Cpanel Guide

cPanel Guide 11.
44
(C) 2014 HostDime.com, Inc.
cPanel Guide 11.44

1
Hosting Info
1.1
What's New
2.1
HostDime, Your Hosting Partner
What's New in cPanel 11.44
Welcome to cPanel
3.1
Logging into cPanel
13
3.2
Welcome to cPanel
15
cPanel Preferences
4.1
Getting Help in cPanel: Wizards and Tutorials
21
4.2
Changing your Contact Information
23
4.3
Customizing cPanel
25
4.4
Bookmark cPanel
27
Working with E-mail

5.1
Creating New E-mail Accounts
29
5.2
Configuring E-mail Clients
32
5.3
Modify Existing E-mail Accounts
36
5.4
Working with Webmail
39
5.5
Combatting Spam
43
5.6
Mail Forwarders
49
5.7
E-mail Autoresponders
53
5.8
Handling Unrouted E-mail
56
5.9
Setting up Mailing Lists
58
5.10 Server-side E-mail Filtering
60
5.11 Testing E-mail Routing
64
5.12 Importing E-mail Accounts and Settings
67
5.13 Combat E-mail Spoofing
69
5.14 Changing MX Records
73
Working with Files

6.1
Backing up and Restoring Data
78
6.2
The cPanel File Manager
84
6.3
Using WebDAV (Web Disk)
92
6.4
Monitoring Disk Space Usage
96
6.5
File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
98
Web Logs and Statistics

7.1
The Latest Visitors Log
106
7.2
Bandwidth Usage Logs
108
7.3
Web Stats
110
7.4
Raw (Unprocessed) Web Logs
113
7.5
Account Error Log
115
Security
8.1
Password Protected Directories
117
8.2
Deny Website Access by IP Address
119
8.3
SSH (Shell) Access
121
8.4
Hotlink Protection
127
8.5
Stop People from Sharing Account Information to your Site
130
8.6
Mail Encryption with GnuPG
134
Managing your Domains

9.1
Subdomains
138
9.2
Addon Domains
141
9.3
Parked Domains
145
10
11
12
13
9.4
Domain Redirection
147
9.5
Simple DNS Zone Changes
150
Databases
10.1 Working with MySQL Databases
154
10.2 PHPMyAdmin
159
10.3 Enabling Remote MySQL Access
161
Software and Services

11.1 CGI Software
164
11.2 Add/Remove Software
165
11.3 Perl Modules
167
11.4 PHP Modules and Settings
169
11.5 Softaculous
171
Advanced Features
12.1 Apache Handlers
175
12.2 Image Management
177
12.3 Web Index Management
179
12.4 Custom Error Pages
181
12.5 Cron Jobs
183
12.6 Network Tools
188
12.7 MIME Types
190
Closing
13.1 Final Thoughts
193
Hosting Info
cPanel Guide 11.44 - 5
(C) HostDime.com, Inc.
HostDime, Your Hosting Partner

Learn how to submit support requests.
Hosting Info - HostDime.com
We at HostDime would like to thank you for choosing to host with us. We look forward to serving
your hosting needs for years to come.
This guide is your complete, one-stop shop to learn about all of the many great features that
cPanel and HostDime offer you. It is organized the same way features in your cPanel account are,
so if you are looking for information on a specific feature, just scroll down the guide until you come
to the section you are looking for.
When you signed up with us you received an e-mail with important account information. Don't
lose that e-mail. It includes your CORE account access information. If you are a long-time
HostDime customer (as many of you are), your CORE account information was sent to your
separately when the new system was rolled out. CORE is your central account management and
support portal that helps you manage all of the services you have with us, pay bills or request
support.
If you have any questions or have any sales or support queries, please feel free to contact us, any
time, day or night. We are here for you. Just log into your CORE account at:
https://core.hostdime.com/
Enter your CORE username and password and you can submit a support request directly to us.
Alternately, you can submit a request for assistance via our Live Chat system at any time. To do
so, go to:
http://www.hostdime.com/
and click on the Start a Live Chat link at the top of the page, then enter the requested details.
Finally, you can give us a call any time at:
1-888-402-DIME (3463) or +1-407-756-1126 (for callers outside the USA)
NOTE: For security, some types of requests cannot be handled via Live Chat or phone call without
verification of certain private details or confirmation via support ticket.
What's New
What's New in cPanel 11.44

Learn about the new features in cPanel 11.44
cPanel 11.44: Not a Lot to See, but Important Improvements Behind the Scenes
cPanel 11.44 doesn't bring many client-facing new features because the work for this cycle was
almost entirely on back-end improvements to WHM. However, there have been some minor
improvements to a few client-facing features. These include additional improvements to Paper
Lantern (cPanel's new theme). Although the theme is not yet fully feature complete the way cPanel
Inc. hopes to make it, they have released a new theme with a more modern flat look and a fully
responsive design. Our reseller, dedicated server and VPS clients can assign this new theme to
the accounts under their control if they wish. Our shared hosting clients will have to wait a while
until Paper Lantern is considered feature complete. There are also some minor updates to
backups and to mailman as well as the complete removal of all FrontPage server-side extensions
support (though the removal tool remains for those who need to remove it).
Welcome to cPanel
Logging into cPanel

Learn how to log into cPanel
Working with Your New Website
To manage the various features of your new website you will need to log into a special web-based
control panel (called cPanel). To do that, you need to start your web browser on your computer.
cPanel works well in nearly any modern web browser on any computing platform. For example,
Internet Explorer 9, Firefox 17, Safari, Chrome and Opera (and all newer versions of those
browsers) will work OK. Some older browsers like Internet Explorer 6 or AOL's web browser may
not work as well with cPanel. Please update your web browser if needed.
Load your web browser and then type one of the following items into your web browser (they will
all take you to the same place). Please note: Replace "yourdomain.com" with your domain name.
https://yourdomain.com/cpanel
http://yourdomain.com/cpanel
https://yourdomain.com:2083/
http://yourdomain.com:2082/
NOTE: The addresses that start with "https://" will connect to cPanel in a secure way that will help
make sure that no malicious third-party could be looking at what you are doing (unless they have
access to your actual computer, of course). It is preferable that you use this more secure method.
However, please be aware that your web browser might pop up a warning telling you that the
security certificate (SSL certificate) cannot be recognized and so might not be valid. If you do get
this, it is OK to click YES or CONTINUE or ACCEPT (whatever your browser shows to let you
accept this certificate). Even though you may get this warning, the connection to your web-based
control panel is still secure so long as you accept the certificate. Also, if you accept the certificate,
you probably won't receive another warning about it when you log into your web-based control
panel (just referred to as cPanel from now on) in the future unless the certificate changes or you
log in from another browser or computer.
No matter which address you enter into your web browser, you will be prompted for your account
username and password.

Your cPanel username and password were provided to you when you signed up for an account.
Please retain this information in a safe and secure location!
The username is not case sensitive, but the password is case sensitive. Be careful when typing. If
you type in the wrong username and password too many times, the system may block you and
you'll need to contact us to gain access to your account again.
Welcome to cPanel
The main cPanel home screen and features.
Getting to Know cPanel
Once you successfully log into your cPanel account, you will see a screen similar to the one
above. Note that the first time you log in, you will probably see another popup that asks if you want
to go through the tutorials or not. You certainly can do this if you wish and cPanel will walk you
through some common tasks and explain more to you about how web hosting works. However,
since you are reading this document, you can safely skip the tutorials for now. Be sure to check
the "do not show this again" check box in the popup before clicking on YES or NO unless you want
to see that popup again. You can always go through the tutorials at any time later by clicking on
the Getting Started Wizard option at the top of your cPanel (see the step below).
NOTE: The screenshots in this document show a demo account, the exact feature set you have
may vary.
At the top of the screen you will see a link on the left called (1) "Home." Clicking this from whatever
screen you are on will instantly take you back to the screen pictured above (the home screen). On
the right side you will see links for (2) "Help" and (3) "Logout." Clicking HELP will bring up a new
window with explanations of the various features you will find in cPanel. LOGOUT will log you out
of cPanel and offer to let you log in again.
Under that, on the left side is a (4) sidebar that contains information about both your website and
the server that your website is hosted on. The sidebar will show you commonly used information
as well as tell you how much of your available disk space you are using, how many databases or
domains you are using (out of your total), etc.
On the right side, taking up most of the screen are (5) several boxes with links to the various
features of your web hosting account. We will discuss each of the available features in-depth a bit
later.
NOTE: If you ever need to find a particular feature in your cPanel account later and you cannot
remember where it is, you can use the (6) FIND feature in the sidebar. Type a word or two about
the feature you are looking for, and the features that match what you've typed will be highlighted to
the right.
One feature in the sidebar that is not visible in the screenshot above is account shortcuts. Once
you start clicking on features, cPanel will keep track of which features you access most often and
insert a box in the sidebar with text links to those commonly used features. This means you won't
have to search around looking for features you use all the time. The list will change over time so it
always reflects your most used features.
Welcome to cPanel, Part 2
This screenshot shows the bottom half of your cPanel home screen. Note the two rows of text links
at the bottom.
(1) This row of links helps you modify your cPanel home screen. The first item, "Lite Grahpics" will
reduce the size and amount of graphics you see in cPanel. This will make cPanel load faster if you
have a slow Internet connection. The second item, "Hide Icons" will do just that, remove the small
pictures above each feature and leave only the text links to those features. Again, this will improve
the loading of cPanel if you have a slow Internet connection. "Reset All Interface Settings" will reset
any changes you've made to the cPanel interface and put things back so they look similar to the
screenshots above. You can collapse the boxes containing features by clicking on the small
arrow to the right of each box in the title bar (3). If you want to expand each box you've collapsed,
just click the fourth link in this row "reveal all boxes." You can also move the boxes of features
around by dragging their title bars up and down and then dropping the box where you want it to
be. For example if you want to move the Advanced box up so it appears before the Domains box,
just drag the title bar up to the space between Security and Domains and then let go. If you ever
want to reset the order of the boxes back to their original positions, click "Reset Box Order."
(2) At the very bottom of the screen, there are text links that will bring you back to the cPanel home
screen, a link that will take you to a page showing you the various trademarks owned by cPanel
Inc., a link to basic cPanel help, a more detailed "Documentation" link that will go into more detail
about cPanel and finally, another link to log out of your cPanel account.
Now let's take a look at the features your web hosting account comes with. We'll discuss each
feature in the order that they appear on cPanel's home screen.
cPanel Preferences
Getting Help in cPanel: Wizards and Tutorials

cPanel walks you through basic account setup features.
Getting Help in cPanel: Getting Started Wizard
There are several ways to get help with your cPanel account, some of which we already
discussed. The first two features in the Preferences box on the cPanel home screen are two more
ways.
The Getting Started Wizard will walk you through the most common things most people want to do
the first time they access cPanel. It also explains more about how web hosting works. This wizard
will take you step-by-step through setting the default language in cPanel (pictured above), how to
access your web hosting account and how to put files in your account, setting up e-mail
accounts, changing your cPanel password, etc. All of these features are available separately on
the cPanel home screen, so you shouldn't feel like you have to follow the wizard if you don't want
to.
NOTE: You can jump to other steps in the wizard by selecting them from the (1) drop-down box on
the right.
Getting Help in cPanel: Video Tutorials
Not only is there text-based help in cPanel, but you can view a number of easy step-by-step
videos just by clicking on Video Tutorials on cPanel's home screen. This will take you to the page
presented above where you can learn how to do each of the tasks listed. Each video has a high
and low quality version. If you have a slow computer or Internet connection, choose the low
quality link. Otherwise, click the High quality link to learn how to do the tasks listed.
Changing your Contact Information

Make sure you update your contact information so your hosting account can contact you if there
are issues you should deal with.
Stay in the Know: Update Contact Information
cPanel has the ability to send you an e-mail when certain important things happen (or are about to
happen) with your hosting account. In order to ensure you get these notifications, you need to tell
cPanel how to get in touch with you. You can set up your notification preferences by clicking on
the Update Contact Information item on the cPanel home screen. When you do, you will see a
screen similar to the one above.
Enter at least one valid e-mail address into the appropriate box, check or uncheck items that you
do or do not want to receive e-mails about and click the SAVE button.
NOTE: It is highly recommended that you enter at least one e-mail address and that at least one
e-mail address not be hosted on this server (i.e., an e-mail address that doesn't end in
@yourdomain.com). The reason for this is if there is a problem with the server or your hosting
account, you will still be able to receive warning e-mails at another address. Also, keep in mind
that if you enter two e-mail addresses then both e-mail accounts will receive e-mail from your
cPanel account at the same time. Adding your contact details here does not send subscribe you
to any third-party mailing lists nor does it update or change your details in CORE, it is only used by
the server itself to send you important automated information.
Customizing cPanel
Learn how to change the way cPanel looks or the language it uses.
Customizing cPanel: Changing the Style of cPanel's Default Theme
If you are not happy with how your cPanel looks, you have a wide variety of choices for changing
it. To try a different theme, click Change Style on the cPanel home screen. You will be presented
with thumbnails of several different styles you can choose. Choose the button under the style you
want to use. Your new style will take effect immediately.
NOTE: [root] is the default style of cPanel's theme (the one demonstrated in these screen shots).
Customizing cPanel: Change the Default Language
If you click on Change Language on the cPanel home screen, you can select from several
different languages. Simply select a language from the list and click CHANGE to switch to that
language.
NOTE: Not all languages available in cPanel are full and complete translations. If the chosen
language file does not have a translation for an item in cPanel, then the English translation will be
used. cPanel Inc. maintains the language files, so future updates to cPanel may
add/remove/update the available languages.
Bookmark cPanel
Learn how to add a bookmark to cPanel in your web browser.
Make it Easy to Access cPanel Features: cPanel Bookmark Shortcuts
cPanel makes it easy to add your web hosting account as a bookmark in your browser so you can
easily access it again later. Click on Shortcuts on the cPanel home screen and then drag one or
both of the two displayed links into your browser's bookmark or favorites menu or tool bar. From
there you can select the saved bookmark to go directly to your cPanel account or webmail.
Working with E-mail
Creating New E-mail Accounts

Learn how to create new e-mail accounts.
Working with Mail in cPanel

cPanel offers you the ability to create and manage unlimited e-mail accounts. These e-mail
accounts will all end in @yourdomain.com. If you want to look more professional, you should only
use e-mail accounts that end in your domain name (yourdomain.com) for business because that
makes you look more professional than using an e-mail address from AOL or YAHOO for business.
All e-mail related features can be found in the Mail section on the cPanel home screen. We'll
discuss the individual features in this chapter.
Creating E-mail Accounts
To create or manage e-mail accounts, click on Email Accounts on the cPanel home screen.
Your account permits you to create as many e-mail accounts as you need. To create a new e-mail
account, enter the details into the grey box at the top of the screen where it says "Add a New Email
Account" Type the username of the new account into the field next to the word (1) "Email:" and if
you have more than one domain added on or parked on your hosting account, you can select the
domain from the drop-down box after the "@" (at) symbol. Type the password you want the new
account to have into the (2) "Password:" and "Password (Again):" fields. The "Password Strength"
meter will fill up as you type your password. A longer bar means your password is more secure.
Click the GENERATE PASSWORD button to have cPanel create a secure password for you, if you
prefer. Finally, you can specify how much of your available disk space you want to allow this one
e-mail account to use in the (3) "Mailbox quota (option:" field. By default, the number is set to 250
MB of disk space, but you can change it or remove the number altogether if you don't want the
account to have a quota and then click (4) CREATE ACCOUNT to create the new account.
NOTE: Mail does count towards the storage limits on your web hosting account and if you do not
specify any mailbox quota (if you leave the field blank) then the new account won't have any disk
space limits to store mail. This means that this account could keep accumulating mail on the
server until your web hosting account is completely out of disk space. At that point you wouldn't
receive any new e-mail or be able to store any more files in your web hosting account. If you do
assign a mailbox quota to an e-mail account, the account won't be able to receive more mail if it
hits that quota or if your web hosting account is out of disk space (whichever comes first). If that
happens the user will need to delete some mail to make more room for new mail that comes in.
Configuring E-mail Clients

Learn how to configure your e-mail accounts in the mail client of your choice.
Configuring Your Favorite E-mail Client
After you create a new e-mail account, you will be asked if you want to configure an e-mail client
to work with the new account. If you click YES or if you select Configure Email Client from the
More drop-down menu (see number (5) in the previous step), you will be taken to a screen similar
to the one above. This screen will tell you the manual settings you need to know to configure most
e-mail clients and also offer you simple one-click access to configure a number of popular e-mail
clients.
Before going any further, let's discuss a few things you need to know about e-mail accounts and
protocols.
There are two different types of communication protocols (you can think of them as languages if
that is easier to understand) that the mail server that handles your e-mail can understand.
POP3: This was one of the earliest "languages" for receiving mail that mail servers spoke. This
method of communicating assumes that mail will come into the mail server and periodically you
will connect with your favorite e-mail program (client) and download that mail to your local
computer, where the mail will stay and then the mail on the server will be deleted. This is great if
you mostly want to use a computer to check your mail. The mail only takes up space on the mail
server until you download it in Outlook, Thunderbird, Apple Mail or some other e-mail program. If
for some reason the mail server isn't responding, you will still be able to view any mail you've
downloaded locally. However, if you are out of town on business and need to look at an old e-mail
you received a long time ago, you won't able able to see that old e-mail via webmail (more on
webmail later).
IMAP: This is a newer receiving mail "language" that assumes that you will want to manage all of
your e-mail on the mail server itself. All mail stays on the server and any e-mail clients you
configure to use IMAP will all see exactly the same e-mail. Mail stays on the server until you
specifically delete the mail either via your e-mail client or via webmail. This is great if you
constantly use different computers to access mail or if you use webmail a lot because you will
always see all of your e-mail no matter what program you use. The problem is that the stored mail
takes up space in your web hosting account so you may eventually need to remove some older
mail permanently to make room for more files or mail.
SSL: Both languages can also "speak" in a more secure way that only your e-mail client and the
server can understand (sort of like speaking in a secret code). This makes sure that no one other
than you will be able to spy on your private e-mail while you are sending or receiving it. SSL
stands for Secure Socket Layer and is the same sort of security you use on the web when you
access an address using https:// (for example when checking out at Amazon.com). If you decide
to use SSL, you may receive a warning the first time you try to access your mail in your e-mail
client telling you that the certificate is not recognized. If so, be sure to accept the certificate when
prompted by your e-mail program. You should not receive this message again for that account in
that e-mail client.
SMTP: This stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol and it is the language all mail servers speak
when you want to send mail through them. SMTP communications can also be unsecured or
secured via SSL. It is a good idea to use secure (SSL) SMTP connections.
Ports: You can think of ports like different television channels. The mail server uses certain ports to
communicate back and forth with your e-mail client. You can only communicate on a port if it is
open on both ends (your computer and our server). Your e-mail client already knows the standard
ports that the mail server will use to communicate, but in some cases you may want or need to
specify a different port.
Webmail: You don't have to use Outlook, Thunderbird or Apple Mail to check your mail if you don't
want to. cPanel includes several webmail programs. These allow you to check and respond to
your e-mail using any web browser. We'll discuss these more later.
Now that we have some of the confusing terminology out of the way, let's go back to discussing
how to set up your e-mail client so that it can send and receive mail for your new e-mail account.
If you use Outlook, Outlook Express or Windows Live Mail as your e-mail client on a Windows PC
or if you use Apple's Mail program on Mac OS X, cPanel can help you set up your e-mail client to
check your new e-mail account. Just click on the appropriate (1) link on the screen pictured
above. Doing so should launch your e-mail client and set it up to work with your new e-mail
address. You will still probably be prompted (at least one time) for the password for this new e-mail
account. From then on, if you chose to save the e-mail account password in your client, it should
just check mail without prompting you for anything else.
NOTE: You should select the secure (SSL) link from the screen above. For safety we require
secure mail connections.
If you use some other program, like Thunderbird, Eudora, Pine, etc., you will need to set up your
new e-mail account manually. Exactly how you do this varies from program to program, but all the
information you need will be displayed on the screen above (at the bottom of the screen) under (2)
"Manual Settings." The only other thing you will need to know that isn't listed there is the e-mail
account password. For security, the password is not displayed on the screen above.
Your account's manual e-mail account settings:
E-mail Account Username: mailusername@yourdomain.com OR mailusername+yourdomain.com
(either one will work) replace mailusername with the e-mail account username you created
earlier.
earlier.
Incoming Mail Server: mail.yourdomain.com (this is the mail server name used to check for mail in
your account - use this for both secure (SSL) and non-secure (non-SSL) connections)
Incoming Mail Port: either 110, 143 or 465 (your e-mail client should automatically set this for you
and you shouldn't need to change it)
Outgoing (SMTP) Mail Server: mail.yourdomain.com (this is the server name you use to send mail
from your new e-mail account. - Use this for both secure (SSL) and non-secure (non-SSL)
connections.)
Outgoing (SMTP) Mail Port: either 25 or 26 (your e-mail client with try to use port 25, but if you have
problems sending mail, switch this to port 26)
Modify Existing E-mail Accounts

Learn how to make changes to e-mail accounts.
Modifying Existing E-mail Accounts
Once you've added at least one e-mail account, you can manage them in the Email Accounts
section below the grey box. In this section you can see some important information about the
e-mail accounts you've created and you can manage each account from here.
In the Account column, you will see the e-mail addresses of the accounts you've created. The
next column provides you a quick link to access webmail for that particular e-mail account. We
will discuss webmail more a bit later. The Usage column shows you how much disk space of your
hosting account is being used by mail stored in this account. The Quota column shows you the
maximum amount of disk space the e-mail account is allowed to use. The final column, called
Functions lets you manage that e-mail account. Simply select an item from the drop-down list and
click the GO button.
Change Password: If for some reason you cannot remember the password you used for a
particular e-mail account or if you are afraid someone else might have it, you can change the
password using this feature.
Change Quota: This allows you to change the maximum amount of disk space in your hosting
account that a particular e-mail account can use. You can also remove the quota and thus let the
account store as much mail as you have available disk space in your hosting account.
Delete will do just that, completely remove this e-mail account and any mail that might be stored in
the account. You will be asked to confirm if you want to delete the account. Click the appropriate
button to remove the account or cancel this action.
NOTE: Once you delete an account the account and all of the mail stored in that account on the
server will be deleted. Any mail you may have downloaded into your e-mail client via POP3 will
still be there, but any mail stored on the server (new mail or any IMAP mail) will be destroyed.
While you can recreate an e-mail account later, the mail in that account will be gone for good.
Only a full or home directory backup (discussed later) will be able to restore an e-mail account
you've deleted and recover mail (up until the time of the backup itself).
Access Webmail: Click this and you will be asked for that e-mail account's mail password and
then you will be taken to cPanel webmail interface, just as if you had accessed webmail directly
via https://yourdomain.com/webmail, https://yourdomain.com:2096/, etc. You can access all of the
available webmail clients from this screen as well as common mail features related to the account
you are logged in as (account password, filters, etc.).
Configure Mail Client: This feature will display the screen you saw in the previous step. Here you
can set up your e-mail client to access this e-mail account.
Underneath the list of current e-mail accounts, you will find the Default Email Account. This is a
special system e-mail account that you cannot get rid of and that automatically receives unrouted
e-mail sent to your domain. Typically this is error messages or other issues from scripts running in
your web hosting account. The default account username and password is always the same as
your web hosting account. The default account username and password is always the same as
your cPanel account login information. Here you can access webmail for this default account and
see how much disk space is used by this account. You cannot assign a quota to this special
e-mail account.
NOTE: Although you could use your default e-mail account as a real e-mail account, we do not
recommend you do so. This default e-mail account is actually set up on the system level, meaning
that the e-mail address for this account is "yourcpanelusername@serverhostname.com" and not
"yourcpanelusername@yourdomain.com." If you need to use the system account as a real e-mail
account, we suggest setting up an e-mail forwarder pointing
"yourcpanelusername@yourdomain.com" to this cPanel system mail account. How to do that will
be discussed in the Forwarders section.
Working with Webmail

