web hosting

VPS Web Hosting – Do Your Really Need a Control Panel?

Control panels are certainly a vital element in today’s web hosting operation, helping to transform complex tasks into simple processes that can be handled by users of varying skill levels.  The vendors that distribute these products and the hosting industry in general have no trouble pushing the software on the market, but critics are now questioning whether control panels are truly necessary in the VPS environment and what value they actually provide.

Potential Issues

In terms of performance and security, industry leading control panels such as cPanel and Plesk are not always what they are cracked up to be.  These powerful applications consume a great deal of resources and often force customers to upgrade their packages to continuously thrive in a VPS hosting environment.  This consumption is due to HTTPD processes ran by web servers like Apache that make a VPS more susceptible to performance issues and less able to handle exploits such as DOS (Denial of Service) attacks.  Though very useful, cPanel and Plesk are both resource hogs that are more likely to reduce the overall responsiveness and performance of web applications, leading customers to upgrade to more costly packages they do not necessarily need.  In addition to this, even simple tasks such as creating email account and managing databases are slow and lagging processes that generally take too long to complete.

Alternative VPS Control Panels

cPanel and Plesk are ideal for shared and dedicated hosting arrangements but could result in more problems then you bargained for when using them with a virtual private server.  Two more efficient control panels you may want to consider for your VPS hosting solution are DirectAdmin and LxAdmin as both are incredibly lightweight and consume notably less system resources than cPanel and Plesk.  This essentially means they are far more responsive, faster and likely to give you a better performance than the leading products.  A number of tests are increasingly showing that they are also more stable and secure than the competition.

Many observers are stepping out to the make the claim that cPanel’s days as a VPS control panel are numbered, attributing this to the fact that is the most resource leeching solution.  Due to its mass popularity and widespread use, it is also among the highly targeted by hackers, which presents numerous potential security risks to your hosting environment and sensitive data.  For this reason, you may want to carefully consider utilizing this control panel with your virtual private server.  Unless you have a robust VPS plan with a lot of RAM or absolutely require automation, it might be worth the risk to install a glamorous commercial product.

Conclusion

We are not telling you to refrain from using cPanel or Plesk as both are on top of the control panel market for obvious reasons.  However, in many situations, going with a lighter product or performing command line administration will allow you to get the job done in a faster, more efficient and secure manner.  Fortunately, there are several control panel applications specifically designed for the VPS environment, better assuring the optimal performance and adequate security you need to thrive with your web presence.

Getting Comfortable with the Yahoo Control Panel

Webmasters throughout the world will probably agree that website administration tools have come a long way over the last few years.  The software these days has been injected with more features and functionality than many ever imagined was possible.  One of the most powerful management tools on the market today is a type of software program known as the control panel.  This application provides you with an easy way to maintain a complex web server and all the essential features of your hosting account.

Different web hosting providers tend to utilize and offer different control panel applications.  For example, some use the industry leading Linux-based cPanel, while others prefer Plesk because of its ability to support both Windows and Linux platforms.  You also have hosting providers that offer their own custom or proprietary control panel software.  One such company happens to be one of the largest and most well know entities in the internet world.  This article will introduce you to the Yahoo control panel, very underrated yet highly effective and easy to use.

Tools and Features

In order to access the control panel, you must first sign in with the username and password designated for your Yahoo web hosting account.  After entering the required information, click “OK” to log in.  Once inside, you will see that you have a variety of options to work with.  Below are some of the options you will find:

Home - The Home tab lets you view your daily website traffic in the form of detailed reports.

Email – The email tab allows you to create additional email addresses that will be associated with your website and domain.  Simply click on “Add an Email Address” and enter the required information in the short fields.

Create and Update – The Create and Update tab allows you to incorporate a number of add-on programs and utilities such as the WordPress blogging platform, and intuitive file management tools.  It also offers a variety of helpful support resources for beginners.

Manage – The Manage tab lets you add or remove files from the web server and password protect specific domains, sub-domains and web pages.  It also allows you to generate online snapshot backups of your website data.

