Other control panels? - Dedicated Server Hosting | VPS Hosting

centelo · #1 (**permalink**) 02-21-09, 23:01

What is the best control panel (if you over more than one).....I have never played much with a VPS so I am wondering what some options would be. I think I need a new play toy.

carl · #2 (**permalink**) 02-22-09, 14:57

WHM/cpanel is one of the best control panel. WHM/cPanel allows you to control every aspect of your web hosting easily.

RichardM · #3 (**permalink**) 02-23-09, 00:20

I personally prefer cPanel / WHM, but that's probably because it's what I'm used to. I'm told that Plesk offers most of the same functions, but I'm basically lazy and can't be bothered learning a new control panel.

You should be aware that accessing WHM as root, although necessary at times, provides provides plenty of ways to tweak (and break) your VPS. Between WHM and VZ, you can learn a great deal about how to hose a Linux server. Don't ask me how I know.

I'm a lot more knowledgeable these days; but years ago, after totally hosing a VPS at another provider, I created a reseller account for myself that allowed me to do most of what I needed to do on a day-to-day basis (create accounts, check stats, etc.), and only logged in as root when I needed to make system changes.

Nowadays, I do pretty much everything as root; but I'm more knowledgeable than I once was, less prone to playing with things I don't fully understand, and more careful about making backups before doing things that might break my VPS. Typically I use VZ to make a backup and make my changes in the middle of the night. This gives me ample time to restore from backup if need be.

-Rich

carl owen · #4 (**permalink**) 02-23-09, 13:02

Personally, I prefer cPanel/WHM control panel as I am used to it and I find it quite convenient. However, Plesk is also a very good control panel and has almost all the features of cPanel/WHM. These are the 2 control panels I have used and according to me, these are the best and most preferred control panels.

bill mates · #5 (**permalink**) 02-23-09, 15:39

I have chosen HELM over Plesk a year ago for our control panel and I am very satisfied with it.

Shane Phillips · #6 (**permalink**) 02-27-09, 08:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by bill mates

I have chosen HELM over Plesk a year ago for our control panel and I am very satisfied with it.

Ok, can you please explain why Helm is better than Plesk ?

Regards,

Shane Phillips

carl owen · #7 (**permalink**) 02-27-09, 14:07

Yes, we would definitely like to know the reason you prefer HELM over Plesk control panel ? Did you find it more stable or the features of HELM are more than what are offered with Plesk ?

Lazlo90 · #8 (**permalink**) 02-27-09, 14:29

WHM is definitely great if you plan to resell hosting, as for Helm, I'm not too familiar with it but according to their website it was last updated sometime in Nov. 2008, whereas CPanel/WHM was updated more recently.

However, it could be that there's no need to update Helm, but I'm sure that they could still have added something to it..

bluetrance05 · #9 (**permalink**) 03-12-09, 06:09

I still stick to cPanel control panel since it's been a year that I got used to organizing the files in my root folder, uploading and downloading them in the local and remote site. I might switch from cPanel to Plesk one of these days.

Amelia · #10 (**permalink**) 03-12-09, 06:59

I would personally recommend cPanel /WHM. It is one of the leading control panels and very user friendly. Great for beginners!

carl owen · #11 (**permalink**) 03-12-09, 10:56

Agreed. cPanel has been preferred and should be as it is really very easy to use and also has lots of features which will be very useful for you whether you are a beginner or a professional. However, you can also try other control panels if you have mastered cPanel.

centelo · #12 (**permalink**) 03-12-09, 13:06

I am great with cPanel as most are, WHM I am pretty decent with and if needed I can research when I am "lost". Plesk the only thing I really heard was from someone not willing to try and learn and he said he was horrid, but I do not fully believe that. HELM I heard many things (insert any word that would be censored here) but I never saw Proof, so maybe some others could chime in on this if you have used it before.

JeremyWJ · #13 (**permalink**) 05-13-09, 22:28

I personally like, and can recommend webmin.

Webmin, along with its plugin virtualmin, is a very powerful control panel. It is a little harder to get accustom to where everything is in webmin/virtualmin, but once you do, you will find that its on the same level as cpanel.

Oh, and its free.

Amelia · #14 (**permalink**) 05-14-09, 03:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by JeremyWJ

I personally like, and can recommend webmin.

