On Linux systems, a control panel is a graphical user interface (GUI) that displays a simplified set of controls for your system. Control panels are capable of installing, configuring, and updating common software packages and performing Linux system administration tasks. Common features are: File management.
There's no cPanel, but something similar (like Plesk) will make it easy to view your website status, create email accounts, tweak settings and generally manage your plan.
Select a VPS(Virtual Private Servers) or dedicated hosting plan and you'll also be able to use Remote Desktop to manage the server from its own desktop.
Windows hosting has some issues. You won't get the same choice of applications as with Linux, and there's less help available for troubleshooting apps like WordPress on the Windows platform. Furthermore, there are Microsoft license fees to pay, so it's a little more expensive than Linux plans.
· The web hosting control panels provide an elegant solution to Linux newbies to host multiple websites on VPS (Virtual Private Servers) and Dedicated Servers. This kind of hosting panel offers easy to use management software’s to simplify the process of handling servers without the need for expert knowledge of server administration.
· The most famous and powerful control panels are cPanel and Plesk. These two popular panels are paid software’s and the hosting provider will charge a monthly fee for installing it on the server. Fortunately, there are few more alternate open source control panels available to download at no cost with similar features.
There are many different control panels available in the market today. Let’s review a few of them:
ISPCONFIG
· ISPConfig is an open source hosting control panel for Linux, licensed under the BSD license. It is mainly for Linux distribution. ISPConfig allows administrators to manage websites, e-mail addresses, and DNS records through a web-based interface. The software has 4 login levels: administrator, reseller, client, and e-mail user. Built-in features include a file manager, a firewall, cron jobs, multiple language support, and so on.
WEBMIN/VIRTUALMIN
· Webmin is also one of the most popular VPS control panels. One of the main reasons for using it is great unique configuration opportunities.
· This control panel is designed to manage Linux systems with web browsers instead of commands by integrating Virtualmin.
· Webmin/Virtualmin is mobile friendly, so you’re able to do everything, from restarting services to creating new mailboxes, in just a few taps on your phone. However, because of the old interface it takes a while learning to use it.
· Built-in features include a file manager, a “Let’s Encrypt” integration, a firewall, backup and restoration, and many more.
AJENTI
· It is an open-source cPanel that is especially focused on the management and administration of your servers. It also monitors more than one server without any hassle and optimizes on just one interface to do so.
· Ajenti has several built-in plugins and it is developed on JavaScript, therefore initiating that the front-end uses the basic Angular JS framework. Ajenti has OS support of Debian, Ubuntu, Gentoo, RHEL, and BDS.
SENTORA
· It is also a strong contender in our list of free open source control panels. Even though it’s not fit for large websites or servers, Sentora sure performs like magic on small to medium-sized servers.
· The integration is effective and so easy to get familiar with, also Sentora works well with Linux distributions as well.
