DreamHost ACADEMY

If you’ve never had to set up a website before, navigating your hosting service can be intimidating. As a DreamHost user, however, this is much easier than you might expect. You’ll want to start by getting acquainted with your hosting control panel and all the features it offers, and then you can start working on your website right away.

In this tutorial, we’re going to guide you through logging in to your DreamHost panel for the first time. We’ll show you how to find everything you need, and how to access your WordPress website. Let’s get you set up!

Where to Find Your DreamHost Panel

The DreamHost panel is where you get access to all the tools you’ll need to manage your website(s). Once you sign up for a hosting plan, you can visit your panel at any time by going to the DreamHost website.

Once you’re there, look for the Log In button at the top of the screen, and select the Web Hosting CP option from the drop-down menu.

Now go ahead and enter the credentials you chose when you signed up for an account. After that, you’ll see your DreamHost Panel.

If you look to the left, you’ll see a bunch of tabs that include all the functionality at your disposal. Let’s get to know each of them.

Getting Acquainted With Your DreamHost Panel

The first thing you’ll probably notice is the What’s New? column right in the middle of your screen. We use this section to keep you in the loop about new features. There’s always some new tool or functionality to play with, so keep an eye on this section.

To your right, you can see the latest offers and deals from DreamHost. That includes referral offers and deals on specific Top-Level Domains (TLDs).

Those two sections are just the entrees, however. Before we dig in to the rest of what your panel offers, bear in mind that there are some features here you might not have access to. What you can use depends on which services you signed up for, but we’ll introduce you to the whole roster of options anyway.

Domains

Within this tab, you can manage all of your existing domains, register new ones, add Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificates to them, and more.

You can also use this tab to transfer external domains over to DreamHost, and set up new websites for any properties you own.

WordPress

The WordPress tab enables you to set up new installations on any of your existing domains. It also includes other Content Management System (CMS) options with their own one-click installers.

If you’re a DreamPress user, you can also access your managed WordPress installations from this tab with a single click.

Mail

The Mail tab includes a lot of resources. Here, you can set up new emails associated with any of your domains, access your messages, set up filters, and more.

If you’re into email marketing, this tab also enables you to use our autoresponder and announcement list tools.

Users

Here you can manage and set privileges for all the accounts with FTP and SFTP access to your websites. In case you don’t have a dedicated SFTP client, you can also access and edit your files from the web with a single click.

This section is also where you can set up SSH keys for more secure access.

Billing and Account

Here’s where you can check out anything and everything related to billing, and see when your next payment is due.

You can also update your personal information here, as well as tighten account security and back up all your files manually.

That’s not all, though — this section even includes tabs where you can monitor your bandwidth and disk usage.

Support

If you ever have any questions — about hosting, your website, or the meaning of life — you can access our knowledge base from this section.

If our knowledge base doesn’t have the answer you’re looking for, you can also contact us directly through the Contact Support option.

Dedicated Servers

If you’re using one of our dedicated servers, here’s where you can check its state and modify its configuration.

You can also visit this section to add a dedicated server to your account.

Cloud Services

If you use any of our cloud services — DreamObjects and DreamCompute — here’s where you can manage everything related to them.

As with dedicated servers, you can also sign up for cloud services right from your panel.

How to Log in to Your WordPress Website

If you’re a shared hosting user, you can access your WordPress installations by navigating to Domains > One-Click Installs and selecting the Manage Installed Applications option.

Inside, you’ll see a list of all your domains. If you open any of them, you’ll see what applications they have installed, including any WordPress setups.

To access your WordPress dashboard, all you have to do is enter the URL of the domain where you set up WordPress into your browser, and add the wp-admin suffix:

yourdomain.com/wp-admin

At this stage, you should see the WordPress login page, so go ahead and enter your credentials.

Related: Why Should I Use WordPress? 12 Reasons to Choose the World’s Most Popular CMS

Let’s Get You Logged In

The first time you log in to your hosting panel can be a little confusing. There are a lot of options you can use, but it’s not as complex as you might imagine. Once you get acquainted with your DreamHost panel, managing your websites is straightforward and painless.

Are you ready to start working on your own website? Our Shared Hosting packages offer you an affordable way to get your projects off the ground!