Welcome to your new WHC VPS! Your server ships with CyberPanel — a modern control panel built on top of the lightning-fast OpenLiteSpeed web server. This guide will walk you from your very first login to a live website with working email, in about 30 minutes.
If you’re coming from cPanel, you’ll feel at home quickly. The layout is different, but the concepts are the same: you’ll create websites, manage email, handle DNS, install WordPress, and more — just in a slightly different place.
Note: Throughout this guide, replace cloudXXXXXX with your actual VPS hostname, such as cloud123456. You’ll find it in your Welcome Email and in the Client Area under Servers.
What CyberPanel gives you
At a glance, here’s what you can do from the panel:
Create and manage websites, including one-click WordPress, static sites, and custom apps
Set up email accounts with webmail and mobile or desktop client support
Manage DNS zones directly from the panel
Issue free SSL certificates automatically via Let’s Encrypt
Upload and edit files with the built-in File Manager or via FTP/SFTP
Create and restore backups locally or to remote storage
Manage databases with phpMyAdmin
Install and manage WordPress sites with the WordPress Manager
For billing, upgrades, and support, you’ll still use your Client Area.
Step 1 — Log in to CyberPanel
There’s no password to remember. We’ve set up single sign-on from your Client Area.
Log in to your Client Area as usual.
Go to Servers in the main menu. You’ll see your VPS listed with its hostname, such as cloud123456.mywhc.ca, and size, such as VPS 2G, 4G, 8G, or 16G.
Click the hostname, or the Manage button on the right.
On the service page, find the CyberPanel card and click Launch CyberPanel.
A new tab will open, and you’ll land directly in the CyberPanel dashboard, already logged in. No setup wizard and no password prompt.
Note: The VPS size label, such as 2G, 4G, 8G, or 16G, refers to your server’s RAM. More RAM means you can host more websites, handle more traffic, and run more demanding applications like WooCommerce or heavy WordPress builds. You can upgrade at any time from the Client Area.
Step 2 — Get your bearings
The CyberPanel dashboard is organized into a sidebar on the left. Here are the sections you’ll use most:
Websites: create, list, and manage your sites. This is where most of your work happens.
Email: create mailboxes, access webmail, configure forwarders, and set up auto-responders.
Databases: create MySQL/MariaDB databases and launch phpMyAdmin.
DNS: manage DNS zones and records for domains hosted on your server.
SSL: issue or renew Let’s Encrypt certificates.
Backup: create and restore backups.
WordPress Manager: install, clone, and manage WordPress sites.
Server Status: check CPU, RAM, and disk usage at a glance.
Take a minute to click through a few of these sections. You don’t need to configure anything yet. When you’re ready, let’s get oriented with PHP and then create your first website.
Step 3 — About PHP versions
CyberPanel comes with multiple PHP versions already installed. You don’t need to pick a global default. Instead, you’ll choose a PHP version for each website when you create it, and you can change it per site at any time.
To manage PHP settings and see the versions available on your server:
In the sidebar, expand the Server section and click PHP ? Edit PHP Configs.
On the Basic Settings tab, the Select PHP Version dropdown shows which versions are available, typically PHP 8.1 through 8.5.
Tip: For most modern applications, such as WordPress, Laravel, and Joomla, PHP 8.3 is a solid default. You’ll be able to pick it in the next step.
Step 4 — Create your first website
In CyberPanel, a “website” is the top-level container for your domain. Creating one sets up the document root, the web server configuration, a matching DNS zone, and optionally an SSL certificate, all in one step.
From the sidebar, click Websites ? Create Website.
Fill in the form:
Select Package: pick Default for now. Packages are resource presets you can create later if you want to host multiple sites with different limits.
Select Owner: select admin.
Domain Name: enter the domain you want to host, such as example.com. Do not include http:// or www.
Email: enter the contact email for the site. This is used for SSL notices.
Select PHP: pick a version for this site. PHP 8.3 works well for most modern applications, and you can change it later.
Additional Features: select SSL, DKIM Support, and Open Basedir Protection. Leave the rest at their defaults.
Click Create Website.
Within a few seconds, your site is created and running on the server. You can upload files via the File Manager under the site’s management page, or via FTP. It will become publicly accessible once your domain points to it, which is the next step.
Step 5 — Point your domain to the website
Heads up: This part is a little more technical. You’re making changes at your domain registrar, not inside CyberPanel. If your domain is registered with WHC, you’ll do this from your Client Area.
You have two options. Pick the one that fits your situation.
