Most of the web designers/developers, within time, begin to manage too many websites, build resource-consuming applications and require more than a standard web hosting package.
Then it comes to deciding a hosted/ready-to-use platform or own a VPS/dedicated server and host the websites yourself.
Both have cons and pros, the first one requires no technical knowledge but has a limited flexibility (you can't install a custom extension onto the server, etc). For the VPS/dedicated option, exactly the vice-versa.
If you decide to go with the VPS/dedicated option and will be hosting multiple websites, then using a control panel application is a good idea.
Once installed, it will save you too much time on creating new websites, databases, e-mails, etc.
And if there will be client sites on that server, then that's a much better decision (as you can give the control to them).
Here are 10 open source and free web hosting control panels (which are categorized with operating systems) for managing servers easier.
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Linux Kloxo HostinABox
It is a fully scriptable, distributed and a 100% object oriented hosting platform which supports Apache/Lighttpd, djbdns/bind and pure-ftpd.
The platform enables the end user to manage every aspect of a web hosting account while providing the admin the ability to manage the whole system.
Kloxo has a built-in messaging and ticket system, a backup-restore module and much more.
VHCS
It is written in PHP, Perl and C. The system provides full control over the server, resellers and end users.
The application can communicate with database, email, web and DNS servers, monitor traffic or diskspace used and more.
ISPConfig
ISPConfig is a multilingual control panel that can manage every hosting related service (web, database, DNS, e-mail, ftp, stats).
It supports admin, reseller and end-user user levels with configurable quotas for every service.
The application enables taking instant backups, setting cron jobs and more.
OpenPanel
OpenPanel has a simple and slick GUI for controlling the websites (also, there is ab optional command line interface too).
It can manage Apache2, Bind DNS, Postfix and Courier-IMAP e-mails, PureFTPd, AWStats and more.
SysCP
This is an easy to install and use control panel for LAMP servers which supports many common web, e-mail and FTP server software.
It has various 3rd party modules like backup, SpamAssassin and more.
GNUPanel
GNUPanel is a web hosting automation application which is built with PHP5.
Administrators can easily create websites, databases, ftp or e-mail accounts and, optionally, create end-users and provide them the passwords so they anyone can manage their own website.
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EHCP is a panel that is built with PHP with features like backup-restore, SSL, script installer and more.
It is a multilanguage application and has 4 different user levels: server admin, reseller, domain admin and email user.
BlueOnyx
BlueOnyx is pretty different considering how it is packaged.
It is a Linux distribution (based on CentOS v5.5) which aims at delivering a turnkey server appliance for webhosting.
It is built with PHP5-MySQL 5 and has phpMyAdmin + webmail integrated .
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Linux & Windows Webmin & Virtualmin
Webmin is one of the most popular open source and free web hosting control panels around.
It enables you to control user accounts, Apache, DNS, file sharing, MySQL, e-mail servers and more.
There are lots of modules that integrate it with the well-known applications and 2 o them makes it a complete control panel:
- Virtualmin: it enables managing Apache virtual hosts, BIND DNS domains, MySQL databases and mailboxes/aliases with Sendmail or Postfix.
- Cloudmin: used for managing virtual systems, such as Xen, KVM and OpenVZ instances.
There is also Usermin, which is a web-based interface for webmail, updating passwords, creating filters, etc.
The application is multilingual and already supports lots of languages.
Webmin can be ran on Windows as well but not all the features are supported as some applications integrated are not available for Windows.
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Windows WebsitePanel
WebsitePanel is a professional and pretty awesome free Windows control panel.
After the popular DotNetPanel is open sourced, it is renamed as WebsitePanel and comes with features like:
- multi-server support
- compatible with all popular database, e-mail, FTP and DNS servers
- can communicate with Exchange Server, Blackberry Server, SharePoint and much more.
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