To access cPanel:

1. Type: https://IP:2083 into your preferred Internet browser.
• IP is meant to stand for your website’s IP address.
• Approximately one week after setting up your website, you will be able to access your cPanel interface by replacing the IP address with your domain name.
2. Enter your cPanel username into the Username field.
3. Enter your password into the Password field.
4. Click Log in.
• You will be greeted by a cPanel startup page on your first login. We strongly recommend completing the Getting Started Wizard.

Note: A colon symbol following an IP address or domain name denotes a specific port number. These port numbers are responsible for guiding data packets transmitted between 2 computers to specific processes taking place on either machine.

Changing the cPanel interface's language

As of cPanel 11.32, you can select the language in which the interface should appear from the login page. This change will only apply to the specific browser session. Selecting a new language from the login screen will not change your account's default language (set using the Change Language screen).

Note: If your browser's Accept-Language header is set, then the login screen will attempt to display the corresponding locale. If the locale requested by the browser header is not available, the login interface will appear in English.

The cPanel Home Screen

For cPanel version 11.36

The cPanel home screen provides access to all of your cPanel functions.

You can reach the cPanel home screen from anywhere in the interface by clicking the Home button () at the top left corner of the screen, or the Home link at the bottom of the screen. From the Home screen, you can reach any of cPanel's features.

You can change the order in which the feature-related boxes, such as Mail and Files, appear on your home screen. This can be useful for organizing the cPanel interface to better suit your needs. To change the location of a box:

1. Click and hold the box's heading bar.
2. Drag it to its new location.

The information boxes can also be minimized or “hidden” by clicking the icon in the top right corner of the heading bar.

To hide a feature box:

• Click the arrow at the top right side of the box. This will collapse it into a heading bar.

Note: The options you see on your main cPanel screen may differ from the ones described in this and other cPanel documents, depending on the way your web host has configured cPanel. If you have questions about your configuration, please contact your web host.

• Help
• Logout
• Trademarks
• Switch Theme
• Switch Account
• Notices
• Find
• Frequently Accessed Areas
• The Stats Menu
• The Server Status Page
• The Preference Links

Help

Clicking the Help button (or the Help link at the bottom of the screen) opens a pop-up window with information regarding the feature you have accessed within the cPanel interface. The contents of the Help menu change, depending on where you are in the interface.

Help should be consulted any time you have trouble using a feature in cPanel. The Help link offers 3 options at all times:

• Video Tutorials — Click to view a list of the video tutorials available from cPanel.
  Note: You will not hear sound while viewing the videos.
• Full Interface Documentation — Click to access this documentation.
• Contact Customer Support — Click to access a form for contacting customer support. You can also click the Contact link at the bottom of the page.

Note: This documentation may also be found by clicking the Documentation link at the bottom of every cPanel screen.

Logout

The Logout button () at the top right corner of the main screen, and the Logout link at the bottom of the screen, allow you to log out of your cPanel account.

Note: Be sure to click Logout after accessing your cPanel account from any computer where access is shared.

Trademarks

To view information about trademarked names used within the cPanel interface, click Trademarks at the bottom of the screen.

Switch Theme

The theme is the framework of the cPanel interface. If your web host allows, you may switch your cPanel interface to a different theme. What themes are available to you depends on your web host’s configuration.

Note: x is a deprecated theme. We recommend that you use a theme based on x3, as it is the most up-to-date.

Switch Account

If you are the administrator of more than 1 account, and if your web host enables this feature, a Switch Account drop-down menu appears at the top of your cPanel interface. This lets you manage the domain of another account by selecting it from the menu.

Notices

If your web host has an important message to communicate, it will appear in a box marked Notices, above the Find feature.

The Find function can help you quickly locate a feature of cPanel. Simply type a keyword into the Find box on the left side of the screen. The menus on the right will automatically filter to show the results, as seen in the screenshot below.

To show all features of cPanel, click the ‘X’ button to the right of the Find text box.

The Find feature filters your available options.

Frequently Accessed Areas

Under the Frequently Accessed Areas heading, the 4 most accessed functions of cPanel are linked for your convenience. This menu is subject to change during operation as features are used more or less often.

The Stats Menu

The Stats menu shows exactly how much of your hosting account’s resources have been used. This is important for monitoring your resource usage, and it can help you decide when it’s time to upgrade your hosting plan.

• Click expand stats to see all of this data.
• Click collapse stats to view only the first 5 stats.

