Introduction

Hosting providers typically configure their Web Servers to open the index file of a website when it is accessed automatically and thus, showing the website's home page. Directory indexing is a feature provided by web servers that allows users to view a list of files and directories within a specific directory on the server. In short, if directory indexing is enabled, whenever a website is missing an index file, such as "index.php" or "index.html", for example, visitors will see files and folders listed in the browser. Sometimes, this is a desired outcome, and the website owner would like to view their directories in the browser; however, sometimes, this behavior is not desired and could be a serious security exploit. As such, HostArmada has disabled directory indexing by default to tighten its security as much as possible. There is an option to enable this, and of course, cPanel allows you to do so using the "Indexes" functionality in its long list of features.

In the following lines of this tutorial we will show the way you. can use this functionality and achieve your goals, depending on what outcome you expect in terms of Directory Indexing. Let us begin!

Getting Started

To be able to access any of the cPanel features you will first have to log in to the cPanel service. Once logged in, you will be presented with a full list of all the features cPanel has to offer.

To start managing your directory indexing, please either use the search tool provided at the top right side of the page and type in "Indexes" or you can simply locate the "Advanced" features group, and under it, you should see the "Indexes" feature. 

Upon clicking on the feature, cPanel will take you to the default page of the same. There you will find more information on what the "Indexes" feature is used for and also all the required tools for managing the directory indexes.

Configuring Indexes for your Directories

Immediately after you access the "Indexes" feature you will be presented with a complete list of all the directories associated with your Web Hosting Account for you to choose from inside a table section. To set up Indexing for a folder, first, you need to navigate to the desired folder. To do that, you can start clicking on the provided folders until you get to the one you want to set the feature for.

When you reach the folder for which you would like to configure the Indexes, please click on the "Edit" button corresponding to the directory itself. It should be located on the far right side of the table section.

Performing the action above will take you to a new page where you will be presented with the Indexing options for this directory.

You can choose one of the following options.

• Inherit - Please select this option to use the parent directory’s setting. If the index settings are not defined in the parent directory, the system will use its default settings.
• No Indexing - Please select this option to instruct the Web Server to return a 403 error when this directory is being accessed over the web. 
• Show Filename Only - Please select this option to show a simple list of the files present in the visitor's browser if the default file is missing. 
• Show Filename and Description - Please use this option to list the files and folders of the accessed directory, however, it will also display information about the size and the date last modified.

Once you have selected the desired configuration, please click on the "Save" button displayed at the bottom of the page. 

cPanel will then redirect you to a new page where you will be provided with a message indicating the status of the index configuration you have just performed. 

That's it! By now, you should be fully aware of how to manage the indexes for the directories of your websites. If you are having trouble achieving the desired resolve, or you are struggling with the functionality itself, please feel free to contact our technical support team either via the live chat option on our website or via your Client Area's ticketing system.