Add your first website
Register a site in the dashboard so the platform knows it and the worker plugin can connect to it.
Create the client
Go to Clients and add the customer the site belongs to, with a name and whether they should receive the update emails. A client is where a site hangs; you can add several sites to one client.
A client can also be made while adding the website: when the client field finds nothing, choose Create a new client or the + next to the field.
Have a package ready
Go to Packages and make sure there is a package with the update frequency, backup interval, storage policy and monitoring interval you want for this site. One package serves many sites, so this is usually a one-time step.
Add the website
Go to Websites → Create. Adding a website takes two steps.
Website. Choose how the site connects, then fill in:
- Website address — the address the site answers on, exactly. The platform checks that the address does not redirect before it accepts it; a
wwworhttpsredirect has to be resolved first. - Website name — how the site appears in lists. It is filled in from the address, and can be changed.
- Client and Package.
- Tags, if you use them to group sites.
Connect. What this step asks depends on the choice in the first step:
- Auto connect — sign in to the site's WordPress admin once, with the admin address, a username and a password. WP Octo installs and connects the worker for you. The username and password are used for this one sign-in and are not stored. If it does not work, the website is still added and the dashboard says why.
- Upload the plugin — the website is added, and the step shows how to install the worker yourself.
Backup, monitoring and update-day settings follow the package. Change them for this site afterwards on its Settings page.
Install the worker plugin on the site
With Auto connect this is done. Otherwise follow Install the worker. Until the plugin is installed and connected, the site shows as not yet reporting.
After the site connects
The platform reads the site's plugins, themes, users and WordPress core, checks whether its pages answer, and starts monitoring on the package's interval. The site's Health page shows the connection, when each dataset was last received and over which channel, and what — if anything — needs attention. First checks walks through it.