cPanel is an incredibly user-friendly software that helps people to manage their websites from their web server. Almost every web host will provide you with some kind of control panel software that you can use.
However, cPanel is so good for both customers and hosts that 90% of web servers in 2019 are offering cPanel hosting. Below is a quick guide to using cPanel’s basic functions to help you get started.
What is cPanel?
cPanel is a central location from which users can manage their web accounts. cPanel is great for customers because its interface is incredibly easy to navigate. But hosts like it too because it’s well maintained, with regular updates and sophisticated security features.
There’s almost nothing you can’t do with cPanel. From this one dashboard, you can connect domain names to your hosting account, generate email addresses for your websites, install CMSs, back up websites, upload files to your server, check your usage statistics, change your security settings, install apps onto your web server, create and manage databases, optimize your web server, and more.
Logging In
After you’ve made a new web hosting account, your host will provide you with your cPanel username and password.
Once you’ve signed into your hosting account, you should see a link to cPanel somewhere on your host’s dashboard. If you can’t find it, just ask your host where it’s located.
Also Read: Future of Web Hosting: What to Expect?
DashBoard
The dashboard is different from the home page. This is a quick reference page that will give you quick access to cPanel’s most commonly used links.
Your bandwidth and disk space are also displayed on the dashboard for quick reference. User management is how you can add or remove other users from your cPanel account.
This is also where you can see all of the email accounts you’ve set up, and monitor who has access to your FTPs or web disk.
And that’s it! From the navigation, search, or sidebar, you can find almost any tool you can think of in cPanel, whether it’s database management, FTP, or managing email accounts.
The home page button on your sidebar will always bring you back to the main page, and you can always adjust your preferences to rearrange the information that appears on your home page.
The cPanel Interface
Once you’ve logged in, cPanel will bring you straight to your dashboard. For your first time, there’s going to be a lot to see, so don’t worry!
One of the benefits of cPanel is that almost everything of importance will show up right there on the home screen, making it easy for you to navigate to the most important features.
No matter what theme you choose, in the top left corner you will see the Navigation Bar. This includes four basic features
- A search bar
- A link to your user preferences
- A notification bell
- A logout link
Search Bar
Using the search bar allows you to quickly find things within cPanel. Especially for a beginner, simply searching for what you need with the search bar can be much faster than trying to search for things by yourself.
User Preferences
User preferences are where you can change certain account details, such as password, language, contact information, and page settings.
Notification Bell
The notification bell lets you know when you’ve gotten messages from cPanel itself. These are usually news, updates, and security concerns, and are rarely much longer than a few sentences. And the logout link, of course, is how you log out of cPanel.
If you have any questions or problems with cPanel, remember that you can always contact your web host’s customer support team.
