, as should your hosting provider.

Softaculous takes the complexity out of installing and managing web applications, which can be a lifesaver if you are a beginner and make things much easier once you’ve got your website up and running. In this blog post, we’ll show you what Softaculous is, its features, and the benefits it offers for your new site.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Softaculous simplifies web application installations and management through an intuitive interface, eliminating the need for technical knowledge and manual setup.
• WordPress hosting with Softaculous provides a streamlined installation process that integrates with control panels and offers specialized features for technical tasks like database setup and file configurations.
• The benefits of Softaculous for WordPress include timesaving, user-friendly site management and tools that enhance productivity while helping reduce costs.
• Softaculous provides an intuitive, step-by-step WordPress installation and management for all skill levels with clear navigation and guidance, making website creation and maintenance easy.

What is Softaculous Auto-installer?

At its core, Softaculous is an auto-installer for web applications. Think of it as an app store for your WordPress hosting account. Instead of manually downloading files, creating databases, and editing file configurations, Softaculous automates this entire process. It integrates directly with control panels like cPanel and is designed to make deploying popular scripts and Content Management Systems (CMS) like WordPress much simpler and faster.

If you’re new to installing web applications, the process usually includes several steps, each requiring a fair amount of know-how, which, if not done correctly, can be prone to errors . When it comes to installing WordPress, Softaculous automatically takes care of everything for you, turning what may be a long technical process into just a few clicks, meaning that anyone, regardless of their experience level, can easily install the web applications they need.

Softaculous WordPress Features

In addition to its basic installation capabilities, Softaculous brings advanced features that simplify WordPress management, and give you greater control. These features are perfect for both beginners and more advanced website owners.

One-Click Installs

This is probably its best feature. With Softaculous, installing the core WordPress software can take just a few seconds. You fill in your site name and title, Admin Username and Password, and click Install.

Softaculous handles all the technical stuff, including database creation and file placement. It also allows you to apply recommended security settings with a single click.

Simplified Management

Once WordPress is installed, you have a centralized dashboard where you can see all your installed apps. For WordPress, you can easily access your WordPress Admin Dashboard and manage files, databases, settings, and more.

Automatic Updates

Updating your WordPress software, themes, and plugins is essential to site security, maintenance and performance. Softaculous can be configured to automatically update all of them to the latest versions while checking for compatibility issues, ensuring your WordPress website always has the latest patches and features without you having to lift a finger.

Staging Environments

Using WordPress staging environments through Softaculous allows you to create an exact copy of your live WordPress site to test new themes and plugins or make major changes without affecting the live version. Once you’re happy with the changes in the staging version, you can publish them to your live site.

Backup and Restore

Softaculous also gives you backup and restoration features, where you can easily create full backups of your WordPress website files and database and securely store them.

You can choose exactly what to include in each backup (database, files, settings). If something goes wrong, you can easily restore your site from a previous backup, offering invaluable peace of mind.

Understanding Softaculous in WordPress Hosting

When your hosting provider includes Softaculous, it changes how you interact with your WordPress site from the technical side, especially for beginners. Instead of needing to manage MySQL or MariaDB databases, understand file permissions, or manually edit configuration files, Softaculous handles many of these tasks for you. For example, when you start a WordPress install with Softaculous, it automatically:

• Creates a new database for your site.
• Generates secure database Usernames and Passwords.
• Downloads the latest WordPress core files and places them in the correct directory on your server.
• Edits the wp-config.php file to connect your WordPress website to its newly created database.
• Sets up the Admin User for your WordPress Admin Dashboard.

Hosted.com includes Softaculous as part of our WordPress Hosting plans. It has a dedicated section for WordPress, letting you access it directly from your control panel. By functioning as the bridge between the hosting environment and WordPress, it can help you get your site up and running faster.

This means you can focus on your website’s design, content, mobile readiness and smooth user experience, rather than getting bogged down by the whole setup process.

Benefits of Softaculous for WordPress Users

Softaculous provides several benefits that make it especially useful for WordPress users, irrespective of their technical expertise. These benefits go beyond mere installation to cover the entire WordPress website.

Timesaving

Perhaps the biggest benefit of Softaculous is the dramatic reduction in time needed to setup a WordPress site. What could take hours can be done in minutes; this includes:

• WordPress is installed with all necessary settings in just one click.
• Perform updates across multiple WordPress installations at the same time.
• Automating routine maintenance tasks like updates and backups.

Beginner Friendly

Softaculous makes the, sometimes complicated, backend of WordPress accessible to web developers of all skill levels:

• It automatically creates and configures the MySQL database required for WordPress.
• Files are automatically uploaded and placed in the correct directories without needing an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) client.
• The entire process is managed through an intuitive visual interface rather than command lines or needing to know how to code a website.

Simplified Site Management

Beyond installation, Softaculous provides very good tools for ongoing WordPress site management:

• Manage WordPress core updates from one dashboard.
• Create and restore backups of your WordPress sites with a single click.
• Easily duplicate WordPress installations or move them to different locations.
• Test changes in a staging environment before applying them to your live site.