Learn how to access your e-mail in any web browser.
The cPanel Webmail Interface
As mentioned earlier, although using an e-mail client like Outlook Express, Thunderbird or Mail is
preferable for managing your mail, there are times when another method of checking and
responding to mail will come in handy.
For those times, cPanel provides a full-featured interface to check your e-mail using just a web
browser (webmail).
Using webmail has certain advantages and disadvantages:
Advantages:
* Check and respond to your e-mail from nearly any web browser.
* No configuration is needed. Just log in and your mail is there.
* Changes you make in your account will also be reflected in any e-mail client set up to check
mail via the IMAP protocol.
Disadvantages:
* You need to have Internet access and a web browser to work with your mail.
* All mail (sent and received) is stored on the server, so you may run out of room to store mail
eventually.
* Webmail programs don't necessarily offer the same robust features for working with e-mail as
desktop e-mail clients do.
* Some tasks may not be as easy to accomplish in a webmail program as they are in a desktop
e-mail client.
To access cPanel's webmail features, you need to type one of the following into your web browser:
https://yourdomain.com/webmail
https://yourdomain.com:2096/
http://yourdomain.com/webmail
http://yourdomain.com:2095/
You should use the secure (https://) addresses instead of the insecure ones if possible. This will
help stop a malicious person from eavesdropping on your e-mail while your working with it in your
web browser. You may get a warning about the SSL certificate used if you connect via SSL. This is
OK since our servers use self-signed certificates. You can accept the certificate. Your mail
session will be secure.
Regardless of which address you go to, you will then be prompted to enter your webmail
username and password. Your webmail username is your full e-mail address
(user@yourdomain.com). The password is whatever password you set up for that e-mail account.
Once you log in, you will see a screen similar to the one shown above. At the top (1) it will show
you what e-mail account you are logged in as right now. Below that are three different webmail
programs (2) that you can use to manage your mail. Finally, at the bottom, there are several
options and features you can configure for this e-mail account (3).
The three different webmail programs Horde, SquirrelMail and Roundcube all have different
strengths and weaknesses. You might want to try them all until you find one you prefer.
Horde:
Pros:
* This webmail client offers the most functionality of any of the available choices.
* The program offers a single place to manage not only e-mail but also tasks and your calendar if
you wish.
* This client is a full "groupware" solution, which may be ideal for businesses.
* It gives the end user the ability to back up their address book and mail data and import it back
into horde at any time.
Cons:
Cons:
* The most complex webmail program. It may take you some time to learn how to use all of its
features.
* Contact and other groupware data is stored in a MySQL database that you cannot directly back
up, though you can export your contacts from within Horde itself and we recommend doing so
periodically.
Ideally Suited For: People who are used to working in Microsoft Outlook or other groupware or who
want to import mail from another email account using Horde.
Squirrelmail:
Pros:
* Quick loading. The interface doesn't have a ton of graphics or special code that slows down the
program.
* Works in a very wide variety of web browsers (even with Javascript off).
* You can change how the program looks if you don't like the default theme.
* Easy to learn.
Cons:
* Program looks a bit "plain" (no flashy graphics or visual effects).
* Doesn't offer quite as many features as Horde.
Ideally Suited For: Anyone who just wants to work with their mail quickly and doesn't care about
how the program looks.
Roundcube Mail:
Pros:
* Program acts just like a desktop e-mail client (you can drag and drop messages to move them or
delete them, etc.)
* Very low learning curve if you are used to a desktop e-mail client.
* Clean, modern looking interface.
* You don't have to refresh interface to check for new mail.
Cons:
* Other than checking and responding to e-mail, this program doesn't offer many features.
* This program won't work in all web browsers (requires javascript).
Ideally Suited For: Apple Mail users or anyone who wants a "Web 2.0" style webmail program.
For most people, Squirrelmail is probably the best overall choice, but all three are fine programs.
For most people, Squirrelmail is probably the best overall choice, but all three are fine programs.
If you find that you use one of the above programs a lot you can choose to have that program start
automatically when you enter the cPanel webmail interface. To do so, click "[Enable Autoload]"
under the program you wish to use (not shown in the screenshot above).
All of the features listed below the three webmail programs are features that have been or will be
discussed in-depth elsewhere in this chapter (they are just links to standard cPanel functionality
for that one e-mail account).
Combatting Spam
Learn how to use SpamAssassin to fight spam.
Combatting Spam using SpamAssassin
cPanel offers a server-side anti-spam (unsolicited e-mail) tool called SpamAssassin.

SpamAssassin is a widely used open source spam rating tool.
http://spamassassin.apache.org/
When properly configured, SpamAssassin can help remove most of the spam from your account
before it reaches your inbox.
In order to use SpamAssassin effectively, it is important to understand a bit about how it works.
When enabled, SpamAssassin automatically looks at every piece of mail being delivered to your
e-mail accounts even before they reach your mailbox. SpamAssassin uses a large number of
special rules and its own anti-spam database to try and figure out how likely each piece of mail is
to be spam. SpamAssassin then adds special headers to every mail message giving each one a
score where lower numbers are less likely to be spam and higher numbers are more likely spam.
The SpamAssassin score can be any number (there are no limits) either positive or negative.
Various actions can be taken based on the score assigned to the message by SpamAssassin,
from changing the subject (denoting the message may be spam) to rerouting the message to
another location or deleting it immediately.
By default, SpamAssassin will not be enabled, so you should enable it by clicking on the (1)
ENABLE SPAMASSASSIN button. Once it is enabled, this button will change to DISABLE
SPAMASSASSIN.
When SpamAssassin is turned on, it will start scoring every message received and it will
automatically delete any mail received that achieves a score of 20 or more, regardless of your
other settings (since that is a server-wide setting).
By default with SpamAssassin on, any message with a SpamAssassin score over 5 will have the
message's subject prefixed with "***SPAM***" because the message will be considered likely
spam. However, the message will still be delivered to your mailbox (where the changed subject
line should make it easy for you to filter out the message locally).
Initially, when you turn on SpamAssassin, you may want to watch the mail that gets labeled as
spam so you know if the current settings are effective. Rather than have the messages that
SpamAssassin thinks are spam mixed in with your "good" mail, you may want to have the potential
spam filtered into a separate, special spam mailbox to make it easier to go through. If that is
something you are interested in, click on the (2) ENABLE SPAM BOX button. Enabling this feature
will create a separate mail folder on the server called "spam" and all messages that SpamAssassin
rates as likely spam (a score of 5 or higher by default) will automatically be rerouted to the new
spam folder on the server.
To check the spam box, you can use webmail. Click on the "spam" folder in your preferred
webmail client and you will see only the messages that SpamAssassin has labeled as spam. If you
don't see the spam folder, use the mail folders features in your webmail client of choice to
subscribe to the spam folder so you can view it. This will allow you to review the mail to see if
there are any false positives. If there are false positives, you can move them to your regular inbox
and then make changes to your SpamAssassin settings as needed to try to make sure that it only
catches actual spam. We will discuss how that is done shortly.
If you've gone through the spam box and it contains nothing but messages you do not want, you
can click the (3) CLEAR SPAM BOX button and all messages in the spam mail folder on the server
will be deleted. This does not turn off the spam box feature. Newly identified spam will continue to
be delivered to the spam box.
The spam box feature is a good idea while you are trying to fine-tune the SpamAssassin settings,
but it's not an ideal long-term solution. If you are done testing settings, you can turn off spam box
by clicking the (2) DISABLE SPAM BOX button.
You can choose to have messages deleted automatically if SpamAssassin thinks they are spam.
To delete spam automatically as it comes in, select a cutoff score (4) and then click
AUTO-DELETE SPAM. This will create a special mail filter on the server that will delete any
messages marked by SpamAssassin with a score at or higher than the number you chose.
Messages are deleted as they get processed for delivery, so you will never see them in your
inbox. If you decide you don't want to auto delete spam press the (5) DISABLE AUTO-DELETE
SPAM button and the special mail filter will be removed.
If you find that SpamAssassin is catching too many good e-mails as spam, then you probably need
to increase the SpamAssassin score where messages are considered spam. Alternately, if you
find that SpamAssassin is not catching enough spam, then you may want to lower the score at
which SpamAssassin considers a message spam. You can make changes to your account's
SpamAssassin settings by clicking on the (6) CONFIGURE SPAMASSASSIN button. See the next
step for the details available to you on that screen.
SpamAssassin Advanced Configuration
The SpamAssassin Configuration screen allows you to set advanced SpamAssassin options that
can help improve spam recognition. We recommend you only change the settings on this page if
you've taken the time to learn more about SpamAssassin and fully understand how these settings
will affect SpamAssassin.

NOTE: The settings on this screen apply to all domains and e-mail accounts managed by this
cPanel account.
The most important item on this page is the (1) required_score item. This changes the score that
makes SpamAssassin label a message as likely spam. By default, this number is set to 5 which is
probably a good number for many people. However, if you find that SpamAssassin is not catching
enough spam, you may want to make this a lower number. Be careful not to set this too low or
SpamAssassin may start labeling good messages as spam. Conversely, if you find that
SpamAssassin is labeling too many good messages as spam, you may want to increase this
number. Before changing this number, it is best if you watch what SpamAssassin labels as spam
and not spam (perhaps using the Spam Box feature mentioned previously).
If you find that you are constantly getting spam from certain e-mail accounts or domains, you can
blacklist them so that SpamAssassin always marks them as spam, regardless of other settings. To
do that, enter up to five different domains or e-mail accounts into the (2) blacklist_from section. To
enter just a single e-mail address, enter it on one of these blacklist lines exactly as it appears in
the spam you receive. If you want to label all mail from certain domains as spam, use an asterisk.
For example, entering *@aol.com would block any mail with a From line containing any AOL
e-mail account.
If you have more than 5 addresses to blacklist, enter the first 5, then click (5) Save and go back
into the Configure SpamAssassin screen. You will see the items you've added with extra empty
lines so you can add more. Keep adding 5 at a time and saving until you've entered everything
you need to. Don't forget to use wild card (* or ?) characters as needed.
SpamAssassin uses a large number of special tests to try and determine if a piece of mail is spam
or not. SpamAssassin has a default "spam" score for each test. Some tests are assigned negative
numbers (meaning that a piece of mail is less like to be spam if it matches the conditions in that
test) or positive numbers (meaning that a piece of mail is more likely to be spam if it matches the
conditions in that test). You can see a list of the tests that SpamAssassin uses here:
http://spamassassin.apache.org/tests_3_3_x.html
It is possible to change the default weighting for the tests that SpamAssassin uses if you don't think
they are working optimally. Using the test name from the list above, you can reset the score by
changing it on the score line like this:
score TEST_NAME score1 score2 score3 score4
score TEST_NAME score1 score2 score3 score4

The TEST_NAME is the SpamAssassin test name from the tests list above, followed by up to 4
different numbers.
If you specify only one number, that becomes the new weight for that test in all cases. If you use
more than one, then the scores you specify affect the following:
First number: This is the weight used when both Bayesian tests and network tests are enabled
(which they are on our servers).
Second number: This is the weight used when Bayesian tests are disabled but network tests are
enabled.
Third number: This is the weight used when Bayesian tests are enabled but network tests are
disabled.
Fourth number: This is the weight used when both Bayesian and network tests are disabled.
Example:
score EMAIL_ROT13 5.1
This would change the EMAIL_ROT13 test (which looks for ROT13 encrypted e-mail addresses)
from the default weight of 1 to a new weight of 5.1.
NOTE Score values can be any positive or negative number. Positive scores make mail matching
that test more likely to be spam and negative numbers make the message less likely to be spam.
Only enter one test score per line. If you need to change more than 5 test weights, change the first
five, save changes (5) and then return to this screen to enter another 5 until you are done.
Finally, if you have some e-mail addresses that you want to make sure never get labeled as spam,
you can add them to the SpamAssassin whitelist. The whitelist follows the same rules as the
blacklist does. You should enter only one e-mail address or domain per whitelist line (4). You can
use * and ? as wildcard characters to apply the whitelist settings to multiple addresses. If you have
more than 5 address to add, enter the first 5 and then save changes (5) and return to this screen to
enter additional whitelisted addresses.
Mail Forwarders
Learn how to work with e-mail forwarders.
Managing Mail Forwarding
To access e-mail forwarding features, click on Forwarders on the cPanel home screen. An e-mail
forwarder (sometimes called an e-mail alias) is an e-mail address that isn't a full e-mail account
with its own mail storage. An e-mail forwarder does just that, it forwards e-mail to another e-mail
account (or several e-mail accounts) that you specify. For example, you could set up an e-mail
forwarder called "sales@yourdomain.com" that sends all received e-mail to jeff@yourdomain.com
and you@aol.com. If someone sends mail to sales@yourdomain.com that same e-mail will be sent
immediately to both jeff@yourdomain.com and to you@aol.com. No one has to set up or log into
the sales@yourdomain.com mail account, because it is not a real e-mail account, it just forwards
mail to other addresses.
NOTE: It is possible to set up an address as a real e-mail account and as a forwarder. Just create
an e-mail address with the same name using the Email Accounts feature in cPanel and then set
up the same address to forward mail to whatever other addresses you want to forward mail to in
the Forwarders feature in cPanel. In this case, mail will be received and stored in that e-mail
account AND a duplicate copy will be forwarded to the e-mail accounts you specify.
To add a forwarding e-mail address, click (1) ADD FORWARDER from the screen above. See the
step below to learn how to configure a new forwarder. Note that once you have one set up, you
can tell cPanel to run a test trace on the new forwarder (to help you find forwarding problems) or
you can delete a forwarder. (These options are in the Functions column of the address list). You
cannot actually edit an existing forwarder. If you need to make changes to the forwarding settings
for an address then you need to delete the existing forwarder and create a new one with the
modified settings you require.
If you have a lot of forwarders set up, you can use the Search feature to locate the forwarder or
forwarders your are looking for. Simply type in all or part of the forwarder(s) you are looking for and
click the (2) GO button. The forwarders that match what you entered will be displayed.
If you own more than one domain and the domain is parked or added on to your cPanel account,
you can have all mail that is sent to one domain automatically forwarded to another domain. For
example, if you have yourdomain2.com forwarding mail to your yourdomain.com domain, then
mail to user@yourdomain2.com will be sent to user@yourdomain.com. If user@yourdomain.com
isn't set up as a real e-mail address or isn't forwarded elsewhere the e-mail will be handled as
your default or catch all address is. To set this up, click (3) ADD DOMAIN FORWARDER. Select
the domain you want to forward and the domain you want all mail forwarded to and save changes.
From then on all mail for the forwarded domain will be sent to the domain you want mail forwarded
to.
Creating a Mail Forwarder
Now you are ready to create a forwarder, but you have several decisions to make about how you
want the mail handled.
Type in the name of the account you want to create as a forwarder in the (1) Address section, and
make sure you have the correct domain name selected (you can set up forwarders for any domain
name parked or added on to your cPanel account). You can then specify an account you want
mail to get forwarded to when it is sent to this address (2). You can also set mail to automatically
fail and get bounced back to the sender with an error you specify (3).
Under the advanced options, you can forward the message to a system account. Remember
when we said earlier that your main cPanel mail address that is set up automatically is actually a
system level account? This option will allow you to send the mail to a system account you specify.
Since it is a system-level account, you can just specify the username without a domain name. By
default, this field (4) is set up with your cPanel username already filled in. Another advanced
option allows send the e-mail to a script stored in your account. Some scripts have the ability to
process incoming mail if it is sent directly to them (some helpdesk scripts for example). To send
mail directly to a script, select (5) Pipe to a Program. See the small house icon? That means that
the system already assumes the script you are sending mail to is located somewhere in your
home directory (for example /home/CPANELUSERNAME/) so you don't need to specify that, just
the path inside your home directory (for example public_html/script/mailparser.php). If you have a
modern browser and javascript support, cPanel will try to guess the path you are typing in a box
that appears just below where you are typing. Select one of those options to have it automatically
filled in. If you are sending mail to a script, pay attention to the notes in this section. The script
needs to allow other users to execute it (at least), so make sure the permissions on the script you
are sending mail to is set to 755. Also, make sure that there is a hashbang at the top of the script. If
that is missing, cPanel will try to prompt you and then try to add the hashbang automatically.
Finally, you can choose to have mail sent to this address automatically deleted without any
warning or notice to anyone (6). (The mail will be quietly accepted and then deleted instead of
being forwarded.) This is not recommended because doing this violates RFC guidelines and it
also doesn't allow cPanel to attempt to protect you from spammers attempting dictionary attacks (a
spammer sends mail to random names at a domain trying to look for valid addresses).
NOTE: You can only select one of the options listed above, so selecting an option will deselect the
others.
When you are done setting up your preferred option, click the (7) ADD FORWARDER button.
If you want to have the same forwarder send mail to multiple places, just choose to add a new
forwarder again and enter the same starting (forwarding) address with a different destination
address. Keep doing this until you have all the places you want the one forwarder to forward mail
to set up. You can create a quick and dirty mailing list this way. Just keep in mind that if someone
sends spam to that address all of the recipients will receive that same piece of spam. So if you
really want to have an interactive mailing list, see the details about Mailman later in this guide.
E-mail Autoresponders
Learn how Autoresponders work and how to create and manage them responsibly.
Setting up Auto Responders
There may be times that you would like people to get a response when they send you an e-mail,
even if you aren't around to personally answer them. cPanel allows you to do this through the
Autoresponders feature on the cPanel home screen. The first thing you should do is select a
character set. For most people, utf-8 is the best choice, but if your writing in another language and
know the character set you need to use, select it from the (1) Character Set drop down menu.
The (2) Interval you set controls how often someone will receive your auto response message if
they continue to send you email. The default is 8 hours. That means that if someone sends mail to
this address where you have the responder set up, they will only receive one auto response once
in any give 8 hour period, no matter how many messages they send you. You must set an interval.
It is not possible to force the system to constantly send auto responses to every e-mail received.
This is to try to stop inadvertent mail bombing (sending hundreds or even thousands of auto
responses to an innocent person because a spammer has spoofed their e-mail address).
Next, type in the username of the e-mail account you want to set this autoresponder up for into the
(3) Email field. The name you type in here does not have to be a real e-mail account you've
already set up. If there isn't already an e-mail account set up with this username, then mail to that
address will only be handled by the autoresponder, you won't ever see the e-mails that were sent
to that address. If you have more than one domain parked or added on to your cPanel account,
you can select it from the drop down list next to where you typed the e-mail username.
The (4) From: text field is what people receiving the auto response will see in the From line of their
e-mail. This can be anything you like. As an example, you could enter "The YOURDOMAIN.COM
Team" or type your own name there.
Anything typed into the (5) Subject: field will be displayed as the subject of the auto response
e-mail message. This could be anything you like. For example: "Thanks for your inquiry" or "I'm on
vacation." A subject is required for all auto response messages.
If you plan to paste HTML code into your message body, check the (6) HTML Message: check
box. If you want to send just a plain text auto response, leave this unchecked.
NOTE: The auto responder screen does not have a WYSIWYG HTML editor built-in, so it will be up
to you to create valid HTML code in some other program first and then paste the results in the
Body: field.
The (7) Body: field is where you type the response message you want to send.
You can use some variables in the subject line or body of your message. These variables will be
automatically be replace with information from the incoming message that triggered the auto
response. You can use:
%subject% This will be replaced with the subject line of the incoming e-mail that triggered the
auto response.
%from% This will be replaced by the name of the person who sent you an e-mail. This name will
be pulled from the From: line of the incoming message.
%email% This will list the e-mail address of the person who sent you an e-mail. This e-mail
%email% This will list the e-mail address of the person who sent you an e-mail. This e-mail
address will be pulled from the From: line in the incoming message.
Once you are sure you have everything the way you want it, click the (8) CREATE/MODIFY button
to enable this auto responder.
NOTE: The auto responder will automatically send your response to any e-mail that comes in to
the auto responder's e-mail address that you specified. The auto responder cannot differentiate
between types of incoming mail, so it will respond to spam just as readily as it will to a legitimate
message. For this reason, be careful when you set up an auto responder because you may find
that you get reported as a spammer when your auto responder sends e-mail to a spoofed address
in a spam message.
Handling Unrouted E-mail

Learn to control how unrouted mail gets handled.
Setting your Default/Catch-All E-mail Address
In cPanel it is possible to have any mail sent to one of your domains (to accounts that are not
already set up) forwarded on to any e-mail address, sent to a script or ignored or bounced with an
error message. To use this feature, select Default Address from the Mail section on the cPanel
home screen.
We recommend that you set your default address to discard mail with an error to sender.
Choosing any other option may greatly increase the amount of spam you receive. To discard the
mail with an error, select the domain you want to set a default address action to from the (1)
drop-down menu under the phrase "Send all unrouted email for:" click the (2) radio button next to
"Discard with error to sender at SMTP time)" and then click the (7) CHANGE button. Optionally, you
can change the error message people see when they e-mail a non-existent address by typing in a
new error message into the (8) text field next to the "Failure Message (seen by sender):" line and
before you click the (7) CHANGE button.
If you would rather that all mail sent to any address at one of your domains gets forwarded to a
valid e-mail account, select the appropriate domain from the (1) drop-down list and make sure the
(3) radio button next to "Forward to email address" is selected, then type the e-mail address into
the (11) text box next to "Forward to email address" and then clicking on the (7) CHANGE button.
You should rarely, if ever, need to use the advanced options, but should you need to forward mail
to a script or delete mail sent to non-existent e-mail addresses in your domain, you can click on
(10) "Advanced Options >" and set up the appropriate item as you wish and then click the (7)
CHANGE button.
The advanced options are: (4) Forward to your system account. You can send your mail to the
main e-mail account (this is the system level account we discussed earlier that is actually
CPANELUSERNAME@SERVERHOSTNAME.COM).
(5) Pipe to a program: This allows you to send all unrouted e-mail to a script for processing. The
script has to be able to parse incoming mail and be executable or you will receive errors every
time this pipe is triggered.
(6) Discard: This will just delete unrouted mail without responding back to the sender. This is not
recommended as our servers are configured to notice the typical bounce messages and to help
you avoid spammer abuse. If you discard the mail without responding then it may encourage
spammers to send you even more spam (as they continue to look for valid addresses).
Don't forget to click the (7) CHANGE button once you set your preferred routing method.
cPanel shows your (9) current setting near the top of this screen.
Setting up Mailing Lists

