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Sanket Barot
A company that provides web hosting services is called a web host, and their hosting plans provide data storage, connectivity, email, etc., everything needed to run a website. There are thousands of web hosting services, ranging from individuals to worldwide corporations, and many web hosts offer multiple web hosting plans to accommodate different size websites. Every Web host provides a Control panel that allows you to manage your hosting plan and website. A control panel is like the brain behind your Web site’s body. It gives you one place to look at to do everything you would ever need to do to your Web hosting account. You can create E-mail accounts, create FTP accounts, track statistical information and so much more.
Did you know that there are different types of control panels though? I do not think anybody can argue with the fact that the most used control panel software out there today is cPanel. There are other options out there, though. Some might be better, some might be worse depending on your needs. You cannot judge the quality of your Web host by the control panel alone, but it is an important piece to the web hosting Business.
Here are some of the most popular web hosting control panels
cPanel
The folks at the cPanel Web site say, "cPanel is designed for the end users of your system and allows them to control everything from adding / removing email accounts to administering MySQL databases." The fact of the matter is that they do that and so much more. Most often used on Linux based systems, cPanel provides support for over ten different flavors of Linux. There is no Windows or OSX versions yet. Their interface is clean, with more options and features than you could shake a stick at. It is easy to see why they are the number one control panel used today because of its many features and inexpensive price. It usually costs a hosting company $20/month per server. They do have several competitors chomping at the bit to take their space on the top of the mountain. cPanel used to have a demo control panel up for folks to test drive, however I could not find a trace of it on the cPanel Web site anymore.
Plesk
Plesk is available for both Linux and Windows Web hosting servers. This alone gives them a little advantage over cPanel. Their interface looks much like Windows XP. You have all the soft colors and big icons that you would ever need. I have to give them credit though, because it does look great. They have all the basic features that cPanel has as well. It is a more professional but also more expensive. Unlike cPanel, since it provides a Windows version, it is a nice option for hosts that offer both Windows and Linux hosting plans. Plesk also has other applications that integrate well into it like a website builder tool.
H-Sphere
Created by Positive Software, H-Sphere is yet another excellent control panel that you see web hosts use. It too provides support for Windows and Linux based machines. From complete automation to key functionalities, it has many features. Compared with Plesk and cPanel, though, it leaves you with wanting a little more. Perhaps in the next few versions it will be able to catch up. It is used fairly widely by Windows based hosts but is not as popular as Plesk.
Ensim
Ensim is yet another control panel that provides support for Windows and Linux alike. They say that it is for the management of any type of Web site. The interface is pretty enough, but it comes a little short compared with the options in some other clients.
DirectAdmin
DirectAdmin claims to be the control panel that is the easiest to use. They do have many features that the other control panels boast about. It appears though that they only support a few flavors of Linux and not Windows. The interface is very clean and organized, but lacks when it comes to some of the extra features that cPanel or Plesk could provide. It is a little less expensive then cPanel at usually $10/month.
Interworx
Interworx is another Linux only control panel. There is nothing wrong with this, because there are many more Linux based Web hosting servers out there today, Linux only control panels exclude all Windows hosting customers as potential customers. Just by looking through their Web master level features, I would say they deserve to be ranked at the top. One thing that I really like from them is their site usage snapshot. It gives you a chart to look at, right off the bat to see your upstreams and downstreams. The interface is clean, and everything is organized well.
Helm
Now we have seen a lot of different Linux only control panels, but what about a Windows only one? That is one thing that Helm provides to the end consumer. There are many customer features to go on and on about, but how does it feel once you get on the inside? It has the standard pretty interface, nothing new there. These control panels are built to be used over and over, so they have to be easy on the eyes. One thing that did get my attention is the ability to see your billing information inside the control panel. That is very nice indeed. Most control panels do not integrate in billing features. Hsphereis another one that does.
Hosting Accelerator
Hosting Accelerator is another Windows Web hosting server control panel. The end user features are very standard, and lacks of any shock and awe you might have seen with other clients out there. The interface on this control panel though is very busy. It looks as if they did not spend a lot of time laying out and organizing the functionality. Seeing how much stuff you can shove in front of may face is not a good way to make a first impression. For a geek, this might be nice. For somebody new to Web hosting though, this is a little overwhelming.
