Dedicated Server Control Panels

Believe it or not, there was a time when web developers were forced to use a combination of text editors, shell commands and complicated configuration files in order to accomplish most of what is required with hosting any domain.

Looking back, it’s hard to believe much of anything was accomplished at all. Fortunately, a wide variety of “Control Panel” applications are usually offered these days as part of any standard dedicated hosting package. These helper applications allow you to add new e-mail accounts, FTP accounts and even new domains –all with the click of a button.

However, it should come as no surprise that not all control panel applications are created equal. In this article, we’ll briefly take a look at some of the more common control panels and review the differences in their current features.

Cpanel - http://www.cpanel.net/
Cpanel is fast becoming the most popular hosting interface on the market. However, there is currently no support for Microsoft Internet Information Server and thus, this application is offered primarily for LINUX based servers. Cpanel features a clean interface with well over fifty functions ranging from the mundane –like adding a new user, to the complex –like backing up an entire domain.
All told, this is a very robust application that is sure to continue gaining ground in the control panel application market once Microsoft IIS compatible versions are finally released (these versions are currently in development).

PLESK - http://www.sw-soft.com/
PLESK is available for both Windows and LINUX Operating Systems and this alone gives them an edge over Cpanel. Furthermore, virtually all Internet Service Providers offer PLESK as a means to manage your domain(s) and its default interface is very reminiscent of Windows XP. As a consequence, many end-users find this to be a comfortable platform from which to perform the basic duties involved in web hosting. If you’re a reseller and plan on offering back-end development to your clients, PLESK is often a good choice based on its look and feel, which should be familiar to most end users comfortable with the Windows environment.
However, it’s not quite as feature rich as other applications and may not be the ideal solution for the serious web guru.

ENSIM – http://www.ensim.com
ENSIM is also available for both the LINUX and Windows server platform and while its LINUX interface is clean enough –it’s Windows interface should impress even the most critical web developer.
While it provides essentially the same features as the other control panels already mentioned in this article, it also provides the ability to completely change the look and feel of your hosting interface, which can be a huge benefit to resellers who want to “brand” client access to their dedicated server. Of course, ENSIM isn’t the only control panel to provide this option, but it seems that particular care was taken when the folks at ENSIM developed this end of their control panel application. So much so, that it’s worth mentioning here as one of it’s outstanding benefits.

This is by no means meant to be a comprehensive guide to all of the available control panels on the market and you are encouraged to ask your Internet Service Provider about the different applications they offer when it comes to managing your dedicated server.
For more information on other control panel applications on the market today, be sure to check out the following sites as well.

http://www.psoft.net
http://www.directadmin.com
http://www.interworx.info
http://www.webhostautomation.com/products/helm
http://www.hostingaccelerator.com
http://www.cwipanel.com

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