Learn how to set up and manage Mailman mailing lists.
Setting up a Mailing List
You may occasionally need to facilitate discussions between groups of people on a particular
topic. If so, you can use cPanel's Mailing Lists feature to create and manage such discussions.
cPanel uses a specially modified version of a program called Mailman http://list.org/ Mailman
makes it easier to manage e-mail discussion lists, either moderated or unmoderated.
NOTE: Mailman is not designed for use for newsletters or other one-to-many items where you want
to send something to many people but not permit them to "talk back" to you and everyone else on
the list. If you want a program that can handle such tasks, look into PHPList http://phplist.com/ ,
which is also available for installation by Fantastico or Softaculous.
To create a new list, type the public name of the list into the (1) text field next to the words "List
Name" then type in the administrator's password into the (2) Password field or use the GENERATE
PASSWORD button to create a secure password automatically. Retype that same password into
the (3) Password (Again) field, or you can use the (4) PASSWORD GENERATOR to create a
random, secure password instead, and then click the (5) ADD MAILING LIST button to complete
the process.
NOTE: If you have more than one domain added to your cPanel account, there will be a
drop-down list under the (1) List Name field that will allow you to select the domain on which to set
the mailing list up.
Any active mailing lists will appear in the Current Lists section. There you can see the list name as
well as links to (6) delete the list, (7) change the main administrator mailing list password, or (8)
modify the mailing list settings (which opens a new window and takes you to the Mailman
management interface.
NOTE: Mailman is too complex a program to discuss the administration of mailing lists in this
document. If you need help, you can visit Mailman's website for assistance.
Also, Mailman mailing lists do count against your disk space use limits, but the mailing list data is
stored outside of your home directory, so the only way to back that data up is to use a full backup.
Server-side E-mail Filtering

Learn how to add/edit server-side e-mail filters to have e-mail sorted or deleted according to your
wishes.
Individual E-mail Account Server-Side Filters
Most desktop e-mail clients have the ability to apply filters to incoming mail to help you manage
your mail, either by moving it into a special folder, deleting it or performing some other basic
action on the mail before you even read it. However, if you manage your mail in your desktop
e-mail client, what happens to mail that comes in when you are checking your mail via a webmail
client? Those desktop e-mail client filters won't be applied! So what can you do? Thankfully,
cPanel offers you the ability to apply server-side filters to incoming mail on a per-e-mail account
basis. Filters you set up in cPanel get automatically applied at the time the mail gets delivered to
your mailbox on the server itself. Although this feature will work no matter what protocol you use to
access your e-mail, it will work best if you use IMAP or webmail to access your mail.
To set up a server-side filter on on one particular e-mail account, click on User Level Filtering on
the cPanel home screen and then click Manage Filters next to the e-mail account you want to set
up filters for and click Create New Filter or click on an existing filter to manage it. You will be
presented with the screen above. Name your new filter by typing in a name into the text box next to
(1) "Filter Name:" The name will allow you to quickly pick out the filter you want to work with if you
need to edit it later. Note that the name must be unique for every filter you create. If you try to enter
an invalid filter name, cPanel will warn you and make you choose a new one.
Next, you set up the various conditions you want the server to look for before it applies certain
actions to incoming mail. You set up these conditions, called rules, one at a time until you are
certain that this filter will only get applied to the messages you want it to apply to. Rules can look at
nearly all key areas of an incoming message including the From:, To:, and Subject: lines. You then
specify what you want done with any message that matches the Rules. Select the appropriate
action (like deleting (discarding) a message or moving it to another mail folder on the server. You
can have multiple actions applied to any message by clicking the + next to the shaded Actions
box.
You start by selecting the field that want to have the rule look at and select it from the (2)
drop-down box. If you have SpamAssassin enabled, you can even select the SpamAssassin spam
headers to act on (in fact, this is how the SpamAssassin auto delete spam feature works). Once
you've picked a field to act on, you may be able to select a (3) boolean operator (equals, does not
equal, begins/ends with, etc.) and then enter the (4) value to look for or act on. The exact options
you will have depend on the field you chose to act on in the appropriate (2) drop-down box. You
can then add more rules by clicking the (5) + button or remove this rule by clicking on the - button.
You can change the order that rules get parsed by using the (6) up or down arrow next to the rule
to move. Multiple rules are parsed in the order listed on this screen. Also, if you have multiple rules
you will be able to specify AND or OR. If you select AND, in order to trigger this filter the message
being evaluated has to match this rule AND any others you specify. If you choose OR then the
filter will be triggered if this rule OR any others you have set up have been matched.
Once you have the rules set up in the order you want them, you then can specify one or more
actions to take if the conditions specified in the rule(s) are met. You can (7) delete the message
that matches this rule, stop processing any other filters on this message, send the message to
another account, fail (bounce) the message or send the message to a new mail folder. You can
add or remove additional actions by using the (8) + or - buttons next to the action.
When you are happy, click the (9) ACTIVATE button to create the filter. Filters will apply almost
immediately.
Once back on the main filters screen, you can test your new filter by setting up a test message in
the filter test box displayed and then click Test Filter. Note that this will not actually send a
the filter test box displayed and then click Test Filter. Note that this will not actually send a
message, it just runs a test on your filters and shows you the result so you can see if the filter(s)
you've set up work as you desire.
Whole Account Server-Side Filters
You can also apply a set of filters to all mail coming into your cPanel account (including all addon
domains) by clicking Account Level Filtering on the cPanel home screen. Adding or removing
account level filters works very similarly to the e-mail account level filters mentioned in the
previous step. If you want to learn more about setting up rules and actions, please read Working
with Mail: Individual E-mail Account Server-Side Filters.
To create a filter that will be applied to any e-mail coming into your account, regardless of which
specific e-mail account it is going to, click on the (1) CREATE A NEW FILTER button. This will take
you to a screen that looks like the screenshot in the previous step. Follow the same steps to set up
a filter as discussed earlier. Follow the rule/action creation steps and you will be brought back to
the main screen, shown above.
You can (2) Edit or Delete an existing rule (if there are any) and test your existing filters by entering
a test message in the (3) Filter Test box and then clicking (4) Test Filter. These options will not
appear unless you've set up at least one filter already.
NOTE: The Test Filter feature will not actually send a message, it just runs a test on your filters and
shows you the result so you can see if the filter(s) you've set up work as you desire.
Testing E-mail Routing

Learn how to view a report to see if e-mail is getting routed properly.
Working with Mail: Testing Mail Routing
In cPanel 11.32, the newly expanded and renamed Email Trace feature in cPanel replaced the old
Email Delivery Route feature. This updated feature allows you to check e-mail deliveries to an
e-mail account you choose. This can help you track down problems with sending or receiving
mail.
To start a trace, enter a full e-mail address into the (1) text field near the top of the screen and then
click the (2) RUN REPORT button. Depending on the information being retrieved, it may take a few
moments for data to appear, so be patient.
NOTE: You can run a trace on ANY e-mail address, even if it is not managed by your cPanel
account. However, the amount of data you will get from the trace will be limited.
Once you've started a search, two new sections will appear, the first is the (3) Delivery Report.
This is new in cPanel 11.32. cPanel keeps track of inbound and outbound mail to or from
addresses in domains that your cPanel account manages. If the address you ran the trace on has
recently had mail sent to or from your cPanel account, then a list of those messages along with
delivery details will be displayed. There are a lot of details cPanel can display in the report, many
more than will comfortably fit in the standard width that cPanel allows. Thankfully, you can choose
to display only those items that are most important to you. You do that by clicking the (4) list
preferences icon that appear at the top-right of the delivery report. Check items you want to
appear in the list and uncheck those you don't want to see and the delivery report will
automatically adjust to include those details. You can also tell cPanel to remember your choices
for future e-mail traces. At the far right in each report row, you can view a pop up detail list that
provides more information (some that may not already appear in the list). You can also increase or
decrease the number of displayed rows per page or flip through pages. The report will show you a
green circle with a checkmark if the delivery went well (as far as cPanel can tell) or an inverted
triangle with an exclamation point if there might have been a problem (or if the message was
spam).
NOTE: You can only view messages in this report if cPanel manages your email and the account
is one of the ones controlled from your cPanel account. If you use a third-party for your e-mail (like
Google), then cPanel will not be able to show you anything in the report because mail is not
managed on your server. Also, the amount of mail data that cPanel keeps track of will vary, so you
may only have a few days of mail visible in the report or you may have many weeks of data
available. You will see a note at the bottom of the delivery report telling you the maximum amount
of time that cPanel is currently storing your mail report data for.
Below the delivery report is the (5) Email Address Trace. This is what cPanel used to show you in
the old Email Delivery Route feature. It is a semi-graphical map showing the delivery process that
your server goes through to deliver a message to the e-mail address you entered earlier. At the
bottom of the page os the legend of symbols used in the map.
In the example above, "test@domain.com" is set up as a real e-mail account in cPanel, but there is
In the example above, "test@domain.com" is set up as a real e-mail account in cPanel, but there is
also a forwarder set up that sends a copy of the mail to another real e-mail address on the server,
"admin@domain.com." The map shows us that first the server checks to see if there are any
forwarders (valiases) set up. Since there is, that triggers sending a copy of the message to the
local mailbox of "admin@domain.com" and then the original message is delivered to the local
mailbox of "test@domain.com." There are no errors in the mail route.
Importing E-mail Accounts and Settings

Learn how to prepare and import e-mail accounts, forwarders and settings from other e-mail
providers.
Working with Mail: Importing Email Accounts or Forwarders
If you want to import e-mail accounts or forwarders from a cPanel account, then cPanel has its
own Backup and restore features, which will be discussed later. However, if you need to import
e-mail accounts or forwarders from non-cPanel hosting accounts and cPanel offers a way to do
this. To get started, click on Import Addresses/Forwarders on the cPanel home screen. It uses
spreadsheet files (either a standard Excel spreadsheet file (.xls) or a comma separated values file
(.csv)). Even if you don't own Microsoft Office, many programs can save data in .xls or .csv format,
including the free Open Office or its offshoot, Libre Office.
If you've never used this feature before, you absolutely should click on the large link asking you if
you (1) Need help setting up a CSV or Excel file for importing. Clicking on it will bring up a new
on-page window (2) Setup CSV/XLS for Importing. This will explain how to save the e-mail or
forwarder information in a file that cPanel will be able to read and import. The top of the window
shows you how to save a spreadsheet containing the data needed to import e-mail accounts. The
only data you really must have is a list of email addresses, but you can also list the domain name,
password and disk quota size (in MB). You can even download (3) sample .xls or .csv files to see
how they need to be set up. Below that, is an example of how you set up your spreadsheet to set
up forwarders. The only data you must have is one column with the source e-mail address and
then another column with the destination address. You can download (4) an example .xls or .csv
files showing you how to set up the forwarders file. Do not mix e-mail and forwarders in the same
file, though. Keep them in separate files. Click the (5) CLOSE button at the bottom or top of this
popup window to close it.
Once you have the files you need to import, select either (6) E-mail Accounts or Forwarders from
Step 1 depending on what you want to import first. Then in Step 2, click the (7) Browse... button to
select the file you want to import. Finally click the (8) Next button to start the import process.
On the next screen, cPanel will show you the top of your file. If your file contains a header row (i.e.,
a row that contains the titles for each column), select that header row and then click Next to
continue. cPanel will then parse the data in the file and then show you what it is going to try to
import. If everything looks OK, then click the FINISH button to complete the import process. If the
data doesn't look right, check the format of your .xls or .csv file.
Combat E-mail Spoofing

Learn how to fight e-mail spoofing (and some spammers) by using SPF or DomainKeys records.
SPF and DomainKeys Records
As you may be aware, due to the way e-mail service works on the Internet right now, it is very easy
for spammers or scammers to spoof the sender of an e-mail message. Various methods of
reducing this issue without completely changing the way e-mail service works have been
discussed. cPanel supports two different anti-spoofing technologies. They are disabled by default,
however, so if you want to enable them then you should select Email Authentication from the
cPanel home screen. The two supported anti-spoofing technologies are DomainKeys Identified
Mail (DKIM) and Sender Policy Framework (SPF). Both techniques use slightly different methods to
accomplish basically the same thing: Assure that the mail really did come from the listed user's
domain. For either technology to work, it has to be supported both by the sending domain and by
the receiving mail server.
NOTE: cPanel 11.32 has added support for DKIM. Prior 11.32, cPanel offered DomainKeys. DKIM
is the "successor" to DomainKeys. DKIM combines the old DomainKeys specification with the
Identified Internet Mail specification. DomainKeys records are compatible with the newer DKIM
specification.
DKIM is the easiest for you, the end user, to enable in cPanel, but is more complex for mail
service managers to implement. Right now, DKIM isn't used as often as SPF. However, it is still a
good idea to enable since it will make it easier for your mail to get through to recipients. DKIM
works by creating a public and private key that is used to digitally sign parts of your outgoing
message. The recipient can retrieve the public key from your domain's DNS records and use it to
help ensure the message they are looking at really came from your domain.
NOTE: You cannot enable DKIM unless our server is the primary mail server for your domain(s). If
you try to enable this and your domain doesn't resolve to our server or if your MX (mail) record(s)
don't point to our server, then you will not be able to use cPanel to enable DKIM support. Contact
the company that manages your mail service or domain to learn how to enable DKIM.
To enable or disable DKIM support in cPanel, just click the (1) ENABLE/DISABLE button. So long
as cPanel detects that it manages your domains and acts as the primary mail server, then it will be
enabled/disabled. If cPanel notices an issue, it will let you know. There are no additional settings
to worry about with DKIM. It is either on or off.
SPF is somewhat more commonly implemented, probably because it is somewhat easier for mail
server administrators to set up. SPF works by adding a special TXT record to the DNS zone for
your domain(s). That record tells others what mail servers are permitted to send mail from your
domains. Receiving mail servers can check your SPF record and make sure that the mail they are
receiving are from a permitted sender.
To enable or disable SPF, just click the (2) ENABLE/DISABLE button. This will set up/remove a
basic SPF record that should work for most people. If you have more complex needs or if you want
to make the SPF record stronger, you can edit it by using the Advanced Settings. If you have an
active SPF record, it will be displayed here as well.
active SPF record, it will be displayed here as well.

The advanced SPF settings let you modify your default record so that you can fine tune it and
provide a more definitive record that others can safely rely on.
The (3) "Additional Hosts that send mail for your domains (A):" section allows you to add the IP
addresses of other mail servers that you want to allow to send mail from your domain. Typically,
this field will remain empty (our mail server is automatically allowed without your having to specify
it here). If you have other mail senders (perhaps a third-party mailing service) that regularly send
mail that comes from your domain, but not through our server, enter those hosts here. Enter each
one separately by clicking the ADD button or select one from the list and click the DELETE button.
The (4) "Additional MX servers for your domains (MX):" section allows you to specify other mail
servers (machines) that are permitted to send mail for your domain. You don't need to enter our
server, as this is automatically allowed. Enter each one separately by clicking the ADD button or
select one from the list and click the DELETE button.
The (5) "Additional Ip blocks for your domains (IP4):" section allows you to enter IP addresses of
other IP addresses that you want to allow to be able to directly send mail for your domain. Our
server will automatically be allowed. Enter each IP address separately by clicking the ADD button
or select one from the list and click the DELETE button.
The (6) "Include List (INCLUDE):" section allows you add other domains that also send mail for this
domain. If those domains have their own MX records, those records will also be included with this
record automatically.
If you just want to test your SPF record or you are not certain you've entered everything correctly,
be sure to leave the (7) "All Entry (ALL):" item unchecked. However, when you are done testing
and sure you have the SPF record the way you want it, you should check this box. With this box
checked, if other mail servers that check SPF records detect mail coming from another host or IP
address not in your SPF record, the receiving mail server should reject the message. If this item is
unchecked then the receiving mail server may choose to accept the message even though the
SPF record does not match.
Finally, check (8) "Overwrite Existing Entries:" if you want to replace all existing SPF records with
the sections you've just made, otherwise the existing entries won't be replaced.
Changing MX Records
Learn how to redirect where your mail is managed.
Managing your MX (Mail) Records
This feature is an advanced one that we do not recommend that you try to use unless you know
what you are doing. The wrong setting here could break mail delivery for your domain. If you have
any questions or issues, please contact support for assistance.
cPanel typically handles your mail for you. However, in certain cases, you may prefer to have a
third-party service manage your mail or even add backup mail service. You can set this up by
clicking on MX Entry on the cPanel home screen.
This feature can modify the mail (MX) entries in the DNS Zone for your domain(s).
When mail servers are looking to deliver mail to an account, they look up the MX (Mail eXchanger)
records for the domain. The sending mail server then tries to connect to the mail server with the
lowest MX record number and will deliver the mail there. If that mail server doesn't respond or
denies the mail then the sending mail server will try to connect to the mail server with the next
lowest MX record (if there is one) and will deliver the mail there. This continues until the sending
mail server cannot find any more mail servers or it manages to deliver the mail.
In the Email Routing section, you can set the following actions for cPanel:
(1) Automatically detect configuration: This is the default setting and the one you typically should
keep. cPanel will try to automatically figure out if the primary mail server for your account should
be our server or a remote server. This option also displays what cPanel currently thinks it should
do with mail for your domain. If it says "local" then cPanel is managing your mail itself. If it says
"remote" then that means that cPanel thinks your main mail servers are hosted somewhere else
and cPanel will pass all mail off to the remote mail server.
You can also explicitly set the behavior if you think cPanel's automatic detection isn't working (or if
you want to make a temporary change in how mail is handled):
(2) Local Mail Exchanger: This forces cPanel to try to manage your mail locally (on your server).
You should use cPanel to create/edit email accounts and forwarders if mail is being handled
locally.
(3) Remote Mail Exchanger: This forces cPanel to try to pass off mail to a remote mail server.
Make sure you have an MX record set up for the remote mail server or no mail will get delivered. If
you have a remote server as your primary mail server, do not try to use cPanel to manage your
mail accounts or use cPanel's webmail service. You will need to manage your mail on the remote
mail server.
(4) Backup Mail Exchanger: cPanel now supports having our server act as a backup (secondary)
mail server. There is a primary mail server that is where mail will normally go to and then there are
secondary servers that will accept mail for your domain if the primary server is down. The way this
works is mail gets handled by the remote primary mail server, just as it would if you chose Remote
works is mail gets handled by the remote primary mail server, just as it would if you chose Remote
Mail Exchanger, however, if the main mail server fails for some reason and is not accepting mail,
then the mail will be delivered to our server. Our server will periodically check to see if the primary
mail server is back online and responding. If it is working, then our server will send the stored mail
for your domain back to the primary mail server. This provides redundancy in case there are
problems with your main mail server. If you choose this option, then you need to set up your mail
accounts and forwarders the same as you have them set up on your primary mail server so our
server knows how to handle the mail. Select this option only if you are going to use our server as
the backup mail server. If you are using a third party (remote) mail server as your backup mail
server for your cPanel account, then you should selected Automatically Detect Configuration or
Local Mail Exchanger and then set up another MX record for the backup mail server(s) with higher
MX numbers than your primary mail server.
If you change the default Email Routing selection, don't forget to click the (5) CHANGE button to
apply the new setting.
Below that is the Add New Record section. This allows you to add additional MX records to your
domain's DNS zone(s).
The (6) Priority number sets the order in which other mail servers will use the mail server specified
in this record. Lower numbered MX records are used first, followed by records with higher
numbers. You can specify any non-negative number you like, so long as you make sure the lowest
numbered record is the mail server you want to primarily handle mail for your domains. By default,
cPanel sets a MX record with a value of zero pointing to the local mail server (so cPanel will
manage your mail).
The (7) Destination is the mail server host name that you want to deliver mail to. You cannot use
an IP address in this box, the mail server must have a fully qualified domain name associated with
it (per RFC guidelines).
Click (8) ADD NEW RECORD to add a new MX record with the details you specified. If you make a
mistake, cPanel will notify you of the problem so you can fix it.
At the bottom of this screen, all of the (9) MX records that are currently set up will be listed. You
can click the appropriate link to delete or edit the existing record if you wish.
NOTE: If anything described here confuses you, or if you are in any way uncertain how to
proceed, please contact support and do not change anything on this screen.
Working with Files
Backing up and Restoring Data

Learn how to use cPanel to backup and restore your important data.
Backing Up and Restoring Data
It is important that you always keep your important data backed up. This is especially true of the
content of your web hosting account. We cannot stress this enough, please keep your important
data backed up at all times. Thankfully cPanel makes it much easier to back up your data and
restore it should something go wrong.