Webmin, along with its plugin virtualmin, is a very powerful control panel. It is a little harder to get accustom to where everything is in webmin/virtualmin, but once you do, you will find that its on the same level as cpanel.

Oh, and its free.

Hi Jeremy, thank you for your feedback. If you could shed some light on their support, that would be great.

JeremyWJ · #15 (**permalink**) 05-14-09, 10:34

Well, webmin and virtualmin GPL are both opensource. So support is basically the community.

I guess users need to weigh the benefits/downfalls of it being free but with no official support.

There is a "pro" version of Virtualmin however. This one does cost money, and comes with support.

Here is a demo of virtualmin pro, this is basically the same thing as the opensource version, so you could use this to judge either version.

ht tp://www.virtualmin.com/demo.html

Additional Note: I have used servers with DirectAdmin, Plesk, and Cpanel, and Webmin (with virtualmin) in the past. I love Webmin, in fact its all I use these days. It can do basically everything. It has Account plans like the others, the ability to restrict users on basically every level. It is extend-able with 3rd party plugins (modules). You can configure every aspect of the server within it, from MySQL, Apache, PHP, FTP, Sendmail (or any other SMTP server), configure your network cards, configure what starts on boot. You can install packages (yum, rpm) through it. Basically everything on the server can be controlled via webmin/virtualmin. There is actually a 3rd leg to this thing also. Its called Usermin, which is basically a very limited control panel you can give your users in which they can view their email, change their passwords, and other minor stuff like that.

I actually think Bodhost should consider adding Webmin/virtualmin as an option for a control panel (although it can easily be installed by the user). Being free, I think it would benefit a lot of customers.

I have never used webmin/virtualmin on windows however and I believe its somewhat limited in what it can do in a windows environment. Its very powerful in the linux world however.

Amelia · #16 (**permalink**) 05-15-09, 02:21

Thank you for that informative post Jeremy. This will certainly help us to gain more knowledge about Webmin.

iamsam · #17 (**permalink**) 05-30-09, 09:11

I like the suggestion of adding Webmin as a control panel option. I haven't played around with as often as I probably should (since it's not ideal if you plan to resell hosting), but it's quite a robust control panel. In fact, I'd compare it favorably to some of the leading commercial panels, like cPanel or Plesk.

Speaking of other control panels, while I have more experience with cPanel, I actually like DirectAdmin better. DirectAdmin's interface appeals to the minimalist in me, and I like how it's light on resources yet can do practically anything cPanel can. What I don't like about DA and cPanel is how addon domains are handled (in sub-folders of the main account? really!) and the lack of a decent clustering capability. For that reason, I much prefer using Plesk or H-Sphere for personal sites.

By the way, has anyone tried out the Interworx control panel? The demo at the developer's site looks really sweet, and I hear it has clustering capability.

markrd · #18 (**permalink**) 05-31-09, 07:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by iamsam

I like the suggestion of adding Webmin as a control panel option. I haven't played around with as often as I probably should (since it's not ideal if you plan to resell hosting), but it's quite a robust control panel. In fact, I'd compare it favorably to some of the leading commercial panels, like cPanel or Plesk.

Speaking of other control panels, while I have more experience with cPanel, I actually like DirectAdmin better. DirectAdmin's interface appeals to the minimalist in me, and I like how it's light on resources yet can do practically anything cPanel can. What I don't like about DA and cPanel is how addon domains are handled (in sub-folders of the main account? really!) and the lack of a decent clustering capability. For that reason, I much prefer using Plesk or H-Sphere for personal sites.

By the way, has anyone tried out the Interworx control panel? The demo at the developer's site looks really sweet, and I hear it has clustering capability.

I haven't tried Interworx yet, but I did look at the demo. It looks pretty awesome if you ask me. But, I guess for now I'll just stick with the commercial cp I have at this time.

lucy2u · #19 (**permalink**) 06-08-09, 09:11

So, from what I can gather from reading all of this is that Cpanel is the backend of your hosting where you can control most of your site.

RichardM · #20 (**permalink**) 06-08-09, 09:31

Pretty much, at least with respect to functions that cPanel covers. For managing routine aspects of multiple sites, it's just more convenient to log into WHM and move through the work.

For other things (for example, installation of software not supported by cPanel), it's SSH to a terminal. A lot of times I also use a command-line terminal if I'm just performing a single task, rather than managing multiple sites.