The Meridian dashboard opens on a set of action-required cards, not a static overview. If a card is showing, something on that site needs attention right now: DNS isn't resolving, or there's no SSL certificate. Click the card's button and it takes you straight to the fix, in the same tab where the problem lives.
Meridian is the newer cPanel theme (opt-in via the "Try the new Meridian theme" button inside classic Jupiter, with a "Classic cPanel Theme" button to switch back). Its dashboard reorganizes cPanel around what needs doing today, rather than a flat list of icons.
Reading the action-required cards
Each card names a specific problem and gives you one button to solve it:
- DNS not resolving shows a
Check DNSbutton. This usually means the domain's nameservers or records haven't propagated yet, or point somewhere unexpected. Clicking it points you to that site's DNS settings under Websites & Apps, where you can review the zone. - No certificate shows a
Fix SSL Issuebutton. Free Let's Encrypt SSL is issued automatically once DNS points correctly, usually within about 5 minutes, and renews on its own after that. If this card is stuck, it's almost always the DNS card's problem underneath: a certificate can't issue until the domain resolves to the server.
Suggested next actions
Below the action-required cards, the dashboard surfaces suggested next actions: things worth doing but not broken. This is typically where you'll see prompts like:
- Build site, if the domain doesn't have a site yet. If you have active hosting or a domain with us and want a real site without building it yourself, our team can build one for you for free; see get a free website built for you for eligibility, or requesting your free website, step by step for the request wizard.
- Create backup, if it's been a while since the last one, or none exists. Under Meridian,
Generate Full Backuplives in the sidebar under Files > Backups tab, where it creates a manual snapshot of the site at that point in time. This is a separate tool from the classic JetBackup 5 tool. - View performance, linking into the Performance section: bandwidth, visitor counts, error logs, and resource usage measured against your plan's limits.
These suggestions are contextual per site, so a domain with SSL, DNS, and a recent backup all in order won't show much here beyond performance.
The rest of the dashboard
Underneath the action cards, the dashboard shows disk and bandwidth usage at a glance and an account overview. The top search (Cmd+K) is the fastest way to jump to a specific tool by name, especially the classic-only tools that Meridian doesn't put in its sidebar directly, like Cron Jobs, the full Zone Editor, MultiPHP INI Editor, Softaculous, JetBackup, Git Version Control, and Awstats. Search for the tool name and it'll take you there even though it isn't listed under Websites & Apps, Email, Files, Databases, Security, or Performance.
If you'd rather work in the familiar layout, the "Classic cPanel Theme" button switches back at any time. Nothing about your sites, DNS, or certificates changes when you switch themes, since Meridian and classic Jupiter are two views onto the same account.
When to contact support
If a Check DNS or Fix SSL Issue card won't clear after you've confirmed the domain's nameservers point to us and given it time to propagate, open a ticket from Support in the portal. A real person will look at the specific domain rather than a general troubleshooting flow. The same goes for a backup that fails repeatedly, or performance numbers that look wrong for your plan: include the domain name and what the dashboard is showing, and support can check the account directly.