A control panel is provided by a web host. As suggested by the name, it is the controlling mechanism for the website and helps in managing the website. Control panel is the one place from where a user can do everything that is needed to be done, while hosting a website, this includes tracking statistical information like traffic information, creating FTP accounts, setting up email accounts, adding sub-domains, databases, managing files, among many other things.

There is a white variety of control panels available. cPanel is the most popular but others include NextGenCp, VDeck, Ensim, Sphera or Hostopia. Each panel is different and offer many tools and functions peculiar to their own product. The panel you receive may depend upon which platform you our web host uses. Factors for changing a control panel includes what features they have and how do they perform on a specific platform.

Basic features that you can expect to find in a control panel are as follows:

Mail Manager

Parked Domains

Addon Domains

Error Log

Disk Usage

Disk Usage

FTP Manager

Backup

Subdomain

MySQL Database Manager

Password Protect Directories

Subdomain

Disk Usage

Redirects

Index Manager

Raw Access Logs

SSL Manager

Raw Access Logs

Subdomain Stats

Redirects

CGI Center

Web/FTP Stats

MIME Types

Raw Log Manager

Index Manager

SSL Manager

There are issues that separate control panels, and one is how it easy the panel is to use. A panel like Plesk may offer simple and friendly tools and options whereas cPanel offers many functions. To ensure you make the right choice of control panel, you need to know what is available. You can find out more by studying the following:

cPanel:

cPanel is very commonly used on Linux based systems, it provides support for more than 10 different flavors of Linux, and as of yet, it does not have a Windows or OSX based version. cPanel helps users in managing/controlling everything, from administering MySQL database to creating and deleting email accounts and much more.

cPanel has a whole range of functions and provides much more than the majority of control panels. The amount of functions offered is a key reason why it is so popular, that and it is cheap.

Plesk:

Plex is available for Linux and Windows web hosting servers where cPanel is not. Many users find it helpful that Plex has an interface similar to Windows XP. The control panel looks good and offers many features available in cPanel. It can enable any user to build their own site with easy to sue tool. It offers many features but it may be viewed as more expensive than other products, especially cPanel.

H-Sphere:

H-Sphere is also a popular control panel used by web hosts. Just like Plesk, it is also available for Windows, as well as Linux based web hosting servers. It offers a good range of features ranging from complete automation to key functionalities. However when compared with cPanel and Plesk it has less features.

DirectAdmin

DirectAdmin features a number of options that other control panels do not have. However it comes out lacking, when compared to features available with cPanel or Plesk. Furthermore DirectAdmin does not support Windows based platforms, and only supports a few flavors of Linux. On the plus side, it is cheaper than cPanel.

Ensim

Ensim can be found on Linux and Windows and although it is useable it does not have many features.

Interworx

Again only for Linux, Interworx has impressive features like the site usage snapshot and a well presented interface.

Hosting Accelerator

This service is only for Windows and it can feel a bit cluttered which may overwhelm a number of users who are new to this style or technique.

Helm

Helm supports only Windows based web hosting servers. Apart from the usual features, it allows the user to see billing information inside the control panel.

CWIPanel

The CWIPanel aims for Windows server management. It is an average product.

InsPanel

Again, InsPanel is Windwos based and has little to stand itself out from the crowd.

There are a lot of control panels to choose from but cPanel usually ends up on top due to its price, features and ease of use.

However, there are new control panels emerging all the time and NextGenCP looks very impressive. It may have been developed over a number of years but it appears to be worth the wait.

You can tell that modern internet technology has shaped this product. It is simple to use and has been created specifically for web hosting clients. It has such a great ease of use that even novices can pick it up in next to no time. It is said it takes no more than mouse clicks to perform any function. It may seem simple but there is a lot going on and all of the functions aid web site management. The makers of the service have also issued all users with a challenge and if they can think of something they would like in the next version of the product, they will incorporate it.

An overview of the features of NextGenCP:

Control of Domain:

All users have full control of any domain and sub-domain and the registration process is very simple. Users have full control over their domain as well as sub-domain. They can also register and host their own domain names easily and quickly.

Database Management:

This product makes it extremely simple to create and manage your very own database with just a few clicks of the mouse. phpMyAdmin provides the database management and the data is secured by Database Backup Manager.

Mail Accounts:

It is very simple to add and control email accounts using this system. Pandela.com have provided many SPAM filters which should vastly reduce the amount of junk a user receives. There are also features to organize mail accounts, and look through and filter mail that is not desired.

Tools for the Site:

NextGenCP has plenty of tools, which make managing a web site very easy. Some of these tools are Script Installer, Hotlink Protection and IP Access Manager.

Find the statistics behind your site:

This information will provide total knowledge of visitors and show how much bandwidth is being used and the usage of email accounts per day.

Feel the benefit of the support system:

Every user of this product will be granted full support assistance. By sending off a support ticket, the matter will be considered by a staff member very quickly. It is said that the average time for response is 15 minutes.

With so many impressive features, there is no doubt that NextGenCP looks one of the best web host control panels ever created. It is also good to hear that Pandela.com is promising to continually improve the service each and every day.

About Matt Ewing : Matt Ewing is a web hosting admin and professional blogger. Visit WebHostingMadness.com to read his reviews of the top hosting companies each month.