cPanel Introduction to the Capabilities of cPanel y WHM.pdf

Introduction to the Capabilities of cPanel & WHM

If you have any questions, please contact the cPanel sales team. See page 45 for details.


V101712. cPanel, WebHost Manager and WHM are registered trademarks of cPanel, Inc. 2012. All rights reserved.



Table of ContentsExplanation of the cPanel & WHM interfaces .................................................. Page 6 cPanel WHM

Levels of Access ..................................................................................................... Page 8 Root-Level User Reseller Website Owner (cPanel User)

Tour of the cPanel Interface ................................................................................ Page 10 Ease of Use Comprehensive File Management Website Editing Web Disk Backups Virus Protection One-Click Software Installations Statistics and Logs Multiple Domain Support Comprehensive Email Management Spam Protection Mail Filtering Mailing Lists Mail Authentication Improved MX Entry Editor Databases Sripting Support Security DNS Management Advanced Functionality

Tour of the Web Host Manager (WHM) Interface ............................................... Page 20 VPS Optimized vs. Accelerated Easy Apache



Table of Contents Security Brute Force Considerations XSRF Protection Forcing Encrypted Logins Mail Server Curbing Incoming Spam Installers Service Management Mail,IMandPagerNotifications

ServiceConfiguration

CPU Usage and Background Process Detection Disk Usage Software Upgrades, Updates cPanel Build Types Account Migrations DNS Functionality Language Files Server Backups Account Management Enhancing Automation with Packages Removing Functionality with Feature Manager Automating Account Management with Billing Software Shell Access No Shell Access Jailed Shell Access Normal Shell Access Skeleton Directory Manage cPAddons Branding Customer Contact Pages Web Template Editor Resellers



Table of ContentsSoftware Modules ................................................................................................. Page 40 cPanel DNS ONLY cPanel GS (cPGS)

Customizing cPanel Software ............................................................................. Page 42 cPanel is Flexible cPanel Has an Active Developer Community

For More Information ........................................................................................... Page 44


Explanation of the cPanel & WHM interfaces



cPanel provides an intuitive interface to help website owners manage their sites, while WebHost Manager (WHM) automates server management tasks for server administrators. Together, they reduce overhead by simplifying complex tasks and allowing customers to manage their own accounts.

Professionals and novices alike love the power cPanel & WHM offers, including

the ability to activate new web technologies with the click of a mouse. This allows anyone to meet the needs of todays hosting customers with minimal effort.

cPanelcPanel, our website control panel interface, is designed for website owners.

cPanel simplifies tasks such as:

Uploading and managing web pages

Creating email accounts

Installing web-based applications such as blogs, shopping carts, and forums

Backing up data

Protecting a sites content and bandwidth

Generating and viewing statistics about visitors

Reviewing error logs to locate broken links and other problems

WHMWebHost Manager (WHM), our server control panel interface, is designed for server administrators and web hosts. WHM makes it easy to:

Set up and modify customer accounts

Receive alerts from your server

Install applications and programming language modules

Create and apply hosting plans

Block spam

Integrate new web technologies

Brand customers cPanel interfaces with custom logos

Levels of Access



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Root-Level UserRoot-level users have access to every feature in cPanel & WHM. Root-level users

also have access to all accounts on the server. Other users can be granted root-

level access via the Reseller Center in the WHM interface. This is useful for allowing

technical staff full access to cPanel & WHM, without having to share a single root

password.

ResellerReseller accounts have full access to cPanel, but limited access to WHM. A

resellers access to WHM is limited to creating new cPanel hosting accounts and managing existing accounts. Resellers can only manage cPanel accounts they own,

preventing them from modifying accounts owned by other resellers on the server. Resellers cannot create additional reseller accounts.

Website Owner (cPanel User)A website owner only has access to the cPanel interface. They can manage all aspects of their account and domains, but do not have any access to the WHM interface. The website owner can also create FTP sub-users and Mail sub-users,

but cannot create additional cPanel hosting accounts.

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Tour of thecPanel Interface



Ease of UseThe cPanel interface was designed by a team of interface experts to ensure ease of use. Its intuitive nature helps to reduce support requests from customers who are unfamiliar with cPanel.

For inexperienced hosting customers, cPanel includes a Getting Started Wizard. This wizard assists new website owners

with configuring basic account settings. Additionally, context-sensitive video tutorials and on-screen documentation help

to ensure that website owners will be able to easily use our software.



Comprehensive File ManagementPerhaps the most important part of managing a website is being able to upload and edit web content. Website owners can upload files using FTP, FTPS, SFTP, Web Disk (our implementation of DAV), and our built-in File Managers.

Often, a website owner may hire a professional web designer to build a site. With cPanel, a website owner can easily set up an additional FTP account for a contractor. This allows contractors access to the website without knowing the cPanel password.

