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VHCS Control Panel Overview

Designed for the Linux platform, VHCS is an easy to use control panel that aims to take the pain out of web hosting.  While these are definitely notable aspects, perhaps the greatest quality of VHCS is that the software is totally free to use.  This control panel does not offer all the visual bells and whistles of leading commercial products like cPanel or Plesk, but it does get the job done when it comes to server administration and website management.  In fact, it wouldn’t be too far fetched to say that VHCS ranks alongside some of the best control panel panels of the free or paid variety.

VHCS Web Tools

The VHCS control panel packs a variety of useful tools and many of them can be found in the Web Tools section.  These tools include the following:

Error Page Customization - Custom error pages provide excellent opportunities for website branding and advertising.  Rather than displaying the typical error messages that lead people to believe they cannot access your site, you can add your own content and reveal the meaning of the error through custom 401, 403, 404 and 500 error pages.

Backup and Restore – Having the ability to backup and restore website files is an attribute far too many of us take for granted.  This is something that can be done with ease through VHCS’ user-friendly interface.  You can perform automated daily backups of your files and easily access the most recent version should anything out of the ordinary occur.

Protected Areas - Security is vital for any website, but especially one that accepts outside memberships.  The password protect feature of VHCS helps you increase security by requiring that users enter a valid password to access certain files and folders of your website.

File Manager – VHCS gives you two options for managing your files on the server.  You can do so through the FTP section or launch the web-based File Manager.  The latter makes a perfect alternative for the user who is not all that familiar with File Transfer Protocol and FTP clients.

Summary

VHCS certainly makes a viable option but it does have its drawbacks.  For example, the software does not offer the add-on scripts that are made possible with third-party applications such as Fantastico in cPanel.  It does however, provide everything you need to manage your website in an incredibly efficient manner.  The fact that the program is completely free to download and use for both personal and commercial endeavors is a definite plus.  Updates and patches are released on a regular basis while paid support is available for those who want a piece of mind when using the product.

Whether you require a free Linux control panel solution or one that simply gets the job done, the efficiency of VHCS warrants a closer look.  Even though it is lacking in some areas, it delivers all the features many users require to comfortably maintain their websites.

Getting Familiar with Your Control Panel

Though often described with terms such as “intuitive”, “user-friendly” and “easy to use”, a control panel can be a little difficult to work with in the beginning.  This is particularly true for the newcomer who has never run and maintained a website previously.  In order to get comfortable with all the intricacies of being a webmaster, you must first become familiar with the all the tools and options provided by your web host and control panel.

The Basics

The basic functionality of a control panel is to provide you with a way to monitor your website and perform various management tasks.  Each tool supplied acts as an individual module designed to make it easy to navigate your way through the interface.  While features and tools vary from depending on the software, almost all control panels offer common items such as a web-based file manager, an email system, FTP capabilities and user accounts, bandwidth and disk storage stats, domain management and access to the server logs.

Traffic Analysis

If you are interested in knowing more about your website traffic, visitor statistics are something you will certainly want to take a look at.  Some hosts offer their own custom tools that while serviceable, are not as comprehensive and informative as others.  The good thing is that all the popular and widely used control panels are typically integrated with third-party utilities that take the pain out of traffic analysis.  Some of the most common applications you will find bundled into your management software are Webalizer, AwStats and Analog, with OneStat becoming an increasingly popular option.  Being able to view these statistics is so important because they allow you to see how your website is expanding and where that growth is coming from.   Though often overlooked, these are invaluable tools that can really aid in the success of your web presence.

File and Email Management

The file manager is another common tool that you are likely to put to great use.  In our opinion, this is one highly underrated feature for the simple that it contains all the data for your website.  When launching the file manager, you can access your web pages, documents, images and other files.  With a file management tool, all your files can be upload and maintained right on the server with relative ease.

In addition to file management, the average control panel provides a fully integrated system for managing your email needs.  This generally includes a multitude of email accounts, forwarders and aliases, spam filtering and increasingly popular features such as autoresponders.  Most control panels also provide webmail applications that allow you to send, receive and manage your messages on the server.

Conclusion

There is a lot more to a control panel aside from what we have covered in this article. Many now feature database administration tools, backup utilities and the ability to create PGP keys for encrypting your communications.  Regardless of what control panel you choose, it is vital that you take the time to understand how it works in order to get the best results.

How to Change File Permissions in cPanel

The File Manager in cPanel allows you to do much more than upload files to the server.  This tutorial will show you just how easy it is to change permissions on the files you have uploaded.