Promote – The Promote tab is a powerful SEO tool that allows you to submit your URL to all the major search engines in one easy click.  Underneath this tab you can also send news about the launch of your website via email and create a Yahoo local listing for your site or business as well.

Help – The Help tab offers a comprehensive menu that can be used to assist you with all the functions of the control panel.  This is where you want to go if you get lost creating emails or maintaining your domains.

Index – The Index tab gives you an alphabetized index of the features and options that come included with the hosting control panel.

While the Yahoo control panel in not the most sophisticated piece of software, it does provide all the tools you need to create and maintain your hosting account.  Hundreds of thousands of personal and business customers agree that it delivers more than enough functionality for their needs.

Free Control Panel Software for Your Server

If you need a control panel program for your server, it is important to know that the options span much further than commercial versions such as cPanel and Plesk.  In fact, there are some free control panels on the market that make excellent choices for a dedicated server.  The options discussed in this article will be GNUPanel, SysCP and Webmin.

GNUPanel

A relatively new option, the GNUPanel is an application scripted in the PHP5 programming language and designed to run on the Debian distribution of Linux.  The standout features of this software include domain and FTP management, mail management and database administration.  This control panel lets you control popular applications such as the Apache web server as well packages like PHP and MySQL among others.  The software also enables the automatic installation of various third-party programs including Joomla, phpBB, osCommerce and Wordpress among others.  Hence the name, GNUPanel has an open-source license under the GPL.  Although this control panel is currently restricted to the Debian platform, its developers say the application is currently being designed to support other operating systems.

SysCP

The SysCP control panel allows you to manage your web space, mail, CGI scripts, DNS settings, create custom error pages, view statistics and more.  The features integrated into the software provide you with the ability to control a wide variety of applications including Apache, BIND, Courier and ProFTPD.  While there are numerous modules built-in into the control panel, there are even more extensions available for download that enable you to administer other aspects of the server.  Some of the third-party modules for SysCP include tools that allow you to manage applications such as Fetchmail and SpamAssassin, perform backups of your critical data and more.  This control panel supports five major Unix-like distributions with the most notable being Debian, Gentoo, FreeBSD, OpenSuSe and Ubuntu.  Under the GNU GPL, SysCP can be freely distributed and modified.  Before installing SysCP, be sure to check for compatibility as it supports certain versions of the afore mentioned operating systems.

Webmin

The Webmin control panel is becoming an increasingly popular option for dedicated server customers.  This software is incredibly easy to use and loaded with a number of features, which are primarily modules that provide the ability to administer the server.  It comes standard with modules for Apache and BIND, a BSD firewall, bandwidth monitoring, a cron job manager and much more.  Aside from the built-in modules, Webmin  supports a variety of third-party extensions that can be downloaded from the web.  It also gives you the option to develop your modules.  Webmin currently supports more than 80 different operating systems including Unix, FreeBDS and several variations of Linux.   Because it is under the GNU GPL as open-source software, many developers from all over the world have contributed to the code and improved the software.  The most recent versions of Webmin have been released under a license similar to that of BSD, basically meaning that it can be freely distributed and modified for both commercial and non-commercial use.

Plesk: The Multipurpose Control Panel

Although cPanel is highly praised, Parallel’s Plesk is regarded as one of the most widely used and efficient control panels on the web hosting market.  The major advantage it has over cPanel is the power to operate on both Windows and Linux platforms.  In addition, Plesk is one of few control panels that makes an ideal solution for shared, dedicated and virtual private server environments.  It is said to be the most secure and stable platform available for web hosting companies and their customers.  The software is being increasingly used by hosting providers who want to enhance performance and boost per-server profitability.  Plesk makes a great choice in almost any hosting arrangement and this article will discuss some of the specific benefits.

Dedicated Hosting

The RPM installation and modular design of Plesk allows dedicated hosting providers to cater to the needs of the technically inclined.  The software can be set up in an instant and deployed in no time.  Many companies have taken a liking to Plesk because it offers such an excellent value by delivering a high level of performance at a reasonable price.  System administrators have access to several unique features including the XML-API, a built-in interface that automates the provisioning process.  It also facilitates the implementation of the numerous third-party applications built into the control panel.  With fully integrated software development kits and a number of back-end utilities, Plesk gives hosting providers and end-users the ability to dramatically enhance their operations.

