What is cPanel?
cPanel is a web hosting control panel that allows users to manage their website and simplify the process of hosting a website.
What Does The Following Do?
Auto SSL
cPanel > Tools > Security > SSL/TLS Status
An auto SSL is simply a free version of an SSL certificate.
An SSL is a Secure Socket Layer. It’s a security certificate that encrypts data between a website and a browser or between two servers which protects user privacy and data integrity.
The default web port is Port 80. This shows up as http on website urls. When an SSL is added, it runs all the information from Port 80 to Port 443, therefore making the website more secure. This shows up as https on website urls.
Hotlink Protection
cPanel > Tools > Security > Hotlink Protection
Hotlink Protection protects a person’s bandwidth. It prevents someone from grabbing an image that is on your website and hosting it on their own. This is especially important for clients who don’t want their content stolen.
PHP Multi-manager
cPanel > Tools > Software > PHP Multi-Manager
With PHP Multi-manager, you can see what version of PHP is currently in use and allows you to easily manage your account’s PHP configuration. This is useful for problem solving because you may need to upgrade the version.
PHP INI File
cPanel > Tools > Software > MultiPHP INI File Editor
A PHP INI File lets you control your site’s PHP-related rules, such as setting the size limit when uploading files, hiding error messages, max execution time, and max input time. Max execution time should be increased if the website is taking a long time to load. Also, if error messages are hidden, they won’t show up when something goes wrong, if a page doesn’t appear due to an error, you’ll have to look at the code and find it yourself. If there is something not loading or an error, it’s probably because you need to change one of these values.
Databases
A database is a collection of data tables made of rows and columns that stores and manages information. Columns are the names of things while rows are entries. A very simple example of a database is a spreadsheet. They provide a location for storing data. A database is also a web service that runs in the background on the computer to deliver certain services.
DNS
DNS stands for Domain Name System. It’s a service that translates domain names into IP addresses. DNS allows users to input human-readable domain names instead of having to remember random strings of numbers and letters(IP addresses) for each website.
Domains & Subdomains
A domain is a unique name that identifies a website and is associated with an IP address. For example, the domain name of this website is cortez.matmcc.org. Domains make it easier to access a website.
A subdomain is a sub of an existing domain. It’s a separate section of a website. They are prefixes so they are added before the rest of the domain name. For example, a domain name for this website is work.cortez.matmcc.org. Subdomains are primarily used to organize a website’s content into different complicated sections that require their own content hierarchy like creating sub-websites that are related to the main website. An example is Wikipedia. Their main domain name is wikipedia.org, but they have separate subdomains for information in other languages:
- en.wikipedia.org – English
- es.wikipedia.org – Spanish
- ja.wikipedia.org – Japanese
Differences Between WP Toolkit, WP Installatron, & Manual WP Installations
WP Toolkit
domain.org/wp-admin
The WordPress Toolkit wants to take control of your website and allow you more freedom. It tries to make things simpler.
The default settings are set to automatically update but at some point, it’ll create a problem because updating one thing and not another could break something or a new version of a plugin may not be compatible with another.
The WordPress Toolkit requires a file system, php files to build decision trees, and a database to store all the information.
WP Installatron
cpanel > Applications
The Word Press Installatron is a place in cPanel where a user can install and manage web applications and PHP scripts to help manage or enhance a website. It’s main difference from WordPress Toolkit is that it’s completely separate from it. It’s a place where users can install apps to add to their website.
Manual WP Installations
A manual installation of WordPress involves a process while WordPress is a singular interface.