Website EditingFile Manager has an integrated visual (WYSIWYG) HTML editor to assist novice website owners in creating and customizing

their websites. File Manager also includes a code editor that allows programmers to quickly modify troublesome code.

Web DiskThe Web Disk feature allows website owners to easily maintain their websites using an interface that integrates with their

personal computer or mobile device. Publishing and updating websites is as easy as dragging and dropping files.



Comprehensive file management would be incomplete without backups. cPanel comes with a wizard to assist users with

creating backups of their account. The backup interface is easily accessible. From there, a user can easily select which areas of a site to back up or download.

Virus Protection

cPanel lets server administrators easily enable virus protection. While viruses rarely infect servers running cPanel & WHM, email and websites served by cPanel/WHM servers are sometimes used as means to propagate viruses to vulnerable systems.

cPanels virus protection scans incoming mail for possible viruses. Individual website owners can also scan an entire account for any files that may contain viruses.

Backups



One-Click Software InstallationsIts easy to install popular website applications such as WordPress, phpBB, and osCommerce in cPanel. And with our

free cPGS plug-in, website owners can even run their own online

gaming servers.

cPanel also makes it simple for experienced website owners to install popular applications and Ruby Gems.

Statistics and LogsBuilding a website is the first step; next, the site owner needs to make the site easy to find. cPanel provides several tools

for monitoring how visitors discover a site, and where those visitors are located. Easy-to-read graphs let a website owner

spot trends; from there, she can modify her site accordingly.

Search engine optimization (SEO) professionals may also wish to download raw logs to insert into their own log

interpretation programs. These logs can be viewed and downloaded via the cPanel interface or FTP.

Web developers will be glad to know that they can easily access Apache error logs via the cPanel interface in real time. Additionally, developers can monitor the bandwidth and browsers used to access the site. This helps website owners make informed decisions about further website optimization.



Multiple Domain Support

An individual cPanel account has the ability to host multiple domains.

To have multiple domains serve the same website content, you can use the Parked Domains feature. This feature allows

you to park multiple domains on your main domain. As a result, when a visitor accesses the parked domain, he sees the content of the main site.

cPanel also supports hosting completely separate websites within the same cPanel account. Addon domains allow a separate domain to work on the same account, but serve a different website. The addon domain could be a directory

within the main website, or a separate website, inaccessible from the main website.

cPanel also provides a Redirects feature. Members of an affiliate program may want to redirect visitors to a website on

another server whenever a visitor accesses a domain or subdomain they own. The website owner can use redirects to automatically bring those visitors to the desired affiliate website.

Statistics and LogsBuilding a website is the first step; next, the site owner needs to make the site easy to find. cPanel provides several tools

for monitoring how visitors discover a site, and where those visitors are located. Easy-to-read graphs let a website owner

spot trends; from there, she can modify her site accordingly.

Search engine optimization (SEO) professionals may also wish to download raw logs to insert into their own log

interpretation programs. These logs can be viewed and downloaded via the cPanel interface or FTP.

Web developers will be glad to know that they can easily access Apache error logs via the cPanel interface in real time. Additionally, developers can monitor the bandwidth and browsers used to access the site. This helps website owners make informed decisions about further website optimization.



Comprehensive Email Management

Email is a critical function of most contemporary websites. cPanel allows website owners to create many email accounts and email forwarders. An email forwarder functions as an automatic relay from one address to another. This can be useful if, for example, you wish to receive company email at a personal email address.

If a website owner needs to create many email addresses or forwarders at once, he can put them into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet or CSV file and use the Import Addresses/Forwarders feature to create those email addresses. All email

accounts that are not forwarders can be accessed via the common mail protocols: IMAP and POP, their more secure and

encrypted siblings IMAPS and POP3s, and a webmail interface.

To assist with setting up an email client, cPanel supports automatic configuration of select clients. A website owner simply

clicks on a link and opens a file, and the mail client is automatically configured.

For hosting accounts with multiple domains, domain forwarders can be handy. They forward all email from one domain to a corresponding address on another domain. For example, setting up a domain forwarder for example.net to example.com would result in mail addressed to [email protected] being sent to [email protected].



Email is a critical function of most contemporary websites. cPanel allows website owners to create many email accounts and email forwarders. An email forwarder functions as an automatic relay from one address to another. This can be useful if, for example, you wish to receive company email at a personal email address.

If a website owner needs to create many email addresses or forwarders at once, he can put them into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet or CSV file and use the Import Addresses/Forwarders feature to create those email addresses. All email

accounts that are not forwarders can be accessed via the common mail protocols: IMAP and POP, their more secure and

encrypted siblings IMAPS and POP3s, and a webmail interface.

To assist with setting up an email client, cPanel supports automatic configuration of select clients. A website owner simply

clicks on a link and opens a file, and the mail client is automatically configured.

