Suggest a Cpanel look alike for my VPS

General Discussion
  • I first considered Kloxo only to find that it has serious security issues. So did I heard about Zpanel. I currently use Webmin and not sure if it is the right one for me. Any proven free Control Panel close to Cpanel you recommend ? Thanks.

  • @meetdilip

    My take on these control panels is you don't need them. You are better off managing your server from the command line than installing a control panel that you'll only use once in a while. Creating a DB, for example, takes just 3 simple commands.

  • @planner said:

    @meetdilip

    My take on these control panels is you don't need them. You are better off managing your server from the command line than installing a control panel that you'll only use once in a while. Creating a DB, for example, takes just 3 simple commands.

    Thanks. Could you give those commands for a Debian 7 VPS ? Also if I am to use one, which one should I try. Safe, simple and free.

  • I agree with @planner, however i came across this fancy cPanel look-alike yesterday. Furthermore, it uses the Twitter-Bootstrap framework. http://ajenti.org

  • I do like Ajenti. But I was advised not use a CP unless you are certain that it does not pose any vulnerability. That is the part which is keeping me at bay.

  • Control Panels just give you a nice abstraction layer for managing a server. I prefer to actually do what I need to do by running the actual commands myself. There's no command to do it @meetdilip, but rather you have to set out to learn it by managing a server on your own.

    If you insist on using a control panel, use one that maintains the layout of the file system. I've used bad panels in the past that put files in random places that I wouldn't be able to find in a million years.

  • @julian said:

    If you insist on using a control panel, use one that maintains the layout of the file system. I've used bad panels in the past that put files in random places that I wouldn't be able to find in a million years.

    That is exactly what I am trying to find out. My intention of using GUI is to know the options available. I am not averse to using comamnds. But using GUI for some time gives us an idea what we can do, especially for someone who is new to managing servers.

  • Webmin/usermin/virtualmin is a pretty good replacement. I have it as a back up as command line is way to much effort for somethings that a couple clicks on a CP can do.

  • Does webmin mess with the standard server setup and placement of things?

  • From my experience and opinion:
    Webmin/Usermin/Virtualmin: good panel, not the best UI but doesn't mess up with your server
    Kloxo: outdated with a nasty UI, you might want to look at Kloxo-MR which is an active fork of Kloxo
    zPanel: stay away from it (security problems and bad 'community', read for example: http://www.reddit.com/r/netsec/comments/1ee0eg/zpanel_support_team_calls_forum_user_fucken/)
    ISPConfig: solid panel, requires some manual work to get it working
    VestaCP: love this panel, it has a clean structure and doesn't mess up with the server
    Ajenti V: I've used the standard Ajenti package about a year ago and it was ok, Ajenti V looks interesting with support for nodejs which other panels don't provide
    Open Panel: seems dead but it did the job when I tried it

    Other panels I didn't tried:
    Froxlor: requires some manual work to set it up
    i-MSCP
    EHCP
    AlternC
    CentOS Web Panel

    You might also want to check TuxLite, it's a shell script that will help you manage a LAMP/LNMP stack with simple commands.

  • @MuZo

    That Vesta looks quite interesting. Someone changed the demos language. Any idea if you can change the MX Records of your domain from within the panel?

  • @HolyPhoenix
    Sure, by default it will have MX records for the local mail server but you can change them them to whatever you want.
    For redundancy you can also setup a slave DNS server with a few commands: http://vestacp.com/docs/#how-to-setup-dns-cluser

  • Any review of Webuzo ? They have a free version.

  • @MuZo

    Is it possible to add a domain to the "DNS" section and then also add that same domain to the "Websites" section to allow me to control the mxrecords of the domain while also using it for my websites? At least, that is how it appears vesta works to me.

  • @meetdilip said:

    Any review of Webuzo ? They have a free version.

    It's ok, I personally don't like it because you don't get much control over what you do, but it allows you to install wordpress and similar cms in one click.
    If you know what softacouls is, webuzo it's pretty much the same thing. The downside is that it isn't a multi user panel.
    Helpful and free support over skype.

    @HolyPhoenix said:

    @MuZo

    Is it possible to add a domain to the "DNS" section and then also add that same domain to the "Websites" section to allow me to control the mxrecords of the domain while also using it for my websites? At least, that is how it appears vesta works to me.

    Yes, vesta will setup a full web server with mail, dns and ftp access.
    It's very flexible, you can choose to host the website and the dns on your server, while using google mail for your emails.

  • Cool, then I am removing directadmin from my server this weekend. I don't use it super often because I do most things via command line. But setting up domains seems easier with clicking in a UI. When I switch to DO in a few months I won't need any at all because the DO control panel gives you access to managing domains.

    @meetdilip
    Based on my research of Webuzo, it seems to be trying to be friendly to cpanel users. But it seems to give wayyyyyy tooo many easy install scripts. I'd be worried that they might be one of those panels that takes control of your server and modifies where everything is installed.

  • Of the free control panels the ones worth using have already been mentioned. Webmin/Virtualmin - these guys are pretty good about fixing security flaws.

    VestaCP for the most part is secure (even when you compare it to the big paid panels) - there is a known exploit with its backup system and how it works, though I won't disclose it here. Only really a concern if you're planning on hosting other people on it.

    I've spent a decent amount of time with Ajenti and AjentiV. Since it is not really meant to be given out to other people to use it's more for you to use personally that negates a lot of the security concerns you get into with web panels (mainly other people gaining root access). I'm using Ajenti on a couple of projects just to test it, and it's a nice little panel.

    With anything I run on servers that do not need external user access I normally only open the port that the specific panel uses to my external IP address only.

  • If you run Webmin, ConfigServerFirewall (CSF) has a module for administrating it through there. Its a wonderful little firewall and logfie scanner to help protect your servers.

  • Hi @MuZo,
    What are settings need to do in ispconfig "ISPConfig: solid panel, requires some manual work to get it working"


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    @julian said:

    Hey @carguy! Welcome to NodeBB 😄

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    Hey pal, do you use buddypress as your forum platform currently? (Only forum solution for Wordpress I can think of)

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    @psychobunny said:

    We actually had a request to build a paid membership plugin a couple of months ago, although I'm not really sure what the progress is on that, the client may have decided that they didn't need it any longer

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