The full Stats menu displays the following information:

• Main Domain — The primary domain on your account.
• Home Directory — The folder, located on your web server, in which your website’s folders and files reside.
• Last login from — The IP address from which you last accessed your cPanel account.
• File Usage — The number of inodes, or files and directories, that your account has used. The first number represents your account's inode usage. The second number represents your account's inode limit.
• Disk Space Usage — The amount of disk space that your account occupies on the web server, in Megabytes. This number appears next to the amount of disk space your account is allocated (the "quota").
• Monthly Bandwidth Transfer — The amount of data transferred to and from your account for the month to date in Megabytes. This number appears next to the total monthly bandwidth your account is allocated.
• Note: You may notice discrepancies between information WHM provides and the information log processing program (such as AWStats, Webalizer, or Analog) provide. To learn more about this, read our documentation about bandwidth discrepancies.
• Email Accounts —The number of email accounts associated with your website, out of the total number allowed.

• Subdomains — The number of subdomains associated with your account, out of the total number allowed.
• Parked Domains — The number of parked domains associated with your account, out of the total number allowed.
• Addon Domains — The number of addon domains associated with your account, out of the total number allowed.
• FTP Accounts — The number of FTP accounts associated with your website, out of the total number allowed.
• SQL Databases — The number of SQL databases you have created, out of the potential number of databases you are able to create for each database type. For more information, please see our release notes.
• Mailing Lists — The number of mailing lists associated with your website, out of the total number allowed.
• MySQL Disk Space — The amount of disk space used by your databases.
• Hosting package — The name of the web hosting plan to which you have subscribed.
• Server Name — The name of your web server.
• cPanel Version — The version of cPanel currently running on your server.
• Theme — The version of the cPanel interface layout currently being used.
• Apache version — The version of the Apache software running on your web server.
• PHP version — The version of the PHP scripting language currently installed on your server. This information may be useful for installing PHP scripts.
• MySQL version — The version of the MySQL database software currently installed on your server. This information may be useful for installing MySQL databases on your website.
• Architecture — The type of microprocessor powering the web server.
• Operating system — The software running on the web server, which allows the server to operate.
• Shared IP Address/Dedicated IP Address — If your domain is assigned a dedicated IP, this field displays that IP address. If your domain is assigned to a shared IP, this field displays that IP address, which is potentially shared among multiple accounts on the web host’s server.
• Path to sendmail — The location of the sendmail program on your web server. This is useful if, for example, you create a script that lets visitors send you email using a form on your website.
• Path to Perl — The location of the Perl interpreter on your web server. This information is necessary for writing Perl scripts.
• Perl version — The version of Perl running on your server. This information is necessary for writing Perl scripts.
• Kernel version — The version of your web server’s kernel, which is the central operating system component, allowing the server’s software to communicate with its hardware.
• cPanel Pro — The version of the cPanel pro software currently running on your web server.
• Service Status — The Click to View link will cause the Server Status page to display. (See details below.)

The Server Status Page

Clicking the Click to View link at the bottom of the Stats menu opens a new page displaying whether a particular service is working.

Server Status Information Box

• A green circle means that the service is running.
• A yellow circle means that it is busy or, in the case of disk space, almost full.
• A red circle indicates a problem with the service, or a full disk.

Services listed on this page may include:

• cpsrvd: The cPanel service daemon. This service runs the cPanel interface.
• imap: An email protocol for mail retrieval.
• httpd: The Apache webserver’s daemon. This daemon is responsible for serving web pages to your visitors.
• named: The DNS server. This service is required for your domains to appear on the Internet.
• Server Load: Your server’s current CPU load. If this is red, your server is experiencing performance issues.
• Memory Used: The amount of RAM being used on your server, shown as a percentage.
• Swap Used: The amount of swap memory being used, shown as a percentage. Swap memory is memory used on your hard drive in place of RAM. Swap memory usage occurs during a RAM shortage.
• Disk /$volume: Amount of hard disk space being used, shown in percentage form. If this appears red, delete old or unused files.

Note: With the exception of the Disk service, you should contact your web host if you are experiencing problems with any of these services.

The Preference Links

The preference links are a set of 5 links located at the bottom of the Home screen. These links change the basic display preferences of cPanel’s interface. An example of the links can be viewed in the screenshot below.

The Preference Links

• Lite/Full Graphics — Toggles display of the header and footer graphics, allowing for reduced memory demands and load times.
• Hide/Show Icons — Toggles display of the icons contained in the boxes between displaying only hyperlinks, or both icons and hyperlinks. Hiding icons will further reduce memory demands and load times.
• Reset All Interface Settings — Resets any changes made to the interface and return it to its default.
• Note: This will not reset the current theme.
• Reveal All Boxes — Reveals any menu boxes that have been hidden.
• Note: Boxes can be hidden by clicking the arrow icon in the top right-hand corner of the heading bar. Hidden boxes appear in “window-shade” format as a simple heading bar.
• Reset Box Order — Returns the order of boxes to cPanel’s default setting if the order has been changed.