For hosting accounts with multiple domains, domain forwarders can be handy. They forward all email from one domain to a corresponding address on another domain. For example, setting up a domain forwarder for example.net to example.com would result in mail addressed to [email protected] being sent to [email protected].

Spam ProtectioncPanel comes with SpamAssassin at no additional cost. This helps curb spam by identifying common patterns in spam

messages, then specifying the likelihood of the message being spam. This likelihood is quantified as a spam score. Those

who use IMAP or webmail can use SpamBox, a feature that will automatically deposit spam into its own folder.

For additional spam protection, you can enable BoxTrapper. BoxTrapper can be enabled either for all addresses in this

cPanel account, or for individual addresses. BoxTrapper is a challenge response system, where an unknown person

sending a message must respond to a verification email before the message is delivered to the recipient.

Mail FilteringMail filters allow the server to automatically sort and discard mail before it is delivered. This is most useful for those who

travel frequently and access their mail via IMAP or webmail.

In the cPanel interface, clicking the Account Level Filtering icon allows the site owner to create an email filter that affects all

email accounts associated with that cPanel account. Mail filters can also be created on the individual account level.

Mailing ListsWith the cPanel interface, users can create mailing lists that use the popular Mailman software. Mailman offers great

flexibility, allowing for everything from newsletter distribution to discussion groups similar to those found on Google or

Yahoo.

Mail AuthenticationTo help ensure reliable delivery of email, cPanel supports the latest mail authentication standards such as SPF and

DomainKeys. Mail authentication can determine whether mail is from someone pretending to be from a domain hosted on

the cPanel server. Enabling these authentication methods is a simple matter of clicking the appropriate icon and enable button. These features require no changes to any mail clients configuration.

Improved MX Entry EditorWith the changing landscape of email services, it is increasingly common for individuals to have their mail hosted on a remote service such as Gmail for Domains. As a result, cPanel now has an improved MX Entry editor to give website

owners more control over how their email is routed.

Email ArchivingEmail Archiving allows users to save incoming, outgoing, or mailing list messages for a specified amount of time. Archived

messages are stored under the mail directory in the users home directory.



Databases

In todays world of blogs and content management systems, even novice website owners need to be able to create databases. As a result, cPanel has wizards to assist website owners with properly creating databases and database users,

as well as issuing the appropriate permissions to database users.

Experienced website owners will enjoy the phpMyAdmin and phpPgAdmin integration. These tools provide quick, simple management of MySQL and PostgreSQL databases.

With cPanel, website owners can grant remote access to their databases. This is useful for small businesses that run programs requiring a centralized SQL server.

Scripting Support

cPanel/WHM natively supports several scripting languages, including CGI Perl, PHP, and Ruby on Rails. FrontPage

extensions continue to be supported in cPanel/WHM despite that technology officially having reached end of life

according to its manufacturer.



Security

In todays world of blogs and content management systems, even novice website owners need to be able to create databases. As a result, cPanel has wizards to assist website owners with properly creating databases and database users,

as well as issuing the appropriate permissions to database users.

Experienced website owners will enjoy the phpMyAdmin and phpPgAdmin integration. These tools provide quick, simple management of MySQL and PostgreSQL databases.

With cPanel, website owners can grant remote access to their databases. This is useful for small businesses that run programs requiring a centralized SQL server.

Scripting Support

While much of cPanel & WHMs security capabilities are handled at the server level, some security measures are better managed by individual website owners. Website owners can password protect directories, then enable leech protection to ensure no one is sharing passwords.

Webite owners who find their sites using excessive amounts of bandwidth can

enable HotLink Protection to prevent others from hotlinking images directly

from their hosting account, thus wasting their bandwidth.

DNS ManagementcPanel allows website owners to manage their own DNS zones. This is useful

for web design experts that need the ability to modify their DNS. For example,

some remote mail hosting solutions require the creation of a custom DNS zone

for accessing their services.

cPanel/WHM natively supports several scripting languages, including CGI Perl, PHP, and Ruby on Rails. FrontPage

extensions continue to be supported in cPanel/WHM despite that technology officially having reached end of life

according to its manufacturer.

Advanced FunctionalityThanks to cPanels Advanced features, even expert designers and programmers will only rarely need to contact their system administrators for assistance. cPanel allows these individuals to easily customize several advanced behaviors of

their websites, including the appearance of web server error pages and how directory listings should appear in Apache. Experienced website owners can also create their own cron jobs to automatically execute a script at pre-determined times.



Tour of the Web Host Manager (WHM) Interface

The WHM interface is a powerful yet easy-to-use interface for managing a server. Like the cPanel interface, it also has a

Getting Started Wizard to assist system administrators with properly creating a working server configuration. After this

process is complete, the system administrator can create accounts so the server can begin hosting websites.



