Step 1 – Verify aaPanel Works

Your server’s IP address and root password are shown on the Server Details page in your client panel. aaPanel is available immediately after your server is created. Open https://your.server.ip:7800/login in a browser to verify it works.

aaPanel login:

• Username: admin
• Password: the Panel Password you entered during the order

aaPanel only works over HTTPS. Your browser will show a security warning about the self-signed certificate – click Advanced > Proceed (or Accept the Risk in Firefox). This is expected and safe.

If you placed the server behind a VyOS router on a private network, set up port forwarding for ports 22 (SSH), 80 (HTTP), 443 (HTTPS) and 7800 (aaPanel). aaPanel hosts websites that must be reachable from the internet.

Step 2 – Install Your Web Stack

On first login, aaPanel will prompt you to choose a web stack:

Select your preferred stack and versions, then click One-Click to install. Installation takes 5-15 minutes depending on your server resources.

You can also install components individually from the App Store tab.

Step 3 – Add Your First Website

After installing a web stack, click Website → Add site and enter your domain name. aaPanel will create the web directory and configuration automatically.

Before adding a domain, point it to your server by creating A records at your domain registrar:

DNS changes usually take a few minutes, but can take up to 24 hours. You can check the status at dnschecker.org.

Step 4 – Enable SSL for Your Domain

aaPanel has built-in Let’s Encrypt support. To enable a free SSL certificate:

1. Go to Website and click on your domain
2. Click the SSL tab
3. Select Let’s Encrypt
4. Check the domain names and click Apply

The certificate will be installed and renewed automatically.

Fail2Ban – Brute-Force Protection

Your server comes with Fail2Ban pre-configured to protect SSH from brute-force attacks.

Useful commands:

# Check banned IPs
fail2ban-client status sshd

# Unban an IP
fail2ban-client set sshd unbanip 1.2.3.4

aaPanel also has its own brute-force protection. Configure it in Panel Settings. If you accidentally lock yourself out, connect via VNC console in your client panel.

Service Management

aaPanel runs as a systemd service. Services installed through aaPanel (Nginx, Apache, MySQL, PHP-FPM) are best managed from the panel, but systemd works too:

# Restart aaPanel itself
/etc/init.d/bt restart

# Check aaPanel status
/etc/init.d/bt status

# Web stack (after installation)
systemctl status nginx
systemctl restart mysql

One-Click Applications

aaPanel includes a one-click installer for popular applications. Go to App Store to install WordPress, Laravel, Node.js, Java, Python and other frameworks without using the command line.

Server Credentials

aaPanel admin credentials are stored in /root/.aapanel_credentials.

Software Included

• aaPanel Documentation: aapanel.com/new/document.html
• aaPanel Forum: forum.aapanel.com