Additionally, there can be a hidden benefit: cost saving. Faster setup means saving on hiring developers, agencies, or experts. You also reduce server resource (CPU, RAM, disk storage) use, meaning you won’t need to upgrade your hosting as soon as your site increases in size or traffic, until it absolutely needs to.

How to Use Softaculous to Install WordPress

Using Softaculous for WordPress installation and management is straightforward, even for those new to websites and hosting. Its interface guides you through each process with tips and clear instructions.

To access Softaculous:

1. Log into your Hosted.com account.
2. Click Manage Services in the menu on the left-hand side of your screen.
3. Select WordPress Hosting from the dropdown.  
4. Locate the Softaculous app in the Quick Manage section on the right.
5. Click on the Softaculous icon to launch it.

Installing the WordPress Software

Once you’ve accessed Softaculous, installing the core software is simple. Navigate to the WordPress section (usually under “Blogs” or featured in the top scripts) and click Install to begin the process. You’ll configure the installation with the following details:

• Choose Protocol: Select your preferred protocol, ideally https://, to secure your site, especially if you have an SSL certificate (Hosted.com offers free SSL Certificates with all their WordPress Hosting plans).
• Choose Domain: Select the domain (e.g., yourdomain.com) from the dropdown menu where you want to install WordPress.
• Site Settings:  Enter the title of your website and a short tagline or description for your site.
• Admin Account: Choose a Username for your WordPress Admin account (you must change the “admin” username) and create a strong password. Add an active email address to receive notifications.
• Choose Language: Select the preferred language for your website.
• Select Plugins/Themes (Optional): Some Softaculous versions may offer options to install common plugins or themes during setup. You can usually leave these as default or deselect them if you prefer.
• Advanced Options (Optional): This section often allows you to customize database names and table prefixes and set up automated backups and updates. The default settings here are fine for most users, but it’s good to know them.

To finish the installation, scroll down and click the Install button. Softaculous will now perform all the necessary background tasks to set up your WordPress website foundation, which usually takes less than a minute.

Once the installation is complete, Softaculous will show a success message, providing two links to your new website and another for your WordPress dashboard, as indicated below:

EXAMPLES:
Website:   yourdomain.com
WordPress Dashboard:  yourdomain.com/wp-admin

How to Use Softaculous to Manage WordPress

Use the admin credentials you created earlier to login and start building your site! For a quick guide about using WordPress, please refer to our YouTube WordPress Tutorial playlist.

After installing the software, you can use Softaculous as a central hub for managing your WordPress site in addition to the cPanel control panel included in all Hosted.com WordPress Hosting plans.

You can find these features from the main Softaculous dashboard by navigating to the Installations tab. This tab lists all web applications you’ve installed, including your WordPress sites.

Select your site to view the different management options. You’ll see a set of icons or buttons that allow you to perform various management tasks. Clicking on the Edit Details (the pencil icon) or the site’s link expands these options, which include:

1. Edit Installation Details: Change site name, description, admin email, and other initial installation settings.
2. Change Admin Password: Easily reset the Administrator Password for your WordPress site.
3. Create/Restore Backups: Begin a manual backup or restore your site from a previous backup. More details on that to follow.
4. Clone/Staging: Create a copy of your live site for testing (staging) or move it to a different domain/directory (cloning).
5. Access the Admin Panel: This is a direct link to log in to your WordPress dashboard without entering the exact URL in your browser’s address bar.
6. Remove Installation: Completely uninstall WordPress from your server.

IMPORTANT: Use Remove Installation with extreme caution, as it will permanently delete your site’s data.

Core WordPress Updates

Updating your WordPress core is essential for security, performance, and access to additional features and patches when new versions are released. Softaculous makes this easier than manual maintenance by letting you know if any updates are available in the Installations tab with a notification icon.

Click on the update icon or the version number, and you’ll be prompted to confirm. Then click Update to apply the latest WordPress core version.

To make things even easier, you can set your installation to automatically update to new minor and/or major versions in the Edit Details section.

NOTE: We recommend doing a full backup before going ahead with any major update in case of theme/plugin compatibility issues.

Creating and Managing Backups

Following on from the above, Softaculous’ features let you easily create backups and recover your site in an emergency.

From the Installations tab, find the WordPress site you want to back up and click the Backup icon. You’ll have options to configure different backup settings, including:

• File/Database Backup: Choose whether to back up your WordPress files, the database, or both. A full backup is generally recommended.
• Location: Choose where the backup file will be stored, e.g., on your hosting server, an FTP client or your local drive.

Click the Backup Installation button to start the process.

Like updates, the Edit Details section lets you schedule automated backups. You can set the frequency (daily, weekly, monthly) and the number of backups to store. Once again, this makes another vital part of site maintenance much easier.  

Lastly, if the worst happens, you can restore directly from a backup. Go to the Backups and Restore section, choose the file you need from the list, and click Restore.

Softaculous will guide you through the process, allowing you to choose whether to restore files, the database, or both.

FAQS

Other Blogs of Interest

– How Long Does It Take To Build A Website With WordPress

– The Ultimate WordPress Multisite Domain Mapping Guide

– How To Create a Landing Page In WordPress

– How To Change The WordPress URL

– How to Delete a WordPress Site: 6-Step Tutorial & Tips