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The WHM interface is a powerful yet easy-to-use interface for managing a server. Like the cPanel interface, it also has a

Getting Started Wizard to assist system administrators with properly creating a working server configuration. After this

process is complete, the system administrator can create accounts so the server can begin hosting websites.

VPS Optimized vs. AcceleratedcPanel & WHM comes in two possible optimizations: VPS Optimized and Accelerated. Both offer identical functionality;

the difference is how the software is optimized. VPS Optimized is configured for VPS environments where RAM is not as

abundant as on dedicated servers. Accelerated is designed for dedicated servers and thus adjusts itself to make the most efficient use of those resources. cPanel/WHM automatically detects whether it is being installed on a dedicated or virtual

server, and installs the appropriate optimization of cPanel/WHM accordingly.



Easy Apache

EasyApache is a tool that offers great flexibility with regards to adding support for additional server technologies, such

as Tomcat. It also makes recompiling Apache and PHP, and their modules, very easy. In a typical Unix environment,

recompiling Apache and PHP can be a daunting and error-prone task even for an experienced system administrator. But the

WHM interface with EasyApache makes this as easy as clicking a few mouse buttons.

EasyApache allows the installation of additional specific

PHP modules as needed, with the ability to remove modules when they are no longer needed. This architecture allows a web server to run only the programming code required by websites on that server, thus optimizing the servers

resource consumption and performance. Also, it offers

the flexibility to easily migrate among versions of Apache

and even run PHP 4 and 5 simultaneously, if desired. To

assist novice administrators, EasyApache will prevent the installation of modules known to conflict with one another.

Uptime is improved with EasyApache, since all configurations set via EasyApache are automatically tested before

being applied to the server. The automated nature of EasyApache also reduces the Apache downtime caused by these configurations to mere seconds, even on the busiest of servers.

Experienced system administrators can opt to run EasyApache via the command line as: /scripts/easyapache.



Easy Apache Security

The WHM interface provides a myriad of security tools for securing a server. Combining these with server-hardening

technologies available via EasyApache will help protect the server against potential attackers.

Many of these security tools can be found in the Security Center section of the WHM interface.

EasyApache is a tool that offers great flexibility with regards to adding support for additional server technologies, such

as Tomcat. It also makes recompiling Apache and PHP, and their modules, very easy. In a typical Unix environment,

recompiling Apache and PHP can be a daunting and error-prone task even for an experienced system administrator. But the

WHM interface with EasyApache makes this as easy as clicking a few mouse buttons.

EasyApache allows the installation of additional specific

PHP modules as needed, with the ability to remove modules when they are no longer needed. This architecture allows a web server to run only the programming code required by websites on that server, thus optimizing the servers

resource consumption and performance. Also, it offers

the flexibility to easily migrate among versions of Apache

and even run PHP 4 and 5 simultaneously, if desired. To

assist novice administrators, EasyApache will prevent the installation of modules known to conflict with one another.

Uptime is improved with EasyApache, since all configurations set via EasyApache are automatically tested before

being applied to the server. The automated nature of EasyApache also reduces the Apache downtime caused by these configurations to mere seconds, even on the busiest of servers.

Experienced system administrators can opt to run EasyApache via the command line as: /scripts/easyapache.



Brute Force ConsiderationsWhen enabling brute force protection, an administrator may add her own IP address to the Trusted IPs list within the cPHulk utility; this is handy in case an administrator forgets her

password, since it curbs the ability of a system administrator to lock herself out of her own server.

XSRF ProtectionXSRF protection prevents malicious websites from taking advantage of the fact that you are

logged into a cPanel & WHM server to trigger actions on that cPanel & WHM server. We recommend that you enable this protection; you can do this from the WHM Tweak Settings

screen.

However, be mindful that scripts that have not yet been updated to make use of the APIs available since the initial release of cPanel 11 may stop functioning as a result of enabling XSRF protection. If you

need assistance with bringing your own scripts up to date to use our APIs, contact our technical analysts for assistance.

Forcing Encrypted LoginsUnencrypted logins via HTTP can be quite vulnerable to

a hacker sniffing traffic over an unsecured Wi-Fi network.

Without encryption, passwords are broadcasted in plain text, allowing anyone to read them. WHMs Tweak Settings

feature can force all logins to cPanel, WHM and webmail to be performed over an encrypted SSL connection.

However, if these settings are enabled, we strongly recommend that you also set up an SSL certificate for

the cPanel/WHM/webmail service itself. Otherwise, novice website owners may become frightened when seeing an error in their web browser about the server using a self-signed SSL certificate. One SSL certificate for the cPanel/WHM/

webmail service can be installed via the Manage Service SSL Certificates screen in WHMs Service Configuration section.

This screen can also be used for installing SSL certificates for other services. Keep in mind that these services do not

automatically inherit any SSL certificates set up for websites at this time.

