Hosting on cPanel WHM - What is cPanel | How to cPanel | Terminal Commands- A Beginner Friendly Guide

cPanel is a popular tool, used in website development and hosting. It serves as a user-friendly control panel, allowing people to easily manage their web hosting tasks without major technical expertise.

Consider it the steering wheel of a car, reducing the complicated aspects of web hosting to simple movements. The easy interface allows users to easily access hosting options, configure websites, and do other operations.

This application is especially useful for novices who want to easily handle their web hosting duties without having extensive technical knowledge. Throughout this blog, we will look at what is cPanel with whm, cPanel access, how to create cPanel email, what is cPanel ftp, cpanel alternatives, practical applications, and other useful information.

Why should we care about cPanel?

Mastering server knowledge is very much important whether you're a super developer or just starting out. It's the backbone of everything digital, the hero that ensures your brilliant code sees the light of day. Right?

Imagine this: you've developed your code. It's ready to present to the users. But hold on—where will it live? How will people access it securely and reliably? That's where server knowledge swoops in here.

Server knowledge isn't just about juggling technical jargon or memorizing commands. It's your passport to freedom, and powers you to choose where and how your applications thrive. You won't fear server issues because you'll know how to troubleshoot like a pro, turning challenges into victories.

Think about it. You could be fluent in multiple programming languages, but without server savvy, your digital journey hits roadblocks. It's like having a powerful car with no idea how to fuel it or stay on the roads.

So, whether you're deploying a web app, setting up an online store, or just hosting a personal blog, server knowledge is your compass. It guides you through the complexities, ensuring your online presence stands tall, secure, and always ready to shine.

It's not just a skill; it's your ticket to understand how software works. Don't just code—master your server skill.

cPanel Web Hosting - a brief

cPanel serves as the central position for controlling website operations, similar to the administrative access given by a whm - web host manager.

Within a website, cPanel provides vital capabilities including as file management, cPanel MySQL database administration, software installation, database querying or cPanel backup database, analytics, and more. It is a standard component of most shared hosting plans, providing simple management over web hosting duties.

What is cPanel used for?

cPanel hosting offers a Linux-based hosting solution. In this hosting setup, providers utilize cPanel and WHM to oversee server configurations and create individual cPanel accounts for their clients.

For example, a hosting company might use cPanle WHM login to handle server settings while simultaneously setting up multiple cPanel accounts, granting users direct control over their websites.

cPanel hosting serves as a bridge between users and the technical complexities of server management. Many website owners prefer this solution because it eliminates the need for extensive technical skills or hiring professional developers.

With cPanel, users can efficiently manage their website's data and operations without requiring deep coding knowledge.

How to access cPanel?

To access cPanel, you typically need the cPanel default login credentials given by your web hosting provider.

Direct URL: Your cPannel login url should be something like: https://yourdomain.com/cpanel or https://yourIPaddress:2083.

Username and Password: You will need your cPanel username and password for cPanel whm login. These are usually provided to you by your web hosting company when you sign up for hosting.

cPanel Domain - How to Create cPanel domain and subdomain?

You will need to log in to your cPanel first to access cPanel domain section.

On the search bar, search for "domain". You can also find the section labeled either "Domains" or "Domains" depending on the theme your hosting provider uses. It is always available on the dashboard.

Look for an option like cPanel "Addon Domains" or "Add Domain."

Enter the domain name you want to add in the blank field. cPanel will automatically fill in the "Subdomain/FTP Username" and "Document Root" fields based on your input. You may need to set a password or directory for FTP access. You can further use it for CI/CD purposes.

In cPanel Where are Database files stored?

cPanel normally stores database files in a directory on the server's disk. The precise location varies based on the server configuration and the version of cPanel being used.

You can also host a MongoDB database on a cPanel server, but it takes some additional configuration and considerations because cPanel is generally built to manage MySQL or MariaDB databases.

