How To Login To The Cpanel Control Panel
Use The Cpanel Tools To Manage Aspects Of Your Website
What is the CPanel? The CPanel is a control panel full of icons, links and tools that represent the Scripts, Tools and Programs that will help you to manage your website. Those individual icons and links (scripts, tools and programs) are often referred to as control panels as well, within their own right.
To login to your CPanel control panel simply type http://www.yourdomainname/cpanel into your web browser's (i.e. internet explorer's) Address Bar edit box and then either press the ENTER keyboard key or click on the GO (blue Arrow) button. In my case I type http://www.websitecreationhelp.com/cpanel in order to login to my control panel.
Fig 1.0 Type your cpanel address into your web browser's Address Bar edit box and press ENTER
Before your CPanel can be displayed inside your web browser's display area (window pane) you must fill in the CONNECT TO security requester that appears, with the User Name & Password you were given by your web hosting provider when you ordered your web hosting package (website). You may of changed this password since of course.
Fig 1.1 Type in the User Name & Password you were given by your web hosting provider
After typing in your security User Name & Password the CPanel control panels (tools/programs) will then be displayed inside your web browser's
display area - The CPanel is web-based in other words and not a separate .exe (executable) program. Therefore, you can access the CPanel from any
Internet Cafe in the world for example.
Always remember to use a Safe/Secure computer when accessing the CPanel from an internet cafe, if/when it is possible, and always DELETE YOUR INTERNET
HISTORY after logging out of the CPanel. There are hackers on the internet and curious/malicious people in the internet cafes.
Fig 1.2 The CPanel - Full of icons that represent the Scripts/Tools that help you to manage your website
When you see the CPanel for the first time do not be put off or scared!! as you will not use many of the scripts, tools and programs that are behind those icons and links. Here is a description for some of the more important/standard scripts, tools and programs.
Change Password
Allows you to change your web hosting package password. This is the password that allows you to log-in to the CPanel amongst other things.
Disk Space Usage
Shows details of each folder and file on your website together with the amount of disk (web) space it is using (occupying).
Backups
Allows you to download a backup of your website or parts of it - These backups are manual. Your web hosting provider should be backing up your website automatically every day or at least once a week, so do not worry too much about Backups. You should always have a copy of your website files (i.e. web pages, video files and image files) on a personal computer, cd/dvd and/or flash drive just in case they get destroyed/deleted from your web space, for whatever reason(s).
File Manager
Allows you to manage your folders and files (upload files, delete files, create folders, move files and so on).
FTP Manager
Allows you to create FTP Sessions and FTP Accounts with/without User Name & Password. Your web hosting provider should have set up a FTP (File
Transfer Protocol) Account for you automatically. That FTP Account allows you to upload/download web content to/from your web space, and computer, via
the FTP Server.
You can use a web browser such as Internet Explorer or a FTP Program such as FileZilla
to interface between the FTP Server, your Computer and your Web Space (website). A web browser connection might not be possible if the FTP Server is secure
(using security such FTPES).
Creating an additional Anonymous FTP Account (Anonymous Login) or FTP Account with User Name & Password for the FTP Server is only good if you intend to allow your users to upload/download to/from your FTP Server (the File Transfer part of your website). Other than that reason I would not bother with FTP Accounts if I were you.
Parked Domains
Allows you to add/remove a Parked Domain.
A Parked Domain is a normal domain name (i.e. www.software.com) that points/links (redirects) to your main domain name (i.e. www.computers.com) only - It
has no web space folder or bandwidth of its own because it shares the same web space and bandwidth allocated to your main domain name.
A parked domain name is typically set up when you want a .co.uk and a .com for example to go to the same web space. So if you have computers.com as
your main domain name and computers.co.uk as your parked domain name, visitors who type www.computers.co.uk into their web browser will be sent to
the same web space that www.computers.com is using and therefore see the same website content (the same web pages, video and so on).
Parked Domains are normally handled by your web hosting provider. For example. You contact them and say "I would like to order www.???.com please. I
would like it so that when a user types www.???.com into internet explorer it takes (points) them towards my existing www.???.co.uk".
Add-On Domains
Allows you to add/remove an Add-On Domain.
An Add-On Domain is a normal domain name (i.e. www.software.com) that points to (connects to) a sub-folder within your main domain name's public_html
(website) folder. That sub-folder is normally named after your add-on domain name (i.e. software.com). So if your main domain name is computers.com
and your add-on domain name is software.com your web hosting provider will create a new sub-folder called software.com inside the public_html folder
of www.computers.com and then point/link (redirect) www.software.com to that new sub-folder called software.com.
This means that anyone typing www.software.com into their web browser will be taken to a sub-folder called software.com within the public_html folder of
www.computers.com.
The advantages of an add-on domain name are that 1) It has its own folder which means it can be classed as a website within its own right and 2) It saves
on buying two web spaces (two pure websites). However. The overall disadvantage of hosting two domain names (a main domain name and an add-on domain name)
is that they share the same web space and bandwidth.
This has serious side-effects if you want to have video on one or both websites (domain names) because the web space and bandwidth might be shared
unevenly, which means a customer might miss out on a download. For example. A free video download on www.software.com might take up the bandwidth for
a buying customer on www.computers.com.
Add-On Domains are normally handled by your web hosting provider. For example. You contact them and say "I would like to order www.???.com please. I
would like it so that when a user types www.???.com into internet explorer it takes (points) them towards www.???.co.uk/sub-folder".
Sub-Domain
Allows you to add/remove a Sub-Domain.
A sub-domain is an internal domain name (a pointer), or shortened path name (location), set up by you to make a long named sub-folder within your
public_html folder (website folder) shorter. For example. If I have www.websitecreationhelp.com/media/music/artists/abba as a sub-folder within my
public_html folder I could set up the sub-domain: www.abba.websitecreationhelp.com. This makes the long URL (path name) of the abba folder much shorter
for the user to type into their web browser's address bar edit box. Instead of typing www.websitecreationhelp.com/media/music/artists/abba they type
www.abba.websitecreationhelp.com.
Security
Allows you to create password protected folders (ideal for Membership purposes), prevents hot-linking (stops people linking to your image files for example and stealing your bandwidth), prevents leeching (helps in preventing people from guessing the password to a password protected folder by only giving them up to 4 chances to login) and so on.
Allows you to manage your e-mail accounts. You can check your master e-mail account (The account you are logged into with the CPanel), your other e-mail accounts, Set up Automatic Response E-Mails (Auto Reply), Forward E-Mail to another domain (i.e. another .com), Filter E-Mail, Add a Mailing List and so on.
Webmail
Allows you to check the e-mail of your master e-mail account - The account you are logged into with the CPanel.
ALWAYS Remember To LOG-OUT
When you have finished using the CPanel always remember to logout of it, before closing its web browser window, by clicking on the LOGOUT link (top-right corner).
Fig 1.3 Always click on LOGOUT when you have finished with CPanel
Remember. If you accessed the CPanel using an internet cafe computer you should always DELETE YOUR INTERNET HISTORY after logging out of the CPanel. There are hackers on the internet and curious, malicious, people in the internet cafes.