Mail ServercPanel & WHM uses Exim for its SMTP services. Exim also emulates support for sendmail, so all scripts that rely on

sendmail capabilities will work on a cPanel & WHM server. For optimal performance, cPanel & WHM uses the maildir format of storing email, rather than the older mbox format. This also assists in the performance of webmail and IMAP on the server. cPanel & WHM uses Dovecot for offering POP3 and IMAP capabilities, but Courier remains supported.

Curbing Incoming Spam

WHM allows even a novice system administrator to implement powerful mail server capabilities, such as blocking spam before the server ever processes it. This is implemented by means of several settings, including rejecting mail which has very high SpamAssassin Spam Scores or mail coming from an IP address on a Realtime Black List (RBL).

RBLs are lists of IP addresses that are known as, or likely to be, sources of spam. By blocking spam before the server

ever processes it, resource utilization is noticeably reduced. WHM supports 2 RBLs by default, but additional RBLs can be

added.



For experienced system administrators, WHM offers the

Advanced Exim Configuration Editor, to allow for manual

modifications to the Exim configuration.

Curbing Outbound SpamWHM offers many tools to curb the server from becoming

blacklisted because it is sending spam. The first line of defense

if the SMTP Tweak tool mentioned above on the Security Center

screen of WHM. This sends website owners mail through the servers official mail server, forcing them to obey any rules set by

the system administrator.

A good indicator that someone is spamming is if they are sending excessive amounts of email. In Tweak Settings, WHM

offers a couple of useful settings:

A common setting for number of emails per hour is 100. Also, since suPHP and suEXEC are used by default on new

cPanel/WHM servers, there is no legitimate reason for the nobody user to send email. Therefore, on servers running

suPHP and suEXEC, you may block nobody from sending email so that any malicious activity can be easily tracked to the

appropriate user.

Since blacklists operate on the basis of IP addresses, it may be prudent to allocate a dedicated IP address to resellers

and clients who send large quantities of email. Then, you can enable settings in the Exim Configuration Editor that force

mail to be sent from an individual IP address, rather than the servers primary IP. While this does not prevent blacklisting, it quarantines the impact of individual users sending spam.

InstallersWHM allows server administrators to install software and modules via its graphical interface. Installing RPMs, Perl

modules and code modules for other languages (e.g. PHP, PECLs, and Ruby Gems) can all be accomplished via the

Software section of the WHM.

When you enter one of these pages, you will be prompted for the module to install. Then, WHM will handle the installation. For installing modules in Apache or modules for PHP itself, use EasyApache.

Service ManagementWHM allows you to browse swiftly through the status of the servers services, as well as restart any service as you desire.

WHM maximizes uptime by automatically restarting any service that goes offline. During this

process, the WHM server will contact the server administrator about the service failure in case manual intervention is required.

Mail, IM and Pager Notifications

The WHM interface offers flexibility regarding notifications about notable events taking place on the server. These events

include notifications about disk integrity, kernel crashing, account suspensions, and more. The server administrator can be

notified via email, pager/SMS, as well as via AIM and/or ICQ. These preferences can be set in the Server Contacts section

of the WHM interface.

Service Configuration

WHM offers experienced administrators the ability to customize the behavior of many of the services employed in a cPanel

& WHM environment.



CPU Usage and Background Process Detection

WHM makes monitoring CPU loads easier than ever by placing the load stats at the top of the interface. This shows

the servers load over the past 1, 5, and 15 minutes. WHMs in-depth tools also allow tracking CPU usage to individual

processes and website owners. Background Process Detection allows you to disable risky services (such as Eggdrop) from

running on the server.

Disk Usage

WHM also allows for quick monitoring of the servers disk space consumption and other disk I/O statistics. This is useful for determining whether additional disk space needs to be added to the server.

Software Upgrades, UpdatesBy default, WHM is set up for automatic updates. This will ensure the server receives all the latest security patches and

functionality. WHM will automatically update any software that can be safely upgraded without supervision. This can include automatically updating MySQL 5.0 to the latest 5.0 build, updating cPanel & WHM to the latest build, and so forth.

cPanel & WHM can be safely updated and upgraded without having to make a full server backup beforehand. cPanel/WHM remains fully operational during an update or upgrade. Also, no server reboots or restarts are required after a cPanel/WHM update or upgrade. cPanels stringent quality standards ensure that all software introduced into a cPanel environment is tested before being put into production use.

Automatic updates can be disabled as well as customized via the Update Preferences screen in the WHM interface.



CPU Usage and Background Process Detection

WHM makes monitoring CPU loads easier than ever by placing the load stats at the top of the interface. This shows

the servers load over the past 1, 5, and 15 minutes. WHMs in-depth tools also allow tracking CPU usage to individual

processes and website owners. Background Process Detection allows you to disable risky services (such as Eggdrop) from

running on the server.

