Administering and managing websites might sound like a tough task that requires a myriad of professional knowledge about servers and networking. However, this does not apply to hosting services that are powered by cPanel. Just as its name suggests, cPanel is a web-based web-hosting control panel with a really user-friendly and straightforward interface designed to make website administration easier.In this article, we’re going to give a brief overview of the front ends that cPanel offers for server maintenance, such as administration of e-mail accounts, FTP, sub-domains, parked domains, file managers, archive of logs and statistics, SQL databases, redirects, CGI scripts, PGP keys, cron jobs, SSLs, indexes, and so forth.

Keep in mind that the scope of this article is not documenting the use of cPanel. Actually, there are already dozens of guides and tutorials on that topic; still, the best place to start learning cPanel is always the official documentation, which is located here. If this does not satisfy your needs, then check the frequently asked questions. You may also search Google for tutorials regarding your issue or just contact technical support.

This article focuses on pointing out the “things” that can be done with the help of cPanel, rather than explaining “how to” do a particular task. However, the latter cannot be excluded entirely because the user interface of cPanel is so intuitive that presenting an overview of particular tasks will help you realize how to approach resolving those administration-specific tasks.

First, we’ll see what cPanel is all about and how it has become the most popular and reliable web hosting control panel in the world. Then we’re going to talk about accessing cPanel in order to use its administrative front ends. These days, cPanel is almost always taken for granted with commercial web-hosting services; due to its popularity and usefulness, customers pretty much expect cPanel.

Sure, if you are running your own web server, then cPanel might not appeal to you. Chances are you won’t need it, and acquiring a license for personal use isn’t that easy. Even so, non-profit organizations and charities can contact cPanel and request a license for a reduced priced or even for free.

All of this being said – let’s begin.

The Beginning

The original author of cPanel is J. Nick Koston. The cPanel project started out in 1997 and was destined to be a main control panel for Speed Hosting. The author himself also had a stake in this company. After a relatively short time, the company merged with Web King. Due to some agreements, cPanel was available exclusively to networks hosted by Virtual Development Inc [VDI].

Apparently, there were some internal problems between the author, J. Nick Koston, and VDI. Consequently, the project was split into two independent applications: cPanel and WebPanel. The latter was run by VDI, while cPanel remained with its leading author. Ultimately, cPanel was vastly improved during the first two years, while VDI’s WebPanel variation failed.

The author focused totally on improvement and turned cPanel into a world-class, web-based web hosting control panel. It became “contrasted” and “extended” with Web Host Manager (WHM), which is a powerful and reliable utility used to manage and administer hosting accounts on a web server. This is critical in the case of resellers.

(Image Courtesy of cPanel, Inc.)

Another important thing that cPanel does to stand out compared to other web-hosting control panel alternatives is manage software packages on its own. cPanel can update Apache, MySQL, PHP, and other server-side applications to ensure that they are up-to-date and that bugs and security holes are fixed and patched.

Last, but definitely not least, we must point out that cPanel runs on various Linux distributions, such as Fedora, Red Hat, SuSE, FreeBSD, and so forth. You won’t see this with servers running on Microsoft Windows. The authentication is secured with SSL (on port 2083) and administrators with the necessary permissions can just log in via a simple web browser.

Let’s see how we can access cPanel. For the sake of simplification, let’s assume that you’ve just purchased the following “hostname.com” website. We’ll also assume that you’ve opted for a domain. We all know that it takes a few hours until the domain names are resolved. Thus, during the first few hours, you can only access your website (including your cPanel) via the direct IP address.

Accessing your cPanel can be done by typing the following URL into your favorite web browser: “hostname.com/cpanel“. If your hostname isn’t resolved yet, then it should be something like the following: “XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX/cpanel” where those Xs stand for the IP address of the server. Don’t worry; you are always informed of the IP address of the server and the login information for your cPanel.

In case you were given a randomly generated password, it is more than recommended that you change it. Lately, however, companies tend to automatically set  cPanel’s login information to the same username and password that you registered while signing up to purchase the specific plan.

Now that you’re in, let’s check out the dozens of front ends and supported features.

Functions and Features

First of all, before we begin, let’s glance at the attached screen shot below. That’s how the main control panel of cPanel looks. It has plenty of “icons,” right? Each of them is a front end for a particular server-side administration or maintenance task. We’re going to enumerate and give a basic overview of each of them.

The first thing you notice is the way cPanel displays two panes. The left column contains general information about your account, the server on which your site is hosted, and some brief statistics about your monthly bandwidth and storage status. The right column is the larger one, and it’s where you can access various administrative tasks. Basically, that’s where all the maintenance happens.

Think of it like this: the left part is the information section, while the right section is where the actions is. At the top right corner of cPanel you can see the Home and Logout buttons. These are omnipresent, so you can always do either of these actions regardless of the menu you are in.

Now let’s explore the icons. The first one stands for actions related to Mail. This is where you add, remove, manage e-mail accounts, set up forwarders, mailing lists, auto-responders, configure email filters and anti-spam functions, etc. Then you have the Webmail option, which is basically a web-based email client. Nonetheless, it’s rather minimalist compared to a stand-alone desktop email client, but it works decently.

We’re going to skip naming and describing the self-explanatory front-ends, such as changing passwords or the ones related to statistics. There are lots of fancy FTP and Web statistics, so check them out! Oh, and by the way, you can access webmail without entering cPanel by pointing your web browser to hostname.com/webmail.

