How to Install cPanel on Ubuntu?

Today we will learn How to Install cPanel on Ubuntu. As a result of its excellent services and as the default control panel of WordPress, cPanel is the most popular web host control panel in the world. Ubuntu is a global favorite in its own right. It serves as the world’s most popular Linux distro. Linux itself is a favorite of webmasters and developers, Ubuntu and cPanel are a natural match made in heaven, Ubuntu recently provided users with its 20.04 LTS version which brings many positive changes to the popular distro. It’s safe to say that if managing servers and web hosts are your primary activity behind the scenes, you can’t go wrong with cPanel on your Ubuntu version. So today in this article we want to go through how to install cPanel in Ubuntu,

But before we get into all those technical explanations, let’s take a quick detour to get our facts and basic definitions right. This should help us understand why Ubuntu is the distro of choice in this guide. This will give us a better understanding of what cPanel is and what its primary uses are. Establishing these basic definitions will help us understand why we are tackling the problem in the first place.

What is a cPanel?

cPanel is first and foremost a control panel used by web managers and developers to manage server hosts. This allows users to bypass the extensive coding procedures that were required in the past to make even the smallest changes. cPanel is mainly used on Linux. This worked to his advantage since a large portion of server management is done on Linux and many of its distros as well. Over the years, cPanel has remained the leading choice among server host control panels. Despite this being a paid service unlike many of its competitors.

This should serve as a testament to its capabilities and quality as a server host manager. Even after all these years and countless free competitors have emerged, it has managed to stay on top.

cPanel acts as the default control panel for WordPress. This fact again shows its reliability but it has acted as a major factor behind the continued success of cPanel.

However, the features of cPanel do not overshadow the free alternatives and if you want to know what cPanel does for free, you can check out my list of the top 5 best free cPanel alternatives.

Your Toolbox: Main Uses of cPanel

Well, now we know cPanel is a server host control panel. But what exactly does that mean? What are the actual, practical use cases of cPanel? cPanel serves as a front-end tool that comes with much common use and pre-configured need cases for everyday users. This means that everyone can use it to make meaningful changes to their websites, domains, file hosts, servers, etc. The following five areas are primary aspects and use of cPanel in the server management world in 2023.

Managing Domains

While in the past the smallest and most marginal changes to a domain required you to know your way to come up with long strings of codes to code and execute, cPanel enables its users to liberally manage their domains to their heart’s content with a few simple steps. You can activate, deactivate, park, forward and move your domain using cPanel in a movement notification. You can dig deeper and create subdomains and even manage your DNS and integrate third-party tools into your domain using cPanel while managing the overall layout of your domain.

Email management

Email marketing, spam management, and creating new boxes are all connected aspects of the modern web that any web manager must be aware of in order to use them to their advantage or protect themselves from them. With cPanel you can easily create new mailboxes, create pre-defined email queues for sending, and enable autoresponders to automate as much of your web presence as possible. Email forwarding can be used to automate things further. Last but not least you can enable an advanced spam filter to protect yourself from online junk,

Log file management

Another big part of web management has to do with knowing your way around log files. In the past, this process was the most difficult for seasoned managers and developers to do because coding can be particularly difficult and complex. cPanel’s built-in WHM compatibility brings you two new features that make life easier here. You can easily use tools like AWStats and Webalizer to quickly analyze your log files. This allows you to check the access and permissions associated with your website or server, without the hassle of checking each permission or access with its own coding.

cPanel’s built-in WHM compatibility brings you two new features that make life easier here. You can easily use tools like AWStats and Webalizer to quickly analyze your log files. This allows you to check the access and permissions associated with your website or server, without the hassle of checking each permission or access with its own coding.

Managing Databases

Any web manager already knows that managing your data across different platforms is one of the most important aspects of the job. Cpanel integrates well with other data management tools and comes with its own features to make life easier in this regard. You can easily store your data on the web space in cPanel slots and back them up as well. cPanel also supports MySQL and PostgreSQL protocols that allow you to easily perform the aforementioned tasks with larger batches of data. Another reason for cPanel’s popularity with large organizations is allowing larger file sets to be managed so easily.

Security management

A primary reason behind CPanel’s success is its focus on security. This translates both into the strict security inherent in the program that makes it impossible to breach, as well as the built-in security options it provides for you on your server. cPanel allows you to use advanced techniques like IP blocking, directory protection, and enabling SSL certificates to prevent any potential intruders against your control panel as well as the server. Although cPanel has had some security mishaps in the past, those are long gone and the updates of the past few years seem to have eliminated any room for such mishaps.

Crown Jewel of Linux: Why Ubuntu?

The next big question to answer is why we are discussing installing cPanel on Ubuntu. Well, we have already covered how to install cPanel CentOS 8. And since Ubuntu is the world’s most popular Linux distro, with a huge community behind it, as well as a favorite in the IT field, it’s up to us to pair the two together to figure out how to cover them. It’s also lucky for us that the latest 20.04 LTS update for Ubuntu is widely used and still fresh. But aside from these obvious reasons, let’s quickly find out why Ubuntu is so popular and our preferred distro for this guide.

