cPanel designed Enkompass to be used in a distributed server environment, letting one or more Enkompass servers manage many web servers across a Windows domain, allowing for easy automation and maintenance of a set of servers or an entire data center.
(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Web hosting control panel software provider cPanel (www.cpanel.com) has introduced ”release candidate 0″ of its first Microsoft Windows Server 2008-based product, Enkompass. With its hosting automation tools traditionally based on Linux and FreeBSD, cPanel is now collaborating with Microsoft to provide its customers with a wider choice of platforms with Microsoft IIS7.
According to cPanel, Enkompass installs on one IIS7 server and reaches out to provision accounts on multiple web, mail and database servers, letting hosts easily add capacity by adding servers when the customer base expands.
“Microsoft has shown a strong commitment to the hosting industry over the past several years,” cPanel chief executive officer J. Nick Koston said in a statement. “cPanel’s Windows development team feels that Microsoft IIS7 offers a robust, high-performance Web server with increased security that the industry will quickly adopt. Microsoft Windows Server 2008 and IIS7 with its modern architecture and support for legacy products was the natural starting point for our expanded product offering.”
With a decade of experience in automation, cPanel built Enkompass from the ground up in native Windows technologies to provide the greatest flexibility. It was specifically designed to be used in a distributed server environment, letting one or more Enkompass servers manage many web servers across a Windows domain, allowing for easy automation and maintenance of a set of servers or an entire data center.
The Enkompass interface mirrors that of cPanel and WHM for Linux, helping staff and customers to understand both products without having to relearn their daily workflow. And while many Enkompass features are the same as cPanel and WHM for Linux such as a rich reseller and account environment, features that do not make sense on Windows have been removed, and some Windows-only features have been added.
Both MailEnable and SmarterMail mail systems are supported. SmarterTools has even created a special “Lite” version of SmarterMail with unlimited domains that works only with Enkompass. Also, Enkompass creates databases and user accounts for MySQL 5, Microsoft SQL Server 2005 and 2008.
cPanel has also bolstered security by using Active Directory, keeping user information and reseller privileges are safely stored. The reseller structure has also been enhanced with multi-level reselling, essentially letting resellers sell to resellers.
At HostingCon, the WHIR’s Larissa Primeau spoke to cPanel’s Eric Gregory about Enkompass and the upcoming cPanel Conference in Houston.
