Web hosting can be a scary world. Dealing with all of the ins and outs of website design is enough to make anybody scream. Luckily, a lot of web hosting packages come with a great tool called cPanel. cPanel control panel is a Unix style graphical interface that offers automation tools that aid in the process of creating and hosting a website.
The cPanel control panel can be used on virtual or dedicated servers, supporting CentOS, Red Hat Linux, and FreeBSD. It allow users to control almost every facet of web hosting imaginable, including email account management, file backups, FTP servers, and web site statistics. Although cPanel hosting is generally conducted through the standard web browser interface, it does offer command-line and API-based access for advanced users and third-party integration.
Here are some of the applications that are commonly found in cPanel hosting:
- MySQL - highly popular open source database solution
- PHP - server-side scripting language synonymously used with Apache
- PostgreSQL - popular open source database solution
- Perl - powerful scripting language for use in many Internet-based applications
- BIND - essential domain name server functionality
- Apache - top-class open source web server used by millions of users worldwide
- Email features: POP3, SMTP, IMAP
cPanel takes all of the hard work that is perceived in web hosting out of the game. In a matter of seconds a user can effectively change their websites or create an email account. With cPanel email services, you can access your email through Microsoft Outlook, webmail or even Entourage if you use a mac. cPanel is designed as either a dedicated server or as a virtual private ser. This allows the user to use any variety of software such as Red Hat, Linux, CentOS or FreeBSD. If you're on the fence about creating your own website, you may be pleasantly surprised about the ease of use that comes with cPanel