Preferences

For cPanel version 11.36

(Home >> Preferences)

The following documents describe the features of the cPanel Preferences box.

• Getting Started Wizard — The Getting Started Wizard appears on your first login to cPanel and will guide you through configuring some basic preferences. We strongly recommend completing this process.

• Video Tutorials — This feature can be beneficial to new users who would like to get a feel for cPanel’s workflow process.

• Change Password — This feature allows you to change your cPanel interface’s main password.

• Update Contact Info — This feature allows you to change your primary contact email addresses.

• Change Style — This feature offers several styles for you to choose from. Styles (sometimes called “skins”) define how the cPanel interface appears within your web browser.

• Branding Editor — This feature allows you to edit the header and footer images in each theme as well as the main page icons for the style.

• Change Language — This feature defines the default display language of the cPanel interface.

• Shortcuts — This feature will create a quick way to access your cPanel interface or your webmail by creating a shortcut.

• Security Policy — This document describes how to choose your cPanel account's security questions and manage verified access IP addresses.

Mail
For cPanel version 11.36

(Home >> Mail)

• Email Accounts — Here, you can find information about adding and managing email accounts.
• Webmail — Webmail allows you to access you email through a web browser.
• Accessing Webmail — Instructions on accessing webmail and changing your language.
• Troubleshooting Webmail — This document provides some information about resolving common issues with webmail.

• BoxTrapper — The BoxTrapper feature allows you to block unwanted email. You can learn more about how to use and configure it here.

• SpamAssassin™ — SpamAssassin allows you to block unwanted email. You can learn more about how to use and configure SpamAssassin here.

• Forwarders — Forwarders allow you to forward incoming email from one address to another.

• Auto Responders — AutoResponders allow you to send a message in response to incoming email automatically.

• Default Address — Default addresses catch misdirected email sent to your domain.

• Mailing Lists — Mailing lists allow you to send an email message to multiple addresses by specifying a single address.

• User Level Filtering — User level filters allow you to create mail filters for a specific address.

• Account Level Filtering — Account level filters allow you to create mail filters for your domain's main email account.

• Email Trace — This feature allows you to review details about email delivery attempts for your account.

• Import Addresses/Forwarders — This feature lets you create multiple email accounts, or forwarders, at once by uploading a list of usernames.

• Email Authentication — This set of features allows you to make your mail server more secure.

• MX Entry — You can learn about adding and managing MX entries here.

• Additional Login Methods — This document explains how to log directly into your sent and spam email folders.

• Email Archiving — This feature allows you to save incoming, outgoing, or mailing list messages for a specified amount of time.

Files

(Home >> Files)

The following documents describe the features in the cPanel Files area.

• Backups — This section of our software provides an interface for downloading and storing all or some of the website’s files, databases, forwarders and filters.

• Backup Wizard — The Backup Wizard is a user-friendly interface for creating a backup of the entire site, a partial backup, or allowing a site restoration from the last backup you saved.

• File Manager — The File Manager is our built-in web application for managing your website’s files from your personal computer.

• Legacy File Manager — The Legacy File Manager offers file manipulation options in an older web-based interface. Users already familiar with an older version of cPanel’s File Manager may find the Legacy File Manager more comfortable.

• Web Disk — Our software offers a Web Disk application where files can be managed using your operating system’s interface.

• Disk Space Usage — This feature displays information about how and how much disk space is being used by your website.

• FTP Accounts — FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol and is another method of website file management.

• FTP Session Control — This feature displays information about and gives you control over who is connected to your account via FTP.

• Anonymous FTP — This feature allows you to define how anonymous users interact with your FTP server.

Logs

(Home >> Logs)

The following documents describe the features in the cPanel Logs area.

• Latest Visitors — This feature that displays information about the last 300 people to visit your site.

• Bandwidth — This feature allows you to see how your bandwidth is being used.

• Logaholic — You can learn more about the Logaholic feature here. Logaholic is a web analytics program that delivers information about your website's traffic, keywords, and content.

• Webalizer — Here, you can learn more about the Webalizer feature. Webalizer compiles and analyzes information about your web traffic.

• Webalizer FTP — Here, you can learn more about the Webalizer FTP feature. Webalizer FTP compiles and analyzes information about your FTP server.

• AWStats — You can learn about AWStats here. This feature allows you to access web statistics processed by AWStats.

• Raw Access Logs — This feature allows you to see what content has been accessed on your website.

• Analog Stats — Here, you can learn about the Analog Stats feature. This feature allows you to analyze website traffic.

• Error Log — This feature displays the last 300 errors encountered by your website.

• Choose Log Programs — This feature allows you to choose what statistical analysis programs you wish to use.

Security

(Home >> Security)

The following documents describe the features of the cPanel Security box.

