Uploading files: SFTP, FTPS, SSH and file manager

There are three ways to get your files onto the Managed Webserver: with the file manager right in the browser, with an FTP program such as FileZilla over SFTP or FTPS, or automatically from a Git repository. If you like working on the command line, you also get an SSH shell.

The quickest way: the file manager

Click File manager in the left-hand column. You are signed in right away and see the folders of your websites — s1, s2 and so on. Your home page belongs in the document root, s1/public by default.

• Upload Files uploads files from your own computer.
• New Folder and New file create folders and files. You edit text files right in the browser.
• The menu at the end of each row (three dots) offers further actions for a file or folder.
• Open in new tab gives you more room.

Connection details

For an FTP program or the shell you need the details from Access → Connection details:

Creating an access account

An access account is a user for SFTP, FTPS and the shell. Create a separate one for each person — for example one for your web agency that you can simply delete again later.

1. Under Access, click Add account.
2. Enter a Username: lowercase letters and digits, at most 16 characters. We put your client prefix in front; agentur, for example, becomes c1234-agentur.
3. Under Scope, choose whether the account sees all websites or just one.
4. Click Create.

Connecting with FileZilla

1. In FileZilla, open File → Site Manager → New site.
2. Choose SFTP – SSH File Transfer Protocol as the protocol.
3. Enter the value from the Server row as host and 22 as port.
4. Enter the full username including the client prefix, and the password.
5. Click Connect. The first time, FileZilla asks whether you trust the server — confirm.

Prefer FTPS? Choose FTP – File Transfer Protocol with Require explicit FTP over TLS, the server name from the FTPS row and port 21.

SSH keys and shell

An SSH key replaces the password with a key pair on your computer. It is optional for SFTP and required for the shell. How to create a key is explained in Creating and using SSH keys.

1. Click Manage SSH keys (key icon) in the account's row.
2. Under Add public key, paste the content of your file ending in .pub. Ed25519, ECDSA and RSA from 2048 bit are accepted.
3. Click Add key.
4. Switch the shell on for this account in the Shell column.

Then sign in with the command from the SSH (shell) row. Replace <name> in it with the part of your username after the client prefix:

ssh -p 2222 c1234-agentur@servername

The shell works within the account's scope and with the website's PHP version. Tools such as php, composer and, for WordPress, wp are available there.

Changing, suspending or deleting an account

Edit

Changes the account's scope.

Generate new password

Assigns a new password; the old one stops working immediately.

Delete account

Removes the account. The files are kept.

Deploying automatically from Git

If your website lives in a Git repository, for example on GitHub or GitLab, the Managed Webserver fetches the latest state at the push of a button or automatically on every push. You find this under Websites → Settings (gear icon) → Git deploy.

1. Click Connect repository.
2. Enter the address of the Repository — https://… for public repositories or git@… for private ones. Credentials do not belong in the address.
3. Check Branch (usually main) and Target folder. If the target folder is left empty, the repository goes into the whole website folder.
4. If needed, enter a command under Command afterwards that runs after each deployment, for example composer install --no-dev.
5. Click Save. Deploy key and Webhook now appear.
6. Add the deploy key at your Git provider as a read-only deploy key. Enter the webhook address there as a push webhook if every push should be deployed automatically.
7. Click Deploy now.

The webhook address is secret. If it has fallen into the wrong hands, create a new one with New webhook. Disconnect removes the connection; the files stay.

If the connection fails

FileZilla reports “Authentication failed”

Check that you entered the username with the client prefix. If in doubt, generate a new password.

FTPS does not connect

For FTPS, use the server name from the FTPS row, not the one from the Server row. Plain FTP is switched off.

The shell rejects the sign-in

The shell needs an SSH key; a password is not enough. Also make sure to use port 2222.

Not a valid public SSH key.

You probably pasted the private key. Use the file ending in .pub.

Where to go next

• Creating a website and connecting your domain
• Cron jobs, Memcache, Redis, Node.js and Ruby
• Restoring and downloading backups