The reality of the world wide web (internet) is that there have always been hackers and there will always be hackers. If you own a website, the responsibility for its security is shared between the website owner and the website hosting company. Web hosts implement many lines of defense against hacking to keep the servers secure. But that is only half the battle. If website code is poorly written or not kept up to date by the hosting client/ website owner, a website is still vulnerable to hacking. That is why hosting companies ask the hosting client to do their part to keep their website secure. To this end, I want you to be educated about the need for and ways to keep your WordPress website up to date. ***This blog post is based on web hosting at Portland, Oregon’s Canvas Host which has both cPanel and Installatron for WordPress hosting clients.
Who – > You (or you have us do it for you)
What -> Get your WordPress update
When -> NOW
Where -> Installatron/ cPanel
Why -> To prevent your website from getting hacked and to prevent the rest of the websites on the server with you from getting hacked
You need to get your WordPress website updated NOW with Installatron/cPanel for two main reasons: first, to prevent your website from getting hacked and second, to prevent the rest of the websites on the server with you from getting hacked.
Let’s begin by stating that if none of this interests you, but you do acknowledge the necessity of having your website be secure, Canvas Host can look at your hosting package and provide a quote as to the feasibility and cost to enroll your website(s) with Installatron. Please be aware that your website may not easily import with Installatron (because of modifications to WordPress or permissions from a previous web host) so any quote for the work is based on the assumption that the import and configuration is standard and you will be notified if that is not the case.
FOR THE DO IT YOURSELFER
For those of you who have been keeping your WordPress website updated on your own, you are probably aware that there are three components of your website that require regular/ semi-regular updating: the plugins, the theme(s), and WordPress itself. It is my preference that, if running updates manually, they are done in a specific order: Plugins, Themes, and WordPress. There is a whole discussion to be had about the reasons for this, but we will leave that for another time.
The first question to be asked is this: Is your website already in Installatron?
If you don’t know the answer to this question, you need to log in to your hosting account cPanel and go to the cPanel Section called Software. The Installatron Applications Installer link will be in this section.
If you see your website homepage next to a panel with your website details, then your website is in Installatron. If not, then your website needs to be imported into Installatron and please continue with this tutorial if your website is not in Installatron or skip down further if your website is already in Installatron.
My website is not in Installatron
If you have gone to cPanel and discovered your website is not Installatron you can set up automatic updates after importing the website into Installatron. At this point you should be in your hosting cPanel and you should have selected the Installatron Applications Installer. Since your website is not in Installatron you will be directed to the Installatron page where you can search for application. Here you will scroll down a select the WordPress icon/ option.
On the next screen you will select the option underneath the Install this application drop down (import existing install).
On the next page you will select the continue option in the “From this account” section.
Next you will select the domain and directory (if there is one) that you would like to import and push the import option. Your WordPress website should begin to import.
Now you can continue to the next step.
My website is already in Installatron
At this point we assume you are already logged in to cPanel and have clicked inside of the Installatron Applications Installer. Next you should identify which WordPress website (you may have more than one), you want to configure automatic updates for.
Check the checkbox next to the website you want to configure for automatic updates. Then select the wrench icon or push the edit option.
An overview of your Installatron settings for this website will load. Slide down on the page and configure the options that work for you. A good set of options is to select the following:
- Automatic Update (Update to any new version.)
- WordPress Plugin Automatic Update (Update WordPress plugins as new version become available.)
- WordPress Theme Automatic Update (Update WordPress themes as new versions become available.)
- Automatic Update Backup (Create a backup and automatically restore the backup if the update fails.)
- Email Notification (Send all email notifications for the installed application.) *Note: This should generate an email to whatever email address you originally have had on file with our web host
Scroll to the bottom of the page and make sure to press Save All in order to update your settings.
If you have premium themes or plugins for that require an update key or purchase, Installatron will not be able to run updates. If updates break your website Installatron should restore to a back up and (if you asked for email notifications) provide you with a message that there was an issue). Canvas Host cannot guarantee the software provided by Installatron however it was tested prior to this blog posting and has worked to keep several websites updated with no issues. Any customization you or your web developer may have done to your website might render different results. We encourage you to attempt to go through this process with any WordPress websites you have hosted at Canvas Host and if you would like us to go through the steps that is something our IT and Web Development Staff can handle.