• Password Protect Directories — This feature allows you to restrict access to certain parts of your website.

• IP Deny Manager —This feature is capable of blocking a single IP address or a range of IP addresses.

• SSL/TLS Manager — This feature allows you to manage SSL/TLS keys, certificates, and signing requests. These features are intended to make your website more secure.

• SSH/Shell Access — These features allow you to connect to your server remotely.

• HotLink Protection — These features allow you to prevent other websites from stealing bandwidth.

• Leech Protect — These features allow you to prevent users from sharing passwords publicly.

• Add a GnuPG Key — These features allow create and manage GnuPG keys, that use the “public key approach” to encryption.

Domains

(Home >> Domains)

The following documents describe the features located in the cPanel Domains box.

• Subdomains — This area of cPanel allows you to create and manage subdomains. Subdomains prefix to your domain name and point to a subdirectory within your public_html folder.

• Addon Domains — These features pertain to Addon domains. Some hosts do not allow cPanel users to have addon domains.

• Parked Domains — This area of cPanel allows you to create and manage parked domains. Parked domains function as pointing devices.

• Redirects — These features allow you to create and manage domain redirection.

• Simple DNS Zone Editor — This screen lets you add and remove A and CNAME DNS records.

• Advanced DNS Zone Editor — This screen lets you add, edit, and remove A, CNAME, and TXT DNS records.

Databases

(Home >> Databases)

The following documents describe the features located in the cPanel Databases box.

• MySQL® Databases — Databases offer a method for managing large amounts of information easily over the web. They are necessary to run many web-based applications such as bulletin boards, content management systems, and online retail shops.

• MySQL Database Wizard — cPanel can guide you through the process of setting up a MySQL database, along with the requisite accounts and privileges, step by step.

• phpMyAdmin — phpMyAdmin is a third-party tool included with cPanel, used for manipulating MySQL databases over the Internet.

• PostgreSQL Databases — Databases offer a method for managing large amounts of information easily over the web. They are necessary to run many web-based applications such as bulletin boards, content management systems, and online retail shops.

• PostgreSQL Database Wizard — cPanel can guide you through the process of setting up a PostgreSQL database, along with the requisite accounts and privileges, step by step.

• phpPgAdmin — phpPgAdmin is a third-party tool included with cPanel, used for manipulating PostgreSQL databases over the Internet.

• Remote MySQL — This feature allows you to configure databases to be accessed remotely, by other web servers.

Software/Services

(Home >> Software/Services)

The following documents describe the features located in the cPanel Software/Services box.

• CGI Center — Short for “Common Gateway Interface,” CGI lets a web server run pieces of software called scripts. cPanel’s CGI Center provides CGI scripts that can do many useful things for your website, like create a guestbook, clock, hit counter, countdown clock, and banner ads.

• Site Software — This interface allows you to add useful software to your website. Your web host controls what software is available.

• PHP PEAR Packages — Using these features you can add and manage PHP packages.

• PHP Configuration — This feature allows you to view specific information about your server's PHP configuration.

• Perl Modules — This feature provides an interface for you to add and manage Perl modules.

• Optimize Website — This feature can automatically compress content on your website, when that content is requested by visitors.

• Ruby on Rails — This document covers how to create and deploy a Ruby on Rails application.

• RubyGems — This feature is a package manager for the Ruby programming language that provides a standard format for distributing Ruby programs and libraries (in a self-contained format called a "gem"), a tool designed to easily manage the installation of gems, and a server for distributing them.

Advanced

(Home >> Advanced)

The following documents describe the features located in the cPanel Advanced box.

• Apache Handlers — This interface allows you to add and manage Apache handlers. Apache handlers control how your site’s Apache web server software manages certain file types and file extensions.

• Image Manager — cPanel includes 3 tools to help you manage the images you use on your website.

• Index Manager — This interface allows you to configure how a directory index will appear to those who access it.

• Error Pages — This interface allows you to customize the appearance of your error pages. An error page informs a visitor when there is a problem accessing your site.

• Cron Jobs — cPanel provides 2 interfaces for editing cron jobs. Cron jobs are scheduled tasks that take place at predefined times or intervals on the server.

• FrontPage® Extensions — This feature allows you to enable or disable FrontPage extensions. FrontPage extensions will allow web pages to be published directly from the Microsoft® FrontPage application, eliminating the need to use FTP.

• Network Tools — This area of cPanel’s interface contains tools for retrieving network information.

• Submit a Support Request — This feature makes it easy for you to submit support requests and change your contact email address. However, it is important to remember that this function may not be active per your web host’s configuration and terms.