Option A — Point an A record
Use this if you just want to get one or two domains working quickly and don’t plan to use your VPS as a nameserver. This is recommended for most users.
Find your VPS’s IP address. You’ll find it in your Welcome Email, or anytime in the Plan Details dialog in your Client Area under your service’s management page.
Log in to your domain registrar, or to your WHC Client Area if the domain is with WHC.
Edit the domain’s DNS and create or update an A record:
Host / Name: use @ for the root domain and www for the www version.
Type: A
Value: your VPS IP address
Save your changes.
DNS propagation usually takes 15 minutes to a few hours, but can take up to 24 hours in some cases. You may see inconsistent results during propagation. This is normal.
Option B — Use CyberPanel as your nameserver
Use this if you plan to host many domains and want to manage all your DNS from CyberPanel directly. This requires setting up glue records, which are nameserver records that point to your server’s IP, at your domain registrar.
At your registrar, create two hostnames: ns1.yourdomain.com and ns2.yourdomain.com. Point both to your VPS IP. This is sometimes called creating child nameservers or glue records.
For each domain you want to host, set its nameservers to ns1.yourdomain.com and ns2.yourdomain.com.
In CyberPanel, go to DNS ? Add/Delete Records and verify that a zone exists for each domain. CyberPanel creates one automatically when you create a website.
Note: If you’re unsure which option to pick, go with Option A. It’s simpler and works for most use cases.
Step 6 — SSL: mostly automatic
If your domain is already pointing to your server when you create the website, and the SSL option is selected, CyberPanel will attempt to automatically issue a free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate. In most cases, https:// will just work.
If HTTPS isn’t active yet, it’s usually because DNS hasn’t propagated, the domain isn’t resolving, or port 80 is briefly unavailable. You can issue the certificate manually in a few clicks once DNS has caught up:
Go to Websites ? List Websites.
Click Manage next to your domain.
Scroll to SSL ? Issue SSL. If DNS is pointing correctly, the certificate issues in a few seconds.
Certificates auto-renew every 60 to 90 days. No action is needed on your part.
Step 7 — Create your first email account
Time to set up email on your domain, such as [email protected].
From the sidebar, click Email ? Create Email.
Fill in the form:
Select Domain: pick the domain you created in Step 4.
Username: enter the part before the @, such as contact, you, or hello.
Password: use a strong password. The panel has a generator.
Click Create Email.
Your mailbox is live. Now let’s access it.
Access your email in the browser
From the sidebar, click Email ? Access Webmail.
Select your mailbox, or sign in directly at https://cloudXXXXXX.mywhc.ca:8090/snappymail using your VPS hostname, full email address, and password.
SnappyMail is CyberPanel’s built-in webmail client. It is clean, fast, and works well on mobile browsers too.
Connect Outlook, Apple Mail, iPhone, or Android
Use these settings to add your mailbox to any email client:
Incoming mail (IMAP)
Server: mail.cloudXXXXXX.mywhc.ca, using your VPS hostname prefixed with mail.
Port: 993
Encryption: SSL/TLS
Username: your full email address
Password: the password you set
Outgoing mail (SMTP)
Server: mail.cloudXXXXXX.mywhc.ca
Port: 465 for SSL/TLS or 587 for STARTTLS
Authentication: required, using the same username and password as above
Note: CyberPanel automatically creates MX and SPF records in the DNS zone when you create a website, so basic email functionality will work out of the box if your domain uses CyberPanel’s DNS, or if you’ve added an MX record at your external registrar pointing to mail.cloudXXXXXX.mywhc.ca. For best deliverability, you should also configure reverse DNS (PTR) for your server’s IP and add DKIM and DMARC records to your domain. Our support team can help you set these up.
What’s next?
You now have a live website with SSL and working email. From here, common next steps include:
Install WordPress: go to WordPress ? WP + LSCache and install it in one click with LiteSpeed caching pre-configured.
Set up automatic backups: go to Backup ? Schedule Backups to run daily or weekly backups to remote storage, such as S3, Google Drive, or SFTP.
Create additional email accounts: repeat Step 7 for each mailbox you need.
Add more websites: each VPS can host multiple sites. Larger plans, such as 8G and 16G, handle this more comfortably.
Need help?
Advanced users: root SSH access is available on every VPS. Your SSH credentials are in your Client Area under your service’s details page.
WHC support: available 24/7 via live chat, support ticket, or phone at 1-514-504-2113. Our team can help with panel issues, DNS, migrations, and more.
CyberPanel documentation: the official CyberPanel Knowledge Base has detailed articles on every feature.
Welcome aboard, and happy hosting!