What Exactly is cPanel Web Hosting?
For your info, it's useful to know that most of the cPanel-based hosting offers on the present-day website hosting marketplace are furnished by a quite insubstantial business niche (when it comes to annual money flow) called hosting reseller. Reseller hosting is a sort of a small-size business niche, which provides a vast amount of different web hosting brands, yet supplying literally the same services: mostly cPanel web hosting services. This is bad news for everyone. Why? Owing to the fact that at least 98% of the hosting offers on the whole web hosting marketplace offer exactly the same solution: cPanel. There's no difference at all. Even the cPanel-based hosting prices are similar. Quite identical. Giving those who need a top web hosting service virtually no other web hosting platform/website hosting Control Panel choice. Thus, there is just a single fact: out of more than two hundred thousand website hosting brand names in the world, the non-cPanel based ones are less than 2 percent! Less than 2 percent, mind that one...
200,000 "hosting vendors", all cPanel-based, yet distinctly named
The hosting "variety" and the web hosting "offers" Google presents to us come down to merely one and the very same solution: cPanel. Under hundreds of 1000's of different web hosting brand names. Imagine you are merely an average guy who's not very well acquainted with (as most of us) with the web site making procedures and the web hosting platforms, which in fact power the respective domain names and sites. Are you prepared to make your hosting pick? Is there any web hosting alternative you can select? Sure there is, as of now there are more than two hundred thousand web hosting companies in existence. Officially. Then where is the problem? Here's where: more than 98% of these 200,000+ unique web hosting brand names around the world will offer you strictly the same cPanel hosting Control Panel and platform, dubbed in a different way, with strictly the same price tags! WOW! That's how big the variety on the present hosting market is... Full stop.
The hosting LOTTERY we are all part of
Simple arithmetic reveals that to come across a non-cPanel based web hosting firm is an enormous strike of luck. There is a less than 1 in fifty chance that a thing like that will take place! Less than 1 in 50...
The strengths and weaknesses of the cPanel hosting solution
Let's not be harsh with cPanel. At least, in the years 2001-2004 cPanel was modish and probably answered all web hosting market requirements. In brief, cPanel can achieve the desired result if you have only one single domain name to host. But, if you have more domains...
Inconvenience Number 1: A moronic domain name folder structure
If you have 2 or more domains, however, be very cautious not to remove completely the add-on ones (that's how cPanel will refer to each new hosted domain, which is not the default one: an add-on domain name). The files of the add-on domains are quite simple to delete on the web hosting server, since they all are located into the root folder of the default domain, which is the quite famous public_html folder. Each add-on domain is a folder located inside the folder of the default domain name. Like a sub-folder. Next time attempt not to remove the files of the add-on domain names, please. Discover for yourself how fantastic cPanel's domain name folder configuration is:
public_html (here my-default-domain.com is placed)public_html/my-family (a folder part of my-default-domain.com)
public_html/my-second-domain.com (an add-on domain name)
public_html/my-second-wife (a folder part of my-default-domain.com)
public_html/my-second-wife.net (an add-on domain name)
public_html/my-third-domain.com (an add-on domain name)
public_html/my-third-wife (a folder part of my-default-domain.com)
public_html/my-third-wife.net (an add-on domain name)
public_html/rebeka (a folder part of my-default-domain.com)
public_html/rebeka.my-third-wife.net (a sub-domain of an add-on domain name)
Are you becoming perplexed? We undoubtedly are!
Inconvenience Number 2: The same email folder configuration
The e-mail folder structure on the hosting server is absolutely the same as that of the domains... Making the very same mistake twice?!? The sysadmin chaps strongly strengthen their faith in God when tackling the email folders on the mail server, praying not to mess things up too harshly.
Negative Sign Number 3: A total deficiency of domain administration menus
Do we have to refer to the thorough lack of a modern domain administration platform - a location where you can: register/move/renew/park or administer domain names, modify domains' Whois info, secure the Whois information, alter/set up name servers (DNS) and Domain Name System records? cPanel does not furnish such a "contemporary" user interface at all. That's a vast predicament. An unforgettable one, we would like to point out...
Negative Aspect Number Four: Many user login locations (minimum two, max three)
How about the demand for another login to avail of the billing transaction, domain name and tech support administration user interface? That's aside from the cPanel login credentials you've been already given by the cPanel hosting corporation. Occasionally, depending on the invoice transaction system (especially made for cPanel only) the cPanel hosting firm is utilizing, the earnest clients can wind up with 2 additional login places (1: the billing/domain administration platform; 2: the trouble ticket support menu), winding up with an aggregate of three login locations (including cPanel).
Negative Sign Number 5: 120+ web hosting CP sections to become familiar with... swiftly
cPanel offers to your attention more than 120 areas inside the web hosting CP. It's a fantastic idea to get familiar with each one of them. And you'd better get familiar with them quickly... That's way too insolent on cPanel's side.
With all due recognition, we have a rhetorical question for all cPanel hosting suppliers:
As far as we are informed, it's not the year 2001, is it? Mark that one too...