cPanel is the most popular Linux based web hosting control panel. It provides a graphical user interface to easily manage and host multiple websites on a single VPS or dedicated server. With the help of it's powerful GUI we can easily perform most of the tasks we perform on a website's server using command line, for example, uploading files, creating emails, setting cron jobs, handling databases, etc. WHM (Web Host Manager) provides a root and reseller level access interface where user can manage settings related to server administration and account management. cPanel provides a user level access interface where user can manage their web hostings.
Features of cPanel/WHM
cPanel/WHM comes with a lot of notable features, some of them are listed below.
- Multilingual GUI interface to manage a server and client websites.
- Built-in file manager and phpMyAdmin to easily manage files and databases.
- DNS support and management for both server and client websites.
- Email management with DKIM and SPF support for authentication and encryption.
- Easy SSL/TLS management for multiple domains using SNI.
- Easy Backup and Migration of client accounts within different servers.
- Can be easily integrated with almost all client management and billing software like WHMCS, Blesta etc.
Prerequisites
- A Fresh VPS, Cloud Server or Dedicated Server running CentOS 7 or CentOS 7.2. You can also choose from a wide range of SSD Cloud Servers directly from us if you don't have one already.
- A Static IP address, cPanel can not work on a dynamic IP address which is allocated dynamically if you have DHCP enabled on your ethernet interface.
- Minimum 1 GB RAM but it is recommended that you have 2 GB of RAM.
- Minimum 20 GB Disk Space but it is recommended that you have at least 40 GB Disk Space.
- Root access to your server.
Notes
- cPanel, once installed can not be removed from your server as it does not have any uninstaller. To remove cPanel you will have to reinstall your Operating System.
- cPanel is commercial software and requires a licence to work but cPanel offers a 15 day trial, you can install your software using the trial and you can purchase the software later. The trial is automatically activated once cPanel is installed on your server.
Installation of cPanel/WHM
Before installing cPanel you must have Perl installed on your server as cPanel is written in Perl. To install Perl on your system, login as root user and run the following command.
yum -y install perl
Now you will need to set the hostname for your server. A hostname is a FQDN or Fully Qualified Domain Name which will be used to identify your server. For example consider vps.mydomain.com - this is a FQDN which you can use as your hostname. To change your hostname run the following command
hostname vps.mydomain.com
You can replace vps.mydomain.com with your hostname. You must own the domain of which your are setting up the hostname.
Next, you will need to change your current directory to /home directory, run the following command to do this.
cd /home
Download the installation script from cPanel website by executing the following command -
curl -o latest -L https://securedownloads.cpanel.net/latest
Now run the installation script by executing the following command -
sh latest
This will start your cPanel installation, you can now sit back and relax as the installation takes around half hour to complete. Once the installation script is finished you will see the following output:
2016-06-11 08:42:33 222 ( INFO): cPanel install finished in 21 minutes and 23 seconds!
2016-06-11 08:42:33 938 ( INFO): Congratulations! Your installation of cPanel & WHM 11.56 is now complete. The next step is to configure your server.
2016-06-11 08:42:33 938 ( INFO): Before you configure your server, ensure that your firewall allows access on port 2087.
2016-06-11 08:42:33 938 ( INFO): On RHEL, CentOS, and CloudLinux systems, execute /scripts/configure_firewall_for_cpanel to accomplish this.
2016-06-11 08:42:33 938 ( INFO): After ensuring that your firewall allows access on port 2087, you can configure your server.
2016-06-11 08:42:33 938 ( INFO): 1. Open your preferred browser
2016-06-11 08:42:33 938 ( INFO): 2. Type https://198.50.190.11:2087 in the address bar
2016-06-11 08:42:33 938 ( INFO): 3. Enter the word root in the Username text box
2016-06-11 08:42:33 938 ( INFO): 4. Enter your root password in the Password text box
2016-06-11 08:42:33 938 ( INFO): 5. Click the Login button
2016-06-11 08:42:33 938 ( INFO): Visit https://go.cpanel.net/whminit for more information about first-time configuration of your server.
2016-06-11 08:42:33 938 ( INFO): Visit http://support.cpanel.net or https://go.cpanel.net/whmfaq for additional support
2016-06-11 08:42:33 938 ( INFO): Thank you for installing cPanel & WHM 11.56!
You can now open your browser and go to https://your-server-ip:2087 to access WHM. Login with username root and your root account's password. Make sure that you use https to access WHM in browser. For example if your IP is 192.168.0.85 then you will have to go to https://192.168.0.85:2087
