Below is a list and brief descriptions of the most common services used by members that can be set up through the May First control panel.
User accounts are the building blocks of many other services. For example, if you want to create a mailbox or a SSH/SFTP (server access) record, you will first need to create a user account. The user account holds the username and password.
A mailbox allows you to both send and receive email messages via the May First servers. The mailbox also provides the storage for holding your email. Once you have a mailbox, you can start receiving email at the address your-username@mail.mayfirst.org.
An email address allows you to choose one or more different addresses that you can use to receive email and forward that mail either to your mailbox address or to an address configured with a different service. An email address allows you to configure the email jose@example.org to direct email to the jose@mail.mayfirst.org mailbox account.
More about email
The web configuration allows you to add a web site to your hosting order. This section creates the space for your web site, allows you to make it an https (encrypted) site, and offers you the ability to add special configurations. But, it does not provide the web site building tools (see the Web App section below).
See our page on adding a web site to a hosting order and
how you can add a second or third web site by creating a new hosting order.
Server access allows you to indicate which of the users listed in the user accounts section should be able to copy files to your web site. When creating the account, you can also upload a public ssh key.
See our guide on providing server access to web sites.
A domain name, like example.org, is your address online. The DNS section of the control panel allows you to configure how your domain names should respond when someone on the Internet uses them. This section is setup by default when your hosting order is created.
Note: You must have an entry in the DNS section for every domain you plan to use as an email address or web site, even if the domain name is not pointing to May First servers.
For more information on setting up domain names, see our domain name guide.
Web applications can be added to your web site and provide you with an easier way to build and maintain your web site. From our control panel, you can install WordPress, Drupal or Backdrop.
See our web app help file.
You can also install applications manually by copying files via sftp.
Regardless of which method you use, you will need to add your own MySQL database and user.
The email list Service allows you to add or delete Mailman email lists. You only need to provide the name of the list and the initial owner email address. The list password and directions for using the list will be emailed to the owner email address. You can only add on email address. Later, you can configure the email list to be run by multiple people.