InsPanel
Yet another windows only web hosting server control panel. InsPanel hopes to offer a new look at the idea. There are many features to be listed, but none of them stick out. The control panel is well organized, with everything in it's place. An average product, but remember there is nothing wrong with that. It is not that widely used so finding expertise on itmight be hard.
CWIPanel
CWIPanel has a message on their front page saying that you can "unleash the power of your Windows server!" Now can you really? Let us have a look. The list of features look much like the other Windows only control panels. However they did not have a control panel demo for me to look at, so there really is not much else to be said. From what I've seen though they look to be about average as it goes for Windows server management. And like the last couple of products their market share is small.
The basic features and functions of a control panel that are standard are listed below. When evaluating any control panel this should be a set of features to examine.
* Mail Manager
* Parked Domains
* Addon Domains
* FTP Manager
* File Manager
* Disk Usage
* Backup
* Password Protect Directories
* Subdomain
* MySQL Database Manager
* PostgreSQL Database Manager
* MS SQL Manager(Windows only)
* Redirects
* Frontpage Extensions
* Web/FTP Stats
* Raw Access Logs
* Raw Log Manager
* Error Log
* Subdomain Stats
* CGI Center
* Cron Jobs
* Network Tools
* MIME Types
* Hot Link Protection
* Index Manager
* IP Deny manager
* SSL Manager
* Fantastico(Linux only. This is a set of free scripts or programs you can use to add common functionality to your website.)
In the end, I believe that cPanel is the best control panel out there today still. It is the most basic and user friendly control pane. For Windows hosting, I would pick Helm as my favorite.
Without control panels we would still be doing all these things with Linux commands and paper clips. As the operating system made life with a computer easier, the control panel makes life with a Web hosting account a more pleasant experience.
There are many factors that play into purchasing a Web hosting account, but Web hosting company is only as good as the control panel behind it. By looking at these above examples, you should be able to judge which ones might offer you the best results.
Did you know that there are different types of control panels though? I do not think anybody can argue with the fact that the most used control panel software out there today is cPanel. There are other options out there, though. Some might be better, some might be worse depending on your needs. You cannot judge the quality of your Web host by the control panel alone, but it is an important piece to the web hosting Business.
Here are some of the most popular web hosting control panels
cPanel
The folks at the cPanel Web site say, "cPanel is designed for the end users of your system and allows them to control everything from adding / removing email accounts to administering MySQL databases." The fact of the matter is that they do that and so much more. Most often used on Linux based systems, cPanel provides support for over ten different flavors of Linux. There is no Windows or OSX versions yet. Their interface is clean, with more options and features than you could shake a stick at. It is easy to see why they are the number one control panel used today because of its many features and inexpensive price. It usually costs a hosting company $20/month per server. They do have several competitors chomping at the bit to take their space on the top of the mountain. cPanel used to have a demo control panel up for folks to test drive, however I could not find a trace of it on the cPanel Web site anymore.
Plesk
Plesk is available for both Linux and Windows Web hosting servers. This alone gives them a little advantage over cPanel. Their interface looks much like Windows XP. You have all the soft colors and big icons that you would ever need. I have to give them credit though, because it does look great. They have all the basic features that cPanel has as well. It is a more professional but also more expensive. Unlike cPanel, since it provides a Windows version, it is a nice option for hosts that offer both Windows and Linux hosting plans. Plesk also has other applications that integrate well into it like a website builder tool.
H-Sphere
Created by Positive Software, H-Sphere is yet another excellent control panel that you see web hosts use. It too provides support for Windows and Linux based machines. From complete automation to key functionalities, it has many features. Compared with Plesk and cPanel, though, it leaves you with wanting a little more. Perhaps in the next few versions it will be able to catch up. It is used fairly widely by Windows based hosts but is not as popular as Plesk.
Ensim
Ensim is yet another control panel that provides support for Windows and Linux alike. They say that it is for the management of any type of Web site. The interface is pretty enough, but it comes a little short compared with the options in some other clients.
