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Web hosting articles
What is a Control
Panel?
A
control
panel
allows
the web
site
owner to
administer
a web
site.
There
are many
different
control
panels
available,
among
the more
common
are
cPanel,
xPanel,
vDeck
and
Plesk.
All use
a
graphical
user
interface,
which
makes
administration
simple,
even for
inexperienced
users.
The
control
panel is
accessed
through
the
users’
web
browser
of
choice.
The
various
forms of
control
panels
that are
available
differ
in some
ways,
but all
will
allow
the web
site
host to
perform
the
basic
tasks
needed
to set
up and
administer
the web
site.
During
set-up,
a
control
panel
will
help the
host in
establishing
the
various
email
accounts
that are
needed
and
setting
up any
FTP
accounts
that may
be
needed.
When
setting
up email
you will
often be
given
the
chance
to set
up any
auto-responders
or email
forwarding
that you
may
require.
If the
site
will be
using
any
server-side
scripting,
such as
PHP or
Perl,
then
this too
can be
done at
this
time
using
the
control
panel.
For
on-going
administration
of the
web
site,
the
control
panel
will
allow
the host
to do
many
things.
Most
control
panels
will
show
details
of disk
space
and
bandwidth
used;
allowing
the host
to
ensure
the site
is not
exceeding
the
limits
of the
web
hosting
plan
currently
used.
There
will
also be
access
to
statistics
that
show the
number
of
visitors
to the
site,
the
pages
they
visited,
and the
time
they
spent on
the
site.
This
helps to
identify
which
parts of
the site
are more
popular,
allowing
the host
to
modify
any
pages if
desired.
The host
will
also be
able to
see how
the
visitor
came to
the
site,
making
it
easier
to
target
any
search
engine
optimization
that may
be
needed.
Any
errors
encountered
by the
visitor
will
also be
logged,
enabling
the host
to fix
any
broken
links
that may
exist.
Other
tasks
that the
control
panel
may
offer
are
database
management,
the
ability
to
create
or
manage
sub-domains,
to
set-up
redirections
for
URLs, or
to set
different
levels
of
security
for
different
parts of
the
site.
One
important
task
that the
control
panel
should
allow is
the
ability
to
back-up
the
site.
If the
web site
is going
to be on
a shared
server,
then the
web host
will
have to
use the
control
panel
that the
hosting
company
uses. If
the
particular
control
panel
supplied
does not
suit the
user,
then the
only
option
really
is to
change
to a
different
hosting
company.
Those
users
who are
intending
to run a
dedicated
server,
or a
co-located
server
will be
able to
choose
the
control
panel
that
suits
their
needs
best. It
would be
advisable,
if
unfamiliar
with the
many
different
choices
available,
for the
user to
take the
time to
research
what is
available
to see
with
which
they
would
feel
most
comfortable. |