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WordPress Guide

Getting Started with WordPress Hosting

Everything you need to point your domain, manage your site, and use every feature of your NordServ portal.

Finding things on your service page Pointing your domain Web file manager wp-admin dashboard Why can't I connect? Daily backups Storage quota & add-on Multi-site plans Self-service password reset

🗂️ Finding things on your service page

Your WordPress service page is split into tabs. Overview holds the WordPress Hosting card for each site (domain, Admin URL, File Manager, Delete Site and the password reset button) and the Why can't I connect? card. Console & Logs holds the Site Logs card. Settings holds the Add a Site card (shown only while your plan has room for another site). Billing holds Change Plan, Cancel Subscription and Payment History. The Service Details card at the top stays visible on every tab.

🌐 Pointing your domain

WordPress hosting needs a domain name pointed at your new server before SSL can activate — this is the one manual step in setup, since we don't control your domain's DNS. Right after signup you'll get a dedicated setup email with the exact records and IP addresses to use, and the same records are listed in the WordPress Hosting card on the Overview tab of your service page for as long as the site is still waiting on DNS. You create them with whoever manages your domain's DNS (often your registrar, or Cloudflare if you use it in front of your domain).

  1. Log in to wherever your domain's DNS is managed.
  2. Create an A record: Name/Host @, Value = the IPv4 address from your setup email.
  3. Create an AAAA record: Name/Host @, Value = the IPv6 address from your setup email.
  4. Create a CNAME record: Name/Host www, Value = your bare domain — so www.yourdomain.com works too.
  5. Save — DNS changes typically take a few minutes to an hour to spread, occasionally longer. SSL and your login credentials are usually issued within 15 minutes of that.

Where exactly to click varies by provider — here's the general path for the most common ones:

  • Cloudflare: DNS → Records → Add record. Set every one of these records (A, AAAA, and CNAME) to "DNS only" (grey cloud) — never the orange proxy cloud.
  • GoDaddy: My Products → DNS (next to your domain) → Add a record.
  • Namecheap: Domain List → Manage → Advanced DNS → Add New Record.
  • Google Domains / Squarespace Domains: DNS settings → Custom records → Manage custom records.
Warning: If you use Cloudflare, these records must stay on "DNS only" (grey cloud) permanently — enabling Cloudflare's orange proxy on any of them will break SSL certificate activation.
Tip: Not sure who manages your domain's DNS? It's whoever you bought the domain from, unless you later moved DNS management to Cloudflare or another provider — check your original registrar first if you're unsure.
Note: If we still can't see your DNS records 24 hours after the site was added, we email you a reminder listing the records we are still waiting for, then again every 3 days (at most 3 emails). We keep checking automatically: as soon as the records are detected, SSL is issued and you get a confirmation email.

📁 Web file manager

The WordPress Hosting card on the Overview tab of your service page links to a browser-based File Manager, so you can upload themes, plugins, or edit files directly without needing an FTP client. SFTP access is also available if you prefer your own tools — its host, port, username, password, and path are sent once, in the email you get when your site goes live. That email is the only place they appear, so keep it: they aren't shown anywhere in the portal. If you can't find it, search your inbox for your domain name, and contact us if it's really gone.

The Console & Logs tab has a Site Logs card with Access Log and Error Log buttons, showing the last 50 lines of your site's access log or error log — usually the fastest way to track down a 500 error or check recent visitor activity without leaving the portal.

🔧 wp-admin dashboard

A direct link to your site's WordPress admin dashboard is shown as the Admin URL in the WordPress Hosting card on the Overview tab of your service page, so you never have to remember or type the /wp-admin URL yourself.

🛡️ Why can't I connect?

If a connection to your service fails even though the service is running — a game client, an SFTP or mail app, or your browser — our firewall may have blocked the IP address it comes from. Our servers automatically block addresses that cause too many failed logins or suspicious traffic. The Why can't I connect? card on the Overview tab of your service page checks this for you, on the server that runs this service.

  1. Open your service in the portal and stay on the Overview tab — the Why can't I connect? card is open by default.
  2. Your current IP address is already filled in. To check another connection — a player's, or the network you play or send mail from — replace it with that public IPv4 or IPv6 address.
  3. Click Check. The card shows the address it checked and one of the answers below.
  • Blocked by our firewall: the address is blocked with no set end date.
  • Temporarily blocked by our firewall until …: the block lifts by itself at the date and time shown (in your own time zone) — simply wait until then.
  • Not blocked on this service's server: our firewall isn't the problem. Double-check the server address and port, and your own network (Wi-Fi, VPN, internet provider or local firewall).
  • We could not complete the check right now: try again in a few minutes.

When an address is blocked and we know why, the card also shows the reason: too many failed login attempts, suspicious or excessive traffic, an address on a public abuse blocklist (often a shared or previously misused address), or blocked by our team.

Tip: Blocked with no end date, or you think the block is a mistake? Contact support and include the IP address shown in the result so we can look into it.
Note: The check only looks at the firewall of the server(s) running this service, and only public IP addresses can be checked. To prevent abuse it is limited to 20 checks and 5 different addresses per hour — if you reach a limit, try again later. The card is available while the service is active (including a cancelled service until its end date), but not while it is suspended.

💾 Daily backups

Automatic daily backups are included free on every plan — there's nothing to set up. The last 5 days of backups are kept. If you ever need a restore, contact us with the date you'd like restored to.

📦 Storage quota & add-on

Each plan includes a set amount of disk storage, listed on its card on the pricing page — and on a multi-site plan, that quota applies per site rather than being shared across them. The Service Details card at the top of your service page (visible on every tab) shows your Disk Quota, broken down as the plan's own quota plus any extra storage you've added.

Need more room? Enter the extra storage you want, in GB, in the Extra storage (GB) field of the Service Details card and click Update — it's $1 CAD per GB per month, added to your recurring billing. The new quota applies immediately and the higher price starts on your next billing cycle, with no ticket and nothing charged today.

Warning: We email you before storage becomes a problem: once a site passes 80% of its quota you get a warning, and 80% is a soft limit with a 7-day grace period — stay above it longer than that and writes (uploads, plugin and core updates) start failing even below 100%. Clearing space or raising the quota inside that window avoids it entirely.

🧩 Multi-site plans

WP Pro hosts up to 3 separate WordPress sites on one plan, and WP Agency up to 5 — each with its own domain, its own wp-admin, and its own backups. Add a new domain to your plan anytime with the Add a Site card on the Settings tab of your service page (enter the domain name and an admin username); there's no need to contact support for this.

To remove a site, use the Delete Site button in its WordPress Hosting card on the Overview tab. It only appears while you have more than one site on your plan (your last site can't be deleted), and it permanently deletes that site's files, database and SSL certificate.

🔑 Self-service password reset

If you're locked out of WordPress or your file manager, reset your password with the Reset WordPress & File Manager Password button in the WordPress Hosting card on the Overview tab — no support ticket needed. It's one action covering both: your WordPress admin login and your File Manager login are reset together to the same new password, which is emailed to you rather than shown on screen.

Still stuck? Check the FAQ or contact us — we'll answer directly.

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