Can I use the WHM cPanel account to manage a single server

[TransPersonal]

Maybe that title made no sense, please let me explain (total newbie here). I got a dedicated server two days ago with the intention of hosting a single website. For my control panel I ordered cPanel with the server. When I log in to cPanel using:

https://my.ip.address.here:2087

I get the Web Host Manager, which if I understand correctly is ideal for those looking to rent their servers to paying clients. In other words, for those in the hosting business. But I don't want to rent my server, I want to use it to host a single website (my own).

The problem is, if I want to upload any files to the server I can't do it using the Web Host Manager, I need the end user cPanel. For which I need to first create a user account and use that account to host my website. But I don't like this because the user I create gets a different IP address than my main server's. Plus when I SSH to that account I don't get root access.

I just don't want to create a new account to host my website. I want to use my main server's IP and host the website files in the public_html folder located in my server's root like so:

root/public_html

not

root/home/username/public_html (which is what it is now)

Is there any way to use cPanel to upload files to the root folder's public_html file or does it have to be done through a user account?

[cPanelDavidG]

Maybe that title made no sense, please let me explain (total newbie here). I got a dedicated server two days ago with the intention of hosting a single website. For my control panel I ordered cPanel with the server. When I log in to cPanel using:

https://my.ip.address.here:2087

I get the Web Host Manager, which if I understand correctly is ideal for those looking to rent their servers to paying clients. In other words, for those in the hosting business. But I don't want to rent my server, I want to use it to host a single website (my own).

The problem is, if I want to upload any files to the server I can't do it using the Web Host Manager, I need the end user cPanel. For which I need to first create a user account and use that account to host my website. But I don't like this because the user I create gets a different IP address than my main server's. Plus when I SSH to that account I don't get root access.

I just don't want to create a new account to host my website. I want to use my main server's IP and host the website files in the public_html folder located in my server's root like so:

root/public_html

not

root/home/username/public_html (which is what it is now)

Is there any way to use cPanel to upload files to the root folder's public_html file or does it have to be done through a user account?

The files need to be stored on a user's account if you want them served by Apache in a cPanel/WHM environment. However, if you have a FTP client that supports SFTP, you can SFTP (not FTP nor FTPS) in using your root credentials. This is very useful for uploading content to multiple different accounts on the server.

As for the IP of the site not matching the server's primary IP, I presume you have multiple IPs assigned to this server. Is there any particular reason you want this site to use the same IP as the server, if you only intend to host 1 website?

[TransPersonal]

The files need to be stored on a user's account if you want them served by Apache in a cPanel/WHM environment. However, if you have a FTP client that supports SFTP, you can SFTP (not FTP nor FTPS) in using your root credentials. This is very useful for uploading content to multiple different accounts on the server.

Thanks, that's what I needed to know. I thought it would be possible to directly upload files to the root public_html folder without going through a user. But apparently that's not the case. I was able to STP to my root using a ftp client but I ordered cPanel to be able to use it's interface so wouldn't be doing that.

As for the IP of the site not matching the server's primary IP, I presume you have multiple IPs assigned to this server. Is there any particular reason you want this site to use the same IP as the server, if you only intend to host 1 website?

I do have multiple IPs and yes, I do want to host a single website on the server. Before I was using the host name and name servers that I created with WHM. For whatever reason this gave a different IP to my Site and my Server. It also made me get different pages when typing my domain name and my server's main IP. The latter showing the "If you're seeing this, cPanel was installed corretly on this server"..." message and my domain name showing me my website.

When I edited my registrar's DNS settings and pointed it to my host company's name servers (they provide free DNS) the problem was solved. Now my website and my server has the same IP and typing the IP or the domain name leads to the same page.

Many thanks for your help