How does cpanel-based site hosting function?

For your info, it's useful to know that the majority of the cPanel-based web space hosting offers on today's web space hosting market are furnished by a very inconsiderable marketing niche (when it comes to yearly cash flow) dubbed hosting reseller. Reseller web hosting is a kind of a small-size marketing segment, which furnishes an immense quantity of different web hosting trademarks, yet providing strictly the same thing: mostly cPanel web hosting services. This is bad news for everyone. Why? Because at least ninety eight percent of the web page hosting offers on the entire web hosting marketplace provide precisely the same service: cPanel. There's no diversity at all. Even the cPanel-based site hosting prices are alike. Quite identical. Leaving for those who require a top web hosting service practically no other website hosting platform/web site hosting CP option. Thus, there is merely a single fact: out of more than two hundred thousand webspace hosting brand names in the world, the non-cPanel based ones are less than 2, mind that one...

Two hundred thousand "web hosting service providers", all cPanel-based, yet uniquely named

The web hosting "variety" and the site hosting "offerings" Google reveals to all of us come down to merely one thing: cPanel. Under hundreds of thousands of different webspace hosting trademarked names. Assume you are merely a normal bloke who's not very familiar with (as the majority of us) with the web site making processes and the hosting platforms, which actually power the separate domain names and websites . Are you prepared to make your hosting selection? Is there any web space hosting alternative you can settle on? Sure there is, today there are more than 200,000 web hosting firms in existence. Officially. Then where is the difficulty? Here's where: more than 98% of these 200k+ unique web space hosting brand names worldwide will give you absolutely the same cPanel site hosting CP and platform, dubbed differently, with precisely the same price tags! WOW! That's how enormous the variety on the current website hosting marketplace is... Period.

The hosting LOTTO we are all part of

Simple arithmetic shows that to encounter a non-cPanel based web hosting distributor is a big stroke of luck. There is a less than 1 in fifty chance that a phenomenon like that will occur! Less than 1 in 50...

The strengths and weaknesses of the cPanel-based web space hosting solution

Let's not be cruel with cPanel. At least, in the years 2001-2004 cPanel was fashionable and presumably covered most website hosting industry preconditions. In brief, cPanel can achieve the desired result if you have just one single domain to host. But, if you have more domains...

Drawback Number 1: A moronic domain folder arrangement

If you have two or more domains, though, be ultra careful not to delete fully the add-on ones (that's how cPanel will refer to each subsequent hosted domain name, which is not the default one: an add-on domain name). The files of the add-on domain names are quite simple to remove on the web server, since they all are situated into the root folder of the default domain, which is the quite famous public_html folder. Each add-on domain is a folder located inside the folder of the default domain name. Like a sub-folder. Next time try not to erase the files of the add-on domain names, please. Check for yourself how good cPanel's domain folder setup is:

public_html (here my-default-domain.com is located)
public_html/my-family (a folder part of my-default-domain.com)
public_html/my-second-domain.com (an add-on domain name)
public_html/my-second-wife (a folder part of my-default-domain.com)
public_html/my-second-wife.net (an add-on domain)
public_html/my-third-domain.com (an add-on domain name)
public_html/my-third-wife (a folder part of my-default-domain.com)
public_html/my-third-wife.net (an add-on domain)
public_html/rebeka (a folder part of my-default-domain.com)
public_html/rebeka.my-third-wife.net (a sub-domain of an add-on domain name)

Are you becoming baffled? We doubtlessly are!

Weakness No.2: The same mail folder configuration

The email folder structure on the hosting server is strictly the same as that of the domains... Making the very same mistake twice?!? The admin blokes firmly strengthen their faith in God when managing the e-mail folders on the email server, hoping not to fuck things up too severely.

Weak Side No.3: A complete deficiency of domain management GUIs

Do we need to point out the utter shortage of a modern domain name management user interface - a location where you can: register/transfer/renew/park or manage domain names, modify domains' Whois details, protect the Whois information, alter/set up nameservers (DNS) and Domain Name System resource records? cPanel does not offer such a "modern" GUI at all. That's a big predicament. An unpardonable one, we would like to point out...

Disadvantage No.4: Many user login places (minimum 2, maximum three)

How about the need for another login to make use of the billing transaction, domain name and technical support administration software solution? That's beside the cPanel account login credentials you've been already provided by the cPanel webspace hosting service provider. Sometimes, on the basis of the billing tool (especially designed for cPanel exclusively) the cPanel web hosting service provider is utilizing, the keen clients can wind up with 2 extra login locations (1: the billing/domain name administration system; 2: the trouble ticket support software), winding up with an aggregate of three user login places (counting cPanel).

Weak Point Number Five: 120+ hosting CP departments to become familiar with... quickly

cPanel presents for your consideration more than 120 menus inside the web space hosting Control Panel. It's a fantastic idea to learn each and every one of them. And you'd better learn them quickly... That's way too impertinent on cPanel's side.

With all due respect, we have a rhetorical question for all cPanel-based web hosting firms:

As far as we are aware of, it's not the year 2001, is it? Mark that one as well...