• MIME Types — This feature allows you to create and manage MIME types. MIME types relay information to the browser about how to handle file extensions.

cPanel & WHM Glossary

“A” (Address) Entry: A record, residing on your server, that contains your server’s hostname and IP address. The “A” entry is essential because it tells DNS servers the identity of your server, allowing visitors to find your server on the Internet.

Account: A record for accessing privatized information. For example, your cPanel account lets you manage your website. In cPanel, other instances of the term “account” occur in email and FTP.

ACLs (Account Creation Limits): When you create reseller accounts in WHM, these are the constraints you place on the resellers’ privileges.

Account-Level Filter: A rule that determines where email, delivered to a domain's main email account and meeting certain criteria, will be delivered. See also Filter.

Addon Domain: An additional domain name associated with a cPanel account. Each addon domain is stored in its own directory that can be configured by website owners. This allows website owners to manage multiple domains from a single cPanel account. Addon domains must be registered with a domain name registrar to properly function.

Addons (cPAddons): Additional services, usually provided by cPanel, for your users. Some examples of addons are blogs, message boards, and shopping carts.

AIM (AOL Instant Messenger): A widely used instant messaging program. WHM can notify you via AIM if there is a problem with your server. More information about AIM can be found at http://dashboard.aim.com/aim.

Analog: A program that provides information about the visitors to a website in both graphical and statistical views. More information about Analog can be found at http://www.analog.cx/.

Anonymous FTP: A process whereby visitors without FTP accounts may upload and download files to and from a website. Although it poses security risks, anonymous FTP can be convenient if the site owner wishes to make files publicly available for downloading. When setting up anonymous FTP, it is important to protect any sensitive information by changing file permissions and directory access permissions.

Apache: A program that receives requests from web browsers and responds by “serving” web pages to the browsers. For this reason, it’s called web server software.

Apache Handler: A means of telling the Apache software how to process a given type of file. By default, Apache only handles certain file types. You can configure Apache handlers for other file types using cPanel. For more information, see Apache's handler documentation.

ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange): A common character set based on the English alphabet.

atd: A daemon for the at command in Linux operating systems, which performs scheduled tasks. This daemon is disabled by the WHM Quick Security Scan feature.

Authentication: A process for confirming the identity of someone with whom the server will share sensitive information. On the web, authentication usually involves either a username and password set or a public/private key pair.

Autoconfig: A process that sets up a user’s Outlook® or Outlook Express account to receive their cPanel email. You can enable or disable this feature using WHM's Enable/Disable Outlook® Autoconfig feature. This feature was not available in WHM version 11.34, but is available again in version 11.36.

Auto Responder: Auto responders allow you to automate replies to incoming email. In cPanel, this feature can be useful for confirming the receipt of mail, or for informing correspondents that the recipient is unavailable (for example, while on vacation).

AWStats (Advanced Web Statistics): A program that provides information about the visitors of a website. This information is presented in both graphical and statistical views. More information about AWStats can be found at http://awstats.sourceforge.net/.

Backscatter: Bounce email messages (or failed Delivery Status Notifications) erroneously sent to a domain whose name has been forged as the sender of spam. Using SPF on your mail server should reduce backscatter.

Backup: A copy of your website’s files, directories, databases, and email configurations. Keeping a backup copy of your website on your personal computer is a wise precaution.

Bandmin: Bandmin is a set of Perl scripts that monitor and log bandwidth usage by IP. You can access Bandmin at the following location: www.example.com/bandwidth/ (where example.com is your domain name).

Bandwidth: The amount of data transferred to and from a server. Every time a visitor views a file (whether it’s a web page, image, video, or audio file), that file is transferred to the visitor’s computer. Bandwidth is the total size of all these files transferred to visitors’ computers. Hosting providers often limit a site owner's bandwidth, as it can affect the performance of the server.

Bandwidth Limit: A limit imposed on the amount of data an account is allowed to transfer per month.

Bayes Testing (aka Bayesian Spam Filtering): Bayesian spam filtering is a method of filtering spam based on statistics. This method uses tokens, generally words, found in emails to determine whether an incoming message is spam. This filtering technique relies on Bayesian statistics. Bayesian classifiers calculate a probability that an email is or is not spam by correlating the use of tokens with spam and non spam emails.

Banners: Images which appear on a website, often as advertisements at the top or bottom of a page. Often, banners alternate with each successive visit to the page.

BIND (Berkeley Internet Name Domain): The most prominently used DNS server software. Also referred to as named. More information about BIND can be found at https://www.isc.org/software/bind.

Blackhole: An option for handling mail received by the default or catch-all email addresses of cPanel users. The “blackhole” option discards mail after it is accepted; for this reason, it can result in more spam being sent to your users, and it places a larger load on your server than the “fail” option.

Blocker: A blocker is a check that is performed before a version change takes place. This check reviews your system for possible compatibility issues with a desired upgrade. This concept was introduced in 11.30.