When you are ready to backup your files or if you need to restore data from a backup, select
Backup from the cPanel home screen.
Here you can choose from making or downloading full backups of all of your data or downloading
or restoring key parts of your data.
Full backups are just what they sound like, all of your data stored on our server compressed and
provided to you as a single file you can download locally or transfer. Although full backups are the
most complete record of your data, they do have two drawbacks:
* You cannot use cPanel to restore a full backup: Because the full backup contains data from
more locations than what is stored in your home directory, cPanel cannot automatically restore a
full backup. However, if it is critical, our support personnel have the ability to restore full backups
that are provided to us. Also, you can manually decompress a full backup file and manually reload
most of your data.
* They take a long time to generate and place high load on the server while they are being
generated: Full backups can contain a lot of data and creating the compressed backup can put
stress on even the most powerful servers. For this reason we strongly recommend that you take
backups during off-peak hours when load is low on the server so you don't inconvenience other
users on your server.
To generate or download a manual full backup, click the (1) DOWNLOAD OR GENERATE A FULL
WEBSITE BACKUP button. This will take you to a new screen.
On the full backup screen, you will be shown any full backups that you've generated in the past
that are stored in your home directory. Each one will note when it was made so you can
distinguish them. Simply click on a listed full backup file to download it to your local machine.
To generate a full backup manually, select a backup destination (the choices are storing the
backup in your home directory (not in your web root), or sending the file to a remote server via FTP
or SCP (secure copy).
NOTE: No matter what destination you choose, the backup is generated in your home directory, so
you will need 50-75% more disk space available in your hosting account than you are currently
using or you risk running out of space in your account. If you choose to send the backup file to a
remote server, then the backup will be removed from your home directory once it has been sent.
If you choose to save the backup in your home directory, then make sure that option is selected
from the drop-down list and then enter your e-mail address if you want to be notified when the
backup is complete and click GENERATE BACKUP.
If you plan to send the backup to a remote server via FTP or SCP, then you will be prompted to
enter the data needed so that cPanel can log into your remote server to save the file. Don't forget
to choose whether you want to receive an e-mail when the backup is complete or not and then
click GENERATE BACKUP to start the process.
The backup will be made in the background without further interaction needed from you. If you
choose to get an e-mail when the backup is complete then cPanel will send you an e-mail with the
results of the backup so you know if it worked or not.
Back on the main Backup screen, you can also choose to save some time by downloading a copy
of the backups that we make each night. We generally backup every account on our servers
every night and we keep one nightly (daily) backup and one that is up to a week old (weekly).
Click the appropriate (2) button to start downloading the most recent daily or weekly backup we
have made. Note that not all cPanel accounts will see the System Backups section. This is normal.
The Partial Backups section of this screen offers you the ability to backup and also restore
compressed backups of your critical data.
The Home Directory backup allows you to backup all of the files located in your account's home
directory (that is, the location you access with your main FTP account, usually
/home/YOURCPANELUSERNAME). This will backup most of your data, except for MySQL
databases, Email aliases and filters and Mailman mailing lists. With the exception of Mailman
mailing lists, you can download all of that other data in separate compressed backup files. To start
the backup process, click the (3) HOME DIRECTORY backup button. If there is a lot of data in your
home directory, the backup will take a long time and eventually you will be prompted to save the
compressed backup to your local machine.
If you ever want to restore the contents of your home directory from a home directory backup
you've made in cPanel, click the BROWSE button under the Restore a Home Directory Backup
heading. Select the compressed home backup you want to restore, then click the (7) UPLOAD
button to start uploading the file from your computer to your web hosting account. When done, the
server will decompress the backup and restore the files. Do not navigate away from this screen
until the restore is complete. If you are restoring a lot of data, this can take a while. Your web
hosting account needs 50 - 75% more space available than your account is currently using if you
want to restore the backup. If your account hits your disk quota limit, the backup restoration will fail.
want to restore the backup. If your account hits your disk quota limit, the backup restoration will fail.
To back up the databases your account is using, click on the (4) database name listed in the
Download a MySQL Database Backup section. Each of your databases is a separate download.
There may also be a database listed that is just your cPanel username. This is normal. That
database is used by cPanel/MySQL and will likely not contain much data (if anything).
If you would like to restore one of the databases you've backed up, click the BROWSE button
under the Restore a MySQL Database Backup section. Choose the database you want to restore
from your computer and then click the (8) UPLOAD button to restore the database. Do not
navigate away from the page until the upload and restore is complete, or you may damage your
database. If your database is very large, cPanel may have problems restoring the database. If this
happens, upload your uncompressed database to your cPanel account and then use a script like
Big Dump to restore the uncompressed .sql file. If you still have problems, please contact support
for assistance with restoring your database. As with all restores, please make sure you have
enough available disk space to handle both the compressed backup file and the uncompressed
file (typically 50-90% larger than the compressed backup).
If you use the E-mail Forwarders feature in cPanel, you can backup all of the forwarders settings
for each domain in your cPanel account by clicking on the (5) (sub)domain name. The file will be
small and will download to your local computer. When you need to restore the settings you've
backed up, just upload the file in the Restore Email Forwarders section. Click the BROWSE...
button and select the backed up e-mail forwarders file then click on the (9) UPLOAD button to
restore your settings. The file will be uploaded, decompressed and the settings in the file applied,
restoring the forwarder settings to the state they were in when the settings were backed up. This
process should not take very long, but do not navigate away from this page until the restore is
complete.
Finally, you can backup any e-mail filters you may have created by clicking on the (6)
(sub)domain name in the Download Email Filters section. That will save a small file to your local
machine that contains any mail filters you've set up. To restore the mail filters from your backup,
upload the file in the Restore Email Filters section. Click the BROWSE... button and select the
backed up e-mail forwarders file then click on the (10) UPLOAD button to restore your settings.
The file will be uploaded, decompressed and the settings in the file applied, restoring the mail
filters settings to the state they were in when the filters were backed up. This process should not
take very long, but do not navigate away from this page until the restore is complete.
The Backup and Restoration Wizard
If all the steps in the previous discussion about backing up and restoring files have frustrated or
confused you, don't worry, cPanel has your back(up). :) Click on the Backup Wizard icon on the
cPanel home screen. This wizard will simplify the steps it takes to backup or restore your website.
On the first screen of the wizard, you select whether you want to backup or restore files. Click on
either the BACKUP or RESTORE buttons to continue to the next screen.
If you choose to backup your files, you will then be taken to a screen where you will choose either
a full backup or partial backups.
As discussed earlier, full backups include 100% of your data, but you cannot use cPanel to
restore the backup (someone from support would need to do that).
Partial backups contain most of your data, but not all of it (for example, partial backups do not get
any mailman mailing list data you may be using). The benefit, however, to a partial backup is that
you can use cPanel to restore the backed up files including MySQL databases, email and web site
files.
If you select full backup, you will be taken to a screen where you can select where the
compressed backup gets sent when ready, either into the account's home directory or sent via
(S)FTP or SCP to another server. You will also be able to set an e-mail address to get notified when
the full backup is complete. Full backups, especially when transferring them to a remote location
can take time, so be patient.
If you choose partial backups, you will then be asked to select what part you want to backup and
download. You can choose your entire home directory (this includes all of your mail and web
files), the MySQL databases (each gets backed up and downloaded separately) or e-mail
forwarders and filters (backed up and downloaded separately for each domain/subdomain).
You can only restore partial backups, so when you choose to restore a backup, you will be asked
what sort of backup you want to restore, home, mysql or e-mail filters and aliases. You will be
prompted to locate the compressed backup and then cPanel will get to work decompressing and
then restoring your data. Note that this process may take quite a while and you should not
navigate away from the restore page until the restore is complete.
The cPanel File Manager

Learn how to use cPanel to upload, download and edit files in your account.
The File Manager - Part 1
Using an FTP client isn't the only way to add, delete or modify files in your web hosting account.
One of the alternate ways you have to work with files in cPanel is to use the file management tools
built into cPanel itself. This is very handy if you need to make a few quick changes and are in
cPanel already.
Currently, there are two different versions of the same file manager tool available in cPanel. The
first, just called File Manager on the cPanel home screen is the newer version of the tool that
works best with modern browsers. It uses more javascript to make working with the file manager
more intuitive. The other version, called Legacy File Manager on the cPanel home screen is an
older version of the tool, written using less javascript. It may work better for older or mobile web
browsers. Feel free to use which ever version you prefer, they are basically the same.
The screenshots and descriptions in this guide illustrate the standard File Manager, but the
Legacy File Manager works nearly the same way for most functions.
When you click on File Manager, you will be prompted for the location you want to open initially.
Your choices are:

1) Your home directory (/home/CPANELUSERNAME/)
2) The web root (the main location for web-accessible files /home/CPANELUSERNAME/public_html/ - This is the default)
3) The main publicly accessible FTP directory if anonymous FTP access is enabled
(/home/CPANELUSERNAME/public_ftp/)
4) The main web document root for a particular domain or subdomain). You select the available
choices from a drop-down list.
If you want to have cPanel show you hidden files (on Linux servers, any files starting with a period
(.) get hidden from display by default), then make sure the checkbox next to Show Hidden Files
(dotfiles) is checked (5).
If you would like cPanel to remember your choice the next time you open the file manager (making
the current selection the default from now on) click on the checkbox next to "Skip this question..."
(6).
Finally, click Go (7) to access the File Manager itself.
The File Manager - Part 2
The File Manager opens into a new window and as you can see from the screenshot above looks
and works similarly to many other file management tools you may already be familiar with.
At the top of the screen, is a bar containing a link to the general (1) File Manager Settings, you
click that to change general settings related to file management. Right now, there is only a single
option, to disable the file character encoding warning dialog boxes that appear when you try to
edit a file. On the left side of the screen is a (2) search box that allows you to look for file names
containing the string you type. The search is limited to 250 results, maximum, be as specific as
you can when searching.
Just below that section are the (3) file manipulation options. Click on any of these icons to perform
the action (on the selected files/folders).
On the right-side of the screen, you will see a tree showing all of the directories on your site. Click
on the name of a directory to go there (the contents will be displayed on the left side of the
screen). Click on the small + or - symbol next to a folder icon to show or hide the contents of that
directory. Click the Collapse All item at the top of the list to "roll up" all of the folders so that only
your home directory itself is shown in the list.
To the left is the current directory content display. This shows all files and directories (except for
hidden ones, if you didn't choose to have the File Manager display them). Click on the file(s) or
folder(s) you want to act on, then click the appropriate action icon from the bar near the top of the
screen.
You can create a brand new file or folder in the current directory by clicking on those icons. You
will be prompted for the name of the file or directory. In the case of files, be sure to add the
extension (i.e., .html, .php) if needed. In either case, make sure you're creating the file or directory
in the location you really want it. If not, feel free to edit the path to the file or directory and it will be
created in the new location.
The Copy and Move icons will attempt to make a copy of the selected items (and anything inside
any directories you have selected), leaving the original in place, essentially duplicating the
content in another location). The move icon will attempt to change the location where the file or
directory is located. Then you need to specify the new location. You do this by filling in the full
path to the new location and you can even specify a new name for a file or directory if you are
only moving/copying one.
The upload and download icons allow you to upload or download files to or from your account.
The delete icon will prompt you to delete the selected file(s) or folder(s). In the standard File
Manager, the file will be deleted after you approve the deletion. On the Legacy File Manager, the
file or directories will be moved to a special hidden .Trash directory in your account. You can then
choose to restore the file from the trash in the sidebar on the right side or click the trash can icon
to permanently delete the file(s) or folder(s). Don't forget to empty the trash if you are using the
Legacy File Manager and you need to clear up disk space.
The rename icon will allow you to change the name(s) of the selected item(s).
Then there are three different edit icons. All three are used to edit files from within your web
browser, but each is tailored to a specific type of file. The Edit icon simply brings up a text box with
the content of the file you've selected. You can edit the content in plain text and save changes as
needed. Use this icon if you aren't sure what sort of file you are dealing with (this won't work for
binary or encoded files, of course). If you need to edit a text file, then this is probably your best
choice. You can also switch back and forth between the code editor and the plain text editor
without having to reload or save the file. When you are done, click SAVE CHANGES. If you want to
close the window without saving your changes, click the CLOSE button.
If you want to edit raw HTML or PHP code, then it is usually best to select the Code Editor icon on
a selected file. You will first be asked to confirm the encoding of the file. Select the appropriate
a selected file. You will first be asked to confirm the encoding of the file. Select the appropriate
encoding if the listed default is not correct. This will bring up the code in the file you select for
editing and that code will be syntax colored based on what language the code editor believes you
are working with. You can select a different code language for the syntax coloring feature from the
bar at the top of the window. You can also switch back and forth between the code editor and the
plain text editor without having to reload or save the file. When you are done, click SAVE
CHANGES. If you want to close the window without saving your changes, click the CLOSE button.
If you would like to edit your HTML pages in a WYSIWYG environment (the page looks similar to
how you will see it in your web browser, including formatting and graphics) then select the HTML
file and click on the HTML Editor icon. If your web browser is supported by the HTML Editor, then
you will be presented with the contents of your page open in design edit mode. You can make
changes to your page using controls that are similar to older versions of Microsoft Word (tm). This
includes formatting, fonts, images and other media. If you decide you'd like to edit the HTML code
directly, click on the SOURCE button at the bottom of this window. That will show you the syntax
colored code similar to the Code Editor. If you'd like to see the page as it will appear in your web
browser, then click on the PREVIEW button at the bottom of the screen. To Save your changes to
the file, click on the small Save icon that looks like an old, blue floppy disk. If you don't want to
save your changes, just close this window.
NOTE: The HTML Editor supports most recent versions of the major web browsers (IE 8 or 9,
Firefox 4+, Safari 5+, etc.) but if you get a warning when you open the HTML Editor that your
browser is unsupported or if it opens a window with nothing but a plain text field and no icons,
then you will need to use a different web browser in order to edit your content. Alternately, try the
Code Editor instead.
The Change Permissions icon will allow you to change the permissions of the selected file(s) or
folder(s). You can select the permissions by clicking on check boxes for the appropriate settings
you want or by manually typing in the 3 number code corresponding to the permissions you want
to set.
Let's take a moment to discuss Linux file permissions in case you aren't familiar with them.
Linux was designed from the start with multiple users in mind. It primarily uses two things to keep
track of who can access what files:
Ownership: Every file and directory on a Linux server is "owned" by some user and assigned to
some group. Your cPanel username is your "system user" on our Linux server. In addition to
ownership by individual accounts, every directory or file can also be assigned to a group. A group
is a collection of one or more system user accounts that are to be allowed special access to the
is a collection of one or more system user accounts that are to be allowed special access to the
file or directory. Linux also keeps track of those things that people who aren't the owner and who
aren't in a group assigned to the file or directory should be allowed to do with it.
Permissions: Linux keeps track of what everyone should be allowed to do with a file or directory.
Permissions are broken down into 3 categories:
* Read: Anyone with read permission can look at the contents of a file or directory.
* Write: Anyone with write permission can add or change content inside a file or directory.
* Execute: Anyone with execute permission is allowed to "run" the content inside the file or
directory.
The combination of ownership and permissions allowed for a file are displayed in a table like this
in the File Manager (and in most other programs that let you edit Linux permissions):
Read
Write
Execute
Owner Group World

[]
[]
[]
[]
[]
[]
[]
[]
[]
#
#
#
Down the first column are the permission settings for the file and across the first row are
ownership settings (World = everyone else who isn't the owner of the file or directory or in the
assigned group).
In each row and column there are check boxes that allow you to set the permissions for each
class of system account. As you check off permissions for each item, you will notice that there are
numbers in the bottom row that change automatically.
These numbers are a "shorthand" way of expressing Linux permissions. Each of the three different
permission types (Read, Write, Execute) are assigned a different "point" value. Read is 4, Write is 2
and Execute is 1. The numbers get added together down the column for Owner, Group and World.
This returns a 3 digit number from 000 to 777 that completely expresses who can do what to that
file or directory.
For example, if the Owner of a file is allowed to Read, Write and Execute it and the Group can only
read and execute the file and everyone else (World) isn't allowed to do anything with the file, then
the numeric expression of the permissions on this file would be 750 (Owner = 4+2+1=7. Group =
4+1=5, World = 0+0+0=0).
The most common permissions are:

644 = The Owner can read, and write but not execute the file and everyone else can only read the
file but not write or execute it. This is the standard permission for new files and is fine in most
cases.
755 = The owner can read, write and execute the file or directory and everyone else can read or
execute the content, but not write to it. This is the standard permission setting for new directories.
777 = Everyone can read, write and execute the file or directory. This is insecure. Some web
scripts may tell you they need certain files or directories set to 777 permissions, and in some
hosting environments they do. Since our servers use suPHP, you should never set a file or
directory to 777 permission. If a web script needs to be able to read write and execute a file or
directory, set the permissions to 755 instead. Why does this work? With suPHP, PHP scripts run as
your cPanel user, so 755 grants them read, write and execute permission. suPHP will not allow
any files or directories to be set to 777. If you do set them that way, the PHP script will generate a
500 or 403 error when trying to access that file or directory. Without suPHP, PHP scripts run as the
user "nobody" and that is why they need 777 permissions.
In the File Manager, you can either set permissions by checking the check boxes in the displayed
grid OR you can type the numeric permission into the three boxes at the bottom of the grid. Save
changes to set the new permissions.
Back to the main File Manager icons... The View icon allows you to view the contents of a file. It
does not include editing of any kind. This is handy if you just want to read a file and want to make
sure you don't accidentally make changes.
The final two icons, Extract and Compress work on archives of files. The File Manager typically
supports .zip, .gzip (or .tar.gz or .tgz) and .bz2 files. If you upload a compressed archive and select
it in the File Manager and select Extract, cPanel will attempt to decompress the file and place the
contents into the current directory (or where ever you specify). Compress will take the selected
files and directories and try to create a single archive out of all of them. You must specify the final
archive name and location as well as the type of compression you want to use. .zip is the most
common compression type and PCs and Macs can both deal with those files natively. Gzipped (or
tar.gz) files are most common on Linux and that compression type is best if you are moving the
files to another Linux server. Bzip2 files usually take the longest to create, but generate the
smallest final archive. Most computers require additional software to be able to decompress this
sort of file. If you are uncertain what sort of compression to choose, select .zip as it is the most
common.
As you can see, the File Manager is fairly full-featured. However, if you plan to upload or work with
lots of files, then using FTP or WebDAV may be faster.
Using WebDAV (Web Disk)

Learn how to use WebDAV to work with files in your account.
Welcome to WebDAV (Web Disk)
In addition to providing FTP access to your account and a browser-based file manager, cPanel
also supports WebDAV (also known as Web Disk). WebDAV is a newer protocol that allows you to
mount your remote web hosting account as if it were a local hard drive (on OSes that support it).
From there, you can work with files in your web hosting account as if they were all hosted locally,
using whatever tools you like.
NOTE: Most operating systems support native mounting of WebDAV directories, though some may
require additional software
To start working with WebDAV, click on Web Disk on the cPanel home screen.
On this screen (shown above), you can create WebDAV accounts or manage existing ones.
By default, every cPanel account comes with one WebDAV account set up. This account uses the
same login information as your main cPanel account (the cPanel username and password) and it
gives you full access via WebDAV to all of the files hosted in your cPanel account. This default
account cannot be restricted or removed and the password always matches that of your cPanel
account, so make sure you keep your cPanel account password and username private and
secure.
However, you can choose to create other accounts with different access permission. Perhaps you
have someone who manages your website for you, so you can create an account that only
provides them WebDAV access to public_html (your account's web root) without letting them
access the files in your home directory (/home/CPANELUSERNAME/). These accounts you create
can be added or removed at will.
To create a new WebDAV account fill out the details in the (1) Create Web Disk Account box.
The login will be whatever username you enter @ your domain name. Example: test@domain.com.
Although this looks like an e-mail account address, it is not and should not be mistaken for one. If
you want an e-mail address go to the Email Accounts feature on the cPanel home screen to
create one.
Please be sure to use a secure password or use the Password Generator feature to create a
random, secure password.
Finally, specify the WebDAV access directory. This new account will have access to the directory
specified here and anything contained within that directory. For example, giving access to the
public_html/blog directory will give this user WebDAV access to the blog directory inside your
public_html directory in your account (and any other directories inside the blog directory) but it
would not give this user access to public_html itself or your home directory via WebDAV.
If you are granting access to public_html or to a directory inside public_html or some other web
root location, keep in mind that anything a user uploads will be publicly available via the web.
cPanel will try to warn you if it detects you are trying to create an account with access in this area
cPanel will try to warn you if it detects you are trying to create an account with access in this area
and remind you to set up password protection for that directory if you want to keep the content
private.
By default, cPanel will set the directory to public_html/WEBDAVUSERNAME/ where
WEBDAVUSERNAME is the username you specified earlier (without the @YOURDOMAIN.COM
part). Example: Creating a "test" account will default to granting access to public_html/test/. If that
directory does not already exist, cPanel will create it once you click the CREATE button.
At the bottom of this screen is the Web Disk Account Management section. This shows you all
WebDAV accounts that are currently set up, the default directory for the account and various
features related to account access and management.
Each login is listed along with the starting directory for each account. The (2) ACCESS WEB DISK
button brings you to a new screen when you can download small programs for each supported
OS that makes it much easier to mount the WebDAV disk on your local computer so you can
access it. On this new screen, select your OS from the drop-down list and make sure the SSL
checkbox is selected if you want to connect securely (which we recommend). Click GO to
download the application and run it and it will prompt you for your password. Enter it and a few
moments later the WebDAV directory should be mounted as if it were a local hard drive on your
computer. If the application doesn't work, check the manual WebDAV instructions in cPanel or
those listed below.
Finally, in the (3) Actions section, you can change the password for this WebDAV account, delete
the account or password protect the directory so others cannot access it via a web browser
without the username and password. You can also set a WebDAV account to read-only. This will
allow anyone with the username and password to view the existing content in the directory or
directories under the mount point, but not permit any changes to be made to anything. This does
not stop users from copying the data to their local device and editing it there, but the content on
the WebDAV mount point will be unchangeable. The main WebDAV account cannot be removed
or changed in any way. The password always matches the password for your cPanel account.
Connecting manually to a WebDAV directory:
If the application to connect to your WebDAV account isn't working, you can try to connect
manually using the following information:
Domain: YOURDOMAINNAME.COM (you could also use the IP address of your site if you wish)
SSL Port: 2077 (connect securely to your WebDAV account using SSL - RECOMMENDED)
Non-SSL Port: 2076 (connect without SSL. This is insecure and not recommended unless you are
Non-SSL Port: 2076 (connect without SSL. This is insecure and not recommended unless you are
having problems connecting via SSL - In fact our servers may not permit you insecure access.)
Username: The login listed in the Web Disk Account Management section on the WebDAV screen
in cPanel. This will either be your cPanel username or SOMENAME@YOURDOMAINNAME.COM.
Password: The password assigned to the account you are trying to access
Make sure that your local firewall or router (if you have one) allows connections on port 2076 and
2077 or you won't be able to use cPanel's WebDAV feature.
NOTE: If you have a WebDAV account mounted as a disk on your local computer, keep in mind
that changes you make are being made to your "live" account. Those changes will be immediately
reflected in your site (unless the content is cached by the browser, of course).
Both Windows and Mac OS use special hidden files to keep track of certain OS level information.
On Windows, an example of this is the Thumbs.db file that Windows creates to display thumbnails
of pictures stored on a Windows machine. Mac OS X uses ".DS_Store" files to keep track of window
settings and other file metadata. When you have your Linux-based hosting account mounted on
on your computer, Windows and the Mac OS may copy these hidden files to your hosting account,
where they may become visible (on Linux, any file/directory that starts with a "." is hidden by
default, but all other files or directories are visible. You may need to clean out these special files
from your hosting account, since Linux does not need or require this information and it may be a
security risk to leave in place.
Monitoring Disk Space Usage

