Finding the Best Hosting Control Panel
Thursday, August 21st, 2008
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 are a number of different control panels available in the market. These include Cpanel which is among the most popular, Hostopia, Sphera, Ensim, VDeck, NextGenCP etc. They all differ in their look and feel as well as functions. Web hosts usually have their own control panel preferences, which depend upon the platforms they use. The control panels are selected according to their features and ability to perform on a particular platform.
These are features you need on a control panel:
Mail Manager
Cron Jobs
Addon Domains
FTP Manager
Hot Link Protection
Index Manager
FTP Manager
Backup
Parked Domains
Addon Domains
PostgreSQL Database Manager
Subdomain
MS SQL Manager(Windows only)
Redirects
Password Protect Directories
Raw Access Logs
Raw Log Manager
PostgreSQL Database Manager
Subdomain Stats
CGI Center
CGI Center
Cron Jobs
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.
cPanel has a whole range of functions and provides much more than the majority of control panels. The amount of functions offered is a key reason why it is so popular, that and it is cheap.
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:
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 features a number of options that other control panels do not have. However it comes out lacking, when compared to features available with cPanel or Plesk. Furthermore DirectAdmin does not support Windows based platforms, and only supports a few flavors of Linux. On the plus side, it is cheaper than cPanel.
Ensim
Ensim is also available for Windows as well as Linux. It has an adequate interface but lacks in 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
Hosting accelerator supports only Windows Web hosting servers. Its interface is not well organized and appears crowded with options which may overwhelm inexperienced users.
Helm
A key feature of Helm is the ability to view bills within the control panel but it is only available on Windows.
CWIPanel
There is not a lot to be said for CWIPanel except it offers Windows support and is quite average.
InsPanel
This control panel has also been made only for windows based web hosting server. This is an average product with standard features.
Among the above mentioned control panels, cPanel usually ends up as the favored choice due to its range of features, ease of and affordability.
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.
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.
Features contained within NextGenCP:
Control of Domain:
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:
NextGenCP provides everything you need to manage your own website database in just a few clicks of the mouse. All of the management of the database is controlled by phpMyAdmin and Database Backup Manager provides the management of data.
Accounts for mail:
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.
Use tools to improve your site:
There are numerous tools for this product, all of them aiding the management of a site. Some of the tools include IP Access Manager, Hotlink Protection and Script Installer.
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.
Feel the benefit of the 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.
All of the above features have contributed to making NextGenCP, one of the best control panels for web site hosting available in the market. And Pandela.com is not resting on this achievement, but moving on to make NextGenCP even better, with every passing day.