Changing File and Folder Permissions

- Open the File Manager in cPanel and then find the file or folder you want to change permissions on.

- Click on the name of the desired file or folder

- Next, click the Change Permission link, which should be in the top-right corner of the File Manager window.

- Follow the prompts required to create the appropriate permission.  The permission numbers under the tick boxes should automatically update.

- Lastly, click the “Change” button once you have finished setting the permission.  After you do this, the new permission level will be saved and display the update to show that the file has been modified.

What You Should Know About Unix-like Files and Permissions

Each file on a Unix, Linux, other Unix-like server has certain access permissions.  These permissions are critical as they instruct the operating system on how to handle requests made to access those files.  When it comes to these operating platforms, files have three types of access:

Read - Represented by an “R”, read access allows files to be displayed to the user.

Write - Represented by a “W”, write access allows files to be modified by the user.

Execute – Represented by an “X”, execute access allows files to be executed as programs by the users.

Access to these files is classified in three types of groups:

User – The user who owns the file.

Group – Related files that are in the same group or folder

World – Everyone Else

Permissions Settings

In order to for your pages to be displayed in your visitors’ browsers, the web server must first be able to read them.  Therefore, the following permissions must be set in order for your site to function properly:

- All of your images and HTML files must be readable by others.  The setting to make this possible is 644, which makes these elements readable by the User, Group and World, but just writable by the user.  644 should be automatically set once you upload files to the server.

- All of your folders must be executable by others.  The setting to make this possible is 755, which makes these elements readable by the User, Group and World, writable by the User, and executable by the User, Group and World.  This is automatically set when you create a folder.

- All of your CGI files in the CGI-bin must be executable by others.  The setting to make this possible is 755, which makes these elements readable by the User, Group and World, writable by the User, and executable by the User, Group and World.  Unlike the settings above, this one is not automatically set when you upload files.  These file settings must be changed manually.

When dealing with these settings, it is critical that none of your files or folders are made writable by anyone else.  If they are, any file or folder others have write access to can be deleted or compromised in other malicious ways.  Because of this, you need to be very cautious of how you set permissions.

Managing Files with cPanel’s File Manager

cPanel comes integrated with numerous tools and one of the most useful is the File Manager.  This handy utility allows you to manage your files on the server via HTTP rather than a third-party FTP client such as FileZilla.  It lets you upload files, create or delete files, create folders and more.  In this tutorial we show you how to utilize some of the basic functions in the File Manager.

Creating a Folder

- To get started, locate and click on the “File Manager” icon in the “File” section of cPanel.

Once inside, you will find managing options at the top of the screen along with directories and folders on the left.  The File Manager contains all your website files, therefore, creating folders allows for better structure and organization.  You will find that this greatly simplifies the file maintenance process.

- To create a new folder, click on the “New Folder” link

- Next, enter a name for the new folder and specify the destination where it will be created.

- To finish up, simply click the “Create New Folder” button and the new folder will be listed in the specified location.

Upload Files

- To upload a new file, choose the folder you want to upload files to from the navigation pane on the left.

- Next, locate and click on the “Upload” icon at the top of the screen.

- In the next window, click “Browse” and locate the files you want to upload from your hard drive or storage media.

- Double-click on the desired file and the upload process will start immediately.

You can also upload multiple files by clicking on the “Add Another Upload Box” link.  Simply repeat these steps for all the files you want to upload.

The files you upload to the server can be easily downloaded to your hard drive through the “Download” option.

Create New Files

Creating new files through the File Manager is simple, possibly easier than creating them on your PC.

- To get started, simply click on the “New File” link.

- Next, enter a name for the file you want to create.  Be sure to add the appropriate extension.  So if you create a PHP file, its extension will be .php.

- Choose the destination where you want the file to be saved.

- Lastly, click “Create New File” button and the file will be created.

Edit Files

The edit feature in the File Manager lets you make immediate changes without needing to upload new versions of your files.  This is particularly useful for relatively small changes.

- Find the folder where the file is located and click it.

- Click on the “Edit” link at the top of the screen.

- When the new window displays, alter the text of the file to your specific needs

- After making the necessary alterations, click on the “Save Changes” button.

The changes you made should take effect immediately.

Additional Features

Other functions in the File Manager include advanced editors such as the Code and HTML Editor, Extract and Compression tools, and the ability change permissions for your files.  For those users who don’t feel comfortable working with FTP tools, the File Manager in cPanel makes the perfect alternative.