Overview
DreamHost lets you create many types of users — website, mail, MySQL, panel, stats, and more — each with its own password. This article links to the password-change instructions for each user type and covers password guidelines, length limits, and troubleshooting.
Background
DreamHost offers the ability to create many different types of users with their own unique password. These users can be used for different tasks within the panel and to interact with your website.
Sometimes, it's necessary to log into a site to troubleshoot an issue, such as WordPress. Please note that sending passwords over email is INSECURE and could potentially compromise the security of your password.
If sharing login credentials to troubleshoot an issue is absolutely necessary, follow these two steps.
- Create a test user and password.
- Share these credentials with DreamHost support.
- Once your support issue is resolved, immediately change the test password (or delete the test user).
What types of users can I set passwords for?
Below is a list of different types of users you may need to create when managing your DreamHost account and website. Click on a user type to view instructions on updating its password.
- Website users
- Mail users
- MySQL users
- Panel users
- Stats users
- Dedicated Server admin users
- Application users
- DreamCompute dashboard users
- Google Workspace users
- WordPress users
What are the password guidelines?
There are a few things you should always consider when creating a password. These will help to protect your user from being compromised as well as protect other users in the case of an intrusion:
- Never use your username as your password or even a portion of it.
- Never use personal information such as your name, phone number, address, anniversary, birthday, pet's name, DOB, license plate, etc.
- The longer the password, the better. It's recommended it should be at least 8 characters.
- Never use the same password twice. Always change to something new.
- Combine letters, numbers, and special characters to make your password harder to guess.
- Mix upper and lower case letters to increase security.
- Do not use common words that can be guessed, such as 'admin', 'guest', 'password', or any variations of those words.
- Enable Multifactor Authentication when possible.
- Never reuse passwords. Make sure that your passwords are all unique. This way, if one password is compromised, your other logins will remain secure.
- Use a password tool such as 1Password to protect your passwords and generate new ones.
You can also use an online website to help create a password. For example:
Most importantly, NEVER SHARE YOUR PASSWORD with anyone.
If someone requires access to your account, try alternate options such as creating a new user or giving them panel access through Account Privileges.
What are the password limitations?
The max password length is 31 characters.
You can add special characters. The only characters that are not allowed are single and double quotes.
Why isn't my new password working?
It's possible that after resetting a password within your panel, you find it's not working, or the old password still functions. Try the following in this situation:
- Allow up to 15 minutes for your password to update online.
- If the new password still does not work, the old password may be cached. Clear your web browser's cache and try logging in again.