Hosting Control Panels: A Web Host Comparison
August 22nd, 2008 by Adam
Your web host will offer you a control panel. But you can probably guess by the name, but a control panel helps you to manage your website. It keeps all the functions a user may need in one handy place which makes it easier for them. These tools can conclude traffic information statistics, FTP accounts, e-mail account provision, the ability to add sub-domains, file management and much more.
There is a white variety of control panels available. cPanel is the most popular but others include NextGenCp, VDeck, Ensim, Sphera or Hostopia. Each panel is different and offer many tools and functions peculiar to their own product. The panel you receive may depend upon which platform you our web host uses. Factors for changing a control panel includes what features they have and how do they perform on a specific platform.
Basic features that you can expect to find in a control panel are as follows:
- Parked Domains
- Parked Domains
- Addon Domains
- Error Log
- File Manager
- Disk Usage
- SSL Manager
- Mail Manager
- File Manager
- MySQL Database Manager
- PostgreSQL Database Manager
- Subdomain
- MS SQL Manager(Windows only)
- Backup
- Index Manager
- Subdomain
- Raw Log Manager
- Error Log
- Subdomain Stats
- CGI Center
- CGI Center
- Web/FTP Stats
- Web/FTP Stats
- Hot Link Protection
- Hot Link Protection
- IP Deny manager
There are issues that separate control panels, and one is how it easy the panel is to use. A panel like Plesk may offer simple and friendly tools and options whereas cPanel offers many functions. To ensure you make the right choice of control panel, you need to know what is available. You can find out more by studying the following:
cPanel:
Linux based systems is where cPanel is mainly found. It can offer assistance for over 10 types of Linux the and at the moment does not cater to Windows or OSX. cPanel is helpful in controlling everything your site needs including MySQL database to email issues and much more beside.
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:
Plex is available for Linux and Windows web hosting servers where cPanel is not. Many users find it helpful that Plex has an interface similar to Windows XP. The control panel looks good and offers many features available in cPanel. It can enable any user to build their own site with easy to sue tool. It offers many features but it may be viewed as more expensive than other products, especially cPanel.
H-Sphere:
Of all the control panels available, H-Sphere is extremely popular and can be used with Windows and Linux. There are many functions offered by H-Sphere although it pales in comparison to Plesk or cPanel.
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
Available for Windows and Linux, Ensim doesn’t have a lot of features but it has an interface that is adequate.
Interworx
Interworx is purely for Linux web hosts but it has a simple interface and features like usage snapshot which are impressive.
Hosting Accelarator
Only available on Windows web hosting servers, Hosting Accelerator is not recommended for novices as it has a crowded interface that may be confusing.
Helm
This is another Windows only web host server and this offers the ability to view billing details from within the control panel.
CWIPanel
CQIPanel is available for Windows and has no real exciting features.
InsPanel
Again, InsPanel is Windwos based and has little to stand itself out from the crowd.
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.
However, there are new control panels emerging all the time and NextGenCP looks very impressive. It may have been developed over a number of years but it appears to be worth the wait.
The most up to date internet technologies have assisted the creation of NextGenCP. It is a speedy and simple product that is perfect for web hosts. The quality of the service is shown by the fact that beginners can get to grips with it very easily. The design of NextGenCP is so strong that all features can be found within three clicks of the mouse. Do not be fooled by this simplicity though as there is a whole range of features available. And if this wasn’t enough, Pandela.com has said that if any user can think of any feature that isn’t included in the current model, it will be implemented in the next version of NextGenCP.
These are some of the features you could use in NextGenCP:
Domain Control:
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.
Managing a Database:
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.
Mail Accounts:
It is easy for users to control and access their email accounts. An advanced SPAM filtering system is provided by Pandela.com and this will keep your inbox free of junk and unwanted emails. If this isn’t enough, there are also filters for the mail, assistance for accounts and other functions.
Use tools to improve your 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.
Statistics of the 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
Having full access to a support system is a great feature offered by NextGenCP. Anytime a user notices a problem, they have to submit a ticket and they will be offered assistance from a member of staff as quickly as possible. It usually takes no more than fifteen minutes to be responded to.
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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