Glossary
cPanel
cPanel is a popular web-based control panel for managing hosting accounts, including domains, email, databases, and files, without the command line.
cPanel is the most widely used web hosting control panel — a graphical interface that lets site owners manage their hosting account without touching a command line.
What you can do in it
- Manage domains, subdomains, and
dnszones. - Create email accounts and configure
mx-recordrouting. - Set up
mysqldatabases and install apps likewordpress. - Manage files, backups,
ssl-tlscertificates, and PHP versions.
WHM
cPanel is paired with WHM (WebHost Manager), the administrative layer used by hosts and resellers to create and manage individual cPanel accounts.
Why it matters for hosting
cPanel is the default management experience on most shared-hosting and many vps plans. Its ubiquity means skills transfer between providers, though it typically runs atop apache or litespeed with php, so the panel choice also hints at the server stack.
See also
Shared Hosting
Shared hosting places many websites on one server that pools its CPU, memory, and disk, making it the cheapest but least isolated option.
Managed Hosting
Managed hosting is a service where the provider handles server administration, updates, security, and backups so you can focus on your site.
Apache HTTP Server
Apache is a mature, widely deployed open-source web server known for its module system and flexible per-directory .htaccess configuration.
LiteSpeed
LiteSpeed is a high-performance web server compatible with Apache configs, popular in hosting for its built-in caching and efficiency.