When it comes to choosing a web hosting plan, the wide variety of options available can be overwhelming, especially for those who are new to web hosting. There is an entire lexicon of terms and abbreviations that apply to the world of web hosting, and learning it all can be a daunting task (not to mention impossible, since the technology is constantly evolving). Two terms that you will no doubt hear over and over are cPanel and VPS. What do these terms mean and how do they apply to web hosting? Read on.
cPanel is short for control panel. This is simply the interface that a webmaster uses to upload, update, and make changes to his or her website. The cPanel is built in to the web hosting server and is accessed by the webmaster with a username and password specific to his hosting account. Since the cPanel is the bridge between website creator and web host, it is a very important part of the hosting equation. VPS stands for Virtual Private Server, and it refers to a special configuration of a web hosting server. A VPS hosting package creates what is known as a virtual server on a physical web server. The virtual server behaves like a functionally independent physical server, with its own operating system and software applications, but it is stored on a physical server along with other virtual servers. VPS is popular for its affordability and best-of-both-worlds approach to hosting server configurations.
A well maintained, easy to use cPanel along with a VPS hosting plan creates an ideal environment to build a website. One of the main benefits to using cPanel VPS is the level of control it gives the user over his or her website. Within your cPanel, you can do everything from uploading a website that was built in an external program like Dreamweaver, to installing a content management system like Wordpress. A VPS hosting plan means that you as webmaster can use your cPanel to upload software and applications to customize your website to your heart's desire.
cPanel VPS hosting is also extremely user friendly for those would be webmasters who are new to the game or simply non technical. Using the control panel to install Wordpress on a VPS-hosted website, someone who has never built a website and couldn't tell HTML from PHP could have a fully functional website up and running within a few hours. Most cPanels have been developed and refined over the years to the point that they are quite intuitive and easy to use for beginners. At the same time, however, the level of control a cPanel provides would make even the highly technical webmaster drool over the possibilities.
You want a web hosting solution that is easy to use with a shallow learning curve that also gives you total control with a feature-rich interface. cPanel VPS provides just that, in a variety packages that are affordable on any budget. There are other options available, but there are very good reasons that a VPS hosting plan along with a high quality cPanel is the most popular choice on the market today. So go ahead and check out the available cPanel VPS stack, you're sure to find that it satisfies all of your web hosting needs.