How does cpanel-based web site hosting operate?
For your information, it's useful to know that most of the cPanel-based web page hosting offerings on today's web site hosting marketplace are provided by a very inconsiderable business niche (when it comes to annual money flow) dubbed reseller hosting. Reseller web page hosting is a sort of a small-sized marketing segment, which generates a big number of different web hosting brands, yet providing exactly the same services: mainly cPanel web hosting services. This is bad news for everyone. Why? Because of the fact that at least ninety eight percent of the web hosting offerings on the whole web site hosting market offer the same service: cPanel. There's no diversity at all. Even the cPanel web site hosting prices are alike. Quite similar. Leaving for those in need of a top web hosting service practically no other site hosting platform/webspace hosting CP alternative. Thus, there is only one single fact: out of more than two hundred thousand webspace hosting trademarks around the world, the non-cPanel based ones are less than 2%! Less than 2 percent, mind that one...
200,000 "web site hosting corporations", all cPanel-based, yet distinctly dubbed
The site hosting "diversity" and the web hosting "offerings" Google shows to all of us come down to just one and the same solution: cPanel. Under 100's of 1000's of different web page hosting trademarked names. Imagine you are simply a normal chap who's not very well acquainted with (as most of us) with the website development processes and the site hosting platforms, which in fact power the separate domain names and online portals . Are you ready to make your hosting choice? Is there any website hosting option you can pick? Of course there is, these days there are more than 200,000 web hosting service providers out there. Officially. Then where is the difficulty? Here's where: more than 98 percent of these 200,000+ different website hosting brands across the world will give you the same cPanel web site hosting Control Panel and platform, branded differently, with absolutely the same price tags! WOW! That's how vast the variety on the present-day site hosting market is... Full stop.
The web page hosting LOTTO we are all part of
Simple mathematics reveals that to run into a non-cPanel based web hosting provider is a big stroke of fortune. There is a less than one in 50 chance that an event like that will take place! Less than 1 in fifty...
The advantages and disadvantages of the cPanel-based website hosting solution
Let's not be pitiless with cPanel. After all, in the years 2001-2004 cPanel was trendy and presumably answered most site hosting industry demands. To cut a long story short, cPanel can do the job for you if you have only one domain name to host. But, if you have more domain names...
Weak Side No.1: An idiotic domain folder structure
If you have two or more domain names, though, be extremely careful not to remove fully the add-on ones (that's how cPanel will call each subsequent hosted domain, which is not the default one: an add-on domain name). The files of the add-on domain names are quite simple to delete on the server, because they all are placed into the root folder of the default domain name, which is the very well known public_html folder. Each add-on domain name is a folder placed inside the folder of the default domain. Like a sub-folder. Next time attempt not to erase the files of the add-on domains, please. Check for yourself how good cPanel's domain folder structure is:
public_html (here my-default-domain.com is placed)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)
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 getting confused? We doubtlessly are!
Weakness No.2: The same mail folder configuration
The electronic mail folder configuration on the hosting server is exactly the same as that of the domain names... Making the very same error twice?!? The sysadmin boys strongly reinforce their belief in God when managing the email folders on the email server, praying not to bungle things up too fatally.
Disadvantage Number Three: An absolute lack of domain name administration options
Do we have to cite the entire deficiency of a modern domain name manipulation user interface - a place where you can: register/migrate/renew/park or administer domains, modify domains' Whois details, protect the Whois information, edit/create nameservers (DNS) and Domain Name System resource records? cPanel does not supply such a "modern" tool at all. That's a major disadvantage. An unjustifiable one, we wish to point out...
Predicament No.4: Many user login places (minimum 2, maximum three)
What about the demand for another login to access the invoice transaction, domain and tech support administration software? That's apart from the cPanel login credentials you've been already supplied by the cPanel-based hosting company. Sometimes, based on the billing platform (especially designed for cPanel solely) the cPanel web hosting vendor is availing of, the enthusiastic clients can wind up with two extra logins (1: the invoicing/domain administration interface; 2: the ticket support software platform), ending up with a total of three login locations (including cPanel).
Disadvantage No.5: More than 120 webspace hosting CP areas to get to know... quickly
cPanel offers for your consideration more than one hundred and twenty menus inside the web page hosting Control Panel. It's an excellent idea to memorize each and every one of them. And you'd better get familiar with them rapidly... That's extremely impudent on cPanel's side.
With all due recognition, we have a rhetorical question for all cPanel-based website hosting distributors:
As far as we are aware of, it's not the year 2001, is it? Mark that one as well...