# Getting Started with UISP Hosting

> We run your UISP for you, so there is nothing to install or maintain. This guide covers the first ten minutes: opening your UISP, finishing its setup wizard and signing in to your customer portal.

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## Before you start

Your welcome email contains your UISP address, which looks like `yourname.netconsole.cloud`. If you are new to Cloud UniFi, it also has a link to set up your customer portal login. Keep both.

!!!warning Open your UISP straight away
The first person to open your UISP address creates the administrator account. Until you finish the setup wizard, anyone who knows the address could do it instead. Finish the wizard before you do anything else.
!!!

## The setup wizard

1. Open `https://yourname.netconsole.cloud` in a browser.
2. UISP asks for a username, a password and an email address for the administrator. Use an address you can read today: UISP sends its own notifications there.
3. Leave **Hostname/IP** as it is (`yourname.netconsole.cloud`). UISP builds the key your devices connect with from this name, so a name we are not set up for, or an IP address, leaves your devices unable to connect. To use your own domain, add it in your customer portal first; see [Custom domain](custom-domain.md).
4. Set your time zone and accept Ubiquiti's terms for UISP.
5. UISP may offer to restore a backup. If you are moving from another UISP, you can upload a `.unms` backup here; see [Backups](backups.md). Otherwise continue with an empty instance.

When the wizard finishes you are signed in as the administrator. Everything you entered can be changed later in UISP's settings.

## Your customer portal

Your customer portal at [login.cloudunifi.com](https://login.cloudunifi.com/) is separate from UISP itself. It shows your service, its backups, your plan and your billing. Set it up from the link in your welcome email (the link is valid for 24 hours; ask us for a new one if it has expired).

In the portal, open your UISP service to see:

- the address and plan
- the **NetFlow collector** address and port (see [Connecting devices](connecting-devices.md#netflow))
- the **Backup** tab with the last seven days of backups
- **Restart**, if UISP ever stops responding
- **Custom domain**, to use your own name (see [Custom domain](custom-domain.md))

## Next steps

- [Connecting devices](connecting-devices.md): point your radios and routers at your new UISP.
- [Backups](backups.md): what is backed up, where, and how to restore.
- [Updates](updates.md): how UISP versions are handled on your service.

If you are moving an existing UISP to us, reply to your welcome email before you adopt any devices and we will walk you through the move.

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*UISP, UniFi, airMAX, airFiber, UFiber and EdgeRouter are trademarks of Ubiquiti Inc. Cloud UniFi is an independent hosting provider and is not affiliated with, authorised by or endorsed by Ubiquiti Inc.*