So youâÃÂÃÂve started your course and youâÃÂÃÂve claimed your freebies, but youâÃÂÃÂre not sure where to start with your free student web hosting?
DonâÃÂÃÂt worry âÃÂàhelp is at hand!
Creating Your Hosting Packages
Once youâÃÂÃÂve verified your course, youâÃÂÃÂll need to go through your Eco Web Hosting account to create individual packages for your projects
To create hosting, use the Create Hosting Packages page. YouâÃÂÃÂll be presented with the following options:
One thing to bear in mind âÃÂàthe domain you enter here isnâÃÂÃÂt registered when the hosting package is created. This is just a placeholder on our systems. IâÃÂÃÂll cover domain options later in this guide
Unless you specifically need Windows hosting to use ASP.NET or MSSQL, IâÃÂÃÂd strongly recommend sticking with Linux hosting when youâÃÂÃÂre creating your package. This choice is for the operating system on the server âÃÂàitâÃÂÃÂs not affected by your local OS. Linux hosting gives you a stable and configurable platform, with more verbose error messages should anything not go to plan!
Choosing Your Domains
In terms of the domain, donâÃÂÃÂt worry if you donâÃÂÃÂt have one at the moment, or you donâÃÂÃÂt want to purchase one. You will be given a temporary URL to use with the hosting, and this lets you view your projects online once uploaded
This link can be found in the Account Information section in the right-hand pane of the hosting control panel once you are logged in there from the âÃÂÃÂTemp AddressâÃÂàlink
If you already have a domain registered elsewhere that you want to use with your hosting packages, you can do this by simply updating your domain to point to the following nameservers:
- ns1.eco-dns.co.uk
- ns2.eco-dns.co.uk
- ns3.eco-dns.co.uk
- ns4.eco-dns.co.uk
Please note that these DNS changes can take 24 to 48 hours to fully propagate and take effect
And of course, if you want to purchase a domain name, you can find more information on prices and available domains in our Domain Names page
Uploading Your Files
Once youâÃÂÃÂve created your hosting, sorted out your domain (or temporary URL), and youâÃÂÃÂre ready to upload your projects, you have two options to use âÃÂàdepending on the size of the files
The
**File Manager** is a web based tool in the Hosting Control Panel, and itâÃÂÃÂs ideal for light usage. If you have a few small files that you just want to get in your package, this is your quickest option
If you have a large site (either in terms of number of files or size of the uploads), you may be better off using
**FTP software For this option, IâÃÂÃÂd recommend using FileZilla
You can find your FTP details just below the Account Information section in your Hosting Control Panel. YouâÃÂÃÂll also be able to unlock FTP so you can upload
Remembering Which Folder And Files
The only other thing to be aware of is that
public_html is the default folder on our servers. Make sure youâÃÂÃÂre uploading your project/site files into that folder in order to make them âÃÂÃÂliveâÃÂÃÂ
You also need to make sure you have a default
index.php or
index.html file uploaded âÃÂàsince thatâÃÂÃÂs where the domain name or temporary URL is going to point first
And YouâÃÂÃÂre Good to Go!
If youâÃÂÃÂve followed the above steps, and youâÃÂÃÂve uploaded your files, you can visit your temporary URL (or domain if itâÃÂÃÂs pointed to Eco Web Hosting), and view your project!