Here at the control panel you can manage your domains too. You can add parked domains, which are other additional domain names that can be set up to redirect to your current hosting account. At addon domains, you can configure new domain names that link to certain sub-folders on your account. You can also create sub-domains, which are basically prefixes to your current hostname, such as “tony.hostname.com.”

You can manage your MySQL databases through cPanel. Some of the tasks that you can do with existing databases are “delete,” “check,” and “repair.” You can create new users and new databases, set up other access hosts, and add specific users to your databases. Also, there’s PhpMyAdmin, which is a tool that allows MySQL database management in an effective web environment. It is definitely very useful!

The control panel also sports a feature-laden File Manager. It is a simplistic web-based FTP-like client. It doesn’t work through the FTP protocol (port 21), but it surely looks like one. Most importantly, you have full access to the whole root of your site (since you are logged in as an administrator in cPanel). You can also password protect some directories. Disk Space Usage and Backups are self-explanatory, again.

At Error Pages you can customize your error pages, such as the typical 400, 401, 403, 404, and 500 ones (bad request, unauthorized access, forbidden, wrong page, internal server error, respectively). You can also set redirects. For example, typing “hostname.com/blog” would always redirect to “hostname.com/blog_index.php.”

Some interesting features are the Chatroom and PhpMyChat, especially if you want to create something that resembles the decades-old and outdated IRC. You can also set up a bulletin board (based on YaBB), Agora Shopping Cart (important for eCommerce websites), and then you have the CGI Center and Scripts Library. These let you manage, install, and work with CGI and other add-on scripts.

Newcomers to cPanel who are not familiar with UNIX systems often wonder what cron jobs are all about, so let’s briefly explain. The best way to imagine cron jobs are as scheduled tasks. Cron is a time-based schedule in UNIX-like operating systems. A job represents a task. So basically, you can specify which shell commands (or entire scripts) are to be executed periodically on a given schedule.

At Network Tools, you have utilities, such as trace route and domain lookup. These are handy in particular situations. The MIME Types part is important if you know what you are doing; if you don’t know what they are, then chances are you don’t need them. Here you can specify user-defined types and modify system-defined ones.

Jokes aside, at MIME types you can specify the way file types are going to be interpreted by your web browser (i.e. “.doc” extension should be linked with “application/msword”). MIMEs are part of the Internet standard that extended e-mail support. Should you want to read more about this, I suggest checking Wikipedia.

Apache Handlers are similar to MIME types, but there’s a significant difference. Apache handlers specify what Apache, the open source HTTP web server, should do with certain files. So basically, this is the place where you can tell your web server what to do when it comes in contact with particular file types/extensions.

The final front ends to mention are the following: Manage OpenPGP Keys, HotLink Protection, Leech Protection, Index Manager, SSL Manager, and IP Deny Manager. PGP keys are sported by GnuPG, which is a free open source alternative based on OpenPGP standards. You can create public and private keys. The protection front ends can restrict users from publicly giving out their passwords (leech) and prevent others from stealing your bandwidth (called hot-linking).

The Index Manager is where you can turn indexing on or off. Without having an index file at a certain directory, users won’t be able to see its content. Once it is indexed, the index file is generated. At the SSL Manager, you can generate keys, sign requests, and SSL certificates. This is really important if you need them!

Ultimately, we must not forget about Fantastico de Luxe. It is a cPanel/PHP-based web-based application that fully integrates with cPanel. There’s no guarantee that your hosting provider supports it, but there is a high possibility, since it is an amazing wizard that helps users (clients) automatically install open source web applications on their website. Lately, it has gained a lot of popularity.

The beauty of Fantastico is that it executes the necessary installation scripts, sets up MySQL databases, imports structure, and chmods the required files and directories. Each action is thoroughly reported to the user in a straightforward manner. Installing applications, such as phpBB2, PHP-Nuke, Joomla!, Drupal, WordPress, 4images Gallery, customer support systems, PHPWiki, and dozens of others has never been easier.

Final Words

Thanks for sticking with us during this cPanel overview article. We hope that you’ve found it informative and educational. By now you should be feeling up-to-date with the latest web-hosting control panels, because the world of commercial web hosting services revolves around cPanel. They have been the leader in this area for about a decade.

If you are looking for a web space and you’d rather pay for a commercial and professional hosting company that can provide you with a plan that fits your needs, instead of running your own server, then don’t be afraid, because administering your website won’t be hard at all. You may want to double-check whether cPanel is included in your specific plan at your hosting company; chances are that it is.

cPanel was designed with the end-user in mind. Therefore, managing your own web space isn’t a black art anymore; it can be done by anybody, even those with limited knowledge of computers. As long as you have a basic understanding of the features that you want to use and a strong all-around grasp on the technicalities of the Web (which is also documented and can be learned by anyone), then you’ll be fine.

I also want to point out that the technical support of commercial web hosting companies does (depending on how “professional” the company is) an exceptional job helping you out whenever you’re facing dilemmas or struggling to get something fixed. You are a paying customer; it’s their duty to provide top-notch assistance on a 24/7/365 basis, or otherwise specified. All in all, don’t hesitate to contact them and ask for help.

Oh, and you should also join our ever-growing community at DevHardware Forums. That place is an online shelter for many experts, professionals, and enthusiasts in the fields of computer hardware, software, and consumer electronics, but let me tell you that we also know web-related stuff. Feel free to join.