Security

Although Ubuntu is by no means 100% protected against all viruses, its protection has been enhanced in recent versions to such an extent that many users do not feel the need for antivirus when using this distro. The built-in firewall and security are more than enough to save you the cost of getting a third-party antivirus.

Popularity

As we have already said several times, Ubuntu is the most popular Linux distro in the world. This means that the community is absolutely huge and there will be an online solution to any possible problem you may face while using Ubuntu. Both the official support platform and the forums have an extensive set of FAQs and threads to help you with any technical issues you may face.

User-Friendly

Perhaps the main reason for Ubuntu’s popularity is its original design and user-friendly design. While Linux was previously considered a fringe OS with a steep learning curve, Ubuntu was among the first distros to really emphasize making Linux easy to use and understand for new users. This is a feature and emphasis that Ubuntu maintains to this day.

No Costs

Ubuntu is free. What more could we ask for? If we are already going to use cPanel which is a paid option, naturally it is attractive for its complementary host distro free.

Over the years Ubuntu’s open-source approach and “by users for users” mentality have played a major role in maintaining its popularity. It’s safe to say that there are many viable alternatives to Ubuntu that can even surpass it, but they fail because Ubuntu is free and they aren’t.

Versatility

Ubuntu is also known for its unbelievable versatility and customization options. Now, it would be unfair to paint Ubuntu as a unique option among Linux distros for ways to personalize. After all Linux and its distros are popular in the first place because they allow such a high level of customization. But Ubuntu’s huge community has led to a new level of possibilities for this particular distro.

Getting technical: How to install cPanel on Ubuntu?

Now that we got our basic information and definitions right, let’s dive straight into the technical aspects of how to install cPanel on Ubuntu. The following instructions will allow you to install cPanel on Ubuntu 20.04 which is the latest version of Ubuntu at the time of writing.

Step 1: Check the system requirements

First of all, before getting excited, it’s important to know that your machine is actually capable of running cPanel on its current hardware. To have an effective experience with cPanel on your Ubuntu 20.04 you will need the following requirements: Beyond these identifiers, you also need a fully qualified domain name (FQDN).

Step 2: Disable Firewall and Switch to Root System (Optional)

Now you have the option to disable the firewall which will make the installation process easier, however, it can be insecure. If you choose not to disable it, you will have to go through the process of opening some ports later. You are going to access your root user. To do this run the following command:

sudo -i

Then you need to disable previously enabled firewalls as they will interfere with the installation process by running these three commands in sequence:

iptables-save > ~/firewall.rules

systemctl stop ufw.service

systemctl disable ufw.service

Step 3: Update Ubuntu

Although you can install cPanel on any version of Ubuntu, it is highly recommended that you do it on Ubuntu 20.04. This version has enhanced compatibility and will give you a better cPanel experience. Use the following command lines to automatically check for and run the latest updates:

sudo apt update

sudo apt upgrade

Step 4: Set up a qualified hostname

As we already mentioned in the requirements section, you need a fully qualified domain name. So, and this is important, make sure you have such a hostname before going through the installation process.

Check your existing one by running the following command:

hostname

Now use the following command to make the hostname a fully qualified hostname, assuming we are going to create a new hostname with a single command (replace the new hostname with your own chosen name):

hostnamectl set-hostname new-hostname

hostnamectl set-hostname yourserver.domain.com

You don’t need to reboot with this method. Run the following command to check if the changes have been applied:

hostnamectl

Step 5: Run the installation command

Now that you’ve set up your own FQDN, it’s time to install cPanel on Ubuntu. This same method can also be used to install WHM on Ubuntu. First of all, we need to create a shell session. This will keep the session active despite any network problems. Log in using the root user and run the command:

screen

Now run the big one:

cd /home && curl -o latest -L https://securedownloads.cpanel.net/latest && sh latest

You should be greeted with this screen, which means that the system is downloading and performing the installation, which should take a few minutes.

Step 5: Open the relevant port number

To ensure your cPanel runs smoothly on Ubuntu, you need to open some relevant ports for it. We are not going into detail on how to access the firewall and open the ports, you can use this guide for this purpose. But once you go to firewall settings, open port 2082 and SSL 2083 to run cPanel. Note that if you disabled the firewall in the previous step, you do not need to open the ports. If so, skip the step.

Launch cPanel and activate the license

Now we can finally launch cPanel. Make sure you are on your root server and use the root username and password to log in when the following screen pops up:

Conclusion

Now that you know your way around cPanel and how to install it on Ubuntu, you can also use the advanced VPS controls that come with cPanel on your own VPS host. cPanel already has great compatibility with VPS and if you are going to use a virtual server to get better/closer access to your physical server. CloudG also comes with its own Linux VPS services including an Ubuntu VPS. They feature over 15 locations with minimal latency and great uptime. You can then install cPanel as you learned today to remotely manage all your servers and control your new VPS.