First run

The first time you open AdminBolt after installing it, the panel asks two questions and then hands you your logins. This takes under a minute and happens once.

Step 1: how you will use the server

AdminBolt can work out almost everything about your server on its own. The one thing it cannot work out is what you intend to do with it, so it asks:

• Host my own websites. AdminBolt creates your first hosting account straight away, along with a temporary website address you can use before your own domain points at the server.
• Provide hosting to clients. AdminBolt starts you on hosting plans instead, and you add an account per client when you are ready.

Neither choice locks you in. You can create accounts, plans, and resellers later whichever path you take.

Step 2: your admin account

The installer set a temporary password. Replace it here, and fill in:

• Email address - where AdminBolt writes to you about this server.
• First name and Last name.
• Username - the name you will sign in with. Use lowercase letters, numbers, and dashes.
• New password - AdminBolt generates one for you. Keep it, generate another, or type your own. It has to be at least 10 characters.

Your logins

The last screen hands you two separate sets of credentials, because a server has two jobs and they are kept apart:

• Server administration at /admin. This is where you manage websites, mail, DNS, backups, and every server setting.
• Your hosting account at /client. This is where you manage the files, databases, and mailboxes of one account, the same view your customers get. The screen also gives you a temporary website address, so you can put a site up before your domain's DNS moves.

Warning: The passwords on this screen are shown once and never again. Use Copy all, Download, or Email to me before you continue. Downloading or copying is safer than mail, which goes out in plain text.

If you lose the admin password later, generate a one-time sign-in link on the server itself:

bolt-cli admin-sso-generate

Activating a licence

A new server starts unlicensed, and the panel keeps every screen behind the License page until a licence is in place. You have two ways in:

• Start a free trial. Enter your email address on the License page. The trial activates immediately for 24 hours, and AdminBolt mails you a confirmation. Confirming your address through that mail extends the trial to the full period. No card is required.
• Enter a licence key you already hold, and validate it.

You can also activate the trial while installing, by passing your address to the installer:

sudo ./install.sh [email protected]

Without --email the installation finishes unlicensed, and you activate on the License page whenever you are ready.

Note: A licence is tied to the server's IP address. Moving the panel to another address needs the licence reissued for the new one.