In cPanel Where to put Website Files - cPanel File Manager

In cPanel, file manager upload folder is used to put your website files. The location of your website files is determined by whether you manage a primary domain, an add-on domain, or a subdomain.

For Primary or Main Domain, when you log in to cPanel, you will find yourself in the home directory of your primary domain. You can upload your website files and folders directly into the public_html directory.

Add-on domains in cPanel are domains that can be hosted with your main account. Your cPanel account's home directory has a directory for each add-on domain. This directory is commonly named public_html/addondomain.com.

To make sure that your website files and folders are appropriately hosted, upload them directly to the directory associated with your add-on domain. This approach allows you to manage many domains from a single cPanel account while keeping their content distinct and accessible via their unique domain names on the web.

The directory path for a subdomain is in the pattern 'public_html/subdomain'. To host your subdomain's website content, upload all files and folders straight into this directory.

This is how your cPanel file manager looks like.

Now you can upload your website files through cPanel file manager, or you can use FTP client like FileZila.

After uploading through file manager you need to extract the cPanel zip file. Always do cPanel backup files for safe file transfer.

cPanel Webmail - What is cPanel Email Hosting? (cpnael smptp settings)

Find the "Email" section in cPanel.

Click on "Email Accounts" to open the email management interface.

Enter username (e.g., info, contact, yourname, etc.).

Choose the domain for which you want to create the email account from the dropdown menu.

Set a password for the email account.

Now after creating your email account under your preferred domain, you can now access cPanel webmail section. you can cPanel webmail login with the username and password you set while creating your cPanel mail server.

For cPanel smtp settings, you can click on "connect devices".

This is the port you will need to set when try to send email through any application.

cPanel Terminal - What are cPanel Terminal Commands?

If I start mentioning all the cPanel Terminal, it will definitely bore you! So, what I think, I am gathering all the most required cPanel Terminal Commands, that we require daily basis.

For SSH access- To access the cPanel server via SSH, you need to use a command like:

ssh username@server_ip

Replace the username with your server username and server_ip with your server's IP address or hostname.

Now, you will see a login successful message, after that you need to run commands based on your needs!

Access Files- Commands like ls, cd, cp, mv, rm, mkdir, etc., are used to change or navigate directories, copy, move, remove files, and create directories.

Edit Files- Commands like nano, vi, vim, emacs to edit files directly from the command line.

Backup/Restore- Commands to create and manage backups, such as tar, rsync, etc.

Security- Commands to manage SSH keys (ssh-keygen, ssh-copy-id) and security configurations (firewalld, ufw, etc.).

Manage Network Issue- Commands like ping, traceroute, netstat, iptables to diagnose network issues and manage firewall rules.

cPanel with NodeJs- PM2 is a process manager for Node.js applications that is widely used on servers. You can install PM2 to manage and keep Node.js applications running in the background. After every changes to the NodeJs application, you need to cPanel restart server with pm2 restart server.js(index.js).

Restart Apache Server- Use an SSH client like PuTTY (Windows) or Terminal (Mac/Linux) to connect to your server. I already mentioned above how to log in to your cPanel server. After loggin in, you can restart apache server with command like:

  sudo systemctl restart httpd

Restart Mail Server- To restart cPanel email server, you need command like:

sudo systemctl restart exim

Restart SSH- If you modify the SSH setup, you will need to restart it.

systemctl restart sshd.service

Restart FTP- If you perform any configuration modifications, you must restart FTP.

systemctl restart pure-ftp.service

Firewall Restart- CSF is the most popular type of cPanel firewall found on servers. Every time you update the CSF setup, you must reload the firewall rules.

csf -r

cPanel Alternatives

There are various cPanel alternatives that provide similar features for managing web hosting accounts, server setups, and websites.

That`s all for today! I hope you get some brief yet informative knowledge from this article. Please let me know if you have any questions or doubt!😀

Happy coding✌