Overview
After you have signed up for a new DreamHost Shared account and have logged into your panel, you are greeted with the panel's Home page. On this page, you can manage the major areas of your account.
The Home page displayed in this article is only available to the primary account owner. Sub-accounts you've added using Account Privileges will not see this page.
The 'Build Website' tab
The 'Build Website' tab displays several boxes. The image above assumes you chose to install WordPress on your site when signing up.
Log In to WordPress
Click the Open Wordpress Editor button to log directly into your WordPress admin dashboard.
File Manager
Clicking the Manage Files button opens the WebFTP program. This allows you to directly edit your web server files in your DreamHost panel.
Click 'Show Credentials' to view your FTP credentials. You can use these to log into your web server using an FTP client.
Database (MySQL)
Click the Manage Database button to log directly into phpMyAdmin. Here you can edit your database.
Click 'Show Credentials' to view your database login credentials. You can use these to log into your database using SSH or a 3rd party client.
- How do I connect to my database via SSH?
- How do I connect to my database using a third-party program?
Secure Shell (SSH)
The original website user that is created for you is an SFTP user. You can use the 'File Manager' data above to use this user to log into your server.
However, depending on your needs, you may need to run specific Shell commands. To run a Shell command on the server, your username must be changed to an SSH user.
Click the 'Enable SSH' toggle. Your user is then changed to an SSH user. You can then log in using an SSH terminal.
The 'Migration Service' tab
This tab displays several options to migrate and upgrade your WordPress website.
Paid Migration Service
The Paid Migration Service is a service DreamHost offers to migrate your entire WordPress site to your DreamHost server.
Upgrade to Managed WordPress
This option upgrades your WordPress site from a standard Shared web server to a private DreamPress server. This plan is suited for WordPress sites that have outgrown Shared hosting and need more resources.
Migrate Using a WordPress Plugin
This links to the Duplicator plugin which is a simple plugin you can use to migrate your WordPress database manually.
