February 22nd, 2019
More often than not, it is a common question among customers who lease dedicated servers or VPS servers whether or not it is necessary to have a control panel to manage their server. The short answer, of course, is no. However, a control panel is handy when managing a server because it takes care of everyday remedial tasks that a server handles. Moreover, if you do not have any kind of experience managing a server, a control panel can make life much more bearable.
I Know What I Am Doing. I Want To Customize
If you know how to manage your server and if you decide not to use a control panel, you may have more opportunities to customize your server as you see fit. Control panels are designed to operate in a certain way, and it may change/replace your custom changes so that your required configuration may not work correctly. For example, specific changes you may make to boost performance on certain processes may be changed by using a control panel. As long as you know what you are doing, this may always be the best option.
Okay, I Need A Control Panel
So you are not experienced managing your server without a control panel. That’s okay. Remember that you are not alone in this! Those remedial tasks, such as setting up websites, email, databases, etc., will be simplified by installing a control panel. In fact, some control panels are sophisticated enough that have the “1 click install” feature. In other words, this means there are add-on features to the control panel to have hundreds of applications that can be installed simply by performing a "single-click" on the application icon.
Remember that your trusted hosting provider is there 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. They are there to help you with your questions. Control panel software for your server will reduce the time you spend administering your server. Moreover, if you currently pay a developer or server administrator to make your changes, a control panel will eliminate this as it will allow you to administer your server instead of paying someone to do so.
So What Do I Choose?
Not sure what to choose for a control panel? Your trusted hosting provider can talk to you about what you can choose for your platform (i.e., Windows or Linux). For example, If you are using the Windows platform, you might select Plesk. If you are using Linux, you might choose Plesk, cPanel, Virtualmin, or Webmin.
Conclusion
If you cannot administer your own VPS or dedicated server, you should take a look at the control panel options your trusted hosting provider can provide you. It will make life easy in the long run when administering your server, allowing you to do the daily remedial tasks required. However, if you know how to manage Windows or Linux and you are going to custom configure your server, then a control panel may not be your best option.
If you would like to discuss this matter further, please feel free to contact us.