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Installing an agent — VPS, shared hosting, or WordPress

A single overview of installing a NoDowntimeShield agent from the self-serve install console — reveal your key, pick your platform, run one command.

An outside-in scan sees your site the way the internet does. An agent runs on your own server and reports the things a scan can't see from outside — disk and memory, running processes, and (on WordPress) your plugin and theme inventory. This guide is the starting point; each platform then has its own detailed guide.

The install console

Everything starts at the Install an agent console. It gives you one enrollment key and a copy-paste command for each platform. For security the key is revealed on click and fetched over an authenticated request — it's never baked into the page, so it can't leak from a cached or shared screenshot.

The flow is the same for every platform: reveal your key, pick your platform, run one command.

Pick your platform

VPS or dedicated server (Go agent) — for a box where you have root/SSH access. It installs a small static binary as a systemd service that checks in every 60 seconds:

curl -fsSL https://app.nodowntimeshield.com/install/agent | sudo bash -s -- --license YOUR-KEY

Full walkthrough: the VPS agent guide.

Shared hosting (PHP agent) — for cPanel or Plesk hosting with no root access. It's pure PHP (needs PHP 7.4+ with the curl, sodium, and json extensions) and schedules a heartbeat and a daily scan via cron. Run it as your account user, never root:

curl -fsSL https://app.nodowntimeshield.com/install/php-agent.sh | bash -s -- --license YOUR-KEY

Full walkthrough: the PHP agent guide.

WordPress (plugin) — for WordPress sites. Download the plugin from the console, upload it under Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin, activate it, then paste your enrollment key under Settings → NoDowntimeShield. It adds daily inventory sync and a scan-before-publish gate. Full walkthrough: the WordPress plugin guide.

How to set it up

  1. Open the Install an agent console and reveal your enrollment key.
  2. Choose the tab that matches your hosting.
  3. Copy the command (or download the plugin) and replace YOUR-KEY with the key you revealed.
  4. Run it on your server.

How to read your results

  • Within about 2 minutes the host appears under your domains and assets, and its host-level checks start flowing into your dashboard.
  • If the host doesn't show up, re-check that you pasted the full key and that the server has outbound HTTPS access to app.nodowntimeshield.com.
  • No root access and not on WordPress? Use the PHP agent — it needs neither root nor a compiled binary.