Learn how to check your account disk space usage.
Account Disk Space Usage
cPanel helps you keep track of the amount of disk space your hosting account is using. If you're
getting close to your limits or you think you may want to clean out older files to free up some
additional space, then accessing cPanel's Disk Space Usage feature from the home screen is a
good idea.
This feature generates two sets of data, the first being bar graphs showing the directories
containing the most data in your account. The bar graphs are plotted relative to the directory
currently using the most disk space in your account. The directory using the most disk space will
be shown with a full bar and other directories will be shown with bars that are less full depending
on how much disk space they use when compared with the directory currently using the most. So
if your account is using 100 MB of space, total, and your mail directory has 60 MB of data and all
the other directories in your account use 40 MB of disk space, the mail directory will show a full
bar, and other directories will show less. For example, if your public_html directory uses 30 MB out
of 100 MB, then the bar would be half full because the largest directory is 60 MB, and the
public_html directory is half that size. A full bar in this graph does not mean that the directory itself
is full.
The second set of data (shown above) displays a list of all of the directories in your account,
sorted either by their names or by how much disk space they are using (you select how they are
sorted at the (1) top of the list). Every directory is listed by the amount of Megabytes (where 1 MB =
1024 bytes) and bytes are contained within the directory. Note that the display doesn't show
individual files, only the totals for each directory). If you want to drill down in the list to see what
other directories are using inside one of the top-level directories listed, then click on the (2) small
+ icon next to each directory. You can click on the name of a directory to be automatically taken
to the cPanel File Manager with that directory displayed (where you can add/remove or edit files
as needed.
NOTE: cPanel caches the amount of disk space your account is using because keeping track of
the value can place a burden on the server. This means that if you make changes that affect the
disk space in your account (adding or removing files) those changes may not be reflected in
cPanel for 10 minutes or so.
File Transfer Protocol (FTP)

Learn how to manage FTP access in cPanel.
Creating and Managing FTP Accounts
The most common way people add files to their web hosting account is via FTP. FTP stands for
File Transfer Protocol and it was designed many years ago to transport files and information
between two computers. Most web design software supports using FTP to upload or download
files. FTP is not considered a secure transfer protocol. That is because the data you send and
receive using FTP is not encrypted in any way during transport. If you require a secure
connection, then you will want to use SFTP or FTPS. Both require some additional setup and
consideration and will be discussed later.
Popular FTP Clients:
Cyberduck: http://cyberduck.ch/ Cyberduck supports a wide variety of file transfer protocols, not
just FTP. It can also handle WebDAV, Amazon S3, Google Docs and more. This free program
works on Mac OS X and Windows. Donations of any size are encouraged.
FileZilla: http://filezilla-project.org/ The free FileZilla client only supports FTP (and related) file
transfer methods, but it supports Mac OS X, Windows and Linux. The user interface may be a bit
daunting for new users.
To manage or create FTP accounts, click on FTP Accounts on the cPanel home screen. This will
take you to a screen similar to the one shown above.
In the Add FTP Account section, you can do just that, create a new FTP account. To start the
process you enter the (1) login username. The full username will be username@yourdomain.com
where yourdomain.com is your domain name. If you have more than one domain or subdomain
assigned to your account, you will also be able to select that domain or subdomain from a
drop-down list here. Then you enter a (2) secure password two times (or use the Password
Generator. cPanel will automatically suggest a location to serve as the home directory for this FTP
account. The (3) home directory (or path) is the directory that the account will start in upon initial
login. That FTP user will be able to access all content inside the home directory (path) including
all of the directories inside that directory. So if the path is /home/domain/public_html then that FTP
account will be able to access everything in public_html or any of the directories inside
public_html, but the account will not be able to access anything in /home/domain/ since that
directory is "below" public_html. If you don't like the suggested path, then feel free to change it.
Select the (4) disk quota for this account (the FTP account will not be able to add more content to
this location then you set, even if you have more disk space available to your hosting account). If
you set it to unlimited quota, then that FTP account will be allowed to add files to its home directory
(path) until you run out of disk space assigned to your hosting plan. Finally, click (5) CREATE FTP
ACCOUNT to tell cPanel to create the account.
NOTE: The directory that will serve as the home directory for the FTP account will be created if it
does not already exist, but if it does exist, the content in that location will not be modified. That FTP
account will have full access to any existing content in that location. Also, although the FTP
account username looks like an e-mail address (with the @YOURDOMAIN.COM) it is not. If you
account username looks like an e-mail address (with the @YOURDOMAIN.COM) it is not. If you
want an e-mail account with the same name, you will need to create it separately in the Email
Accounts section of cPanel.
General FTP Account Details:
When you want to access a FTP account you've set up, you should set it up in your FTP client like
this:
Host: ftp.YOURDOMAIN.COM (where YOURDOMAIN.COM is your domain name). If your domain
name has not yet resolved to our server, then you can use the IP address of the server instead.
User: ftpusername@YOURDOMAIN.COM (if you are using the main FTP account, then you should
use your cPanel username instead.)
Password: (Use whatever password you've set for the FTP account. If you are trying to access
your main FTP account, then use your cPanel account password.)
Port: 21 (21 is the standard FTP port)
Type of Connection: Passive FTP (Although an active FTP connection may work, generally
passive FTP connections are the most reliable since they don't require any special set up on your
end.)
Path/Directory: Some programs want to know where they should start when they upload files to
your account. If you don't enter anything, then the program will start in your FTP home directory,
which for your main FTP account is your account home directory:
/home/YOURCPANELUSERNAME/ but if you want it to start in the web root for your account, enter
the path as /home/CPANELUSERNAME/public_html or sometimes just "public_html." Consult the
manual for your program if you are unsure.
Transfer Mode: Usually Automatic is fine (the FTP client tries to pick the best transfer method
depending on which sorts of files you are accessing) but some files (like encoded web scripts
may require you to upload them in Binary mode. If you are unsure or experience problems, set the
transfer mode of your FTP client to Binary and try the uploads again.
The FTP Accounts section shows you all of the FTP accounts currently active for this account that
you've created in cPanel. You can also perform certain administrative actions on each account in
this section. You are shown the (6) full username of the FTP account, followed by the (7) home
directory for that account (the path). If the path is longer than the space allotted to display it, the
path will have an ellipse () that you can click on in the middle of the path showing that it is
truncated. You can click on the ellipse to pop up the full path. Next you will see (8) how much data
this account has currently added to their path via FTP. If you have quotas enabled for the account,
the small bar under the quota limits will fill up as the account gets closer to the quota limit you set.
Finally, there are a set of actions you can take on the account. This includes (9) changing the
password, (10) changing the quota limit, (11) deleting the FTP account and (12) a small draw
down section showing the FTP account setup details, which also provides quick links to common
down section showing the FTP account setup details, which also provides quick links to common
FTP clients as well as small bookmarks you can use to automatically connect the account in
those FTP clients.
NOTE: If you try to delete a FTP account you've set up, you will be asked if you just want to delete
the FTP account or if you want to delete the account AND everything inside the account's home
directory (path). Be very careful with this directory removal feature because there is no undo.
When in doubt, just delete the account and then manually delete the content using your main FTP
account or cPanel's File Manager.
The (13) Special FTP Accounts section shows all of the FTP accounts that the system has set up
for you that you cannot alter. Typically there will be 2 accounts listed here. The first is your main
FTP account, the login details for which match those of your cPanel account username and
password. This account automatically gets full access to everything in your account. If you want to
change the password that this FTP account uses, then you need to use the Change Password
feature in cPanel to change your cPanel account password. This account also always has
unlimited disk quota, so it can upload anything up to the limit imposed by your hosting plan. The
second special account is one specially designed for you to be able to retrieve the raw Apache
domain logs that show all of the hits your site has received. cPanel does offer graphical stats
programs, but if you want to process your logs locally with a special tool you've created or
purchased, you use the domain_logs@YOURDOMAINNAME.COM FTP account to access and
download those logs. The password is the same as your cPanel account password. The reason
this account is necessary is that your domain logs are not stored in your account, they are located
elsewhere on the server. This special account lets you download your own site's log files which
otherwise would not be possible.
SFTP: As mentioned earlier, there is a way to securely transfer files via FTP, called SFTP (Secure
File Transfer Protocol), however, in order for this to work, your account must be set up with SSH
(Secure SHell) access (i.e., the ability to access the server's Linux command line). By default this
is not enabled in your account. If you require it, please ask for SSH access. Once SSH access has
been enabled for your account, you can use your cPanel account details to do SFTP. SSH access
is, by its very nature, encrypted, and SFTP leverages that to transfer files via SSH. Most clients that
support FTP also support SFTP. To make such a connection, select SFTP as the connection type
and then enter ftp.YOURDOMAIN.COM (or the server hostname or your IP address) as the host
and your cPanel username and password as the SFTP account username and password.
Normally, the port for FTP transfers is 21, but for SFTP transfers, you should use the SSH port you
were told to use when your SSH access was set up.
FTPS/FTPES: There is another way to securely transfer files using FTP that does not require getting
SSH access for your account. It also works with FTP accounts you create in cPanel. This method
SSH access for your account. It also works with FTP accounts you create in cPanel. This method
is referred to as FTPS or FTPES (FTP with Explicit SSL). Despite the similar sounding name to SFTP,
FTPS works differently. SFTP relies on another service, SSH, to encrypt all communications
between your file transfer client and our server. FTPS uses a SSL certificate to secure standard
FTP communications. It's not as secure as SFTP, but it has the benefit of working for all of the FTP
accounts you create, not just your main cPanel account. Most FTP clients that support SFTP also
support FTPS. The configuration of the host, username. password and port are the same as FTP,
but you need to tell your FTP client to use FTP with Explicit SSL/TLS (the exact wording may
change depending on your FTP client).
To make matters a little more confusing, there is a different type of FTPS that cPanel does not
support, called FTP with Implicit SSL/TLS (or sometimes just FTP with SSL/TLS or FTPIS). This
version of FTPS uses a different FTP port number (990) than regular FTP or FTPES (21), so if you
see the default FTP port change to 990 in your client, you know you've selected the wrong type of
FTPS. cPanel does not currently support FTP with Implicit SSL/TLS and there is no way to add it.
You must use either FTPES, SFTP or FTP.
Manage Active FTP Sessions
cPanel allows you to monitor who is logged into your account via FTP. You can use this feature to
disconnect users you think may be abusing your account or just to keep an eye on what is
happening. To access this feature click the FTP Session Control item on the cPanel home screen.
If no one is currently connected to your account via FTP, you the screen will look as it does above.
Click the (1) RELOAD button to refresh the page to see if anyone is connected. If someone is
transferring files, you will see some basic information listed here including the account being
used, the IP address the connection is coming from, the time they logged in, the current status of
the connection, and the process ID. If you don't like what you see, you can click the
DISCONNECT link that appears next to that logged in user. This will immediately stop what the
user is doing and kick them out of the server. However, it won't stop them from coming back. If you
think the FTP account has been compromised, either change the password for the account or
remove it from the FTP Accounts section of cPanel.
Web Logs and Statistics

Learn how to view the list of the latest vistors to your website.
Your site is important to you, it is a labor of love or your business or both. If you want to make sure
your site is getting the attention it deserves (and not getting the wrong kinds of attention) it is
important for you to keep an eye on who is visiting your website and what they are doing while
there. cPanel provides you with a full suite of tools to monitor what is going on with your site. The
first of these tools is a simple interface showing you the most recent visits to your web site. To take
a look, click on the Latest Visitors item on the cPanel home screen in the Logs section.
Here you can view all of the most recent hits on your website. Every single access of any file or
directory in your website gets logged automatically and the most recent hits will be displayed here
with the most recent ones listed first. If you are looking for specific information, you can use the (1)
Search box to enter some of the information you are looking for, cPanel will filter out the results
that don't match what you've typed and display the rest. If you have a very busy site, this is a good
way to keep an eye on important visitors without getting distracted with superfluous information. If
you want to increase the amount of hits shown on a single screen, click the appropriate number in
the (2) entry number toggle. You can also turn on or off various pieces of information if you want,
removing unimportant data so you can focus on what you care about. To edit the columns of data
that are shown, click on the (3) gear icon and check or uncheck items as you see fit. Changes are
reflected immediately. If you want to refresh the list of recent visitors with the very latest
information, click the (4) refresh icon and the list will be instantly updated, with the most recent hits
once again at the top of the list. If you'd like to see older hits, you can click through the (5) pages
of hits or use the first, previous, next or last links to jump to the appropriate section of the list.
NOTE: Not all of the hits from your entire raw domain access logs may be shown, especially if you
have a lot of hits. If you want to review the raw logs, please see the FTP Accounts section of this
guide to learn how to access the special domain_logs FTP account to fetch your full log file. Also,
if this interface isn't working well on your current browsing platform, click the "less javascript" link
at the bottom of this page to switch to a different log view that might work better for you.

Learn how to keep track of your bandwidth (transfer) to and from your account.
Another important aspect of your site is how much traffic is traveling to or from your site (how
much bandwidth you are using). cPanel tracks that use and periodically updates logs that you can
view in the Bandwidth item from the cPanel home screen. This area shows you visual graphs and
tables breaking down how much traffic you are getting to and from your site on all of the monitored
services (like your website, mail and FTP). At the top of the screen you see charts showing the
breakdown of traffic for today, the past week and the past year. Under that, you will see pie charts
for all of the months we currently have data for. Point at a pie chart to show the breakdown of use,
and click on it to be taken to graphs and a table that shows precise bandwidth use, broken down
by each day in that month. Click on the number of the day in the table to see graphs for the
breakdown by hour for that day.
NOTE: It is important to understand that cPanel does not track 100% of the traffic to and from your
site, only the most common types of traffic. Your actual bandwidth use as measured in your CORE
account may be different. Also, bandwidth use is not updated in real time. Bandwidth processing
is a very intensive task and so the graphs may only be updated every 2-24 hours (depending on
conditions). Contact support if you have questions about this.
Web Stats
Learn how to view graphs showing vists to the domains managed by your cPanel account.
Looking at Web Statistics
Of all of the various log options in cPanel, none are more popular than the various web stats
options cPanel provides. You may have access to up to 3 different stats options, Awstats,
Webalizer and Analog (you may or may not have access to all three). To access them click on the
Awstats or Webalizer/Webalizer FTP items on the cPanel home screen. Click on the small
magnifying glass icon next to the domain or subdomain you want to view stats for and that will
open the stats display screen. The purpose of the stats are to give you a more visual and
organized view of the data your raw web logs provide. You can see all the hits to your site broken
down in a large number of different ways to find out who has been visiting recently, what they were
viewing, where they came from and how much data they accessed while there. Depending on
your settings and how long you've had an active cPanel hosting account, you may be able to
access many months of previous web stat data.
NOTE: You cannot compare the data from Awstats or Webalizer to each other or to the other
cPanel log options. Each of them may interpret or display the data from your raw web logs
differently. The only valid comparison of web stats are the results comparing the current month's
data to previous months (if available) in the same stats program. Also, because generating the
visual web stats is a very CPU intensive process, they are only updated at most every 24 hours. If
you need more frequent updates, please read the FTP Accounts section of this guide to learn how
to access your raw web logs via FTP or use the Raw Access Logs feature in cPanel to download
the compressed logs directly in your web browser. You can then feed the raw logs (which are
always up-to-date) into a local copy of a web stats program. Alternately, you may be able to use a
free third-party service, like Google Analytics - http://www.google.com/analytics/ - to get a more
frequently updated graphic view of the hits on your site.
Choose Active Web Stats Logging Programs
You may have the ability to control which, if any web stats are run for your site by clicking on the
Choose Log Programs item from the cPanel home screen. Here, you can choose to enable or
disable any web stats programs that you are permitted to change. If an item displays a check box,
you can enable or disable it by checking or unchecking the box and clicking (1) SAVE.
Alternately, if you are not allowed to change the setting for that stats program, you will see a small
lock icon instead of a check box. If you have many domains or subdomains managed in your
cPanel account and you want to enable or disable one stats program for all of them, click the (2)
checkbox that appears next to the name of the stats program and click the SAVE button to apply
the changes.
NOTE: If you enable a disabled web stats program, it may take 24-48 hours before you see the first
update of statistics in that program. Please be patient. If you disable a program and you later
decide that you want to enable it again, any days that the stats program was disabled for will not
be updated to show the stats for that program. If it has been less than 12 or 24 hours since you
disabled the program and you re-enable it, the stats for that day will be processed normally for that
program. We strongly recommend that you disable any web stats programs you do not plan on
using. They not only increase the load on the server while processing, but they also store quite a
bit of data in your hosting account that may cause you to go over your disk space limits (if any).
Raw (Unprocessed) Web Logs

Learn how to work with your domain raw access logs in cPanel.
Raw Access Logs
Not only can you use FTP to access your unprocessed (raw) site access logs, but you can use the
Raw Access Logs item on the cPanel home screen to manage retention of or download those logs
directly in your browser.
You can choose to keep more than your current raw access logs if you wish. If you do, then the
logs will be compressed and stored in your home directory after every time stats are processed
(typically 24 - 48 hours). You can control this by clicking the check box to (1) archive your logs in
your home directory and you can control if logs older than 1 month are kept by checking or
unchecking the box next to (2) remove the previous month's archived logs. If you make changes,
don't forget to click the (3) SAVE button.
You can download your current raw log file by clicking on the name of the domain or subdomain
in the (4) Download Current Raw Access Logs table. This will download a GZip compressed text
file to your device or computer. The table also shows the last update entered to that raw log (if
there have been no recent hits, the last update will reflect the last hit date). Also, if the logs use
any significant disk space, the compressed log size will be listed here (the uncompressed log is
likely several times larger). If you have any parked domains linked to that domain, then they will be
listed under the Linked Domains section of the table. The hits from these parked domains will be
included in the raw logs as hits to the main domain.
If you have chosen to keep old log backups, they will be listed in the (5) Archived Raw Logs
section. Click the name of the archived log listed to download it directly.
Account Error Log

Learn how to view the most recent errors your account has experienced.
Your Account Error Log
If Apache (the web server) notes any problems or errors related to your site(s), it will record them
in an error log. You can view the most recent 300 error messages by clicking on Error Log on the
cPanel home screen.
The most recent 300 errors related to your web site or problems with web scripts will generally be
listed here, so if you are having problems, this is a good place to look. The most recent error is
always listed on top. The errors will list the date and time of the error (using the server's set time
zone setting), the note if it is an error or warning, the IP address of the person or thing triggering
the error and then a brief description of the problem. There is no link to download the errors, but
you can copy and paste them out of this window, if you wish. If the error log has recently been
rotated, or your site is new, you may not see 300 error messages in this window. That is normal.
Security
Password Protected Directories

Learn how to restrict access to web content using usernames and passwords.
Password Protected Web Directories
There may come a time when you want some part of your site to be available on the Internet, but
only accessible to a few key people. You don't want this part of your site getting indexed by
Google and you don't want the public to be able to view it. In this case click on the Password
Protect Directories item on the cPanel home screen in the Security section. You will be prompted
to choose your starting location and then you will see a list of directories in that location. Click on
the small yellow folder icon next to a directory name to navigate into that directory to see other
directories contained inside it or click the Up One Level link to go up to the containing directory.
When you find the directory you want to password protect, click on the name of the directory (in
the example above "test"). This will bring you to the password protection screen you see.
NOTE: If you have the Microsoft FrontPage extensions installed on your account you should
remove them before trying to use this feature. FrontPage uses a different, incompatible method to
password protect directories. Enabling or disabling FrontPage extensions on your site will wipe
out any password protection you set up using this feature. We do not recommend the use of
Microsoft FrontPage or its extensions. They were end-of-lifed back in 2006 and are no longer
supported by Microsoft.
To enable password protection for this directory (and any other directories inside this one), click
the (1) Password protect this directory checkbox, then type in the (2) optional name you want
people to see in their web browser when they are prompted for a username and password and
then click the (3) SAVE button. Now the directory is not accessible unless someone knows a user
name and password that you set up on this screen. You haven't set up any users yet, so right now
no one will be able to access this directory. To disable password protection for this directory, just
uncheck the checkbox and save changes.
To set up a user, enter the details in the Create User section of this screen, enter the (4) username
and (5) password (or use the password generator to create a secure password) and finally, click
on the (6) ADD/MODIFY AUTHORIZED USER button to create the user. That new user will appear
in the (7) Authorized Users box. You can delete a user by selecting the name from the Authorized
Users box and then clicking on the (8) DELETE USER button.
NOTE: If you want to change the password for an authorized user, just fill in the Create User area
using the same username as an existing authorized user, but with a new password and that user
will have their password changed to whatever you choose. Also, you should be aware that there
are ways to manually remove the password protection. There is an .htaccess and .htpassword file
created in the directory that is protected that controls access to the directory. If that gets deleted
by your web site creation software (or yourself) then you will need to recreate the password
protection. Finally, password protection is NOT encryption. The content inside the password
protected directory is not modified in any way and the password protection only applies in a web
browser (someone with a FTP or WebDAV account that has access to this directory will still be
able to access and change the content without needing the username and passwords you've set
up in cPanel.
Deny Website Access by IP Address

Learn how to deny certain IP addresses from being able to access your website.
Deny IP Address Web Access
If you find one or more IP addresses that are causing problems for your web site (perhaps posting
spam to the comment area on your site or trying to attack it, then you can block them so they will
not be able to connect to your web site at all. To set this up, click on the IP Deny Manager on
cPanel's home screen. From here you can enter a single IP address or a range of addresses or
even a domain name into the (1) text box and click the (2) ADD button, and they will no longer be
permitted to access you website. Anyone who tries to connect to your web site from an IP address
on the deny list will be shown a 403 (Forbidden) error instead of whatever content they were trying
to access. Any addresses that are blocked will be shown in the Current IP addresses being
blocked section of this screen. From there you can choose to remove any IP addresses currently
being blocked by clicking on the small (3) X in the Remove column. You will be prompted to
confirm the removal and then the removed IP address or range will be permitted to access your
web site again.
NOTE: This feature works by entering the IP addresses in a deny entry in the .htaccess file found in
your public_html (main domain web root) directory. That causes Apache, the web server to deny
the connections from those addresses. It does not block access by those addresses to some other
services (like mail, for example). If you need to block an IP address completely from all contact
with your site for some reason, please make sure you have a good reason and then contact
support who can assist you. Also, adding too many IP addresses to the deny list can potentially
slow down access to your site or create load issues on the server, so if you need to block a lot of
IP addresses, please contact support for assistance.
SSH (Shell) Access

