An Exploration of Hosting Control Panels
by: MattHedges |
Total views: 12 |
Word Count: 1228 |
View PDF | Print View
Share This Article
The environment of web hosting is extremely competitive at the moment and these conditions have created an environment where firms are aggressively competing on price to offer numerous hosting plans at an attractive cost. If firms can't compete on price they are forced to stand out in other ways. There are a number of different ways a firm can make a strong offering to consumers and these include building the site, providing a domain name at no extra charge and the overall fee. However, the major element for many consumers is the Control Panel. Therefore, the website that you have and what you want for it will play a huge role in determining which web host is best for you. The way that a web host maintains control to organize a customers site is through the software they provide and this comes in the shape of the Control Panel. Every single action and activity that is undertaken on a website is maintained through the Control Panel. These actions can include anything ranging from creating FTP accounts, operating the email server for the client or compiling statistical data. No matter what operating platform you use, be it Windows or Linux there will be a Control Panel for your specific platform or one that can cater for both.
What control panels are suitable for Windows Platform
The Windows Platform has a number of dedicated web hosting Control Panels that only work for them. Two examples of these include Helm and Hosting Accelerator. If an easy to use and customer friendly interface is required, Helm is generally held in the highest regard. A major reason that Helm stands apart from its competitors is due to the way it operates its billing information. More often than not, Control Panels do not contain information about the billing process so this is one area where Helm can be differentiated from other firms although H-Sphere also offers this advantage. In addition to this benefit, Helm is easy to operate and many users are able to interface with the system very comfortably.
Features and advantages of Helm:
* Server Management: It can manage unlimited servers, domains and users and can also promptly add or remove servers. The Helm has integration with MailEnable, SmarterMail, Merak, IMail, MDaemon, Mail Servers and hMailServer as well as with Serv-U FTP, Microsoft FTP, Gene6 FTP Server, MySQL Server, and Microsoft SQL Server etc. It also supports Perl, PHP ASP, ASP.NET, and ColdFusion.
* Cost of the service: Helm offer a great deal of freedom with regards their billing process as customers can either use the Helm one or take advantage of the billing system from any other external party. This freedom is also extended to allowing the customer to operate in the currency of their choosing and how they want to distribute or view the invoices. Customers are able to choose between HTML and plain text format.
* Customer Management: This web hosting control panel also creates hosting plans for resellers as well as specifies the various resource limits including the amount of data transfer, domains, email accounts and disk-space.
What control panels are suitable for Linux Platform:
A client has a choice of a few web hosting control panels when it comes to the Linux platform and these include DirectAdmin, cPanel and Interworx. There is no doubt that the low cost of hosting and the convenience of its control panel are factors in people choosing DirectAdmin. Another choice for many consumers is Interworx as they provide many additional features including a simple to use interface. Yet cPanel is the most popular control panel for the Linux control panels and it has the ability to serve over ten different styles of Linux. This consumer preference is also shared by companies who provide a web hosting service and this is mainly down to the low cost of its service. There are also a number of other services provided by cPanel that are attractive to customers and these include deploy applications, customer account provisions, having the ability to transfer a number of accounts between servers and many other useful services including secure servers.
Benefits of using Helm:
* Statistics of how the website is performing: With the amount of statistical tools and facilities offered by cPanel it is possible for any website owner to correctly analyze and calculate the traffic that is on their site. Not every hosting provider offers this service as many view it as a drain in their resources and would prefer not to offer the service to customers. If this an important aspect for a website owner, it is in their interest to ensure their choice of web host actually offers the service.
* Managing the email process: Many website owners are keen to have the power to generate or destroy email accounts and the cPanel control panel allows this facility. There is also a facility based in Webmail which offers every client the opportunity to access their emails online. There are further facilities offered by cPanel with regards to email, one of which is the ability to instruct a forwarder to move an email account to another. There is also the ability to generate auto-responders that will provide an automated response to customers.
* FTP and File Manager: The cPanel offers FTP access to a website so as to upload files. It is an extremely essential feature for managing a website. Moreover, if the website owner needs the cPanel also allows to register new FTP accounts in order to enable other people to access the website. However, it is the website owner and the hosting company that have the right to restrict and specify others access to specific folders. The one who are the not that comfortable with FTP package to upload files can use the File Manager available in the cPanel. The File Manager allows the user to unzip files, upload files on the server, as well as copy and delete files.
What control panels are suitable for the Linux and Windows Platform
As well as the dedicated control panels for each platform, there are some control panels that will work on both. Some of the more common web hosts that operate this facility are Ensim, H-Sphere and Plesk. H-Sphere is able to offer its client many different features that run the full spectrum from complete automation to providing key functionalities. Plesk has turned out to be the control panel for Linux and Windows that has turned out to be the most popular. This means that the majority of companies who offer a web hosting service for Windows and Linux will provide Plesk. Many people have remarked that the Plesk interface looks similar to Windows XP and as you might expect, as it serves both platforms, it can be an expensive service.
Features and advantages of Plesk:
* The ability to have shared hosting: A huge benefit of Plesk is that offers facilities like self administration and a design that is identical for multi-platforms which makes it an ideal service to manage an environment of shared hosting. This can be undertaken even by people with no technical skills at all as Plesk aids the setup, creation and managing accounts process.
* Dedicated Hosting: The RPM installation and modular design of the Plesk control panel enables the Dedicated Hosting providers to satisfy the various requirements of tech savvy clients. It offers a number of unique tools such as XML-API and other 3rd party applications.
Share This Article
Rating: Not yet rated Next Article - Article Marketing - The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly and Previous Article - Windows Web Hosting
About the Author
About the author: Matt Hedges, 12 year veteran of the web hosting industry, is the head staff writer for http://www.webhostingmadness.com, a web hosting review site.
Comments
No comments posted.Add Comment
Popular Articles about: Web Design
1: Tools for Professional Web Design2: Usage Of Visual Basic Script In Professional Web Design
3: Working With Style Sheets In Professional Web Design
4: Security Issues In Visual Basic Script For Professional Web Design
5: Straightforward Web Design Techniques
6: Extensible Markup Language Naming Conventions For Professional Web Design
7: Professional Web Design Methods
8: Web Design Portfolio Required
9: Web Browsers Used In Professional Web Designing
10: website designing and outsoursing india
11: Flash Functionality In Professional Web Design
12: How To Quickly Create Your Own Global Domains International Business Website
13: Hyperlinks Used In Professional Web Design
14: Features Of Extensible Markup Language Used In Professional Web Design
15: Will Microsoft Expression Web Threaten Dreamweaver?
16: Web Designing & Animation India
17: Obtaining Perfect Landscape Photography Images
18: A Few Web Design Tips
19: Perl Database Scripts
20: The 5 Biggest Mistakes of Web Design
21: Viagra
22: Don't Waste Money on that Website!
23: Search Engine Optimisation: the Basics
24: Everyone needs a website!
25: Web publishing
26: Calgary & Lethbridge Web Design
27: Easy Techniques For Nature Photography
28: Basics of Web Designing
29: Design for the user
30: Marketing Online – A Home Business