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Friday, June 3, 2011

Hosting Control Panels: A Web Host Comparison

By Gregory Trune


Your web host provider will offer you a control panel and this will enable you to better manage your site. The control panel is where a user can look after their entire site and holds information on statistics, traffic, hosting functions, access to FTP, email account access, domain issues and the ability to manage files, amongst much more.

The current market has a great number of products to choose from but cPanel is the most popular. Other products include Hostopia, Ensim, VDeck, Sphera, and NextGenCP although there are countless more. Each site has its own individual techniques and style. Each host will have their own preferences with regards to control panel and their decision may be based on which platform they use. The decision about which panel to use is invariably based on price, features and compatibility with certain platforms.

These are features you need on a control panel:

CGI Center

Parked Domains

Network Tools

MIME Types

Hot Link Protection

Index Manager

Backup

Password Protect Directories

File Manager

MySQL Database Manager

PostgreSQL Database Manager

Subdomain

Redirects

Redirects

Password Protect Directories

Raw Access Logs

Raw Log Manager

Raw Access Logs

Raw Log Manager

Redirects

Frontpage Extensions

Cron Jobs

Web/FTP Stats

Network Tools

Hot Link Protection

SSL Manager

How easy a control panel is to use is a good way of noticing the difference between them. A panel such as Plesk is really simple to use whereas the functionality of cPanel is highly regarded. To make the best choice between these control panels, it helps to know the strengths and weaknesses of them. What follows is a brief overview of the control panels:

cPanel:

cPanel is very commonly used on Linux based systems, it provides support for more than 10 different flavors of Linux, and as of yet, it does not have a Windows or OSX based version. cPanel helps users in managing/controlling everything, from administering MySQL database to creating and deleting email accounts and much more.

The range of features and functions provided by cPanel is higher than many services available today and this diversity and price are key reasons in why cPanel is so popular.

Plesk:

One advantage that Plesk has over cPanel is that unlike the latter, it is available for Linux, as well as Windows Web hosting servers. Plesk's interface is also quite similar to Windows XP. It's a good looking control panel and has most of the basic features that are available in cPanel. It also has other applications like the web builder tool. With all its features, comes the price tag, that is, it is more expensive, specially when compared to cPanel

H-Sphere:

H-Sphere is also a popular control panel used by web hosts. Just like Plesk, it is also available for Windows, as well as Linux based web hosting servers. It offers a good range of features ranging from complete automation to key functionalities. However when compared with cPanel and Plesk it has less features.

DirectAdmin

DirectAdmin is unique as it offers many services other panels do not but it does lack some of the functions offered by the main panels. It has a limited range of support with only a few Linux versions and no Windows support but it is a cheap option.

Ensim

Ensim can be found on Linux and Windows and although it is useable it does not have many features.

Interworx

Interworx also caters only to Linux based Web hosting servers. It has got a clean and well-organized interface with some impressive features like the site usage snapshot.

Hosting Accelarator

This service is only for Windows and it can feel a bit cluttered which may overwhelm a number of users who are new to this style or technique.

Helm

A key feature of Helm is the ability to view bills within the control panel but it is only available on Windows.

CWIPanel

The CWIPanel aims for Windows server management. It is an average product.

InsPanel

This control panel has also been made only for windows based web hosting server. This is an average product with standard features.

There are a lot of control panels to choose from but cPanel usually ends up on top due to its price, features and ease of use.

There have been recent developments in control panels and Pandela.com have developed the NextGenCP control panel. It has been a few years in the making but it looks very good.

NextGenCP has been developed with the help of the latest internet technologies. It has a fast and easy to use environment which has been specially built for web hosting clients. It has been designed so well, that even novices can get a hang of it in relatively less time. In fact Pandela.com claims that you can carry out any function with a maximum of three clicks of your mouse. However its simplicity is deceptive, as it hides a powerful range of features, which would be able to manage all web site requirements. At the same time Pandela.com has made an offer to its users, according to which, if they do not find a feature they need in the NextGenCP, then they just have to inform the developers at Pandela.com the needful will be done!

Features contained within NextGenCP:

Control of Domain:

All users have full control of any domain and sub-domain and the registration process is very simple. Users have full control over their domain as well as sub-domain. They can also register and host their own domain names easily and quickly.

Database Management:

This product makes it extremely simple to create and manage your very own database with just a few clicks of the mouse. phpMyAdmin provides the database management and the data is secured by Database Backup Manager.

Take control of the mail accounts:

NextGenCP can be used to add and manage mail accounts very efficiently. Pandela.com provides an advanced SPAM filtering system, that ensures that the users will not be bombarded with junk mails, or viruses. It also includes mail filters, helps in organizing the mail accounts, as well as filter unwanted mails.

Tools for the Site:

NextGenCP has plenty of tools, which make managing a web site very easy. Some of these tools are Script Installer, Hotlink Protection and IP Access Manager.

Find the statistics behind your site:

Site statistics options in NextGenCP, provides complete information about the visitors, and the amount of bandwidth/traffic consumed by the site and mail accounts on a daily basis.

Support System

Every user of this product will be granted full support assistance. By sending off a support ticket, the matter will be considered by a staff member very quickly. It is said that the average time for response is 15 minutes.

With so many impressive features, there is no doubt that NextGenCP looks one of the best web host control panels ever created. It is also good to hear that Pandela.com is promising to continually improve the service each and every day.




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