If your account includes SSH access, learn how to access and manage it.
Managing SSH (Shell) Access
cPanel, FTP and WebDAV are not the only ways you can interact with the content in your account.
For particularly advanced individuals or those who need advanced features, it is possible to get
SSH (Secure SHell) access to your hosting account. This gives you a secure command line
interface to your Linux-based hosting account. If you are not familiar with what this is, then you
likely do not need it. For security, your account does not come with this feature enabled, though if
you need it, you can contact support to request it. If you have SSH access enabled for your
account, you can manage the settings or even connect to your account directly from cPanel. All
you need to do is to click the SSH/Shell Access item on the cPanel home screen to access these
features.
NOTE: Remember, in order to use SFTP you will need to have SSH access enabled for your
account.
There are two primary ways of authenticating to gain access to your SSH account. The first is
through a standard username and password. Your SSH account username and password exactly
match your cPanel account username and password, so make sure you keep those private and
the passwords long and secure. The second method of authenticating requires a public/private
encryption key pair. Think of an encryption key like a real key that is broken into two pieces. In
order to gain access, you need both parts of the key as well as a secret password. Part of the key
(the "public" part, remains on the server. The private (secret) part of the key pair remains with you
on your local computer or device. It is not enough to have the two parts of the key, you must also
know the secret password used to "unlock" the key pair and allow you to gain access to your
account. This is much more secure than just relying on standard password authentication. With
standard authentication, anyone to gains access to your cPanel username and password can
gain access to your SSH account. However, if the login is restricted to a public/private encryption
(SSH) key, then someone would not only need your secret password, they would also need to
obtain a copy of your private key. In addition, with an encryption key, if you think your key has
been compromised, you can "revoke" the key and generate a new one, meaning that the
compromised key will no longer work.
There are lots of ways to generate a secure encryption key, but we'll focus on cPanel's own
implementation. To manage your key settings, click on MANAGE SSH KEYS. From this screen you
will be able to generate a new key, manage the authorization status or upload an existing public
key. At the top of this screen, if you click (1) Generate a new Key you will be taken to an interface
where you will be asked what sort of key you want to create, how large the key should be and also
be asked to enter the password you will use to access the private key.
You can give this key any name you want, but you can leave the id_dsa name if you wish. Each
key you create should have its own name (in this case). There are two different key types. DSA,
the default is faster for the server to create, and RSA takes longer to generate (but generally not
too long) but will be faster when you authenticate with it. If you don't have a preference, just leave
DSA selected. The key size controls how secure the key is and how hard it would be to "crack" if
someone got a hold of the key. 1024-bit is the minimum value. This size is secure and quicker to
generate and to use. A larger value is more secure but takes longer to generate and more time to
use. If you don't know what to use, the default value of 1024 is fine. Your password should be long,
secure and random and not the same as any other passwords you use. Remember this password,
if you forget it then you will need to delete this key and create a new one to use. Click the
GENERATE KEY button to have the server create the new key.
Once the new key pair has been generated, you will need to get the private key onto the device
you want to use to access your SSH account and you will also need to authorize your new public
key for access to your account.
To do that, first click the (7) View/Download link in the Private Keys section. If you are going to be
To do that, first click the (7) View/Download link in the Private Keys section. If you are going to be
using a Mac or a Linux machine to access your SSH account, you can just click the DOWNLOAD
button on this screen to save a copy of the private key to your local computer. Generally, you need
to place this key file into the correct location (or specify the location you are using when you try to
connect with it).
Mac OS X:
1) The correct location is in /Users/YOURSHORTUSERNAME/.ssh/ - That location won't be visible
to you, so you need to use the Finder's Go to Folder feature or the terminal to access this location.
2) In the Finder, click on the Go menu and then select Go to Folder.
3) In the window that appears, type the path:
/Users/YOURSHORTUSERNAME/.ssh
(Where YOURSHORTUSERNAME is your Mac OS X user account name (the short version that is
typically lowercase. Don't forget the . before the "ssh" part of the path.)
4) A new window will open and it will probably be empty, unless you've generated other keys
before.
5) Drop the id_dsa file into this window.
6) You will use the program of your choice or the included Terminal application (at
/Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app) to make a connection once you are ready and the key is
authorized.
7) If you use the Terminal to connect then the connection string should look like this:
ssh -l USERNAME YOURDOMAINNAME.COM -p SSHPORT#
(the USERNAME is your cPanel username and YOURDOMAIN.COM is your domain name or its IP
address, and the SSHPORT# is the port you were provided by us when we set up your SSH
account.)
8) Now you need to authorize the public key for connection before you actually try to do so.
Linux/Unix:
1) Save the private key file into the appropriate location for your chosen OS.
2) If you are unsure where to place the key, place it anywhere you want, but don't forget to specify
the private key's location when you attempt to connect using the Linux/Unix terminal.
3) Use the program of your choice or the Linux/Unix terminal to make a connection once you are
ready and the key is authorized.
Windows using PuTTY, a free terminal emulator, needed because Windows does not have built-in
terminal emulation like other OSes:
1) You first need to convert your private key into PPK format, this is the format that PuTTY uses.
cPanel includes a conversion process on the (7) View/Download screen for the private key. Just
enter the private key password into the box on this page and click CONVERT. In a moment, the
PPK version of the private key will be displayed. You can click the DOWNLOAD KEY button to
PPK version of the private key will be displayed. You can click the DOWNLOAD KEY button to
save the key to your computer (anywhere you want for now). Alternately, you can use the PuTTY
Gen program in Windows to convert the standard OpenSSL key into the appropriate format.
2) When you start PuTTY, you can can specify the key you want to use in the SSH Auth section of
the interface. Click BROWSE to select the private key you just downloaded and PuTTY will try to
use that key to connect.
3) Set up the rest of your SSH session as normal.
4) You may want to save this session so you can use it as a shortcut to connect once the key is
appropriately authorized.
Regardless of which operating system you use or the program you use to connect, if you use the
key to connect, you will be prompted to enter the password. This should be your encryption
(private) key password and not the password of your cPanel account.
Now that you are ready, you can authorize the public key for access to your account. Go back to
cPanel. Click the (5) Manage Authorization link in the Public Key section of the screen. Click the
AUTHORIZE button that appears. Now you are ready to connect.
We suggest that you try to connect to your SSH account at this time using your new key.
If you are able to log in, then go back to the SSH Key management screen in cPanel, because
there is a last bit of housekeeping to take care of.
You need to make sure you keep your private key safe. Do not share it with anyone or leave it in a
public location. Once you are sure you have good local copy of your key, you should delete the
version of the private key that is currently stored on the server unless you plan to use the Java
based SSHTerm in your browser to connect to your account via your key (more on that later).
To remove the private key from the server, make sure you have a good local backup of it and then
click the (6) Delete link in the Private Key section. You will be asked if you really want to delete it. If
you are sure, click the DELETE KEY button. Doing this will make sure that even if someone gains
access to your cPanel account they will not get a copy of your private key.
The public key needs to remain on the server if you want to use it to connect to your SSH account.
If you want to temporarily disable access with the key pair, click the (5) Manage Authorization link
again and click the DEAUTHORIZE button. This will leave the key in place but it will not be able to
be used to log into your SSH account until it is authorized again.
If you want to use the public key for other purposes or use it to authorize access somewhere else,
click the (4) View/Download link in the Public Key section. Click the DOWNLOAD KEY button if
click the (4) View/Download link in the Public Key section. Click the DOWNLOAD KEY button if
you would like to save a copy of the public key locally to your device.
To remove the key completely, click the (3) Delete link in the Public Key section and confirm the
deletion by clicking the DELETE KEY button. There are no more warnings, so make sure you are
certain you want to do that.
If you prefer to use a key you've already created elsewhere to authorize your SSH account, you
can do that by clicking on the (2) Import Key link. On this screen, you enter the name for your key
(if you don't enter one it will be called id_dsa) and then paste in your public and/or private keys
into the appropriate boxes. We do not recommend uploading your private key to our server, as
there is generally no need to do that. If you don't want to upload the private key then just leave the
private key box empty. Finally, click the IMPORT button.
Once done, you can manage your keys as normal. Don't forget to authorize the public key if you
want to use it to connect.
NOTE: In many SFTP clients you may also be able to use your SSH key to log into your FTP
account. Just enter your cPanel username and your private key password. So long as your SFTP
client knows where your private key is, it can use that to authenticate.
If you are not in a location where you can use a local SSH/Terminal client to connect to your
account, you may be able to use the Java-based SSH/Telnet clients that cPanel offers, so long as
your web browser supports Java.
Whenever possible, be sure to use the SSH client rather than Telnet because it is more secure.
To connect to your account inside your web browser using a Java based SSH terminal, click on
the CONNECT USING SSHTERM button (this will only appear if your account has SSH access
enabled). This will open a new window and download a small Java applet that will run in your
browser to emulate a standard terminal. You can use your cPanel account username and
password to authenticate or your public/private key pair if you've saved both on our server and the
key is authorized. SSHTerm is secure and will work for most needs, but it is not as full-featured a
terminal application as PuTTY or the terminal on Mac OS X/Linux/Unix. The benefit to this app is
that you may be able to use it in places that you normally would not be able to access a secure
terminal.
cPanel also provides a Java based Telnet terminal program. Telnet is basically an insecure,
unencrypted version of the SSH protocol. You cannot use telnet to directly connect to an SSH
unencrypted version of the SSH protocol. You cannot use telnet to directly connect to an SSH
account and we do not directly support unencrypted telnet access to your account, so we
recommend you avoid this app and use the SSHTerm instead.
Hotlink Protection
Learn how to stop other people from directly linking to the content on your website.
Keeping your Account Secure: Hotlink Protection
If you are having issues with people linking to your content without actually sending people to
your site (your media content is loaded from your website but displayed on their website as if it is
their content), there are ways to deal with this. This practice is known as "hotlinking" and it is a
problem because when people do this, they are not only stealing your content without your
approval, they are using your bandwidth, so you foot the bill as well. To stop this from happening,
click on the HotLink Protection item on the cPanel home screen.
To enable or disable hotlink protection, click the (1) ENABLE or DISABLE button. If you are
enabling hotlink protection, make sure you've correctly managed all of the settings and you
should also run tests on your site to make sure that the hotlink protection isn't causing problems
for you. If there are problems, disable the protection and review your hotlink settings below to
make sure they are correct.
The most important setting for hotlink protection is the list of allowed URLs to access your media
content. Each URL should be listed on a separate line in the (2) access box. cPanel automatically
fills this box with all of the possible permutations of any main, addon, parked or subdomain. Add
any other sites or domains that also should be allowed to directly request the media from your site.
NOTE: For hotlink protection, "www.domain.com" and "domain.com" need to both be listed
separately.
You can also control what sort of content receives hotlink protection. This is most frequently the
picture files on your site, but it is possible to block hotlink access to other sorts of media by their
extensions. By default, cPanel protects JPEG, GIF, PNG and BMP files, but you can add or remove
whatever you want in the (3) block direct access box. The items listed there should be the
extension of the files you want to protect (the part of the file name after the period), separated by
commas with no spaces or periods.
You can choose to allow direct access to the protected media content (i.e., allow someone to
directly load the media file in their web browser by entering the full path to that one item) by
checking the box next to (4) Allow direct requests. If you are having problems and you are sure
your list of allowed URLs is correct, then try checking this box and see if that helps.
Also, you can not only block the attempt of others to hotlink to your content, but you can redirect
their requests to a URL of your choice. So instead of them getting the JPEG of your latest master
work, they get a picture that says "do not hotlink." To do that, enter the full URL (including http://)
that you want to redirect to into the (5) text field provided for that purpose.
If you may any changes to the hotlink configuration, be sure to click the (6) SUBMIT button to
apply the changes. Any time you make a change and hotlinking is enabled, you should run tests
on your site to make sure your media content is loading.
NOTE: We do not recommend turning on hotlink protection unless you think you are likely to have
NOTE: We do not recommend turning on hotlink protection unless you think you are likely to have
problems with people stealing your content. Hotlink protection is an advanced security feature
that can cause problems for you if you don't configure it properly.
Stop People from Sharing Account Information to your Site

Learn how to stop people from overusing the access details for password protected directories.
Password Sharing (Leech) Protection
If your site has password protected areas that you use to restrict some content to paying members,
then "account sharing" may be a problem for you. That happens when a legitimate member of your
site starts "sharing" their login information with other people so they can also access your content
without having to pay you additional money. cPanel offers a limited form of "leech" protection to
prevent this sort of login sharing that only works with the Password Protection feature that cPanel
offers.
If you want to prevent account sharing in cPanel password protected areas of your site, click on
the Leech Protect item on the cPanel home screen.
To set up leech protection, all you have to do is answer a few questions and enable this feature on
a directory that already has password protection enabled. The first box asks you (1) how many
times you want to allow an authorized user to log into your password protected area every 2
hours. You may be tempted to make this number quite small, but remember that a single user may
need to log in a few time if their browser or computer crashes, they get disconnected from the
Internet or otherwise leave your site and need to come back. This value has to be a whole number
and cannot be zero.
Next, you need to enter the (2) special URL that you automatically send people to if their login
goes over the 2 hour limit set above. This URL can be any valid address anywhere on the web, but
this page must exist somewhere outside of a password protected area or the user may not be able
to see it. The best choice is to a page explaining the issue and perhaps directing them to your
signup page.
If you want, you can also have the server send you an e-mail to an address of your choice any
time someone is detected going over the limit you set. If you do set yourself to receive an e-mail
but you don't disable the leechers account automatically, then you may get a lot of e-mails as you
will get a new one every time that user logs in again.
You can also choose to have the server automatically disable the account by clicking the (4)
Disable Compromised Accounts checkbox. This will restrict the account by removing the
password from the password file. They won't be able to log in because nothing they enter as a
password will work. You will still see their account user listed in the Password Protection section of
cPanel, though. If you need to, you can reset that user's password there to allow them to once
again access the protected content. The system is not capable of restoring disabled accounts
automatically, so it is a good idea to enable the e-mail notification so you can contact the user or
completely remove the account, as appropriate.
Finally, click the (5) ENABLE button to enable leech protection or (6) DISABLE to stop the
protection. Stopping the protection does not remove the authorized users or the password
protection, it only stops the login tracking.
If you have not already enabled password protection, or if you want to review users or add new
If you have not already enabled password protection, or if you want to review users or add new
ones, click on the (7) MANAGE USERS button. This will take you directly to the Password
Protection feature in cPanel.
NOTE: As mentioned earlier, this feature will only work if you use the Password Protection feature
of cPanel. Thus, it will not work properly if you have Microsoft Frontpage server extensions
installed in your account, because FrontPage uses a proprietary method of securing content that
is not compatible with the Apache standard method that cPanel uses.
Mail Encryption with GnuPG

