Description

Domain of One’s Own (sometimes called “DoOO”) is an initiative that allows members of the College to claim a domain name (web address) and start building a website that is uniquely their own.

Understanding Accounts & Passwords

One aspect of Domain of One's Own that users may find a bit complicated at first is understanding the different accounts (and associated passwords) that you can manage as part of your participation. This article outlines the types of accounts that you are likely to have, what they are for, and how you go about resetting passwords on each of them.

Your cPanel Account

When you first sign up for your domain and hosting, a cPanel (control panel) account will be generated that provides you with access to your slice of the domains.swarthmore.edu webserver. Your cPanel account is automatically associated with your Swarthmore username. Therefore, your Swarthmore username and password will grant you access to your cPanel account.

Your Application Administrator Accounts

Every time you install a new application in cPanel, an administrator account for that application will be created. After you are logged in to your cPanel, you will need to log in a second time to the specific administrator account for an application to manage the associated website.

For example, if you install WordPress to manage your website, every time you need to add content to WordPress, change your theme, approve comments, etc. you will use your WordPress credentials to log in. If you install Scalar in a different directory, you will use the administrator account for Scalar to log in separately. Because you can install multiple applications, you should keep track of all the different administrator account credentials you will create.

Usually, you will be given the opportunity to choose the username and password for administrator accounts. We recommend choosing something that you are likely to remember but that is strong and secure.

Upon installation, you will likely receive an email confirming the user id/password combination you chose. It will also have information about how to access the login page for that application. You may wish to save this message for future reference.

Depending on the application you’re working with, managing and resetting the password for this account will vary. If you’ve used Installatron (in cPanel) to install the application, however, you can always review the account credentials:

• Login to cPanel through https://domains.swarthmore.edu/dashboard

• Click the Installatron icon in the Software section.

• Find the application you installed under My Applications.

• Click the Edit button (this looks like a blue wrench).

• Scroll down to find the Administrator Username and Password.

In addition, most applications should have some kind of password reset link on the login page.

Other Types of Accounts

In addition to the three account types outlined above, there are a few other kinds of accounts you may have as part of domains.swarthmore.edu:

• FTP: If you want to use FTP (File Transfer Protocol) to upload files, you will need to set up an account via the cPanel.

• Application User Accounts: In addition to the administrator account that you set up when installing an application, most applications will also let you set up user accounts. Setting up user accounts will allow you to collaborate with colleagues without giving them access to your cPanel.