Disk Usage

WHM also allows for quick monitoring of the servers disk space consumption and other disk I/O statistics. This is useful for determining whether additional disk space needs to be added to the server.

Software Upgrades, UpdatesBy default, WHM is set up for automatic updates. This will ensure the server receives all the latest security patches and

functionality. WHM will automatically update any software that can be safely upgraded without supervision. This can include automatically updating MySQL 5.0 to the latest 5.0 build, updating cPanel & WHM to the latest build, and so forth.

cPanel & WHM can be safely updated and upgraded without having to make a full server backup beforehand. cPanel/WHM remains fully operational during an update or upgrade. Also, no server reboots or restarts are required after a cPanel/WHM update or upgrade. cPanels stringent quality standards ensure that all software introduced into a cPanel environment is tested before being put into production use.

Automatic updates can be disabled as well as customized via the Update Preferences screen in the WHM interface.

cPanel Build TypesThere are 4 primary build types of cPanel & WHM. The illustration below shows how an update propagates through the

build types, being more thoroughly tested as it propagates:



Account MigrationsWhether you need to transfer 1 account or all of the accounts on a remote server, the WHM interface can assist. Its transfer interface can be used for moving accounts between servers, or for migrating from certain other control panels to cPanel/WHM.

To migrate customers from another hosting provider, simply have them send you their full cPanel backup file. You can then

place this backup in the /home directory of the destination server, and restore the backup.

If you are migrating from another cPanel/WHM server to which you have root access, you get several additional features. WHM offers the ability to skip the home directory, which is very useful for multimedia-intensive websites which can have

their files migrated by other means. For these transfers, DNS on the remote cPanel/WHM server will be updated to point to

the new server once the account has been migrated, reducing downtime caused by DNS propagation. Compression is now

done in-stream to reduce the hard disk resources required to migrate accounts from an overloaded machine.

If you are migrating accounts from another control panel to which you have root access, feel free to make use of our migration assistance. More information is available at http://migrate.cPanel.net.



Account MigrationsWhether you need to transfer 1 account or all of the accounts on a remote server, the WHM interface can assist. Its transfer interface can be used for moving accounts between servers, or for migrating from certain other control panels to cPanel/WHM.

To migrate customers from another hosting provider, simply have them send you their full cPanel backup file. You can then

place this backup in the /home directory of the destination server, and restore the backup.

If you are migrating from another cPanel/WHM server to which you have root access, you get several additional features. WHM offers the ability to skip the home directory, which is very useful for multimedia-intensive websites which can have

their files migrated by other means. For these transfers, DNS on the remote cPanel/WHM server will be updated to point to

the new server once the account has been migrated, reducing downtime caused by DNS propagation. Compression is now

done in-stream to reduce the hard disk resources required to migrate accounts from an overloaded machine.

If you are migrating accounts from another control panel to which you have root access, feel free to make use of our migration assistance. More information is available at http://migrate.cPanel.net.

DNS Functionality

WHM will automatically handle all DNS functionality for accounts maintained via the cPanel & WHM interfaces. However,

the WHM interface does allow customization of DNS templates and DNS records, as well as other DNS management.

WHM supports BIND by default. However, smaller servers (e.g. VPS servers) hosting only a few websites will benefit from

our support for the lighter weight NSD software.

WHM also allows DNS clustering with other servers running either cPanel/WHM or cPanel DNS ONLY. cPanel DNS ONLY

is currently available at no cost.



Language Files

WHM is bundled with a myriad of language files for translating the cPanel interface. However, in case cPanel & WHM does

not come with the language you need, WHM provides tools that make it very easy to translate the cPanel interface yourself.

Server Backups

WHM allows for automatic server-wide backups which can be stored locally or remotely. Administrators can control when

backups are run and what types of backups are made. One can even exclude specific users from having their accounts

backed up. This is useful if you host multimedia-intensive websites that can easily contain over a terabyte of data.



Language Files

WHM is bundled with a myriad of language files for translating the cPanel interface. However, in case cPanel & WHM does

not come with the language you need, WHM provides tools that make it very easy to translate the cPanel interface yourself.

Server Backups

WHM allows for automatic server-wide backups which can be stored locally or remotely. Administrators can control when

backups are run and what types of backups are made. One can even exclude specific users from having their accounts

backed up. This is useful if you host multimedia-intensive websites that can easily contain over a terabyte of data.

Account ManagementThe WHM interface provides the ability to allocate accounts and terminate accounts, among many other account management functions. All cPanel users are created as standard Unix users.

Account functions are divided into 3 sections of the WHM interface. First, Account Information provides information about

accounts hosted on the server.



Second, Account Functions allows modification of an individual account.

Lastly, Multi-Account Functions allows you to perform a single operation with multiple accounts.



Second, Account Functions allows modification of an individual account.

Lastly, Multi-Account Functions allows you to perform a single operation with multiple accounts.