Bounce Message: An email reply informing a sender that there was a problem delivering an email.

BoxTrapper: An application included with cPanel that filters spam by requiring would-be senders to reply to a verification email (also known as challenge-response verification). The original email will only be accepted after the sender replies to the verification message.

BoxTrapper Blacklist: A list of email addresses from which incoming mail will be automatically blocked by the BoxTrapper application. cPanel automatically sends a configurable warning message upon receipt of mail from a blacklisted address. See also BoxTrapper Ignore List and BoxTrapper Whitelist.

BoxTrapper Ignore List: A list of email addresses from which incoming mail will be blocked. cPanel does not send a warning message upon receipt of mail from an address ignored by the BoxTrapper application. See also BoxTrapper Blacklist and BoxTrapper Whitelist.

BoxTrapper Whitelist: A list of email addresses from which incoming mail will automatically be accepted by the BoxTrapper application. See also BoxTrapper Ignore List and BoxTrapper Blacklist.

Brute Force (Attack): A type of attack wherein the attacker enters a large number of combinations of characters, in an attempt to decrypt a key. WHM includes cPHulk, a protection system that lets you lock out brute force attackers after a specified number of failed attempts.

Build: Formerly, a minor version of cPanel. These are now referred to as Release Tiers.

CA (Certificate Authority) Bundle: A file on your server that verifies that your public and private keys were issued by a trusted entity. If your Certificate Authority sent you a CA bundle file, you can install it to your server using WHM’s Install a SSL Certificate and Setup the Domain feature, or the Manage Service SSL Certificates feature.

Cache: A stored piece of information to which the server refers instead of accessing the information source, to save bandwidth and time. In WHM, you can configure caching of DNS records using the Edit DNS Zone feature. You can configure caching of disk usage data via the Tweak Settings page.

Catch-All Address: The email address to which cPanel & WHM routes any email message sent to email accounts which do not exist on a domain. Also known as a Default Address.

Certificate (Public Key Certificate): An electronic document that states the identity of a server so that the end user knows that he or she is communicating with the correct website.

Certificate Authority: An entity that issues digital certificates for server verification.

CGI (Common Gateway Interface): A protocol that lets a web server communicate with scripts and other software. cPanel’s CGI Center provides an array of CGI scripts that let website owners generate and manage useful features for websites, including a guestbook, clock, hit counter, countdown clock, and banner ads.

CGI Script Alias: A feature of Apache that creates a directory named cgi-bin. This is a special directory containing files which Apache knows to execute as CGI scripts.

Character Set: (Also sometimes known as “charset”). A code that pairs a sequence of characters with a set of numbers, allowing a computer to store and transmit the characters. ASCII is one popular character set; several character sets exist for Cyrillic and Asian alphabets. More information about character sets can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Character_set.

chmod (change mode): A CLI command that allows you to set permissions to view, write, or execute a script.

CIDR (Classless Inter-Domain Routing): A routing method that assigns each Internet user to a four-part IP address, with each part separated by a decimal, followed by a slash and a number between 0 and 32.

CLI (Command Line Interface): A means of communicating with a computer by typing commands. On Unix systems, this is also often called a shell.

Client: Any application that accesses a service on another computer. Web browsers such as Internet Explorer can be called web clients. FTP clients include FileZilla and Cyberduck.

Cluster: A group of linked servers. WHM allows you to create a DNS cluster, which keeps DNS records synchronized among a group of computers. Eliminates the need for manual updates.

Compiler: A computer program that translates source code written by people into a language readable by a computer. As a security measure, WHM allows you to disable your web server’s compilers for most users.

Courier: Mail server software, known for its IMAP component. More information about Courier can be found at http://www.courier-mta.org.

cPAddons: Pieces of software that website owners can install on a website through cPanel. cPAddons provide useful tools to a website. Common examples include bulletin boards, chat programs, and online shopping carts.

CPAN (Comprehensive Perl Archive Network): The main repository of Perl modules, pieces of Perl software. The CPAN library (located at http://www.cpan.org) contains over 12,000 modules, most of which are free of charge. cPanel allows you to search CPAN and install Perl modules.

cPanel: Companion software to WHM, designed to simplify website maintenance for website owners.

cPanel Packages: Pieces of software that are bundled together for archiving and installation. cPanel packages, such as FTP and MySQL software, can be updated using the WHM Update Config feature.

cpdavd: The cPanel daemon that provides access to the Web Disk feature.

cPHulk: A WHM feature that helps protect your web server from malicious users who try to gain unauthorized access through brute force attacks.

cplog: Also known as error_log, a file that contains a record of errors encountered by the Apache web server. This file can be found at /usr/local/apache/logs/error_log.

cpmove: A copy of a user’s website created by running a script called pkgaccount. The cpmove file is useful as a backup and can be manually uploaded to restore the user’s web files.

cpsrvd: cPanel Service Daemon, the software that runs cPanel on your server.

