Common features of cpanel to manage your website

cPanel is a hosting control panel that operates through a web-based interface, enabling users to manage their website’s different aspects such as domains, email accounts, databases, and files. This web based application is widely popular among website owners and hosting providers alike because of its user-friendly interface. In this article, we will explore some of the common cPanel features that can help you to manage your website efficiently.

1. Email Accounts: One of the most critical features of cPanel is the ability to create and manage email accounts that are associated with your domain name. With this feature, you can generate multiple customized email addresses, set up autoresponders, and configure email forwarding. Additionally, you can manage spam filters and the email disk space usage from the email accounts section of cPanel.
2. File Management: The file manager feature of cPanel allows you to manage your website’s files and directories effortlessly. You can upload and download files, create new directories, and delete existing files and directories. Besides, you can edit files within cPanel, making it easier to update your website without the need for an FTP client.

There are several navigation functions available:

• Home — when you click it, it will show you the Home folder and its content
• Up One Level — goes up one level from your current place. For example, when you’re on cgi-bin folder and click this, it’ll bring you back to the public_html folder, which is a higher level than the cgi-bin folder
• Back/Forward — works pretty much the same as back/forward navigation in your web browser
• Reload — refresh the page to show changes made
• Select/Unselect All — to select or unselect files or folders
• View Trash — shows the Trash folder where all deleted files reside
• Empty Trash — to clear the Trash folder. You can only use this feature while in the Trash folder

Using the File Management Features

• File – you can create a new file inside a selected folder by using this feature. Here we’ll create an index.php file in the public_html folder.
• Folder – this feature lets you create a new folder. Here, we’ll create one named test-folder.
• Copy– you can copy the selected file to a specific destination. We’re going to copy the index.php that we’ve created to the test-folder.
• Move – This feature works exactly like Copy. The only difference is that the file will be removed from its original location.
• Upload – here you can upload a file to your hosting account. However, you can’t upload folders. To upload folder or larger file, you can use an FTP client like FileZilla. You have two options to upload the file, either directly drag and drop it or select the file from your computer manually. Once you finished, click the Go Back to link.
• Download – this feature will download the selected files to your computer.
• Delete – this option moves the selected file to the Trash folder. If you want to remove the file permanently, check the Skip the trash and permanently delete the files box.
• Restore – This feature is only available when you’re in the Trash folder. You can restore a removed file to its folder origin.
• Rename/Edit/HTML Editor – You’ll need these features to edit your files. They work pretty similarly like any text editor software and can be quite a help for editing on the go. Though it uses a WYSIWYG interface, it’s not quite powerful as other HTML editor software.
• Permissions – You need this feature to assign permission to a specific file or folder. We recommend you don’t change anything unless you completely understand what you’re doing, as changing the wrong permission can cause your website problems.
• View – Use this to view a file, for example, to open a picture or view the content of the index.php file.
• Extract/Compress – With compress, you can archive chosen content to a Zip, Gzip, or Bzip2 format. Extract will do the opposite – extract an archive.
• Settings – With this feature you can set up your preferences. For example, you can set the default folder to open whenever you use the File Manager. You can also choose to Show Hidden Files (dotfiles). For example, if you want to edit .htaccess to restrict access to certain aspects of your website.

1. Database Management: If your website relies on a database, cPanel provides an intuitive interface to manage your databases. You can create new databases, add new database users, and manage existing databases. Furthermore, you can use the phpMyAdmin tool to manage your MySQL databases, which allows you to import and export data, among other things.
2. Website Metrics: The website metrics section of cPanel provides various statistics related to your website’s traffic and performance. This feature allows you to view website traffic logs, track website visitor behavior, and monitor your website’s performance using tools like AWStats and Webalizer.
3. Security Features: CPanel offers a range of security features to protect your website from malicious attacks. You can set up password-protected directories, use IP deny managers to block access from specific IP addresses, and manage SSL certificates for secure HTTPS connections. Additionally, you can use the built-in virus scanner to scan files for malware and shield your website from potential security threats.

CPanel is a potent tool that can help website owners manage various aspects of their website. The features discussed in this article are just a few of the many features available in cPanel. By utilizing cPanel to manage your hosting, you can save time, improve your website’s security, and make updates to your website more efficiently.