DirectAdmin
DirectAdmin claims to be the control panel that is the easiest to use. They do have many features that the other control panels boast about. It appears though that they only support a few flavors of Linux and not Windows. The interface is very clean and organized, but lacks when it comes to some of the extra features that cPanel or Plesk could provide. It is a little less expensive then cPanel at usually $10/month.
Interworx
Interworx is another Linux only control panel. There is nothing wrong with this, because there are many more Linux based Web hosting servers out there today, Linux only control panels exclude all Windows hosting customers as potential customers. Just by looking through their Web master level features, I would say they deserve to be ranked at the top. One thing that I really like from them is their site usage snapshot. It gives you a chart to look at, right off the bat to see your upstreams and downstreams. The interface is clean, and everything is organized well.
Helm
Now we have seen a lot of different Linux only control panels, but what about a Windows only one? That is one thing that Helm provides to the end consumer. There are many customer features to go on and on about, but how does it feel once you get on the inside? It has the standard pretty interface, nothing new there. These control panels are built to be used over and over, so they have to be easy on the eyes. One thing that did get my attention is the ability to see your billing information inside the control panel. That is very nice indeed. Most control panels do not integrate in billing features. Hsphereis another one that does.
Hosting Accelerator
Hosting Accelerator is another Windows Web hosting server control panel. The end user features are very standard, and lacks of any shock and awe you might have seen with other clients out there. The interface on this control panel though is very busy. It looks as if they did not spend a lot of time laying out and organizing the functionality. Seeing how much stuff you can shove in front of may face is not a good way to make a first impression. For a geek, this might be nice. For somebody new to Web hosting though, this is a little overwhelming.
InsPanel
Yet another windows only web hosting server control panel. InsPanel hopes to offer a new look at the idea. There are many features to be listed, but none of them stick out. The control panel is well organized, with everything in it's place. An average product, but remember there is nothing wrong with that. It is not that widely used so finding expertise on itmight be hard.
CWIPanel
CWIPanel has a message on their front page saying that you can "unleash the power of your Windows server!" Now can you really? Let us have a look. The list of features look much like the other Windows only control panels. However they did not have a control panel demo for me to look at, so there really is not much else to be said. From what I've seen though they look to be about average as it goes for Windows server management. And like the last couple of products their market share is small.
The basic features and functions of a control panel that are standard are listed below. When evaluating any control panel this should be a set of features to examine.
* Mail Manager
* Parked Domains
* Addon Domains
* FTP Manager
* File Manager
* Disk Usage
* Backup
* Password Protect Directories
* Subdomain
* MySQL Database Manager
* PostgreSQL Database Manager
* MS SQL Manager(Windows only)
* Redirects
* Frontpage Extensions
* Web/FTP Stats
* Raw Access Logs
* Raw Log Manager
* Error Log
* Subdomain Stats
* CGI Center
* Cron Jobs
* Network Tools
* MIME Types
* Hot Link Protection
* Index Manager
* IP Deny manager
* SSL Manager
* Fantastico(Linux only. This is a set of free scripts or programs you can use to add common functionality to your website.)
In the end, I believe that cPanel is the best control panel out there today still. It is the most basic and user friendly control pane. For Windows hosting, I would pick Helm as my favorite.
Without control panels we would still be doing all these things with Linux commands and paper clips. As the operating system made life with a computer easier, the control panel makes life with a Web hosting account a more pleasant experience.
There are many factors that play into purchasing a Web hosting account, but Web hosting company is only as good as the control panel behind it. By looking at these above examples, you should be able to judge which ones might offer you the best results.
Rodney Ringler is President of Advantage1 Web Services, Inc., which owns a network of Web Hosting Informational Websites including HostChart.com, ResellerConnection.com, FoundHost.com,ResellerForums.com, and [url=http://www.hostingknowledge.net]HostingKnowledge.net[url]. Rodney has over 15 years industry experience from programming to internet marketing.
Article Source:http://www.site-reference.com/articles/General/Different-Types-of-Control-Panel-for-Web-Hosting.html
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