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Getting started guide

Sentinel watches the shop as soon as it is installed, but some settings depend on your shop and cannot be guessed. The Getting started guide card, at the top of Sentinel > Dashboard, leads you through them in six steps. Under the title Welcome! %count% more steps to protect your shop properly., where %count% is the number of steps left, or Welcome! 1 more step to protect your shop properly. when only one is left, the card says: Sentinel is already watching your shop. These settings let it see your visitors' real address, block earlier and find known vulnerabilities. Allow about 5 minutes.

Progress​

A bar and a counter, %done% of %total%, give the steps done out of the steps your shop is asked for: out of 6 on a Pro plan, and out of 5 on the free plan, where step 4 is not required. The count drops by one more when step 6 is not required either.

No step is ticked by hand: each one is done or open according to the state of the shop, or of your own account for step 6, read again each time the dashboard loads. The first step left is the current one, and its button stands out. A step done shows a tick instead of its number and loses its button. A step that is not required keeps its place, without a number, and does not count. Screen readers announce the state of each step: Step done, Current step, Step to do or Step not required.

Once every required step is done, the guide disappears from the dashboard, and so do its banner and its line in the widget. As the steps follow that state, the guide comes back when one of them is no longer met, for example after a prerequisites check that ends with an error.

The six steps​

1. Shop registered with Sentinel​

The installation registers the shop with the Sentinel service: the step is done automatically. It then says Your free licence was created at installation., or Your Pro licence is associated with this shop. on a Pro plan, and carries the note Done automatically.

If the registration failed, the step stays open and says Sentinel could not register your shop yet. Its Adjust settings button opens the General tab of Sentinel > Configuration, whose Subscription card holds the licence.

2. Prerequisites checked​

Under PHP configuration, writable folders, secure origin (HTTPS)., the step follows the last prerequisites check. The check runs as Sentinel > Dashboard loads, and the step shows its result from the next display: on your first visit, reload the page to see it. It is done when the check found no error: a warning, such as a back office served without HTTPS, does not keep it open. It stays open after an error, and as long as no check has run. Its See the details button leads to the Prerequisites Check card of the same page.

3. Does your shop sit behind a proxy or a CDN?​

Under Otherwise, Sentinel may see the proxy's address instead of your visitors' and ban everyone at once., the step asks how your visitors reach the shop:

  • No, direct access: nothing to declare.
  • Yes, Cloudflare: Sentinel trusts the published ranges of Cloudflare.
  • Another proxy: type its addresses in Proxy addresses (IP or CIDR, comma separated).

Save and continue saves the answer and brings you back to the guide. A list that is empty or holds an address that is not valid is refused and comes back in its field. Detailed proxy settings opens the General tab of Sentinel > Configuration, whose Behind a proxy or a CDN? card holds the same declaration in detail.

When the request itself comes through a proxy that is not declared yet, the step says A proxy was detected on this request: %ip% and preselects the matching answer. This is only a suggestion: the step is done once the shop trusts Cloudflare or has a declared proxy, here or on the card, or once you answered No, direct access.

4. Enable protection​

Under Blocks attacks in real time, as soon as they are detected., the step is done when threat detection is Active, as its row of Your protections shows. Its Enable button opens the Threat detection tab of Sentinel > Configuration; while its row has the note Waiting for signatures (see Notes under a row), the button reads Download Signatures.

On the free plan, threat detection is not included: the step is not required, shows a padlock and the PRO badge, and does not count. Its Discover Pro button opens the Pro offer in a new browser tab or, when no offer is known, the General tab of Sentinel > Configuration.

5. Run your first vulnerability scan​

Under Compares your PrestaShop version and your modules with known vulnerabilities. About one minute., the Run the scan button opens Sentinel > Security Scanner. The step is done once the shop has a vulnerability scan. When the step counts a new scan is given in Freshness of the measures.

As long as the step is open, the Last Vulnerability Scan card of the dashboard adds Step 5 of the guide: about one minute. When the Sentinel service cannot be reached and no scan is known, the step says Scan result unavailable: Sentinel service unreachable.

6. Secure your account with two-factor authentication​

Under A passkey or an authenticator app: a stolen password is no longer enough., this step concerns your own account, not the policy of the shop: it is done once you, the employee signed in, have at least one method of two-factor authentication. Each employee therefore sees it open or done according to their own account. Its Enable button opens the page where you manage your own two-factor methods.

When the shop cannot store a secret securely, two-factor authentication cannot be used: the step is not required, says Two-factor authentication cannot be used on this server yet. and does not count. Its See why button opens the same page, which says Two-factor authentication cannot be enabled: this shop cannot store a secret securely.

The optional step​

Under the six steps, Restrict the back office to your IP addresses carries the Optional step tag and adds: Useful if you always manage your shop from the same places. Its Configure button opens the Access control tab of Sentinel > Configuration. The line is ticked once the back office IP whitelist is active, switched on with at least one address, but it never counts: neither the counter nor the end of the guide depends on it.

Without the permission to configure​

Steps 1, 3 and 4 are settled on Sentinel > Configuration, like the optional step. An employee who cannot configure the Sentinel module (see Who can change the settings) still sees them, and they count as for anyone else, but none of them, nor the optional step, has a button that leads to that page; instead of its answers, the proxy step says You need the permission to configure this module to change these settings. Steps 2, 5 and 6 keep their buttons, and so does Discover Pro when it opens the Pro offer.

As long as a required step is left, a thin banner opens every page of the Sentinel menu except the dashboard, which shows the guide itself. It also opens the Pro offer shown in place of a page your plan does not include. The banner gives Getting started guide, the counter %done% of %total%, Next step: followed by the current step, and a Continue button that leads back to the guide on Sentinel > Dashboard. The current step reads register your shop, check the prerequisites, declare your proxy, enable the protection, run your first scan or enable two-factor authentication.

The cross at its end, Hide the reminder, hides the banner on every page. The choice is kept by your browser, not by your account: another browser still shows the banner. After 24 hours, the banner comes back as long as one of the important steps, 1, 3, 4 or 6, is still open; with only steps 2 and 5 left, or one of them, it stays hidden. When the browser cannot keep the choice, the banner shows again on the next page.

The banner only appears to an employee who may open Sentinel > Dashboard, where it leads. It is not shown on the page where you manage your own two-factor methods, which is also the screen where an employee required to use two-factor authentication enrols, and it never appears in the content a page loads in the background.

The widget of the PrestaShop dashboard​

As long as a required step is left, the Sentinel widget of the PrestaShop home dashboard carries the guide on one line: Setup: %done% steps of %total%, or Setup: 1 step of %total% after a single step and Setup: no step of %total% done yet before any, then Next: followed by the current step, a progress bar and Continue, which opens the guide on Sentinel > Dashboard. Like the banner, the line only appears to an employee who may open Sentinel > Dashboard.