Web hosting and WordPress questions
Choosing a plan
Section titled “Choosing a plan”What is the difference between Shared, WordPress and Business Hosting?
Section titled “What is the difference between Shared, WordPress and Business Hosting?”- Shared Hosting plans are sized by the number of websites they host.
- WordPress Hosting is managed: Sheernox applies WordPress core, plugin and theme updates for you, and the support team helps with WordPress problems.
- Business Hosting gives your sites a set CPU and memory allocation, unlimited websites and more mailboxes, with priority support on the higher plans.
All three run on the same platform, with the Enhance control panel, free SSL and daily backups. The plan pages on sheernox.com compare what each plan includes.
How many websites can I host?
Section titled “How many websites can I host?”Each Shared and WordPress Hosting plan has a website limit, shown on its plan card. Business Hosting includes unlimited websites, subdomains and databases within the plan’s storage and resource allocation. Staging copies do not count towards the website limit.
To add one, see Add a website.
What does “managed” mean?
Section titled “What does “managed” mean?”On Business Hosting, Sheernox manages the servers, PHP, the web server, the control panel, security, monitoring and backups. You manage your own website software.
On WordPress Hosting, Sheernox manages the servers, PHP, the web server and the control panel, and also applies WordPress core, plugin and theme updates. On other plans you can turn on automatic updates in the Toolkit, or add a Website Care plan for updates, uptime monitoring and site care.
Can I upgrade later?
Section titled “Can I upgrade later?”Yes. Move up a plan from the client portal at any time; your websites stay where they are. See Change your plan.
The platform
Section titled “The platform”Which web server and database do you use?
Section titled “Which web server and database do you use?”OpenLiteSpeed for the web server, with full-page caching and HTTP/3, and MariaDB for databases. See Create databases and use phpMyAdmin.
Will my .htaccess file work?
Section titled “Will my .htaccess file work?”Mostly. OpenLiteSpeed reads common .htaccess rewrite rules, so WordPress, Joomla, Laravel and most PHP applications run unchanged. A few Apache-only directives are not supported. For redirects, you can also use the control panel; see Redirect a page or domain.
What is the Enhance control panel, and how is it different from cPanel?
Section titled “What is the Enhance control panel, and how is it different from cPanel?”Enhance is a modern hosting control panel. Each website runs in its own container, and the panel includes staging sites, WordPress tools, Redis, Node.js apps, SSH access and free Let’s Encrypt SSL. Files, databases, email and DNS work the way you expect from cPanel, in a cleaner layout. See Sign in to the control panel.
Can I choose my PHP version?
Section titled “Can I choose my PHP version?”Yes, for each website, along with extra PHP extensions and php.ini settings such as the upload limit. See Choose your PHP version and settings.
Can I use SSH, cron jobs or Node.js?
Section titled “Can I use SSH, cron jobs or Node.js?”Yes. See Connect with SFTP and SSH, Schedule tasks with cron jobs and Run a Node.js app.
Is SSL included?
Section titled “Is SSL included?”Yes. Every website can have a free Let’s Encrypt certificate, and you can install your own certificate if you have one. See Secure a website with SSL and HTTPS.
Are backups included?
Section titled “Are backups included?”Yes. Hosting is backed up automatically every day to separate storage in Canada, and you can restore a whole website, or only some files or databases, yourself. See Back up and restore a website.
WordPress
Section titled “WordPress”Can I use any theme or plugin?
Section titled “Can I use any theme or plugin?”Yes. There is no banned-plugin list. Run Elementor, Divi, WooCommerce, LearnDash, ACF or your own code.
How do OpenLiteSpeed and LiteSpeed Cache speed up WordPress?
Section titled “How do OpenLiteSpeed and LiteSpeed Cache speed up WordPress?”With the LiteSpeed Cache plugin, OpenLiteSpeed serves cached pages directly instead of running PHP for every visit, and purges only the pages you change. Redis then speeds up pages that cannot be cached, such as carts and dashboards. Faster responses help Core Web Vitals, though your theme and plugins matter too. See Speed up your website.
How do I turn on Redis?
Section titled “How do I turn on Redis?”Switch on Redis for the website in the control panel under Advanced > Developer tools, then turn on object caching in the Redis Object Cache or LiteSpeed Cache plugin. Each website’s Redis runs privately in its own container. See Redis object caching.
How does Business Hosting handle traffic spikes?
Section titled “How does Business Hosting handle traffic spikes?”Your sites have their own CPU and memory allocation, OpenLiteSpeed serves cached pages without running PHP, and Redis takes repeated queries off the database. Together they keep shops and portals responsive during launches and sales.
Can I test changes before they go live?
Section titled “Can I test changes before they go live?”Yes. Make a staging copy of the site, test updates or a new design on it, then copy the finished work back over the live site. See Test changes on a staging copy.
Moving to Sheernox
Section titled “Moving to Sheernox”Can you move my website from another host?
Section titled “Can you move my website from another host?”Yes, from cPanel, Plesk or any other host. The team copies your files, databases, DNS records and email, tests the site on Sheernox servers and switches over at a time that suits you. Migration is free on eligible plans; see Is migration free on every plan? You can also move a site yourself. See Move your website to Sheernox.
Will my website go down during the move?
Section titled “Will my website go down during the move?”No. Your site keeps running at the old host until you point the domain to Sheernox, and you can preview the site before you switch. Keep the old hosting for a few days afterwards until you are sure everything works.