Enhancing Automation with Packages

You can automate the creation of accounts with similar privileges by means of packages. Packages are the internal WHM representation of a hosting plan, and can serve as templates for new accounts. These packages can also be used by third-

party billing software that integrates into cPanel & WHM.

Removing Functionality with Feature ManagerThe Feature Manager lets you enable or disable any icon in the cPanel interface. This allows you to create hosting plans with a minimal set of features, which can help avoid overwhelming novice website owners. Later, you can up-sell customers

to more feature-rich hosting plans. Feature Manager offers precise control with regards to user privileges.

Root users have access to two special feature lists. The default feature list is used for any account that is not assigned

a package, or is assigned a package without its own custom feature list. The other special feature list is the disabled

feature list. This list is handy for preventing subordinate users from accessing a given feature. Features in the disabled

feature list cannot be re-enabled by means of creating another feature list.

Automating Account Management with Billing SoftwareWhile cPanel & WHM is not bundled with billing automation functionality, there are many third-party billing automation

solutions known to work with cPanel & WHM. Thus, you do not need to perform these tasks. Contact the cPanel sales

team at [email protected] for assistance with finding billing automation software to suit your needs.

Shell AccesscPanel & WHM offers varying levels of shell access:

No Shell Access

The default and recommended option. The website owner will be completely unable to log in via SSH, but still able to use

the secure SFTP (FTP via SSH) functionality of the cPanel & WHM server.



Jailed Shell Access

The website owner will be able to log in via SSH, but will be restricted to limited functionality deemed to be relatively safe in

a shared hosting environment. This should only be given out on an as-needed basis.

Normal Shell Access

Other than the restrictions of standard Unix user permissions, a normal shell access user would be able to do anything they

desire on the server. It is generally considered poor practice to offer normal shell access to a hosting customer.

Skeleton DirectoryJust as a skeleton serves as the basis for the human body, a skeleton directory provides a basis for new websites to build upon. Your skeleton directory will contain all the default files to be placed on every new account you, or your billing

software, creates. This can be useful for customizing a website owners initial homepage, or for providing more advanced

functionality, such as implementing custom .htaccess rules by default.

Manage cPAddonsCPAddons is the name of the system cPanel/

WHM uses to allow one click installations of

many popular web application and e-commerce

packages. In the cPanel interface, this is simply called Site Software. However, cPAddons goes

beyond merely installing these applications.

The cPAddons system is designed to encourage the use of up-to-date software. This is critical, as many

older versions of these applications may have known security vulnerabilities that were resolved in newer versions. If an application is out of date, the website owner will be sent an email automatically informing him to click a button in the cPanel interface to automatically upgrade the software.

The power of the cPAddons system comes from the ability to administer such applications at a server-wide level. Server

administrators can specify which applications they wish to offer, select whether they wish to moderate installation requests

for those applications, and force upgrades to all website owners running outdated software. This additional focus on system administration is what makes the cPAddons system unique.



Jailed Shell Access

The website owner will be able to log in via SSH, but will be restricted to limited functionality deemed to be relatively safe in

a shared hosting environment. This should only be given out on an as-needed basis.

Normal Shell Access

Other than the restrictions of standard Unix user permissions, a normal shell access user would be able to do anything they

desire on the server. It is generally considered poor practice to offer normal shell access to a hosting customer.

Skeleton DirectoryJust as a skeleton serves as the basis for the human body, a skeleton directory provides a basis for new websites to build upon. Your skeleton directory will contain all the default files to be placed on every new account you, or your billing

software, creates. This can be useful for customizing a website owners initial homepage, or for providing more advanced

functionality, such as implementing custom .htaccess rules by default.

Manage cPAddonsCPAddons is the name of the system cPanel/

WHM uses to allow one click installations of

many popular web application and e-commerce

packages. In the cPanel interface, this is simply called Site Software. However, cPAddons goes

beyond merely installing these applications.

The cPAddons system is designed to encourage the use of up-to-date software. This is critical, as many

older versions of these applications may have known security vulnerabilities that were resolved in newer versions. If an application is out of date, the website owner will be sent an email automatically informing him to click a button in the cPanel interface to automatically upgrade the software.

The power of the cPAddons system comes from the ability to administer such applications at a server-wide level. Server

administrators can specify which applications they wish to offer, select whether they wish to moderate installation requests

for those applications, and force upgrades to all website owners running outdated software. This additional focus on system administration is what makes the cPAddons system unique.

BrandingWe encourage you to brand our software as you wish. Feel free to simply replace our logo, or completely transform the appearance of the software. The branding capabilities of cPanel are extensive.

The cPanel Branding Editor, built into our software, allows you to easily make use of all of these branding capabilities.

The Branding Editor is simple enough to allow you to perform some basic branding in under 5 minutes, but sophisticated

enough to allow you to transform the cPanel interface to be consistent with your hosting websites design.

