cPanel (cpanel.net)rnis a classic example of in-house software going prime time. Developedrnby Scranton, Pa.-based DarkOrb Communications, cPanel was brought tornlife as one of the tools that automated operations for a Web hostingrnfirm now known as BurstNet. Some early work on cPanel was performed asrnearly as 1996 personally by Nick Koston, chief executive of DarkOrb andrnpresident of cPanel. rnBy definition, cPanel is a control panel.rnBecause its emergence predated the Web hosting boom, cPanel developedrnintro a strong player in the virtualization software market, amassing arngreat deal of brand recognition. cPanel’s trademark became almostrnsynonymous with the idea of a control panel, and DarkOrb is wide openrnfor customer feedback. In fact, the company doesn’t have a corporaternsite per se – it is pointed to a site that is dedicated to sales,rnsupport and development of additional features on cPanel. rnBy some accounts, cPanel is deployed byrn500 Web hosts on 250,000 domains. cPanel comes with two interfaces forrnthe same products: the actual Control Panel is the end user interface;rnand its Web Host Manager component is aimed at Web hosts. BecauserncPanel is highly customizable, it is often modified to accommodaternseveral layers of resellers.rnrnGeneral Introduction to ProductsrnrncPanel has two interfaces: one for Webrnhosts (WebHost Manager, also known as “WHM”) and one for customersrn(cPanel). The customer interface offers features geared toward the endrnuser, including customizable skins, e-mail forwarding, script andrnchatroom setup, and so forth. It also provides tools to quickly set uprnnew users through an interface that need little technical background.rnrnThe Web host interface provides a set ofrnfeatures to hosts that include DNS management, domain parking, disk andrnbandwidth quota management, IP configuration, etc. Both consoles runrnoff the sale file management system, which is the only engine needed tornenable all these functionalities and more for both sets of users.rnrnBoth pieces of software offerrncustomization tools, including an open API and custom skins for bothrnend users and resellers, and offer site and server usage statistics.rnrncPanel and WHM typically find their wayrninto Web hosting organizations of all sizes because it is anrninexpensive software suite to implement, and has been around for a longrntime. But by its spirit it is really a small-to medium-sized businessrnkind of software, not designed for resellers that have specificrnrequirements or for very large carriers interested in populatingrnthousands of servers with interfaces that would be centrallyrncontrolled. rnMost end users deploy cPanel and WHM asrnentry-level virtualization software and will sometimes rewrite the codernthemselves to customize the software to their needs.rnrnTechnical Introduction to ProductsrnrncPanel and WHM are heavy rooted in Linux,rnalthough support for Mac OS X, Solaris and Windows XP/2000 are allrncurrently under development (a platform supporting Debian, meanwhile,rnis in beta). cPanel offers a wide range of technical features pleasingrnto the more inexperienced end user, including data backup andrnrestoration, FTP management, subdomain management, advanced tools likernSSH access if desired and network tools like DNS lookup and traceroute.rnrnWeb Host Manager is more concerned withrncarrier-level issues like account management, managing backgroundrnprocesses, remote access key management, account upgrades andrndowngrades, and more. WHM also offers the ability to copy hostingrnaccounts from other platforms including Alabanza, Plesk and Ensim.rnrnControlsrnrnThe advantage to cPanel from an endrnuser’s perspective is that a lot of functions, including complex onesrnthat used to require knowledge of line encoding, can be performed byrnbeginners. Web Host Manager, meanwhile, serves as “command central”,rnlooking over individual users on a server and tracking things likernaccount status, bandwidth usage and CPU usage – things that arernimportant for service providers, but are irrelevant for end users.rnrnPricernrnDarkOrb sells exclusively throughrnresellers and partners on a license basis. List prices are set based onrnone license per server. A one-time license is $1,400, and includes arnyear of free support. A one-year license is $599, including one year ofrnsupport and updates, a two-year license is $989, and a three yearrnlicense is $1,275. rnPlatforms SupportedrnrnRedHat Linux, versions 6.2, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 8.0, 9rnMandrake Linux, versions 7.2, 8.0, 8.1, 8.2, 9.0rnFreeBSD, versions 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5, 4.6, 4.7rnrnGood For:rnrnSmall and mid-size Web hosts looking for inexpensive entry level control panel.rn