How to get the most out of the Web hosting world’s indespensible toolkit

by Matthew Forsythe

Synopsis: cPanel (short for control panel) is a web-hosting tool-kit that allows users to manage their domains, databases, email addresses, and much more from an easy to use web interface. This article is an overview of some of the basic and advanced features of cPanel.

Last week, I got a call from a client asking me to set up a bunch of email addresses on her account. No Problem. I phoned up her Web hosting company and asked where I could find cPanel in her server space. cPanel (short for control panel) is a proprietary web-hosting tool-kit that allows users to manage their domains, databases, email addresses, and much more without a single call to customer support. It also allows Web hosts to get on with more important things – like server maintenance – while leaving menial tasks like setting up email addresses to webmasters.

So I was astonished when I heard the customer service representative tell me that there was no control panel installed, but she’d be happy to help if I just told her what I needed. What I needed was cPanel. What if I wanted to create a database or file a statistical report on site usage in the middle of the night? Like most Web developers, my office hours often start when the sun goes down. How can the telephone help me then? I consulted with my client and we promptly moved to another Web hosting company. The new company had cPanel installed, so now I can breathe easy again.

The cPanel Interface

It provides almost limitless tools for web hosting consumers to manage their server space - but its features are not always intuitive or easy to find.

For webmasters, cPanel is an umbilical chord to their server space. But the customizable nature of cPanel also makes it a little unreliable. Not everything offered in the cPanel buffet is guaranteed to satisfy, which makes navigating its precious little icons a bit of a minefield.

This article covers some of the basics of cPanel, like managing domains, setting up databases, and organizing your email, but it also strives to reveal some of the finer points of the toolkit, such as password protection, image management, and a quick guide to understanding your Web/FTP stats.

The Basics

Managing a Domain

If you’re using cPanel, then you’ve already set up your first domain. But what if you want to add a subdomain to your domain (e.g. http://swiss.cheese.ca - “swiss” is a subdomain of “cheese.com”) or even redirect users to an entirely different site from a certain directory? cPanel allows users to do all this stuff, without filing those annoying technical support requests.

Creating Subdomains

1. The first step to setting up a subdomain is to create a directory that will hold all of the subdomain’s information. Create a directory called “swiss” in your root directory (e.g. http://www.cheese.com/swiss). You can do this quickly in cPanel’s File Manager utility.

2. Now we need to set up the subdomain, swiss.cheese.com, and point it to the directory we created above. Click on the Subdomains utility in cPanel. Type your new subdomain (“swiss”) and click “Add.”

3. Finally, select your subdomain from the drop down menu below and click Setup Redirection. Set your new subdomain (swiss.cheese.com) to redirect to your new directory, http://www.cheese.com/swiss) and Bob’s your uncle.

Here’s an example of a subdomain I created for a web-comic I do at ojingogo.comingupforair.net

Redirects