Bluehost Self-Managed VPS: Reimage Your Server for CloudPanel Installation

CloudPanel is a lightweight, incredibly user-friendly platform that lets you manage your websites, apps, databases, and server resources on your VPS—without any of the technical headaches. Everything you need is packed into a clean, intuitive dashboard where you can handle domains, set up SSL security, and run your sites from a single screen. Whether you are a website owner, developer, agency, or business owner, CloudPanel is the perfect, stress-free tool to streamline your hosting and help you get things done faster.

Reimage Your Server for CloudPanel Installation

Important:

You can install only one application using the one-click installer.
To change or delete your application, follow the guide: Bluehost Self-Managed VPS: How to Change and Delete an Application. Create a backup of your existing applications or templates.
If you want to keep your current template, install the new application manually using SSH. The system will automatically apply the recommended OS for CloudPanel.

Changing the server image will permanently erase all data and settings on this VPS. This action cannot be undone.

Log in to your Bluehost Portal.
In the left-hand menu, click Hosting.

Click the Manage button on the Self-Managed VPS package.
Click the Reimage button.
Select the Applications tab.
From the list, locate CloudPanel and click Select.
To confirm, type "reimage" and then click Proceed to start the process.
Wait a few minutes while the installation completes.
Once completed, you will see CloudPanel listed in the Server Image section.

How to Deploy and Configure your CloudPanel

Here is a step-by-step walkthrough to get your CloudPanel server up, running, and secured.

Check Server Requirements

CPU: 2 vCPUs
RAM: 2 GB
Storage: 20 GB

After installation completes:

Connect to your VPS via SSH.

Use your VPS IP and credentials with an SSH client, follow the prompts, and enter your Root Password when asked:

BH AM -hosting software root password and ip

ssh root@your_server_ip

Example Output:

########################################################
###            Welcome to CloudPanel                 ###
########################################################

* Website:         https://www.cloudpanel.io
* Documentation:   https://www.cloudpanel.io/docs/v2/
* Best Practices:  https://www.cloudpanel.io/docs/v2/best-practices/
* CloudPanel:      https://12.1.1.123:8443
* CloudPanel CLI:  clpctl

********************************************************************************

 CloudPanel v2

 Firewall (UFW) is active.
 Open ports: 22 (SSH)  80 (HTTP)  443 (HTTPS)  8443 (CloudPanel UI)

 Access CloudPanel:
   https://12.1.1.123:8443

 Note: Accept the self-signed certificate warning on first access.

 Admin account:
   An admin user has been pre-created. Credentials are in /root/.app_passwords.

 Important locations:
   Credentials  : /root/.app_passwords
   Nginx logs   : /var/log/nginx/
   MySQL logs   : /var/log/mysql/
   README       : /root/README.md

 Useful commands:
   systemctl status clp-nginx          Check CloudPanel Nginx
   systemctl status clp-php-fpm        Check PHP-FPM
   systemctl status mysql              Check MySQL

Step 1: Retrieve Your Admin Password

CloudPanel generates a secure random password upon installation, you need to log into your server via SSH to grab it.

Run the following command to reveal your login credentials:

cat /root/.app_passwords

Example Output:

Last login: Mon Jun 22 13:40:03 2026 from 180.190.20.45
root@123456:~# cat /root/.app_passwords
CLOUDPANEL_ADMIN_PASSWORD=AbC123xyZqWErTyu
CLOUDPANEL_ADMIN_USER=admin
CLOUDPANEL_URL=https://12.1.1.123:8443
CERT_TYPE=self-signed

Copy the password displayed on the screen.
Take note of the CERT_TYPE listed there as well (it will tell you if it's using a self-signed cert or Let's Encrypt).
```
CERT_TYPE=self-signed
```

Step 2: Log In to the CloudPanel Web UI

To ensure a smooth login, please follow the steps below:

Open your web browser and navigate to:
```
https://your-server-ip:8443
```
Bypass the Browser Security Warning.
Cloudpanel uses a temporary self-signed SSL certificate, your browser will flag it. Click Advanced and then Proceed/Continue to bypass it safely.
Log in using the following credentials:
- Username: admin
- Password: (The password you copied in Step 1)

Step 3: Configure a Custom Domain and SSL

Running your control panel over an IP address with a security warning isn't ideal. Let's point a real domain to it.

Update your DNS: Go to your domain registrar and create a DNS A Record:
- Type: A
- Name/Host: panel (or whatever subdomain you want, like cp)
- Value/Points to:your-server-ip

Install the Let's Encrypt SSL Certificate. Go back to your SSH terminal and run the following command to give your panel a secure, valid HTTPS certificate.

Replace yourdomain.com with your actual domain.

Note: Ensure port 80 is open and your DNS has fully propagated, otherwise Let's Encrypt will fail.

clpctl lets-encrypt:install --domainName=panel.yourdomain.com --subDomainName=

Example Output:

Starting Let's Encrypt SSL certificate installation for domain "panel.yourdomain.com"...