Shared Hosting

Tiered self administration and a unified multi-platform design makes Plesk a perfect administrative tool in the shared hosting environment as well.  This control panel makes it easier for providers to mange multiple domains on a highly scalable architecture optimized for demanding tasks.  An administrator with little to no technical background can easily create and manage user accounts on the server.  In addition, customers can manage their own domains without direct support of the server administrator.  The power of Plesk covers the needs of the simple and complex side of the traditional web hosting service, enabling full customization that benefits both the host and the end-user.

VPS Hosting

The Plesk control panel is also becoming more common in the virtual private server environment, mainly because it delivers exceptional management power and has a small footprint that ensures great performance.  When used in conjunction with the Virtuozzo software, Plesk allows system administrators to quickly deploy templates of multiple control panel systems.  This is made possible a VPS’s ability to create several isolated server environments on a single machine.  On a virtualized platform, Plesk and Virtuzzo are unparalleled in their ability to increase ROI and revenues for professional web hosting providers while meeting the demanding needs of customers.

Conclusion

Plesk has so many beneficial uses that going wrong with this control panel is almost impossible. The software offers power that allows you to administrator a single machine, a cluster of servers or a simple shared hosting account.  If you’re still looking for a control panel, Plesk could be the solution.

Introduction to Webmin

The number of control panels on the market keeps expanding into an even greater variety.  Almost everyone is familiar with cPanel along with rivals such as Plesk and H-Sphere.  One control panel you may not be familiar with is Webmin, a super-functional application that certainly warrants a closer look.

What is Webmin?

Webmin is a software tool designed to simply the process of managing Unix and Linux platforms.  The program is compatible with virtually any web browser, permitting various administrative tasks through a cleanly designed, user-friendly interface.  Webmin provides the ability to manage various aspects of the web hosting environment from setting up a web server and creating accounts to maintaining FTP and mail servers.

Webmin Features and Capabilities

The Webmin control panel allows you to do the following:

• Use NFS protocol to exports files and directories to other systems
• Set up quotas to control how much disk space is allocated to users
• Install, manage and delete software packages in formats such as RPM
• Modify the systems’ DNS settings, IP address and routing configuration
• Set up firewalls for added security or to provide LAN access to the internet
• Create and configure virtual servers on Apache
• Manage databases, tables and fields on MySQL or PostgreSQL database servers

These are just some of the capabilities offered by the Webmin software.  Because it is accessed via a browser, you can login from any system connected to your own through a network.  There is no difference between running Webmin locally or remotely.  The software is built on a modular design, meaning each of its functions are contained in a module that can be installed or uninstalled independent of the rest of the application.  This structure alone makes Webmin very distinctive of your average control panel.

Although Webmin is primarily used on the Linux platform, it also integrates with Unix flavors such as FreeBSD, HP/UX and Solaris.  One of its greatest strengths is the ability to adjust its behavior and interface in accordance to the underlying platform.  For example, Webmin can conceal the obvious differences between Linux and other Unix variants by presenting an interface that is either identical or quite similar regardless of what system you are using.

Webmin Disadvantages

Webmin offers many advantages but is not very useful on its own accord.  This is because unlike cPanel which acts as a server, Webmin is merely a configuration tool and therefore, it depends on other applications to perform.  For instance, in order to user the Apache module, the actual Apache web server application must be installed on the system.  The good thing is that all of these servers and services it relies on are included standard with Unix-like distributions or can be freely downloaded and implemented.

Who Needs Webmin?

The Webmin control panel is designed for users with a familiarity of Linux commands but are not all that familiar with the intricacies of server administration.  This software assumes that the user is familiar with basic networking concepts such as DNS servers, IP addresses and hostnames as well as the layout of the Unix file system.   Those who possess these capabilities can enjoy everything from the power to set up FTP accounts and simple website management to root privileges and custom software installations.