Common Myths about Reseller Web Hosting - The Control Panel Handles Everything

I’m not going to say a word against control panels. Graphical user interfaces have been around for a long time, and they have proven their worth for people who are not quite as technologically inclined as your average ubergeek. Even the geekiest of users must admit that they can sometimes get their job done much more quickly with a GUI than with a command line (depending on the task, of course).

Take cPanel, for instance. The company offers a Web Host Manager control panel from which a user can handle more than fifty separate tasks for his business and his clients. It also offers a control panel for end users (the people whose websites you’re hosting) so that they can make some changes on their own accounts without bothering you, which should make your life a little easier.

Even so, the Web Host Manager isn’t a control panel that your grandma can use unless she’s more tech savvy than mine was. For example, one of the tasks the WHM lets you do is install Perl modules. Unless you know what they are, why you would want to install them, and what effect they will have, to know that you can do it isn’t particularly helpful. What I’m saying is, you need at least some level of technological knowledge, and if you don’t have it, you need to be prepared to spend the hours it will take to acquire it, even if you’re using a control panel. Otherwise, you could end up doing something you really didn’t want to do in the first place.

One problem with GUI interfaces in general is that they can prevent you from doing things that you really do want to do, or make it more difficult than it needs to be. A control panel is simply a tool. It is not a be all and end all. It may be an effective shortcut, but you need to understand what the shortcut does and does not let you do before you use it. You will still need Windows or Linux skills to secure, configure, and troubleshoot your system.

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