Webmaster's Guide to cPanel

  ... shows Webmasters and Web site developers how to harness the power of the paramount control panel – cPanel® – in managing their hosted Web sites.

cPanel is a site configuration and management software application provided by many Web hosting providers that allows users to control a multitude of functions related to their hosted Web site experience.

The “Webmaster's Guide to cPanel” is an excellent book for anyone that wants to learn and apply some of the most sophisticated and practical tools available for a hosted Web site. You can easily browse each topic and consider the relevance of the topic to your site, and then use the procedures to implement the feature or function.

About cPanel

cPanel includes some 70+ specific functions grouped into nine categories. Most of these functions include numerous other options that vastly extend the user’s ability to easily create productive, useful and secure Web sites. Using cPanel’s very friendly interface, you can easily manage nearly everything related to your hosted Web site account, including:

• Account Preferences – allows you to step through a wizard to set or modify your hosted account settings, view videos of many of cPanel’s features and functions, change the password, update contact info for your account, change the style and language of the cPanel interface, and add shortcuts to Web site’s cPanel to your desktop and browser.


• Mail Accounts – allows you to create and manage e-mail accounts, Webmail accounts, mail forwarders, auto-responders, mailing lists; filter and trap spam e-mails, view e-mail delivery routes, set e-mail authentication, modify the mail exchange (MX) settings, and scan e-mails for spam and viruses.


• Web Site Files – allows you to manage your Web site files and directories similar to desktop folder trees, view the disk space usage, drag and drop files from your desktop to your hosted directories, create and manage FTP accounts, and perform data backups and restores of important Web site data and configuration directories.


• System Logs and Stats – allows you to view a summary of your recent site visitors, monitor site activity (bandwidth usage); view raw access logs, sophisticated third-party Web site statistics, and error logs; and select from various log programs.


• Web Site Security – allows you to password protect directories, block IP addresses from accessing your site, create secure file transfer and remote logins, protect images and passwords from being compromised, and create public and private encryption keys for secure communications.


• Web Site Domains – allows you to create and manage subdomains, addon domains, parked domains, as well as create redirects to direct users to a new section of a site or to a different domain name altogether.


• Web Site Databases – allows you to create MySQL and PostgreSQL databases, use a MySQL database Wizard, create remote MySQL databases, and manage MySQL databases using the hugely popular phpMyAdmin utility.


• Software and Services – allows you to easily install a number of CGI and software programs on your Web site including one or more versions of popular blogs, bulletin boards, content management systems, e-commerce applications, and media galleries; install Perl modules, PHP extensions and applications (PEAR packages), Ruby Gems, and Ruby on Rails; configure PHP server settings; and use the very popular Fantastico De Luxe utility to install even more software applications.


• Advanced Configurations – allows you to handle how Apache deals with certain file types; manage images, indexes, and error pages; create custom cron jobs; create and use network tools and virus scanners; and define MIME types that are not yet known by your server.

cPanel is not an application that you must purchase and download, but rather is included in the hosting services packages of many hosting providers. Although cPanel has been available for Web servers running under the Linux and FreeBSD platforms for more than a decade, cPanel now has a comparable product, Enkompass, under development for Microsoft Windows Server 2008 (IIS7).

“Webmaster's Guide to cPanel”

... provides everything that you need to know to get started using cPanel. Each feature and function is thoroughly described and supported by examples and step-by-step instructions.

Before delving into the details of cPanel, John first introduces the concepts of Web services hosting providers. He describes the various types of hosting providers, the various types of hosting packages, and provides practical criteria to assist you in selecting a hosting provider.

Each category of features is presented in its own chapter that smoothly follows the layout of the cPanel interface. The content and structure of the book are refreshing and allow for an easy grasp of the concepts.

The book is supplemented with several appendices (including a glossary of related terms), a detailed table of contents, and a comprehensive index. You can preview the full Table of Contents by subscribing to the TNG-Resources newsletter.

John has done an excellent job in making the complex terminology and cPanel functions very clear and understandable.

If you are new to hosted Web sites, Webmastering, Web site development, or cPanel – this is a must-have book. The value of the content and time saved in implementing any feature or function will pay for the book. If you are a seasoned Webmaster and existing user of cPanel, the book will be a welcome reference for ongoing site management activities.

I located a previously published book on cPanel,“cPanel User Guide and Tutorial,” (Aric Pedersen, Packt Publishing, 2006). That very fine book is 190 pages, covers an earlier version of cPanel, and is mostly descriptive with very few actual how-to procedures.

On the other hand, the “Webmaster's Guide to cPanel” is approaching 350 pages, covers the current version of cPanel, and is brimming with practical examples and detailed procedures. It includes a full table of contents, glossary, and index.

Price:  $16.95