CPU Load: The amount of processing ability currently being consumed by programs on your server, measured in a percentage. More information about CPU loads can be found here.

Cron Job: A command on a server, executed at regular intervals. These commands are stored in a Unix configuration file called crontab.

.crt File: An SSL certificate, an electronic document which ties a public key to a trusted entity. This electronic document is a key piece in an authentication process.

CSR (Certificate Signing Request): A request, which you send to a certificate authority, for an identity certificate. cPanel can generate a CSR for you, but since authorities vary with regard to the information they require, you should check their requirements before applying for a certificate.

CSS (Cascading Style Sheets): A style sheet programming language that describes how a document, often written for the web in HTML, should appear.

cupsd: Common Unix Printing System Daemon, used by the web server for printing. This daemon is disabled by the WHM Quick Security Scan feature. We strongly suggest disabling cupsd as it is vulnerable to attacks.

CVE (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures) System: An archive of publicly known security threats, vulnerabilities, and exposures. The CVE system assigns numbers, known as CVE identifiers. These identifiers provide a reference point when evaluating the coverage and effectiveness of security tools and services.

Daemon: A computer program that runs as a background process, rather than being visible to, and directly controlled by, the user.

Data Center: A facility used to house servers. A data center is generally a safe place to keep a server as it typically includes backup power supplies, multiple communication connections, and environmental controls.

Default Address: The email address to which cPanel routes any email message sent to email accounts which do not exist at a domain. Also known as a Catch-All Address.

Deprecated: A term used to describe a feature which is no longer supported.

DHA (Directory Harvest Attack): A technique employed by spammers whereby they attempt to find valid email addresses through guesswork, using various permutations of common addresses.

Dictionary Attack: A method whereby a malicious user tries to guess a password using words found in a dictionary. Similar to a brute force attack.

Directory (Folder): A repository for files, analogous to a file folder on a personal computer. In website management, a directory will contain the website's files.

Disk Space Quota: A limit placed on the amount of disk space an account is allowed to use.

DKIM (Domain Keys Identified Mail): The replacement for the older DomainKeys protocol. Like DomainKeys, DKIM attempts to verify the origins of email messages.

DNS (Domain Name System): The component of the Internet which acts as a “phone book,” converting human-readable domain names (such as www.example.com) into computer-readable IP addresses (such as 208.77.188.166, in the case of example.com).

dnsadmin: A program that manages DNS services and clustering.

DNS Zone: An administrative space or portion of the Domain Name System. This space is responsible for directing web traffic to the correct location. An example is example.com, a DNS zone whose servers direct its web traffic.

DNS Zone File: A file on your server that primarily maps IP addresses to domain names. A correctly configured zone file must exist in order for visitors to access your server from the Internet.

Domain: The name a site owner gives a website, which will appear in the website’s URL and email addresses. Usually seen as example.com, where example is meant for the domain name.

Domain Forwarding: A technique that allows you or your users to automatically send visitors to a domain when they access another domain. For example, a user may reach example.com by typing example2.com. See also redirect.

DomainKeys: An email authentication method that attempts to verify that a message actually came from the domain it appears to have come from.

Dovecot: Mail server software designed for optimal security. More information can be found at http://www.dovecot.org.

DSA (Digital Signature Algorithm): A method of generating public and private keys for encrypting data. This algorithm was developed by the U.S. government.

EIDE (Enhanced Integrated Drive Electronics): A method for connecting hardware to a computer. WHM’s Optimize EIDE Hard Drives? feature can speed up communications between your server and external hard drives connected by EIDE.

Entropy Banner Manager: A script, included with cPanel, that lets you manage rotating banner images on your website.

Entropy Search: A script, included with cPanel, that creates a search engine for your website.

Environment Variables: Values that advanced administrators place within specific files on the server to change the behavior of Apache and PHP. More information about environment variables can be found here.

Error Pages: These pages display warning messages when visitors encounter problems while trying to access your site. cPanel lets you configure the error messages that display for your site. For an in-depth look at HTTP error codes, please visit our HTTP error codes documentation.

Exim: Mail server software, known for its configurable nature. More information about Exim can be found at http://www.exim.org.

Fail: An option for handling mail received by the default or catch-all email addresses of cPanel users. The fail option returns as undeliverable all mail received by the default address.

Filter: In cPanel, a tool that processes mail according to your preferences. For example, a filter can automatically discard spam or save mail from a specified sender to its own folder. In cPanel, filters can be applied to the main email account on a domain (Account Level Filters), or customized for each individual account (User Level Filters).