[INFO] Validating domain ownership via HTTP-01 challenge...
[INFO] Requesting certificate from Let's Encrypt CA...
[INFO] Certificate received successfully!
[INFO] Saving certificate files to /etc/nginx/ssl/panel.yourdomain.com/
[INFO] Updating Nginx configuration...
[INFO] Testing Nginx configuration...
[INFO] Reloading Nginx service...

Success: The Let's Encrypt SSL certificate has been successfully installed for "panel.yourdomain.com".

Set the Custom Domain in the UI.
Inside the CloudPanel web interface, navigate to Settings and update the CloudPanel URL to your new domain (https://panel.yourdomain.com:8443).

Step 4: Add Your First Website

Now that your panel is secure, you can start hosting applications.

In the CloudPanel dashboard, click on the Sites menu.
Click Add Site.
Choose your website application type.
Enter the following:
- Domain Name
- Site Title
- Site User
- Site User Password
- Admin E-Mail
- Multisite.

Useful Maintenance Cheat Sheet

If you ever need to check if things are running smoothly from the command line, use these commands:

Check if CloudPanel's Web Server is running:
```
systemctl status clp-nginx
```
Check if PHP is running:
```
systemctl status clp-php-fpm
```
Check if the Database is running:
```
systemctl status mysql:
```
Check if the Database is running:
```
clpctl db:list
```

Additional Information and Example Documentation Output

You can run cat /root/README.md to see more information and useful commands:

Example Output:

Last login: Fri Jun 19 18:25:04 2026 from 162.214.41.61
root@123456:~# cat /root/README.md
# CloudPanel

## Description

CloudPanel is a free web hosting control panel that lets you manage PHP applications, databases, email, and server settings from a modern dashboard. It is optimized for cloud environments and includes one-click deployment for popular applications, automated SSL management, and a lightweight design that minimizes server resource usage.


## Services

| Service      | Port  | Purpose                                        |
|--------------|-------|------------------------------------------------|
| CloudPanel   | 8443  | CloudPanel web UI (HTTPS, self-signed cert)    |
| Nginx        | 80    | HTTP - serves hosted sites                     |
| Nginx        | 443   | HTTPS - serves hosted sites with SSL           |
| MySQL 8.4    | 3306  | Database backend (localhost only)              |
| OpenSSH      | 22    | Remote SSH access                              |

All ports are managed by UFW. MySQL port 3306 is blocked externally.


## How-to-use

After the instance boots, open your browser and navigate to:

```
https://server-ip:8443
```

Accept the self-signed certificate warning and you will be directed to the
CloudPanel admin login page.

1. Log in with username admin and the password found in /root/.app_passwords.
2. Set a custom domain for CloudPanel under Settings if required.
3. Add your first site via the Sites menu.

### Useful commands

```bash
systemctl status clp-nginx            # CloudPanel Nginx status
systemctl status clp-php-fpm          # PHP-FPM status
systemctl status mysql                # MySQL status
clpctl self:version                   # CloudPanel version
clpctl db:list                        # List databases
```

### Retrieve admin credentials

```bash
cat /root/.app_passwords
```

### SSL / HTTPS certificate behaviour

On first boot, the server automatically handles certificate generation:

- **If a valid domain name is set** (e.g. `panel.yourdomain.com`) - Let's Encrypt certificate is requested automatically via `clpctl lets-encrypt:install`
- **If no domain / IP only** - a self-signed certificate valid for 10 years is generated for the server IP
- **Fallback** - self-signed certificate is always generated if Let's Encrypt fails

The certificate type used is recorded in `/root/.app_passwords` as `CERT_TYPE=letsencrypt` or `CERT_TYPE=self-signed`.

To manually request a Let's Encrypt certificate after deployment:

```bash
clpctl lets-encrypt:install --domainName=yourdomain.com --subDomainName=
```

Note: Let's Encrypt requires port 80 to be publicly reachable and a valid DNS A record pointing to the server IP.


## Minimum Resources

| Resource | Minimum |
|----------|---------|
| CPU      | 2 vCPUs |
| RAM      | 2 GB    |
| Disk     | 20 GB   |


## Image contents

This image installs and configures:

- CloudPanel v2 installed via official installer
- MySQL 8.4 as the database engine
- Nginx (system) for reverse proxy and site serving
- PHP-FPM managed by CloudPanel
- UFW firewall with ports 22, 80, 443, and 8443 open initially (can be configured with CloudPanel once it is set up)
- Log rotation at /etc/logrotate.d/cloudpanel
- This README at /root/README.md


## Links

- Manage: [https://{server_ip}:8443](https://{server_ip}:8443)
- CloudPanel documentation: [https://www.cloudpanel.io/docs/v2/](https://www.cloudpanel.io/docs/v2/)

Summary

Taking control of your VPS doesn't have to be overwhelming. CloudPanel simplifies the entire process by giving you a sleek, modern dashboard to effortlessly manage your websites, apps, databases, domains, and server resources. Instead of wasting valuable time on complex server setups, you get a streamlined control panel that does the heavy lifting for you. Whether you're launching a personal blog, hosting important client projects, or running business applications, CloudPanel ensures you get the peak performance of a Self-Managed VPS—minus the stress.

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