Server Cleanup Plan — Liquid Web

Current Server Structure (the mess)

/home/
├── austen/ — site files, duplicates wholetec/public_html setup?
├── bnbhot/ — site files, also in bergeron/bnbhot.com/
├── carolekatchen/ — site files
├── clamav/ — antivirus software (system)
├── cybersubdivision/ — old project?
├── firth/ — site files
├── tvreviewer/ — site files
├── vitfs/ — unknown
├── wholetec/ — MAIN WEB ROOT (missing the h!)
│ ├── public_html/ — this is what serves wholetech.com
│ │ ├── bergeron/ — all Bergeron sites
│ │ │ ├── thebergerongroup.com/
│ │ │ ├── lakehamiltonhomesforsale.com/
│ │ │ ├── retirehotsprings.com/
│ │ │ ├── bnbhot.com/
│ │ │ ├── realestatehotsprings.com/
│ │ │ └── realhotsprings.com/
│ │ ├── links/ — walhus command center (just uploaded)
│ │ ├── WordPress files (wp-admin, wp-content, wp-includes, etc.)
│ │ └── static/
│ └── other WordPress/cPanel stuff
├── wholetech/ — EMPTY (confusing duplicate of wholetec)
└── giant .tar.gz file — old backup? wasting disk space

Problems:

Duplicate site folders — sites live in /home/austen/, /home/firth/, etc. AND inside /home/wholetec/public_html/. Which one is actually being served?
wholetec vs wholetech — two folders, one missing an "h", one empty. Confusing.
WordPress cluttering the web root — wp-admin, wp-content, wp-includes all mixed in with your static sites
Giant tar.gz backup — wasting disk space, probably outdated
Mystery folders — cybersubdivision, vitfs, clamav
No clear organization — sites scattered across /home/ with no logic

Clean Structure (the goal)

/home/wholetec/public_html/ — everything serves from here
├── bergeron/ — all Bergeron/Nancy sites
│ ├── thebergerongroup.com/
│ ├── lakehamiltonhomesforsale.com/
│ ├── retirehotsprings.com/
│ ├── bnbhot.com/
│ ├── realestatehotsprings.com/
│ └── realhotsprings.com/
├── links/ — walhus command center (unlinked)
├── austen/ — austen.com files
├── firth/ — firth.com files
├── tvreviewer/ — tvreviewer.com files
├── carolekatchen/ — carolekatchen.com files
├── index.html — wholetech.com homepage
├── static/ — wholetech static pages
└── robots.txt

Result:

Everything in one place: /home/wholetec/public_html/
No WordPress files cluttering the root
No duplicate site folders in /home/
No mystery folders
No giant backup files wasting space
Clear, logical structure you can navigate in 5 seconds

Step by Step

IMPORTANT: Everything is backed up on GitHub. If anything goes wrong, you can restore from there. This is safe.

Before you touch anything — verify what's actually being served

We need to confirm: are the sites at /home/austen/, /home/firth/, etc. actually being served, or are they old copies?

In WinSCP, check if there's an austen folder inside /home/wholetec/public_html/ also. If yes, the /home/austen/ one is probably the old copy.

Test: Make a tiny change to a file in /home/wholetec/public_html/ and see if it shows on the live site. That confirms the web root.

Move sites into public_html Move

If austen, firth, tvreviewer, and carolekatchen are NOT already in /home/wholetec/public_html/, copy them there:

/home/austen/ → /home/wholetec/public_html/austen/
/home/firth/ → /home/wholetec/public_html/firth/
/home/tvreviewer/ → /home/wholetec/public_html/tvreviewer/
/home/carolekatchen/ → /home/wholetec/public_html/carolekatchen/

Use WinSCP drag and drop. Verify each site loads at its URL after moving.

Remove WordPress files Delete

In /home/wholetec/public_html/, delete these WordPress files/folders:

wp-admin/
wp-content/
wp-includes/
wp-config.php
wp-login.php
All files starting with wp-
xmlrpc.php
license.txt, readme.html (WordPress default files)

Keep: index.html, static/, bergeron/, links/, robots.txt, .htaccess (if it has redirects you need)

Your sites are all static HTML. WordPress is dead weight and a security risk.

Clean up /home/ duplicates Delete

Once sites are confirmed working from public_html, delete the old copies from /home/:

/home/austen/ — delete (now in public_html)
/home/bnbhot/ — delete (lives in bergeron/bnbhot.com/)
/home/firth/ — delete (now in public_html)
/home/tvreviewer/ — delete (now in public_html)
/home/carolekatchen/ — delete (now in public_html)
/home/wholetech/ — delete (empty, confusing duplicate)

Don't delete yet:

/home/wholetec/ — this is the actual web root, KEEP
/home/clamav/ — system antivirus, KEEP
/home/cybersubdivision/ — check what's in it first
/home/vitfs/ — check what's in it first

Investigate mystery folders

Before deleting, check what's inside:

/home/cybersubdivision/ — is this an old project? If you don't recognize it, rename to cybersubdivision.OLD and see if anything breaks.
/home/vitfs/ — might be a system folder (virtual filesystem). Don't delete without checking.

Delete the giant tar.gz backup Delete

That huge .tar.gz file in /home/ is probably an old server backup. It's wasting disk space and everything is on GitHub now anyway.

Before deleting: Check the filename and date. If it's older than a month, it's safe to delete. Your real backups are on GitHub.

Fix the SSH key (optional but useful)

We tried to set up SSH key auth yesterday and it failed. The key is in /root/.ssh/authorized_keys but the server rejects it. Possible fixes:

Check /etc/ssh/sshd_config — make sure PermitRootLogin is set to yes or without-password
Make sure PubkeyAuthentication yes is in sshd_config
Restart SSH: systemctl restart sshd
Or ask Liquid Web support to enable SSH key auth for root

With SSH working, future server management becomes much faster — I can run commands directly instead of you navigating WinSCP.

Consider downgrading hosting plan

You're paying ~$86/mo for Liquid Web. All your sites are static HTML — no PHP, no database, no WordPress needed. Options:

Stay on Liquid Web but ask for a cheaper plan (VPS instead of managed WordPress)
Move to a cheaper host — Cloudflare Pages (free), Netlify (free), or a $5/mo VPS on DigitalOcean/Vultr
Use GitHub Pages — free hosting for static sites, already backed up there

Potential savings: $86/mo → $0-5/mo = $81/mo saved ($972/yr)

Not urgent — do this after everything else is stable.

Safety Net

Everything is on GitHub. All 13 sites were pushed on March 30, 2026. If you delete something by mistake on the server, you can restore it in minutes from GitHub. This cleanup is safe.

Before deleting anything on the server, always verify the site still loads from its new location first.