Forceful Reboot: 1 of 2 methods for restarting your server. This forces the server to restart regardless of what error(s) it may have encountered. You should only use a forceful reboot if you cannot reboot gracefully, as it may case data loss.

FormMail Clone: A piece of software that imitates the function of FormMail. FormMail is used to create an email message from data that a user enters into the text fields on a web page, and send the message to the intended recipient.

Forwarder: A tool that lets you forward a copy of every email message you receive to another address. When a forwarder is set up, you will still receive mail at the original recipient address. If, however, you create a forwarder without first creating the original address, messages will be forwarded to the end address without being sent to the original address, as it does not exist.

FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name): A name that uniquely defines a domain’s location. It is usually seen as host.example.com. with a trailing dot. For the purposes of cPanel, including a final dot is not necessary, but the domain name must contain at least 2 dots. FQDNs must be written in lowercase letters.

FrontPage®: A Microsoft® application that allows site owners to edit a web page in WYSIWYG (“what-you-see-is-what-you-get”) format, rather than using raw HTML code and CSS. WHM provides FrontPage extensions, so site owners can publish their sites using FrontPage, allowing them to skip the FTP process.

FTP (File Transfer Protocol): A method of transferring files from one computer to another. cPanel & WHM comes equipped with an FTP server that can be configured to the website owner's preference. An FTP client must be installed on the local computer in order to send files to and receive files from the FTP server. Some FTP clients include FileZilla (for Windows®, Linux, and Unix), and Cyberduck (for Mac®).

Gem: A piece of software in the Ruby language. The central repository for these pieces of software is called RubyGems. For more information, see http://rubyforge.org/projects/rubygems.

Generators (web stats): Pieces of software that will compile statistics for your web server. For example, they can tell you how much bandwidth has been transferred per domain. 3 generators can be configured through WHM: Analog, AWStats, and the Webalizer.

GnuPG (GNU Privacy Guard): A suite of tools used for data encryption and signing. These tools are most commonly used for signing emails. For more information, see the GnuPG website.

Graceful Reboot: The preferred way to restart your server. This method stores new system information before shutting down.

gzip: A program which compresses files for disk space conservation, minimizing transfer times, and making the transfer of multiple files easier. The compressed files use the filename extension .gz. In Unix and Linux systems, gzip is often used with tar to create a “tarball” file (which ends with .tar.gz).

Home Directory: A cPanel account’s highest-level directory, which contains all the files and directories used by websites managed by the account. Files placed in a home directory are not viewable online unless they reside in the public_html directory or a subdirectory of public_html.

Horde Webmail: A webmail client that is included with WHM. A webmail client allows users to check email through a web browser.

Hostname: The unique, human recognizable name by which a server will be known across the Internet. For example, host.example.com. You can specify or change your server’s hostname using WHM’s Hostname feature. Please note that the server hostname is distinct from your domain name.

HotLink: Also known as an “inline link.” A hotlink is a direct link that embeds a file (such as an image or video) from your site into another website. When another site embeds your files, it is using your bandwidth to serve those files.

.htaccess: A file that resides in a specific directory, and contains configuration information applying to that directory. The .htaccess file may also contain authentication instructions.

HTML (Hypertext Markup Language): The language in which most pages on the World Wide Web are written.

.htpasswd: A file that resides in a specific directory, along with an .htaccess file. The .htpasswd file contains encrypted password information when authentication has been set up for the directory.

HTTP (Hyptertext Transfer Protocol): The method (protocol) for transferring data over the Internet.

httpd.conf: The configuration file for the Apache web server. More information about httpd.conf can be found at http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/configuring.html.

ICQ: An instant messaging service. You may choose to receive updates from your server via ICQ. More information about ICQ can be found at http://www.icq.com.

IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol): Along with POP3, one of the two most widely used email transfer methods. IMAP synchronizes email account information with the mail server on a regular basis. If a user logs into multiple computers to check email, IMAP will allow the user to see what messages they have viewed, replied to, forwarded, etc. POP3 does not display this information.

Include (file): A file that is automatically included within another file by the program reading it. In WHM, includes pertain to a series of specifications that can be added to your Apache configuration file (httpd.conf) through the include command.

Index Page: The page, most often titled index.html, index.htm or index.php, viewed by default when a visitor accesses a directory of a website. If no index page exists for the specified directory, the visitor will see a list of files in that directory, unless indexing is disabled in cPanel.

Interchange: A full-featured e-commerce application server that will allow you to conduct business online, granting your users a virtual shopping cart, payment method, and more.

IonCube: A loader that, if enabled, cPanel can use for loading PHP. More information about IonCube can be found at http://www.ioncube.com.

IP (Internet Protocol) Address: A number that identifi