When it comes to hosting websites, most people choose control panels to make this task easier. There are many out there in the market, but one of the most notable ones is cPanel for its simple, user-friendly interface and various convenient features. Although many people use it, most often don’t always check out all the useful additional features one gets access to with a cPanel license that can greatly help with page management.
Auto-installers
These are exactly what the name says, and they are extremely useful for performing quick installations of platforms, applications, add-ons, and so on. With them, rather than having to manually set everything up, upload files, run setup processes, troubleshoot problems, you can set up a chosen platform in just a few clicks. Building websites on Joomla, WordPress, Drupal become way easier.
SSL certificates
To ensure proper security, all websites should have an SSL certificate as it lets you encrypt all outbound/inbound data. It also shows all visitors a green lock in the browser, which indicates that the page is protected. With a cPanel license, you can access apps that let you install an SSL certificate, like the LetsEncrypt cPanel app. Securing one’s site with HTTPS is also being pushed by Google as it’s less vulnerable to various attacks.
Error logs
When websites go down or users are experiencing some issues, these come in handy for finding what the core issue is. You can access these Apache error logs through your cPanel interface. If you’re just administering the site, this valuable data can be quickly relayed to an appropriate developer.
Speaking of errors, the cPanel license unlocks another useful tool – custom error pages. You can easily customize your own error page for the visitors to see instead of the stock 404 error landing page and put relevant information about why the site can’t be reached.
Backups
This is an extremely handy feature that everyone using cPanel should use. You can simply create backups from the control panel itself and back up:
- all data in one big file,
- home directory,
- MySQL databases,
- email forwarders and filters.
Just store these in an appropriate directory. Restoration is just as easy: select what you want to restore and follow the prompts. For convenience’s sake, you can automate the backups, too, so there’s no need to do them manually.
Cron jobs
For some, the cPanel license is great because they can access cron jobs. This tool lets you automate a group of tasks and these don’t have to be strictly administrative. Pick a date, time, frequency and you can even make database backups, download emails, and much more. Administrators can have more time working on the page instead of doing the usual maintenance work.
These are just some of the many useful features that cPanel itself has. There are many numerous additional applications and add-ons can make your website hosting experience an easy one. Explore your control panel and use all the great tools that it has to offer.