What is a hosting control panel?

Article Author: Guest Contributor

If you are just starting out with web hosting, then you may not know what a hosting control panel is. That is okay, because we can explain it to you. This is the most important part of your hosting, as it is where you will control everything. You will be able to build your website through there, add more hosting needs, setting up e-mail accounts, and adding important widgets that your hosting service may provide.

There is generally an FTP available, should you be most interested in building your website using software that you download your computer. Some hosts also provide online web builders and templates for those that may not be too fluent in code. There are two types of servers that are generally offered. One server is a Windows hosting server and the other is a Linux hosting Server. Do not worry if you are on an opposing operating system, because you do not need to have Linux on your system to use it. This is just the type of server that the service uses.

For those that need to host e-mail accounts, the control panel will certainly make it much easier. You can create the accounts through there and you can even manage them if you need to. This is where you will be able to reset passwords should your users forget them or even delete accounts if need be. The ease of access will make it much easier for you to organize the accounts and keep an eye on them.

There are three main panels that are most commonly used. These control panels include cPanel, DirectAdmin, and Plesk. We have found that the cPanel option is the easiest to use, but the other control panels are really decent as well. You will also be able to sign up for and control more domain names through the control panel, should you need to expand your websites.

If you are looking for a more affordable hosting server, it may be best to look into Linux hosting. There will be fewer fees, because it is Open Source software. That means that there will be no licensing fees to use the product. There are licensing fees to use the Windows based hosting. This means that it will be more affordable to use Linux. Over time we have learned that Linux is a more reliable server host, as well as being more affordable.