Learn how to add and manage GnuPG keys to encrypt mail.
Encrypt Mail with GnuPG/PGP Keys
E-mail is an inherently insecure method of communication. It is plain text sent across the Internet
with no encryption. This is fine for most people, but you or your company may require that
sensitive e-mail messages be encrypted. cPanel supports the generation and storage of one of
the more popular ways to encrypt mail. PGP/GnuPG. PGP, which stands for Pretty Good Privacy is
a key-based encryption system. It works similarly to the SSH encryption keys discussed earlier in
the SSH section of this guide. You create a key in two parts. One part, you keep to yourself and use
it to encrypt and decrypt messages using the key and a secure password you've set. This is your
private key. The other half of the key pair, the public key, is a key you can freely give to anyone
who may need to send you encrypted data or e-mail. The sender can use your public key to
encrypt mail to send to you so that only you (with your private key and password) can decrypt the
message and turn it back into text. Theoretically, no one can read the content of the encrypted
message but you. GnuPG is a fully open-source implementation of the PGP standard.
cPanel does not directly support key-based encryption of mail. This requires additional software
on both the sender and recipient's end. However, cPanel does support the creation and storage of
GnuPG keys on the server to make them easier to access when needed. To work with these sorts
of keys, click the GuPG Keys item on the cPanel home screen.
The first section of this screen (1) Create a New Key allows you to do just that. You enter the name
to be associated with this key, the e-mail address that this key will work with (although cPanel
does not support it, it is possible to create a PGP-style key that works with several e-mail accounts,
but generally, for security, it is best to generate separate keys for separate e-mail accounts), an
optional key comment or nickname and a secure password (entered twice). It is generally
recommended that you set your key to expire after a certain period of time (1 year is usually a
good idea). This forced expiry makes sure that even if someone does get a hold of your private
key, they won't have an unlimited amount of time to try to crack it. Since brute force methods to
crack a large key could take many years, it basically keeps communication safe. The key does
not "self-destruct" Mission Impossible style after the expiration date, but the key won't be valid for
use any longer. If you decide you want to let your key last forever, don't enter anything in the (2)
Expire Date box. Otherwise, enter the timeframe as directed. The (3) key size is also important.
The larger the key size, the harder the key is to crack if someone gets a hold of the private key, but
the longer the key takes to be created or to be used (the larger the key the more time the server
will take to generate it, so there you do need to be patient. It may take several minutes. Generally
though, the time differential between the smallest and largest key sizes in actual use isn't really
significant unless you have a slow computer). 1024 is the typical value for a key, but you can
choose up to 4096 if you want. Finally, click the (4) GENERATE KEY button to have the system
create the key for you.
Alternately, if you already have a key you've generated elsewhere, you can upload it to your
account using the (5) IMPORT KEY button. Just paste the text key data into the box presented and
click IMPORT. You can import either public or private keys, one at a time.
If you have some keys stored in your account, you can view the whole key, the key details or
choose to delete the key.
If you'd like to learn more about PGP/GnuPG or public key encryption schemes, visit the GNU
Privacy Handbook or the PGP Wikipedia page.
Managing your Domains
Subdomains
Learn how to add, remove and change subdomains in cPanel.
Subdomains
cPanel allows you to create what are known as subdomains. Subdomains are
"something.YOURDOMAINNAME.COM." For example, if your domain is "thisismydomain555.com"
a subdomain would be "pictures.thisismydomain555.com" or "blog.thisismydomain555.com." This
is great if you want to create an easy to remember "separate" section of your main website. For
example, if you install a calendar script, you could use a subdomain like
"calendar.YOURDOMAIN.COM" You could also set up individual websites for family or friends
using subdomains. You would create the subdomain "kate.YOURDOMAIN.COM" and then set up a
FTP account that has the kate subdomain directory as its home. That user can then use FTP to
upload their website (or install a script) and then their subdomain "kate" would look completely
different than your main domain.
To set up a subdomain, click on the Subdomains feature in the Domains section of the cPanel
home screen.
To create a subdomain, choose one of the domains or subdomains in your account from the (1)
drop-down list (yes, it is possible to create subdomains of subdomains, so for example, if you
domain name is domain.com, you could create this.is.my.domain.com which is 3 subdomains
deep) then you type in the (2) subdomain name (the part at the front of the domain name before
the first period. Whatever you type in there, cPanel will automatically fill in the (3) Document Root
with a suggested value which is a directory of the same name inside the web root for your main
domain (public_html). If you accept this value, then sub.domain.com and domain.com/sub will
both go to the same content. However, if you want the subdomain to feel more "separated" from the
main domain, delete the suggestion and type the name you want to use as the document root
(home) for this subdomain. If you do that, without the public_html, then the subdomain
sub.domain.com will NOT be accessible from domain.com/sub (since the home directory for the
domain is now "above" your main domain's home directory of public_html. If you look at the bottom
of the screen shot above, you can see that there are two different subdomains created, one,
site2.domain.com which has its home in /home/domain/site2/ and is not accessible via
domain.com/site2 and another one called test.domain.com whose home directory is
/home/domain/public_html/test and is available via domain.com/test (as well as test.domain.com).
When you are done setting up your new subdomain, click the (4) CREATE button to create the
new subdomain.
NOTE: Subdomains you create are usually accessible in your web browser immediately after you
create them, however, in some cases it may take a bit longer (sometimes up to an hour) for the
new subdomain to start working. The subdomain is set up right away, but for some people their
local DNS servers may not pick up this new subdomain entry for a bit.
You can make changes to your subdomains in the Modify a Subdomain section. There you will
see a table of your subdomains and their current settings and available actions. First you see the
(5) full subdomain name. Then comes the (6) document root (subdomain home directory). You
can click on the document root itself to go to the cPanel File Manager to add/delete/upload files
right from your browser) or you can click the small pencil and paper icon next to it and you can
change the document root for the subdomain if you want. Note that changing the document root
does not move or remove the existing subdomain directory, it just creates or sets a new location.
So if you change it you will need to manually move/remove files from the old location. Next, you
can see any (7) subdomain redirection you've set up. A redirect will cause anyone who goes to
that subdomain (like sub.domain.com) to be automatically and instantly redirected to some other
location, anywhere on the Internet. For example, you could have a subdomain like
charles.mydomain.com that automatically redirects people to Charles' real website that he hosts
charles.mydomain.com that automatically redirects people to Charles' real website that he hosts
elsewhere. By default there is no redirect, but if you want one or if you want to remove an existing
redirect, click on the (8) Manage Redirection link and enter the URL you want people to be
redirected to automatically when they visit this subdomain. The URL can be any valid address
anywhere on the Internet. If you want to remove the redirect, click the button to remove it. The
subdomain will remain in place, but people will no longer be redirected when visiting it. Finally
you can delete the subdomain completely. You do this by clicking on (9) Remove and then
confirming the removal. Note that this does not delete the home directory for this subdomain or the
files located in that directory. If you want to also remove those files you will need to do so
manually.
NOTE: If you have an addon domain pointed to a subdomain, cPanel will not permit you to remove
the subdomain. If you want to remove it, you must remove or move the addon or parked domain
that is pointing to that subdomain first.
If you have a lot of subdomains, you can search through them quickly by typing all or part of the
subdomain into the (10) Search box and clicking GO. This will display only the subdomains that
match what you've entered.
If you want to use a subdomain like a mini web hosting account for friends or family, you can go to
the FTP Accounts feature and set up a FTP account that uses the subdomain's document root
(home directory). Then give the person you've set up this subdomain the FTP account username
and password you just set up and they can manage their website. You can also set up e-mail
addresses or e-mail forwarders for subdomains, so they can even have custom e-mail accounts to
use with their subdomain. Just remember that these people will not have access to cPanel and the
full feature set that provides and they will be using your plan's disk space, bandwidth and other
resources. If they have serious needs, we suggest you refer them to us for a full hosting account or
you can upgrade your account to a reseller plan and handle it yourself.
Addon Domains
Learn how to add additional domains to your cPanel account (if supported by your web hosting
plan).
Addon Domains
On some of the plans we offer, you may be permitted to host more than one domain in your cPanel
account. If this is permitted, click on Addon Domains on the cPanel home screen to add another
domain to your cPanel account.
Addon domains can appear to be completely separate content to visitors, but in reality, addon
domains are a special sort of subdomain of your main cPanel hosted domain. Addon domains
share the features and resource limits of your cPanel hosting account. That means your addon
domains share the total amount of disk space you are allowed to use with your main domain. The
same goes for bandwidth and other features. All of this is managed from one cPanel account.
NOTE: It is not possible to create another cPanel hosting account just for the addon domain). If
you are looking to create multiple cPanel accounts for multiple domains, then you should look into
our reseller shared hosting. Those plans allow you to use a tool called WHM to create and host
multiple domains with multiple cPanel hosting accounts.
Things you need to do before you add the domain: Before you can add on a domain to your
cPanel hosting account, make sure your plan allows for at least 1 addon domain. If not, please
contact us to discuss a hosting plan that does allow you to host multiple domains. Next, you will
need to register the domain you want to add onto your account (you must do this before trying to
add it). You can register the domain through us or through another registrar if you wish. Finally,
you must point your new addon domain name to the same nameservers that your main cPanel
hosted domain is using. This is done by logging into your registrar and updating the nameserver
records for the domain to those we gave you when we first set up your hosting account. If you are
unsure how to do this, please contact your registrar for assistance. Once you have the domain
registered and using our nameservers, then you are ready to proceed.
On the Addon Domains screen in cPanel, you can create your addon domain by filling in some
basic information. First, you need to enter the domain name you want to add to your account by
entering it in the (1) New Domain Name field. When you enter the domain name do not enter
"www." that is not part of the domain name. cPanel will automatically set up "www." when it creates
your addon domain. Your domain name is just YOURDOMAINNAME.COM (the domain you've
registered). Also, capitalization in the domain name itself does not matter and will be ignored by
cPanel.
Once you've entered the domain name, cpanel will automatically fill in the next two fields with
suggested values based on the domain name you've entered. You can change the suggested
values to whatever you want, or leave them as-is. The (2) Subdomain/FTP Username field lets you
enter a short name without spaces or non-URL-safe special characters that will be both the FTP
account username (the FTP username will be whatever you type here plus
"@YOURMAINDOMAIN.COM" where YOURMAINDOMAIN.COM is your main cPanel domain). The
name you type in this field will also be the name of the subdomain that is created in your main
domain. By default, the username cPanel will suggest is the main part of your addon domain name
without the TLD/SLD (.com, .net, ,org, etc.) Feel free to change it if you want to use something else,
without the TLD/SLD (.com, .net, ,org, etc.) Feel free to change it if you want to use something else,
but keep in mind that it cannot match the name of an existing subdomain or FTP account.
The (3) Document Root field will be where the content for your addon domain is served from. By
default, cPanel will suggest
/home/YOURCPANELUSERNAME/public_html/ADDONDOMAINNAME.COM. This will place the
addon domain within the web root for your main domain, so the addon domain would not only act
like a subdomain (http://addon.domain.com) but also be accessible as a directory of your main
domain (http://domain.com/addondomain.com/). You may not want this because it makes it easier
for people to figure out your addon domain isn't really hosted separately from the main domain.
You can choose to make the document root for your addon domain appear in the home directory
of your main domain (outside the web root). That would be
/home/YOURCPANELUSERNAME/ADDONDOMAINDIRECTORY. If you don't place your addon
domain inside public_html, then users who figure it out would still be able to access your domain
at addon.domain.com, but they would not be able to access it as
http://domain.com/addondirectory so it makes it that much less obvious.
NOTE: If you don't like the way addon domains work (as special subdomains of your main cPanel
domain) then you may want one of our reseller hosting plans. As discussed earlier, this allows you
to create separate cPanel accounts for each domain you wish to host. That way, they remain
completely separate. Plus with our reseller plans you can, if you wish, choose to sell cPanel
hosting to other people, perhaps more than paying for the cost of your reseller hosting plan.
Contact our sales department if you are interested in a reseller hosting plan.
The last step before creating your domain name is to enter a (4) secure password, two times. You
can use the Password Generator feature to automatically create a secure password if you want.
Click the (5) ADD DOMAIN button to have cPanel start creating your addon domain.
NOTE: The process of adding domains to your account is very complex. cPanel is not only
creating a new subdomain and FTP account, it is adding your addon domain details to your
cPanel account and to the web server. This process can take time, so please be patient. DO NOT
click the ADD DOMAIN button multiple times or close or navigate away from this page until
cPanel tells you the process is complete. If you do, you may stop this process and cause
problems that our support department may need to fix for you before you can attempt to add on the
domain again. If the process finishes and cPanel displays an error, please make a note of exactly
what cPanel said the problem was and then go back and correct it (if you understand the issue) or
contact our support department for assistance.
Once you have at least on addon domain, this screen will show you the details for your addon
Once you have at least on addon domain, this screen will show you the details for your addon
domain, including the (6) full addon domain name, the current (7) document root of the addon
domain (you can also click the small pencil and paper icon to change the document root of the
addon domain if you wish), the (8) subdomain/FTP username, any (9) redirect you may have set
up, and a set of actions you can take concerning your addon domain. You can choose to set up
(10) redirection, which will automatically send people visiting your addon domain to some other
location (either in your account or somewhere else on the Internet) or you can (11) remove the
addon domain. If you choose to remove the addon domain, cPanel will attempt to delete the
addon domain itself, as well as the subdomain used by this addon domain and also get rid of the
FTP account for this domain. If there are problems removing any of these things, you will be told
and you can try to delete the subdomain and FTP accounts separately if you wish. If you have
problems with the removal and cannot figure out the issue, please contact support for assistance.
If you have many addon domains, you may find it useful to use the (12) Search feature. Type in at
least part of the domain you are looking for and cPanel will show you all of the addon domains that
match what you've typed.
Parked Domains
Learn how to add or remove parked domains if your web hosting account supports it.
Working with Parked Domains
If your hosting plan allows you to host multiple domains in your account, then you can also add
additional domain names that all mirror the content in your main domain. Parked domains are not
designed to be separate domains with discreet content (like addon domains). The parked domain
takes you to exactly the same content as your main domain. The parked domain name will stay in
your web browser's address bar in some cases, but many scripts, redirects and HTML pages with
absolute links may change the URL back to your main domain, because that is the way the links
are formatted.
Adding a parked domain is much simpler than adding an addon domain. Click on the Parked
Domains item in on the cPanel home screen to get started.
Things you need to do before you park the domain: Before you can park a domain to your cPanel
hosting account, make sure your plan allows for at least 1 parked domain (if your plan allows you
to host multiple domains, you probably already have access to this feature. If not, please contact
us to discuss a hosting plan that does allow you to host multiple domains. Next, you will need to
register the domain you want to park on your account (you must do this before trying to add it). You
can register the domain through us or through another registrar if you wish. Finally, you must point
your new parked domain name to the same nameservers that your main cPanel hosted domain is
using. This is done by logging into your registrar and updating the nameserver records for the
domain to those we gave you when we first set up your hosting account. If you are unsure how to
do this, please contact your registrar for assistance. Once you have the domain registered and
using our nameservers, then you are ready to proceed.
To park a registered domain that is already using our nameservers, please type the domain name
(without www.) into the (1) add domain field and click the ADD DOMAIN button. It will take cPanel
a few moments to finish working, so please be patient and do not close or navigate away from this
page until cPanel confirms that it is finished. If you get an error, go back and fix the problem and
then try to park the domain again. If you are unsure what to do, make a note of the exact error
message you received and contact support for further assistance.
NOTE: All parked domains are set to mirror your main domain's content. You cannot park a
domain on top of an addon domain at this time.
Once you have at least one parked domain, you will find it listed at the bottom of this screen. From
there you can see the (2) parked domain name, the (3) parked domain root directory
(public_html), (4) any redirects you've set up and finally a set of actions related to this parked
domain. You can choose to (5) remove the parked domain so it no longer is part of your account
and you can (6) Manage Redirection if you want to have people visiting your parked domain name
automatically redirected to some other location, either in your account or somewhere else on the
Internet. Finally, if you have a lot of parked domains, you can use the (7) Search field to quickly
find what you are looking for. Type part of the domain you are looking for into the box and click GO
and cPanel will display only those parked domains that at least partially match what you've
entered.
Domain Redirection
Learn how to use cPanel to redirect traffic from one place to another.
Redirecting Traffic
When you are driving, if a street is under construction, you may be temporarily or permanently
directed to take another route to get where you are going. The same thing is possible with web
traffic. To set up this feature click on the Redirects item on the cPanel home screen.
From here, you can set up temporary or permanent redirects for your site. A redirect does just
what it says, if a user visits the location you have set up a redirect for, they will immediately be sent
to the alternate location you specify. Users won't notice any difference between a temporary or
permanent redirect and both redirects act exactly the same in a browser. However, where the
choice of a temporary or permanent redirect matters is when search engines explore your site.
The type of redirect you choose actually sends a different code number as it asks for the redirect.
If the redirect is permanent (the content in the existing location will never return) then Apache
sends a code 301 redirect. This tells search engines to stop listing this particular link in their
search results and instead list the location that you are redirecting to. Good search engines
should eventually stop listing the redirected URL in their results. A temporary redirect causes
Apache to send a code 302 with the redirect request. This tells the search engine that the content
at this link is currently not available, but it may be again in the future. The search engine will
continue to list the location in their search results and will periodically recheck the link to see if
the redirect has been removed and content restored.
To create a redirect, first select the (1) type of redirect you want. Remember, this will affect search
engine results, so if you only expect the redirect to last a short time, choose temporary, if you don't
ever expect to have real content in this location, choose permanent. Then select the (2) domain or
subdomain you want this redirect to apply within. You can choose any one addon or parked
domain or subdomain or you can choose to have the redirect apply to all domains and
subdomains in your cPanel account (all public domains). If you want this redirect to apply only to
a subdirectory in the domain(s) you've selected, type it in the (3) field next to the domain selection
drop-down list. If you want the redirect to apply to the main domain or subdomain you've chosen,
leave this field empty. Then you need to enter (4) the full URL to the location you want to have
people redirected to. This URL can be any valid URL. Now you need to decide if you want your
redirect to also apply to users who type "www." in addition to your domain name or not. Choose the
correct (5) radio button next to the choice you want to select. One final decision to make before
creating your redirect is to decide whether you want the redirect to pass along the file you are
trying to access to the redirected location. Enabling this is called a (6) "wildcard" redirect. For
example, if the wildcard redirect is enabled and the redirect is from http://domain.com/ to
http://otherdomain.com/ and the user is trying to access a file called "file.php"
(http://domain.com/file.php) the wildcard redirect would send the user to
http://otherdomain.com/file.php. If the wildcard redirect is off, then http://domain.com/file.php will
be redirected to http://otherdomain.com/ (without the file.php). Once you've made your choices,
press the (7) ADD button to create the redirect.
NOTE: The wildcard redirect feature cannot be used to redirect people from the main domain in
your cPanel account to a file in a subdirectory elsewhere in your site.
Once you've created at least one redirect, it will be listed in the Current Redirects section of this
screen. You can see the (8) domain the redirect applies to, the (9) directory (if any) that this
redirect is active in, the (10) URL that people are being redirected to, the (11) type of redirect
(either permanent or temporary), if the redirect applies to (12) URLs with "www." entered or not, the
(13) wildcard status of the redirect and finally, you can click the (14) X icon to delete the listed
redirect if you no longer want it. You will be asked to confirm your choice. Also, if you have a lot of
redirects set up, you may find it easier to use the (15) Search field. Type in some part of the
redirect you are looking for and click the GO button and cPanel will display only those redirects
that match at least partly what you've typed.
Simple DNS Zone Changes

Learn to add or edit certain basic record types to the DNS zone(s) for your domain(s).
DNS Zone A and CNAME Records
The feature described here is very advanced. Don't attempt to use this if you aren't aware of the
ramifications. Making the wrong addition or change may adversely affect the loading of some or
all parts of your website. If you are uncertain, please contact support for assistance and we can
make the needed changes for you.
cPanel does allow you to make additions to the DNS zone for the domains and subdomains
hosted in your cPanel account. To use this feature select the Simple DNS Zone Editor from the
cPanel home screen.
A DNS zone file contains critical information about your domain and where to find various parts of
it. With the Simple DNS Zone Editor feature you can add or edit additional A and CNAME records.
An A record points part of your domain to a particular IP address. A CNAME record serves to alias
one name to another.
NOTE: This feature does not let you edit existing A or CNAME records created automatically by
cPanel, you can only add, change or delete additional records with this tool. If you need an
existing A or CNAME record changed, please contact support for assistance. Also, this feature will
not work if you are not using cPanel to manage your DNS settings (for example, if you are
managing DNS at your domain registrar).
To add a new A record, enter the (1) name of the record you want to add in the Add an A Record
section of this screen. The name must include a domain name hosted in your cPanel account. For
example, if you have mydomain1.com and mydomain2.com managed in your cPanel account,
then you can create an A record for location.mydomain1.com or sub.mydomain2.com but not for
location.mydomain3.com. Next, you enter the (2) IP address that you want the name you just
entered to point to. The IP address can be any valid address, it doesn't have to be the IP address
assigned to your cPanel account. When you are ready, click the (3) ADD A RECORD button. If
you've entered information that appears to be correct, cPanel will add the record and reload the
DNS zone on your server. If not, you will see an error. Check your entry and try again.
To add a new CNAME record, enter the (4) name in your domain that you want to have alias some
other name or location. This name must be in one of the domains managed by your cPanel
account. The (5) CNAME record location you enter, however, could be in any valid domain
anywhere on the Internet. The CNAME is where the record in your domain will be aliased to. Click
(6) ADD CNAME RECORD when you are ready to commit this new record. cPanel will warn you if
it detects a problem with the record you've entered. If so, check your entry and try again.
NOTE: Although cPanel will add the appropriate record to your domain's DNS zone almost right
away, DNS entry information can take time to propagate. This is due to the way the DNS system
works and not due to any issues with cPanel or this feature. Therefore, you may be able to access
the changed record you've entered almost immediately, but it could take up to 24-48 hours to be
picked up by your local DNS servers.
The records you add with this tool will appear in the User-Defined Records section of this screen.
Here, you can see all of the details of the records you've added and also (7) delete them if you
Here, you can see all of the details of the records you've added and also (7) delete them if you
choose.
NOTE: If you are looking to change your MX (mail) record, please see the MX Record section of
cPanel.
Databases
Working with MySQL Databases

Learn how to manage MySQL databases in cPanel.
The Main MySQL Databases Screen
Your hosting account provides access to MySQL databases. A database is tool that allows you to
collect all sorts of data in one place and then work with that data in various ways. Databases are
commonly used by popular web scripts in order to store the content of the site (text and settings
and sometimes files) separately from the design/code of the site.

NOTE: If you are looking for a quick way to create a new database and user for a script you are
trying to install, you may find it easier to use the MySQL Database Wizard feature in cPanel. Skip
down to the next item in this guide to learn more about how it works.
cPanel allows you to easily create, manage and remove MySQL databases. Click on MySQL
Databases from the cPanel home screen to access this feature.
To create a new database, all you need to do is to enter the name you want to give it into the (1)
New Database text field then click the (2) CREATE DATABASE button.
NOTE: Your cPanel username and an underscore character (_) will automatically be prefixed to
the database name you enter. So if you enter "data" then the full database name will be
"CPANELUSERNAME_data" where CPANELUSERNAME is your account's cPanel user name. Also,
database names can only contain certain characters, may not be over a certain length and must
be unique. cPanel will stop you from trying to create a database with a name that will not be valid.
Databases you have created will appear in the Current Databases section of this screen. You will
see the (5) full database name, the (6) current size of the database (the size information is cached
by cPanel and so the size information will only update every few hours or so), the (7) names of any
users assigned to the database (click on the name to change the user's permissions for this
database or click the red X to remove that user from this database without deleting the user), and
finally, you will be able to (8) delete the database itself. If you have a lot of databases, you can
quickly search for the one you are looking for by using the (17) Search text field. Enter part of the
database name you are looking for and click the (18) GO button. cPanel will only display those
databases that match what you've entered.
NOTE: If you delete a database, any users assigned to it will not be deleted, but all of the data in
that database will be permanently deleted unless you have a backup. Also, you will likely see a
database that matches your cPanel username that you cannot edit or delete. This is a database
that stores important information about your MySQL databases and it is automatically handled by
MySQL and cPanel. You should not attempt to delete the database.
When you create a database, it will start off without any structure or data in it and no one is
allowed to access the database. If you want to be able to add data to the database or set up a
script to do so, you will want to add a MySQL user to allow access to the database. Just like you
need a username and password to access your cPanel account, you also need a MySQL user
and password to be able to work within a particular database. A single MySQL user can have
access to multiple databases and can have different sets of permissions concerning what they
access to multiple databases and can have different sets of permissions concerning what they
are allowed to do inside the database.
To create a MySQL user, enter the last part of the name into the (9) Username text field. Like the
database name, your cPanel username and an underscore character will be automatically
prefixed to the username you enter, so keep that in mind. Enter a password for this MySQL user
two times in the (10) Password fields or use the Password Generator feature, then click (11)
CREATE USER.
The final step is to add the user you just created to a database and set the permissions that you
want to allow that user to have in that database. To do that select the (12) user and the (13)
Database to add them to and then click the (14) ADD button. This will open a new screen, where
you can select the sort of commands/queries they are allowed to run on the database. If you are
creating this database for use with a script, then it is best to check the All Privileges check box, so
all of the listed items are enabled for that user. Alternately, just select the individual permissions
you want that user to have in the database. Finally, click the MAKE CHANGES button to complete
this process. Now that user should be able access the database and do the things you've granted
them access to.
NOTE: A single MySQL user can be granted access to multiple databases, but we discourage that
practice because it is insecure (especially if you've enabled remote MySQL access).
All of the users you've created will be listed in the Current Users section of this screen. It will
display the (15) username of each user and allow you to (16) delete that user. Click on the
username to be taken to a screen where you can change that user's password.
NOTE: Deleting a user removes the user only. It does not delete any data or databases that the
user had access to. So if you accidentally delete a user, you can recreate the user with the same
password and re-add it to the appropriate databases and everything should be OK. If you change
a MySQL user's password and that user is one that a script is assigned, you will need to go into
the script configuration file and make sure the MySQL user password is changed to the new one. If
you don't do that, the script will be unable to access the database.
MySQL Database Creation Wizard
If you just want to quickly create a MySQL database and user so you can start working, or if you're
afraid you might miss a step in the standard MySQL management screen, then you will want to use
the MySQL Database Wizard feature found on the cPanel home screen.
The wizard walks you through creating a database, then creating a MySQL user for that database
and assigning permissions to that user. When done, you the database will be fully ready for use
(for example, by a web script you've installed in your hosting account.
The interface for doing all of this matches what was discussed above in the main cPanel MySQL
Databases section, so if you want to understand how all of that works, please read about those
features above.
NOTE: If you need to add extra MySQL users to a database or if you want to use an existing user in
a new database, then you will need to use the MySQL Databases item in cPanel to do that. The
wizard only covers creating a new database and assigning a new user to it.
PHPMyAdmin
Learn how to use PHPMyAdmin to handle advanced MySQL database tasks.
Databases: PHPMyAdmin
Although you can easily create and delete databases and users in the main MySQL Databases
feature in cPanel, you cannot actually work with the data inside the databases. However, cPanel
includes a specially configured piece of third party software so you can do just that. It is called
phpMyAdmin. To start working with it, click on the phpMyAdmin item on the cPanel home screen.
phpMyAdmin is a complex program that can do very powerful things. It is basically a graphical
front-end to the MySQL database service. Therefore, explaining how phpMyAdmin works is
beyond the scope of this guide. If you need assistance working with phpMyAdmin, then we
suggest you review the resources available here:
http://www.phpmyadmin.net/home_page/docs.php
NOTE: The version that cPanel offers is specially modified to maintain account/database security
and it does not offer all of the features you typically find in phpMyAdmin. For example, you will not
be able to create databases using phpMyAdmin. If there is a feature you are looking for and it
doesn't work as expected or is disabled, it is for security reasons/compatibility with cPanel. You
should create/remove MySQL databases or users via the MySQL Databases feature in cPanel, not
in phpMyAdmin. If you aren't familiar with phpMyAdmin or MySQL queries, we suggest that you
avoid using phpMyAdmin because it is possible to destroy or alter data permanently if you do
something wrong.
Enabling Remote MySQL Access

Learn how to enable or remove remote access to your MySQL databases.
Databases: Managing your MySQL Databases Remotely
By default, MySQL databases you create can only be accessed by local processes or users, but
you can, if you wish, access your own MySQL databases remotely (perhaps to work on them using
some special application like Navicat MySQL).
NOTE: Enabling remote MySQL access for your databases can be a serious security risk, so only
enable it if you are absolutely sure you need it and _never_ enable it for all IP addresses. Further,
make sure all of your MySQL user passwords are long, hard to guess and very secure. It would be
best to enable remote access for your specific IP address only when you need it and then remove
the access host when you are done working. You can add your IP address again later if you need
remote access again. All changes you make on this screen take effect immediately.
To enable remote MySQL database access, you have to tell MySQL which IP address(es) to allow.
To do this you enter the IP address in the (1) Host field and then click the (2) ADD HOST button.
NOTE: You can use the % character as a wild card. For example, in the screenshot above, the
access host 192.168.1.% would allow anyone on the IP addresses 192.168.1.0 through
192.168.1.255 to access your MySQL databases remotely. PLEASE BE CAREFUL! For security
reasons, we strongly recommend against using wildcards to allow access to your databases.
Once you've added an access host, you can see all of the ones you've added in the (3) Access
Hosts list and then choose to (4) remove the access host so it can no longer access your
databases.
Software and Services
CGI Software
Learn how to add and configure some simple CGI scripts for use on your website.
Working with Software and Services: CGI Scripts
In cPanel's Software and Services section, you can view, add, change and remove various addon
features that can help enhance your website. For example, cPanel offers a few Common Gateway
Interface (CGI) scripts that may help you enhance your site with web to e-mail form generators,
clocks, timers and other tools. To access this area, click on the CGI Scripts item on the cPanel
home screen. Click on the item(s) you are interested in and follow the directions presented to
configure them.
NOTE: You may have access to an item called "Simple CGI Wrapper." If so, you do not need to use
this item and should not install it. We run CGI scripts as suexec automatically (meaning that the
CGI script runs as your cPanel user rather than the user "nobody") which is exactly what this
feature was designed to do (to add support for that feature on hosts that don't already support it).
Add/Remove Software
Learn how to use cPanel to add and remove some software from your account.
Installing and Removing Some Site Software
cPanel has the ability to install some web scripts that you can use to enhance your website.
However, we offer other web script installation options and we encourage you to use them instead
of this feature. However, if you want to investigate the few options you may have available to you
here, click on the Site Software item on the cPanel home screen.
From there, you can select one of a few popular web scripts to install. You will be able to read
more about the script and what it does and answer a few simple questions and cPanel will
automatically install the web script and a database if needed. cPanel will also be able to upgrade
scripts that it has installed (but not ones that you install manually or via other web script installers)
and it can remove scripts that it has installed.
NOTE: Do not worry if you don't see a lot of software available here, because as we stated, we
offer other web script auto-installation options that update more frequently and offer more options
than those that cPanel offers itself. Please read on to learn more about the other web script
auto-installer features we offer.
Perl Modules
Learn how to view the list of installed Perl modules.
View Perl Modules
One of the programming languages that our web hosting accounts support is Perl. Perl is modular
and extensible. This means that new features can be added through Perl modules. This allows
Perl to gain new features as needed and yet not have to ship with every possible feature built into
the core of the language. cPanel itself is written largely in Perl. Because of this every cPanel
server has lots of addition Perl modules installed that extend what you can do with Perl in your
own scripts. To see what perl modules are available on your server, you can click on the Perl
Modules feature on the cPanel home screen.
On this screen you will see a list of modules and in some cases be able to see documentation
related to the use of that module. If for some reason you don't see the Perl module you need to get
your own Perl script working, please contact technical support and let us know what you need.
Our technicians will review your request and if the module in question won't cause problems for
the server or other clients we may choose to install it for you so you can use it.
NOTE: Since cPanel itself is written largely in Perl, it specifically requires Perl version 5.8.8 and if
you have a Perl script that requires a much older or newer version of Perl, it may not operate
properly on our servers. There is nothing we can do about this. Changing the installed version of
Perl would break cPanel.
PHP Modules and Settings