Below is a comparison between our default branding and a custom branding style, illustrating how significantly you can

customize the cPanel interface:



Customer Contact PagescPanel also makes it easy for resellers to enter their contact information into the control panel. This makes the resellers information available to website owners, who can then swiftly find someone to assist them. This can also be integrated

with most ticket system software.

Web Template EditorUsing the Web Template Editor, resellers can customize several web pages that display when visitors access their

customers sites. This includes the Account Suspended page and the interstitial page displayed when cPanel is detecting

whether the software needs to work behind a firewall, the page displayed when an account has moved, and the default

page displayed when the resellers IP address is typed directly into the web browser.

By using custom nameservers, custom default pages via the skeleton directory feature, and custom contact pages, a

reseller can provide a fully branded experience to her customers, never hinting that shes actually just a reseller.



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Resellers

Resellers - users who purchase server resources and then resell them to website owners - are an important market for

many hosting companies. As a result, we designed our software with the ability to create reseller accounts. These resellers can then create and manage accounts via the WHM interface. While resellers can manage the accounts they create, they cannot manage accounts they do not own.

In the general context of cPanel/WHM, reseller users can have as much or as little control over the server as the server administrator desires. In fact, some reseller accounts are allocated to users who are not actual resellers. For example,

a system administrator may grant reseller access to a junior system administrator so that the junior system administrator can perform basic server maintenance tasks. This goes beyond the privileges one would normally grant a reseller user, but stops short of full root access.

WHM does have the ability to grant multiple resellers root-level access. This does not grant them root access to the

servers command line, but does give them access to all the functionality of cPanel & WHM. This option is typically only recommended for system administrators. You should not grant this feature to customers or resellers customers.

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Software ModulesSoftware Modules



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Our Software Modules extend the functionality offered by cPanel & WHM. You can learn more about these at: http://

cpanel.net/products/cpanelwhm/related-server-software.html

cPanel DNS ONLY cPanel DNS ONLY is designed to work in conjunction with existing

cPanel & WHM servers. Servers running cPanel DNS ONLY will

participate in a DNS cluster with other cPanel DNS ONLY and

cPanel/WHM servers. This increases nameserver uptime and prevents outages caused by a single point of failure.

cPanel GS (cPGS)cPanel Game Server allows a cPanel hosting provider to host

game servers in conjunction with a cPanel & WHM environment. Game servers may be hosted on a server separate from the

primary cPanel & WHM server. This allows the cPanel & WHM server to serve web pages while the game server powers hours of fun for your clients.



Customizing cPanel Software



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In a cPanel & WHM environment, regular website owners, resellers, and root users all have access to the APIs. However, as with the cPanel & WHM interfaces, users are limited to permissions granted to them. For example, since a regular website owner cannot create additional cPanel accounts, they are also unable to do so via the APIs.

Our integration team has assembled software development kids (SDKs) in PHP and Perl to assist with the process of

integrating existing systems with cPanel & WHM. Our developers have handled the technical details for integration, so your developers can focus on customizing our software to meet your needs.

Our staff is glad to assist with using our APIs and understanding how you can extend cPanel & WHM functionality. For

more information about our APIs, please visit http://sdk.cPanel.net.

cPanel Is FlexibleWith our APIs, you can trigger actions from outside our software, even remotely. Additionally, you can add custom functionality to cPanel or WHM, customize the appearance of cPanel software, add custom icons and icon groups to

the cPanel interface, and even create your own cPanel API functions. cPanel is so flexible you can modify the actual

functionality of cPanel features, such as the process of creating an email address. You can also trigger actions to take place after a server action takes place (e.g. MySQL updates).

cPanel Has an Active Developer CommunityThere is a large and active developer community surrounding cPanel software. As a result, if you are seeking to add functionality to our software, check to see whether someone else has already done so. This can help conserve your companys developer resources for other projects, Many developers promote their software on our Apps and Plugins for cPanel forum. You can find our community forums at: http://forums.cPanel.net.



Fore MoreInformation



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Detailed information about all of the capabilities mentioned in this document is available at our

documentation website: http://docs.cPanel.net. If you cannot find the information you need, please

contact our sales team.

The cPanel sales team is available via email at [email protected]. Also, the cPanel sales team can be contacted via phone at: +1 (570) 606-4795.

To keep up to date about new features, please visit the News section of our website and use the email

sign-up form to receive updates. We will notify you of important information, including when release notes for new versions

of cPanel become available.

cPanel development is guided by you, our user community. If you would like new functionality for any cPanel product, please visit our community forums at http://forums.cPanel.net and post in the appropriate Feature Requests forum.

V101712. cPanel, WebHost Manager and WHM are registered trademarks of cPanel, Inc. 2012. All rights reserved.

cPanel Introduction to the Capabilities of cPanel y WHM.pdf

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