When acquiring a new VPS Hosting or Dedicated Server account, people often wonder if they should purchase their service with a Control Panel. To make this decision, it is important to know what a control panel does. Here are some of the key benefits of a control panel:
Effortless Management:
Control panels offer a graphical interface of the server making it easy for you to perform several tasks with just a few clicks. You can create accounts, manage domains, set up email accounts and redirects along with other server management functions. With the help of this easy-to-use interface, even novice users can manage their domains and emails themselves.
DNS Editing:
DNS is an essential service that plays a vital role in email and domain function. Editing the DNS through a server can be a difficult task as just one wrong update could cause the entire website to go down. With the simple DNS editor in a control panel, however, you can easily edit, add or delete DNS records for the required domain.
Easy File Transfer:
When you have a control panel, there is no need to cluster your computer with too many FTP clients for uploading and downloading files. This task is achieved easily through the file manager option. With a control panel link, you are also able to access your server’s control panel from any part of the world as long as you have an Internet connection.
Stats and Logs:
Stats and log tools are available in the control panel to give you details about the number of visitors on your website along with resource usage. This tool helps you to stay updated with the number of visitors including the locations from which you are getting the maximum number of hits. Through a simple setting, you also receive instant notifications by email if there is a high usage load or serious errors occurring on your server.
One-click installation:
There are many commercial and free scrip-libraries available within control panels that allow you to install software packages. Softaculous, Fantastico and Installatron are leading script libraries you will find in most control panels through which you can install WordPress, Joomla, Magento, Prestashop, phpBB, CMS, Shopping Carts, Blogs, Image Galleries and many more just by following on-screen instructions.
Cron Jobs:
Many customers want to setup scheduled tasks. These maintenance and administrative tasks are also known as “cron jobs.” You can easily add cron jobs in your server’s control panel for tasks such as automatic backups, order processing, sending emails, and more.
Block Bandwidth Stealing:
Bandwidth Stealing is a very common task by visitors who download images and other media files from your website. This can be a big deal if you are only allowed a limited amount of bandwidth from your web hosting provider. If the bandwidth stealing continues, you will either run out of bandwidth causing your server to go down, or you will have to upgrade your hosting plan. Control panels have the option to disable bandwidth stealing from your website.
For most users, control panels are an important tool to help achieve a variety of tasks with ease. In the long run, the minimal cost of including a control panel will likely save time, money, and frustration.