Learn how to view the list of installed PHP (PEAR/PECL) modules.
PHP Modules
Another popular programming language that we support in our web hosting accounts is PHP. PHP
is a very popular language on the web. A lot of notable web-based software is written in PHP.
Although PHP is not as modular as Perl is designed to be, PHP still has a number of optional
modules that can be added to it. If you would like to see what is available on your server, click on
the PHP PEAR Packages item on the cPanel home screen.
From this screen, you can view all of the installed modules in PHP and view documentation
(geared towards developers).
NOTE: Because PHP/PEAR/PECL modules take more time and resources to install and use, we
generally limit all clients to those modules that are already installed on the server.
PHP Settings
PHP has several settings that may affect the way your PHP-based scripts will run. You can view
those settings by clicking on the PHP Configuration item on the cPanel home screen.
On this screen you will see a list of the settings that most frequently affect the operation of PHP
scripts. Our servers support PHP 5.3.x currently. If you require the use of a different version of PHP,
you should look into our VPS and dedicated server offerings.
Softaculous
Learn how to use Softaculous to install and manage popular web scripts.
Softaculous Web Script Autoinstaller
There is a lot of great software out there that you can use on your website. However, if you're not
comfortable installing a web script yourself, we offer Softaculous. It handles all of the "heavy lifting"
for you. Answer a few questions and shortly you will have software installed on your website,
ready for use! To get started, click on the Softaculous item on the cPanel home screen.
Softaculous offers a large number of scripts and frameworks that it can install, all of which can be
accessed in the (1) sidebar on the left of the screen. Click the small arrow icon to the right of a
category you are interested in to reveal the items in that category. Softaculous can not only install
lots of PHP-based web scripts, but it can also install various frameworks, javascript and now even
Perl applications. By default, the list shows all of the scripts written in PHP. but you can switch to
the other types of scripts/frameworks by clicking the appropriate (2) Scripts category. Because
Softaculous offers so many scripts, it may be difficult to find one you are looking for. For that
reason, there is a (5) Search feature. Enter part of what you are looking for and only the items
matching your search will be displayed in the sidebar. Once you've selected a script you are
interested in, a description of it and some basic information about it will appear in the (3) main
section of the screen. You can see support information, The amount of space required to install it,
the latest version available (along with a "chat bubble icon" next to the version that you can click
on to inform Softaculous' maintainers that there is a newer version of the script available than the
one that is currently offered in Softaculous). Finally, you can rate the software to let people know if
you like it or not. If this script is something you want to install, then you need to direct your attention
to the (4) actions list that appears just above the script description.
You are currently on the Overview tab. You can click on the Features tab to view more information
concerning what this script can do for you, look at Screenshots, try out a Demo of this script
(which is actually hosted on Softaculous' own server), see Ratings or read or write a Review of this
script and tell Softaculous to try to import the details of another script that you've installed either
manually or via some other autoinstaller. You may or may not have luck with the import. If it works,
then Softaculous will track the install and offer to upgrade it in the future (or uninstall it). To install a
new copy of this script, select the Install tab and fill out the required information. Depending on the
script, the exact information you will asked for will vary, but it generally includes specifying where
you want the script installed, the script administrative details and password (Softaculous offers a
random password generator, but the passwords are rather short and not as secure as they could
be) and core script information (site name, etc.). Once done, you can enter an e-mail address to
get a copy of your install details sent to that address or choose to install the script without doing
that. The installation process may take some time, so please be patient. When done you will be
shown the links to access the main script and the administrative interface.
Once a script is installed, it will appear under the list of (6) Current Installs, including links to the
script as well as to the administrative area. You will see the date and time you installed the script,
the currently installed version and a set of options that relate to that particular installation. If there
is an update available, there will be an upgrade icon here. Click it to start the upgrade process.
You will be asked to confirm the upgrade before starting. Click the zipped folder icon from the
overview screen to back up the installed script and data. This will take you to a screen where you
can choose what to back up and then actually have the script handle the backup. Note that
backups can be CPU intensive and you should try to do your backups during off-peak hours to be
backups can be CPU intensive and you should try to do your backups during off-peak hours to be
kind to other users on the system. Also, the backup creation may take a long time or even fail if the
script is too large. If so, you may want to backup your data with cPanel or handle your backup
manually using FTP. After the backup Softaculous will place it in the Backups and Restore section
(more on that in a bit). The next icon will let you view (and even change) some of the key details
relating to this installation. Finally you can click on the X icon to delete this installation. You will be
asked to confirm your choice before the script is actually removed. If you have several installed
scripts, you can select several of them by clicking the checkbox next to each one you want to do
something with and then select the option from the "With Selected" drop-down list and click GO.
At the very top of the Softaculous screen are a bunch of (7) feature icons that will take you to
different areas of Softaculous. The blueprint and hammer icon will take you back to cPanel, the
house icon will take you to the main Softaculous home screen, the arrow will take you to
Softaculous' script demo site, the star will take you to the script rating feature, the box will take you
to a screen listing all of your Softaculous-managed installs so you can upgrade, backup, edit or
remove them. The wrench and screwdriver icon will take you to the Softaculous settings screen
where you can set the default Softaculous interface language, the time zone setting and the
default state of the script category menus in the sidebar. The zipped folder and arrow icon will
allow you to mange your Softaculous backed up scripts. Here you will be able to download the
compressed backup, restore the install from this backup or remove the backup so it doesn't take
up disk space in your account any more. The envelope icon will let you change Softaculous'
e-mail settings. You can control what sorts of things Softaculous will e-mail you about and what
address it sends these e-mails to. The round chasing arrows icon will allow you to try to import
installs make by other autoinstallers like Fantastico so that Softaculous can manage it from now
on. Finally, the question mark icon displays some basic help information about Softaculous.
NOTE: While using web scripts can really improve the functionality of your website, it is important
that you keep all scripts updated. The primary way hackers break into sites is by using known
bugs in popular web scripts. Using Softaculous is a simple way to keep your scripts updated.
Advanced Features
Apache Handlers
Learn how to define new Apache handlers in cPanel.
Adding and Removing Custom Apache Handlers
There are some features that cPanel provides for users with more advanced or unusual needs but
that aren't required for typical site operation. All of these features are in the cPanel Advanced
section. The first of these features is the Apache Handlers item. This allows you to quickly add or
change the way Apache (the web server our servers use) handles certain file extensions. Most
people will never need to add anything here, because Apache automatically knows how to
handle all of the most common extensions. However, if you want to add or override a handler, just
enter the specific (1) handler and the (2) extensions you want to be handled, separated by spaces
and then click the (3) ADD button.

You will see a list of your custom handlers and the system default handlers at the bottom of this
screen. You cannot remove the system handlers, but you can override them with your own
handlers if you want. You can remove user defined handlers, though, by clicking the (4) X in the
Remove column.
NOTE: Be careful when adding or editing handlers. You can break your site if you are not careful.
This feature works by adding or editing an "AddHandler" directive to your .htaccess file in the
public_html directory. A bad handler may cause certain file types to be downloaded to the visitor's
computer when accessed or generate a 500 error or a blank page. Do not confuse Apache
handlers with MIME types. They are not the same thing. Apache Handlers tell Apache (the web
server) how to handle certain types of files internally. MIME types will be discussed later.
Image Management
Learn how to edit images in cPanel.
Working with Images
cPanel offers a few tools that help you prepare images for use on your web site. To use them, click
on the Image Tools item on the cPanel home screen. You will have three tools to choose from.
The thumbnailer creates separate, smaller versions of large pictures, suitable for use as
thumbnails on your site. This feature works by taking a directory full of images that you have
already uploaded into your hosting account and creating smaller versions in a separate directory.
The first thing you need to do is upload a directory full of images that you want to create
thumbnails of. You can use any method you prefer, FTP, WebDAV, cPanel's File Manager, etc.).
The thumbnailer allows you to navigate your account in the same way as other cPanel features
do. Select the small icon of a folder next to the name of a directory you want to navigate into and
then click on the actual name of the directory to tell thumbnailer you want to create thumbnails of
the pictures inside that particular directory. cPanel will then ask you how large you want to make
the thumbnails and then it will get to work, displaying the progress. It may take a while to finish.
When done, you will see a link to the directory that cPanel has created specially to hold the new
thumbnails (your originals are not modified). Clicking on the link will display that directory in
cPanel's File Manager feature. This feature supports most popular image formats including
The image scaler feature resizes a single image at a time and unlike the thumbnailer, you can
increase the size of the image if you wish, not just shrink it. However, just as with the thumbnailer,
you need to have already uploaded the image you want to resize to your hosting account. You
then select it as normal. Click the folder icon next to a directory name to navigate into that
directory and click on the file name to select that file to work on. You will be shown the file and
asked for the new dimensions, either in pixels or in a percentage (100% being the same as the
current dimensions). Changing one dimension will automatically change the others to try to
maintain the correct aspect ratio unless you uncheck the "Keep Aspect Ratio" box. Finally, you
can choose to keep a copy of the original (unmodified) file with a new file name or you can
uncheck the box and the original will be changed. There is no going back once you click the
SCALE IMAGE button, so make sure that is what you want. If you want to return the various settings
to the original ones prior to committing changes, then you can click the RESET DIMENSIONS
button.
The convert image format feature attempts to turn a file saved in one common format to another
common format of your choice while keeping as much of the original picture data as possible.
Once again, you need to select a directory or a single file that you have already uploaded to your
account. Click the folder icon next to a directory that you want to navigate into and click on the
title of the directory or file you want to convert. You will be asked to select the destination format for
the converted file. Once you do, cPanel will go to work and tell you if the conversion was
successful. The original files will remain in place, but they will be joined by the newly converted
files. So you will need to manually delete any files you don't want.
Web Index Management

Learn how to control what the web server does if a directory does not contain an index file.
Index Manager
By default on our servers, if you access a directory in your site that does not have an index file
(index.html, index.php, default.html, etc.) the web server will display all of the directories and files
in that directory with the file names and small icons for each file type. This is called fancy indexing
and can be convenient if you want to offer a directory full of items for people to view or download.
With fancy indexing on, you don't need to create a special HTML or PHP page with links to each
file or directory. However, you may not want to allow people to see the files and directories, so you
can control the behavior of the web server by clicking on the Index Manager item on the cPanel
home page. You can select any web-accessible directory and set the options for it.
NOTE: This feature works by modifying the .htaccess file in the directory you choose. Remember
that settings in .htaccess files automatically cascade to all directories contained inside the current
directory (unless another .htaccess file in a subdirectory overrides the setting). This means that
you can change most or all directories settings just by selecting public_html as the directory you
want to change index settings for.
Once you select the directory you want to change the indexing for, you can choose a new setting
by selecting (1) the appropriate radio button. You can leave the default system setting (the setting
inherited from a .htaccess file above the current directory or the default fancy indexing if no
settings are specified) or switch to no indexing (anyone trying to access a directory without an
index file will receive a 403 error (forbidden), standard indexing (listing the directory and file
names only without additional graphics) or fancy indexing (displaying file and directory names
with graphics and some additional info to make it easier to identify the types of items the user is
looking at). Once you have selected your preferred setting, click (2) SAVE to apply the change.
Custom Error Pages

Learn how to add and edit web error pages that get displayed to vistors.
Apache Custom Error Pages
Sometimes, despite your best efforts, visitors to your site may run into an error or problem when
visiting your site. Most of the time, our web server will display a very basic error page that lets the
user know there has been a problem (for example, they've tried to load a page that doesn't exist)
but that error page isn't very descriptive and won't match the look of your web site. You can use
cPanel to enter custom error pages that get displayed on your site instead of the default ones. To
get started with this feature, click on Error Pages on the cPanel home screen.
If you are hosting several domains with your cPanel account, you can (1) select the domain you
want to edit the error pages for and then (2) click the error number you want to edit. There are (3)
two tabs at the top of step 2. The first tab shows only the most common error numbers (the ones
you are most likely to want to create custom error pages for), but if you click Show All HTTP Error
Status Codes then you can create custom error pages for any web server error code.
This will display a custom text editor that will allow you to input raw HTML code or plain text that
will be displayed in a user's web browser if they see this particular error type. If you already have a
custom error page then the existing page's code will be displayed. There are some buttons above
the text editor to input some special HTML codes to display information to the user (like the user's
IP address, web browser, requested page, etc.). Once done editing the page click the SAVE button
at the bottom of the screen.
NOTE: Many popular web scripts include their own error handling code so you won't see the
custom error pages you've designed. In this case, you need to enter the administrative area for the
web script you've installed and edit the error pages there instead of in cPanel.
Cron Jobs
Learn how to add, edit and remove cron jobs in cPanel.
Working with Cron Jobs
You may need to be able to execute certain commands or scripts at a specific time or interval.
cPanel allows you to set up regularly scheduled items like this via something called a cron job. In
order to set this up you need to click on the Cron Jobs item on the cPanel home screen.
Setting up a cron job tells our server to run a particular command at a specified time, this is handy
if you have a web script installed that needs to perform certain tasks even if no one is visiting your
site (like checking a mail account or running cleanup tasks). To set up a task, you should first
make sure you enter an e-mail address that you check regularly into the (1) Email field. The
current e-mail setting will be displayed above that field and if you want to change it, click the (2)
UPDATE EMAIL button. The output of any cron jobs you enter will be sent to this address. The
output can vary, from nothing at all, to only errors to the output of the script or a notification that it
was run successfully. By default you should expect to receive the output of the command you are
running (just as you would see on screen if you ran that same command via the command line.
Your typical cron job is made up of two parts, the time you want your job to run and the actual
command you need the server to execute. To set one up, you have to first choose the time you
want the job to run. You can specify a specific time or the frequency you want the command you
specify to be run.
The time component of a cron job is fairly flexible, but you need to understand a few basic things
before you can use it properly:
1) There are separate fields for minutes (valid range 0-59), hours (valid range 0-23), days (valid
range 1-31), months (valid range 1-12) and weekdays (valid range 0-6 with 0 = Sunday, 1 =
Monday, 2 = Tuesday, 3 = Wednesday, 4 = Thursday, 5 = Friday, 6 = Saturday), in that order.
2) The jobs are run on the server time. Our servers typically use the time zone that they are
physically located in (US Eastern time in most cases).
3) Hours are handled in 24 hour/military style (rather than using AM or PM). 0 is midnight, 12 is
noon, 23 is 11 PM
4) An asterisk (*) covers every instance in that field (for example * in the minute field will run the
job every minute (depending on the other fields, of course).
5) A / symbolizes "divided by" and will divide how often the job runs by the amount you specify. For
example. */15 in the minute field will run the job every 15 minutes (every minute divided by 15 is
every 15 minutes or 4 times per hour, depending on the settings in the other fields, of course.)
6) A comma (,) separates discreet values in a time field. For example, entering 0,20,35 into the
minute field will trigger the job to run at the top of the hour and then again at 20 minutes and 35
minutes past the hour, depending on the settings in the other time fields.
7) A dash (-) specifies a range of values in a time field. For example, entering 1-30 in the minute
field would run the job every minute between the first and thirtieth minute each hour (depending
on the settings in the other time fields).
Here are a few examples of correct time values and what they represent:
*/30 * * * * - Runs the job every 30 minutes, every day.

0,30 9-17 * * 1-5 - Runs the job two times per hour, at the top of the hour and 30 minutes after the
hour between the hours of 9 AM and 5 PM only on weekdays (Mon-Fri).
1 0 1 1 * - Runs the job once a year on January 1 at 12:01 AM, server time.
cPanel includes common time values pre-configured. Just select the one you want from the
appropriate (3) drop-down list and cPanel will set all the values accordingly. Alternately, you can
manually enter the values you want to use in each (4) time field.
Next, you enter the command you want to run into the (6) command field. The command would be
as you would enter it if you were logged into the server and executing it via the command line. So
if you have a PHP script you need to execute, you can use php, wget, lynx or curl to execute the
script. For example:
/usr/bin/php -q /home/YOURCPANELUSERNAME/public_html/scriptdirectory/script.php
/usr/bin/wget -q /home/YOURCPANELUSERNAME/public_html/scriptdirectory/script.php
/usr/bin/curl /home/YOURCPANELUSERNAME/public_html/scriptdirectory/script.php
Although you may have customized PHP settings in your account, cron jobs always use the server
default values unless you specify a different configuration (php.ini) file. You can do that using:
php -c /home/YOURCPANELUSERNAME/path/to/custom/php.ini
/home/YOURCPANELUSERNAME/public_html/scriptdirectory/script.php
Check the documentation for the script you are using if you are uncertain what needs to be
executed.
When you are done, click the (6) ADD NEW CRON JOB button to set up the job. The job will be
active right away (though it won't trigger until the conditions you've set up for timing are met).
NOTE: We ask that you DO NOT run cron jobs every minute. Cron jobs can be quite process
intensive and running them too often will negatively affect server performance for everyone. Also,
please make sure that you give your cron job enough time to finish running before starting the next
iteration. So for example, if your cron job takes 3 minutes to run, then don't run the job every 3
minutes. Run it so the server has time to finish and "rest" a bit between runs. Generally, you
shouldn't ever need to run a cron job more frequently than every 5 minutes. We reserve the right to
ask you to adjust your cron start times or even disable a cron job if we find that it is causing
problems.
Any cron jobs you've added will be listed in the (7) Current Cron Jobs section. This includes the
time settings for each job as well as the command being run. You can choose to (8) edit or delete
each job separately.
Network Tools
Learn how to use a few common network tools to try and track down issues.
Using Network Tools for Troubleshooting
cPanel includes a couple of tools that can sometimes help to track down problems with your site.
To use them, click on Network Tools on the cPanel home screen. There are two different tools,
Domain Lookups, that have our sever check the DNS records for any valid domain you enter to
find out the A Record (the IP address the domain points to). You can enter your own domain name
or some other domain and cPanel will tell you what IP address the domain resolves to and show
you the output of the tool used to gather that information (dig).
For security reasons, the second tool that cPanel offers, the Trace Route tool, will not work (we do
not allow outbound trace routes). The trace route attempts to trace the path packets of information
take to get from our server to your current location. This typically shows each machine the
packets pass through to reach you. Trace routes are handy if you are having problems accessing
your site and you want to see if the problem is caused by a machine somewhere between our
server and your current location. Sometimes a failure between you and our server can cause you
not to be able to properly access your site, even though your site is online and operational for
others.
If you think you may be having such a problem, please contact our support team. If needed, they
will explain how to run a trace route or path ping (which is similar to a trace route with slightly
different output). If there is a problem on our network, we will work to fix it, but if there is a problem
locally (on your end) you may need to contact your ISP for assistance.
MIME Types
Learn how to add or remove custom MIME types so media is handled properly in your web
browser.
Adding Custom MIME Types
There is a wide variety of content available on the web including HTML pages, scripts written in
various languages like PHP or Perl, movies, streaming media, RSS, etc. Did you ever wonder how
your web browser knows what to do with all of this content? Why does your browser display
rendered html pages but offer to save a .zip file you click on? Much of this is handled through
MIME types. MIME stands for Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions and it was originally designed
for use by e-mail clients (thus the name). Although MIME is still the most commonly used name for
these codes, they can also be referred to as Internet media types (which is perhaps more
descriptive of their current use). Whatever you choose to call them, they are designed to
accomplish the same task: Let your client (web browser, e-mail program, etc.) know how to
handle the data that is being sent to it. This is done through simple plain-text codes and file
extensions (like .html or .php). Our web servers have a lot of MIME types already set up for the
most commonly used media types, but if you want to add or edit types, you can do so using the
MIME Types feature on the cPanel home screen.
NOTE: Although they may seem similar, Apache handlers and MIME types are not the same. MIME
types specify how a user's web browser handles files sent to it by our web server, while handlers
tell our web server how to deal with certain types of files internally.
To set up a new MIME type or to alter one of the default system types, you can enter the type you
want to change into the (1) MIME Type box. MIME types all follow a basic pattern. A content type
followed by a / and the specific sub type. For example, text/html is the MIME type for HTML
content. To control which file extensions are defined by that particular MIME type, enter the
extensions without a period and separated by a space. For example: html htm html5
NOTE: If you want to see a list of all of the defined MIME types that are available, visit this page:
http://www.iana.org/assignments/media-types/index.html
Any custom MIME type additions or changes you make will be listed in the (4) User Defined MIME
Types section of this screen while the default MIME type associations will be listed in the (5)
System MIME Types section. The MIME types you add will override the default system MIME Types
if they overlap.
NOTE: This feature works by editing the .htaccess file in your public_html directory adding the
MIME types you've specified, so these types will apply to nearly all of your web content.
Closing
Final Thoughts
Thanks for reading this guide!
Some Final Thoughts

We hope you've found this guide to be useful. If you have any questions or concerns not covered
here, please feel free to contact our support team at any time, day or night. We're always here to
help you!
We appreciate your business and hope that you will recommend your friends and family come to
us for all of their hosting needs.

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cPanel Guide 11.

(C) 2014 HostDime.com, Inc.

cPanel Guide 11.44

HostDime, Your Hosting Partner

What's New in cPanel 11.44

Logging into cPanel

Getting Help in cPanel: Wizards and Tutorials

Changing your Contact Information

Working with E-mail

Creating New E-mail Accounts

Configuring E-mail Clients

Modify Existing E-mail Accounts

Working with Webmail

Handling Unrouted E-mail

Setting up Mailing Lists

5.10 Server-side E-mail Filtering

5.11 Testing E-mail Routing

5.12 Importing E-mail Accounts and Settings

5.13 Combat E-mail Spoofing

5.14 Changing MX Records

Working with Files

Backing up and Restoring Data

The cPanel File Manager

Using WebDAV (Web Disk)

Monitoring Disk Space Usage

File Transfer Protocol (FTP)

Web Logs and Statistics

The Latest Visitors Log

Bandwidth Usage Logs

Raw (Unprocessed) Web Logs

Account Error Log

Password Protected Directories

Deny Website Access by IP Address

SSH (Shell) Access

Stop People from Sharing Account Information to your Site

Mail Encryption with GnuPG

Managing your Domains

Simple DNS Zone Changes

10.3 Enabling Remote MySQL Access

Software and Services

11.2 Add/Remove Software

11.3 Perl Modules

11.4 PHP Modules and Settings

12.2 Image Management

12.3 Web Index Management

12.4 Custom Error Pages

12.5 Cron Jobs

12.6 Network Tools

12.7 MIME Types

cPanel Guide 11.44 - 5

(C) HostDime.com, Inc.

HostDime, Your Hosting Partner

Hosting Info - HostDime.com

(C) HostDime.com, Inc.

cPanel Guide 11.44 - 7

(C) HostDime.com, Inc.

cPanel Guide 11.44 - 8

(C) HostDime.com, Inc.

What's New in cPanel 11.44

cPanel Guide 11.44 - 9

(C) HostDime.com, Inc.

(C) HostDime.com, Inc.

cPanel Guide 11.44 - 11

(C) HostDime.com, Inc.