How Does cPanel Web Hosting Work?
For your info, it's good to be aware that the majority of the cPanel hosting offers on the present-day web hosting market are generated by a quite inconsiderable marketing segment (as far as yearly money flow is concerned) called reseller hosting. Reseller website hosting is a type of a small-size business segment, which generates an immense quantity of different web hosting brand names, yet providing literally the same thing: mostly cPanel web hosting services. This is bad news for everyone. Why? Due to the fact that at least 98 percent of the website hosting offerings on the whole web hosting marketplace supply literally the same service: cPanel. There's no diversity at all. Even the cPanel-based hosting price tags are similar. Very much alike. Giving those who demand a top web hosting service virtually no other web hosting platform/hosting CP choice. Thus, there is merely a single fact: out of more than 200k web hosting trademarks worldwide, the non-cPanel based ones are less than two percent! Less than two percent, remark that one...
Two hundred thousand "hosting suppliers", all cPanel-based, yet uniquely named
The hosting "diversity" and the hosting "offers" Google reveals to all of us come down to just one and the same solution: cPanel. Under 100's of 1000's of different web hosting trademarked names. Suppose you are merely a normal bloke who's not well aware of (as the majority of us) with the site making processes and the web hosting platforms, which actually power the separate domain names and online portals. Are you ready to make your web hosting pick? Is there any website hosting alternative you can decide upon? Sure there is, today there are more than two hundred thousand web hosting providers out there. Formally. Then where is the difficulty? Here's where: more than 98% of these 200,000+ different web hosting brand names around the world will offer you absolutely the same cPanel hosting CP and platform, dubbed differently, with precisely the same price tags! WOW! That's how big the assortment on the current website hosting market is... Full stop.
The hosting LOTTO we are all part of
Simple math reveals that to pick a non-cPanel based web hosting service provider is an enormous stroke of luck. There is a less than one in 50 chance that an event like that will happen! Less than one in 50...
The pros and cons of the cPanel-based hosting solution
Let's not be relentless with cPanel. At least, in the years 2001-2004 cPanel was fashionable and presumably satisfied all web hosting business prerequisites. In brief, cPanel can achieve the desired result if you have just one single domain to host. But, if you have more domain names...
Negative Aspect No.1: A moronic domain name folder arrangement
If you have two or more domain names, however, be ultra attentive not to delete entirely the add-on ones (that's how cPanel will refer to each subsequent hosted domain name, which is not the default one: an add-on domain name). The files of the add-on domains are quite easy to erase on the server, because they all are located into the root folder of the default domain name, which is the very popular public_html folder. Each add-on domain name is a folder situated inside the folder of the default domain name. Like a sub-folder. Next time try not to erase the files of the add-on domain names, please. Check for yourself how fabulous cPanel's domain folder setup is:
public_html (here my-default-domain.com is situated)public_html/my-family (a folder part of my-default-domain.com)
public_html/my-second-domain.com (an add-on domain)
public_html/my-second-wife (a folder part of my-default-domain.com)
public_html/my-second-wife.net (an add-on domain)
public_html/my-third-domain.com (an add-on domain)
public_html/my-third-wife (a folder part of my-default-domain.com)
public_html/my-third-wife.net (an add-on domain)
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)
Are you getting disorientated? We undeniably are!
Shortcoming No.2: The very same mail folder structure
The e-mail folder structure on the hosting server is exactly the same as that of the domain names... Repeating the same error twice?!? The sysadmin chaps strongly increase their faith in God when dealing with the mail folders on the email server, hoping not to bungle things up too badly.
Weak Point Number Three: A complete lack of domain administration tools
Do we have to bring up the total deficiency of a modern domain administration interface - a place where you can: register/relocate/renew/park or manage domains, change domain names' Whois details, shield the Whois info, alter/create nameservers (DNS) and DNS resource records? cPanel does not offer such a "modern" GUI at all. That's an enormous predicament. An inexcusable one, we wish to point out...
Negative Side Number 4: Many login places (min 2, max 3)
How about the need for an extra login to access the invoicing transaction, domain name and tech support management section? That's aside from the cPanel user account login credentials you've been already given by the cPanel-based hosting supplier. Now and then, on the basis of the invoicing transaction platform (principally intended for cPanel exclusively) the cPanel hosting service provider is utilizing, the enthusiastic clients can end up with 2 additional login places (1: the billing transaction/domain administration GUI; 2: the trouble ticket support software solution), ending up with an aggregate of 3 login locations (including cPanel).
Shortcoming Number 5: 120+ website hosting CP sections to pick up... promptly
cPanel presents for your consideration more than 120 areas inside the hosting Control Panel. It's a fantastic idea to become familiar with each one of them. And you'd better get familiar with them promptly... That's extremely impudent on cPanel's side.
With all due appreciation, we have a rhetorical question for all cPanel-based hosting suppliers:
As far as we are informed, it's not the year 2001, is it? Mind that one too...