Mudmap of how hosting and Website interact

Confused about how your hosting and website (WordPress) and also CPanel go together for you to work with? You may ask:-

Question:-“Why do I need a CPanel if i have a WordPress admin backend?”

Answer:- “Because they perform different functions”

Lets use this graphic to help understand the structure.

That is you in the Graphic, sitting at your computer.

The lines show your access paths to WordPress admin and to CPanel for your webspace on the servers.

In the bottom left we have our Hosting company Servers where we rent space. It’s a big directory and home for thousands of Customer Domains. Ours is one of them. All the folders,files,software that make up our site live in our address on that server. These servers control access to these files.

Our  WordPress website delivers the necessary information from our files and Databases here in the Hosting servers, to render it on the internet. In turn visitors view it on their PC or device. They can interact with the site, viewing pages, posts or using apps we make available.

Our WordPress website has an Admin backend only we can access to manage our site and add or change content. We have a secure login to perform these tasks.

We also have a CPanel (control panel) access to the hosted server space where we can interact with our files, databases, and options our hosting company provides for us.

Common options may be to request extra services. Set up email routing for our website(s).You can manipulate or backup Databases. And many more functions. You can even add extra Domains to the hosting. 
Most hosting companies can offer you a plan that offers more than a single domain in your hosting. You can end up with multiple Domains, each with their own files, databases and settings, but all managed from a single Control Panel.  Only you have access here.

You can get some idea of what is in there, by logging in if you already have hosting. Once you are in, be careful. Don’t change anything till you have learned what you can do in here.  Just have a look around and get familiar with the available options. Generally you don’t spend a lot of time in this interface. There may be something you need changed. If so read up on it first. When you have the required knowledge then carefully enact it in CPanel. If you are not confident to do so yourself, contact your hosting company and they will do it for you. Its generally part of the service.

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