If you’re looking for a cheap VPS with cpanel, then look no further. But if, for whatever reason, you don’t have access to cPanel, here are five free cpanel alternatives.

Webmin / Virtualmin

“Webmin is a web-based interface for system administration for Unix. Using any modern web browser, you can setup user accounts, Apache, DNS, file sharing and much more” (quoted from Webmin). Webmin isn’t necessarily a hosting control panel, however there is a module called Virtualmin, that gives it this ability. Webmin and the Virtualmin are definitely geared towards those who are familiar with Linux. Lie the quote, Webmin basically gives you a web based interface to do what a sysadmin would normally do on the command line. Webmin runs on most Unix-based operating system, and has a low overhead.

Froxlor

Another simple control panel that simplifies system administration to just a few clicks. Features include a three-tiered access level (admins -> resellers -> clients), Apache, PHP and Perl, Mail, Awstats Statistics, and a lot more. It runs on most Linux based operating systems and FreeBSD.

Kloxo

Similar to cPanel, Kloxo, is a full featured control panel that runs on CentOS. It has been scrutinized for it’s security, however, it’s up to par, if not better, than most of the control panels on this list. This is probably the closest free cpanel alternative that there is currently.

ISPConfig

“ISPConfig is an open source hosting control panel for Linux. ISPConfig is licensed under BSD license. ISPConfig simplifies the complicated details of setting up DNS, multiple unique domain name websites on one physical server box, and e-mail accounts for multiple users on those websites” (quoted from Wikipedia)

EHCP

Last but not least, we have EHCP. EHCP stands for ‘Easy Hosting Control Panel’, and once you try it out, you will agree. Once you quickly learn how to use EHCP, it’s quite easy. It has a lot of features, is user friendly, and has a good looking theme design. The developer is also very active, you can get in touch with him through Email or even chat with him on his website. EHCP runs on Debian based operating systems (such as Ubuntu).

Which one is the best?

It’s hard to say. It depends on personal preference. If you’re looking for really technical and configurable, then Webmin will probably be the best for you. If you’re looking for an easy 1-click install, then EHCP is probably your best bet. Either way, all of these cps are free. I recommend trying them all out!

SuPHP has various security enhancements over DSO PHP such as running processes as the user rather than nobody as well as only allowing 755 folder and 644 file permissions, the (default) option (on cpanel) to allow individual php.ini files is a security concern.

There are several methods that can be used to disallow users to have their own php.ini files under suPHP. The path you take will depend on whether you want to allow users to have their own in some circumstances or to restrict all accounts on the server to the global php.ini file at /usr/local/lib/php.ini location.

Force all accounts to use the global php.ini file

To force all users to use the global php.ini file, you would edit the /opt/suphp/etc/suphp.conf file:

Uncomment these lines:

 [phprc_paths]
 ;Uncommenting these will force all requests to that handler to use the php.ini
 ;in the specified directory regardless of suPHP_ConfigPath settings.
 ;application/x-httpd-php=/usr/local/lib/
 ;application/x-httpd-php4=/usr/local/php4/lib/
 ;application/x-httpd-php5=/usr/local/lib/

To these:

 [phprc_paths]
 ;Uncommenting these will force all requests to that handler to use the php.ini
 ;in the specified directory regardless of suPHP_ConfigPath settings.
 application/x-httpd-php=/usr/local/lib/
 application/x-httpd-php4=/usr/local/php4/lib/
 application/x-httpd-php5=/usr/local/lib/

Save the file, then restart Apache for good measure:

/scripts/restartsrv_httpd

Now, if any account tries to put suPHP_ConfigPath into their .htaccess file, that account will return an Internal Server Error until they remove the .htaccess line. No account will be able to use another php.ini file with this as the default unless you allow the account in the php.ini file itself.

For today’s tutorial, we’ll be showing you how to install Webmin on CentOS 5.X using several methods.

Install Webmin Using RPM

First download the webmin RPM file:

wget http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/webadmin/webmin-1.580-1.noarch.rpm

Then run the command:

rpm -U webmin-1.580-1.noarch.rpm

You are pretty much done at this point. The installer will take care of the rest. To log into webmin, type the following in the address bar:

http://localhost:10000/

If accessing it remotely, localhost would be replaced with your server’s IP address or FQDN (domain name). The username will be root, and the password will be the password to the current root password.

Install Webmin Using YUM

This is our preferred method of installing Webmin because of how easy it is to keep it updated.

First create a new file:

/etc/yum.repos.d/webmin.repo

containing the following:

[Webmin]
name=Webmin Distribution Neutral
#baseurl=http://download.webmin.com/download/yum
mirrorlist=http://download.webmin.com/download/yum/mirrorlist
enabled=1

Install the GPG key:

rpm --import http://www.webmin.com/jcameron-key.asc

Almost done. Just one command left:

yum install webmin

It might take a little longer to install compared to the RPM version, but it is now quite easier to update, just run a quick yum update, and you’ll be set.