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Hotlink protection gives you the ability to protect certain files on your server from being directly linked by another site. For example, if you have images that are published on your site and are very popular, you can prevent other sites from using those images with an <img> tag pointing to your domain.

This will not prevent people from downloading your files. It is merely a measure to stop remote linking, which can unnecessarily eat up your bandwidth, especially for very popular content.

To configure hotlink protection in cPanel, follow these simple steps:

1. Login to cPanel, and in the “Security” section, click “HotLink Protection”
2. If it is currently disabled, click the “Enable” button to activate it
3. In the “URLs to Allow Access” box, enter any URLs that you want to give special permission to hotlink to your site. NOTE: If you own multiple domains on your server, you may want to keep all of them listed in the box.
4. Enter any specific file types you want blocked from hotlinking, even for sites that have hotlinking allowed. NOTE: Certain streaming audio and video files, such as Quicktime, may require hotlinking to be allowed.
5. Check “allow direct requests” if you still want users to be able to enter the direct URL of  a file, such as an image.
6. In the “Redirect requests to this URL” box, enter a custom page that you want users to be redirected to when they attempt to access a file that has been invalidly hotlinked.
7. Click “Submit” to finalize the settings.

If you later decide to disable hotlink protection, simply return to the settings and click “Disable” at the top. For more information about hotlink protection or cPanel in general, consult the online documentation.

How to Setup Hotlink Protection in cPanel

Unless you have a web hosting deal with unlimited disk space, you have likely been concerned about conserving disk space at one time or another. Even if you do have unlimited disk space at your disposal, it is still sometimes helpful to know how much space your websites are using and which sections in particular are taking up the most space.

For dedicated server and VPS users, there are several ways to check disk space, but a shared hosting user may be limited to the web-based control panel. Fortunately, cPanel provides a disk space usage section that is integrated with the control panel’s file manager tool. With it you can view your total disk space usage and also look at how much space each sub-directory within your home directory is using.

The first item in the bar graph will show you “files in the home directory”. That includes all files in your account. The second refers to files in hidden directories (those with a “.” before their name). It then lists several of the directories in your system, including the directory containing your website files. It will also show you the total disk space usage for your MySQL databases and mailing lists. Finally, at the bottom, it shows total disk space usage, and below that, it will show your quota. If you have unlimited space available, the quota will be “999,999.00 MB quota limit”

For any of the directories listed, you can click on their name to open your file manager in a new tab/window. The file manager displays individual directory and file sizes. For more information about the disk usage feature or other components of cPanel, see the cPanel documentation.

How to View Disk Space Usage in cPanel

MySQL is an open source relational database management system that is among the most popular on the web. Typically, web hosting users access MySQL through their web-based control panel or through a free web application, such as phpMyAdmin. More advanced users may also manage MySQL from the command line via SSH.

A third option for MySQL management is remote administration. With this method, you can access MySQL from software on a remote computer. Some web development tools include an option for remote MySQL administration, and MySQL WorkBench also provides this functionality. Another reason to allow remote hosts to access MySQL is when you have a web server on a different IP address than your database server.

By default, no remote machines are allowed to access MySQL. This is a security measure. If a computer that is not on localhost attempts to access it, that computer will be denied. Fortunately, cPanel makes it easy to add trusted hosts to the list of accepted MySQL administrators. Just follow these instructions:

1. Login to cPanel and scroll down to the section labeled “Databases”
2. Click the button labeled “Remote MySQL”
3. Enter the IP address or domain name you want to give access
4. Click “Add host”

In addition to a full IP address, you can also use a wildcard. For example: 192.68.0.%. Any IP addresses that fits that wildcard will be allowed, so be careful with it. Also, if you are trying to access from home and have a dynamic IP address, you will need to change this setting whenever your IP address changes. Moreover, if you are accessing the database from a website on a shared hosting account, it may share its IP address with other sites. In that case, use the domain name.

How to Setup Remote MySQL in cPanel

Using a  website may provide you with your first opportunity to use a Linux-based operating system. For the most part, Linux accomplishes tasks in a similar fashion to Windows or Mac OS X, but there are some important filesystem differences that you will need to know. One of them is how Linux recognizes hidden files.

If you use Mac OS X, you are already familiar with the Unix hidden file method. Often called dotfiles, these files are hidden because of the dot or period that precedes the file name. As long as that dot is there, the file stays hidden. Remove it, and the file instantly becomes visible.

Generally, only a few files are hidden on a website. The .htaccess file is one of the most common. The main purpose of hiding certain files is to prevent users from accidentally removing important data. If, however, you are comfortable with your file system, you can safely enable viewing of hidden files to make it easier to work with them.

In cPanel, the file manger will ask you if you want to show hidden files in the preliminary “File Manager Directory Selection” popup that appears when you start it. Simply check the box next to “Show Hidden Files (dotfiles)” and click “Go”.

If you have disabled the above-mentioned popup and need to enable hidden files, you can get the popup to appear again by clicking “reset all interface settings” at the bottom of your main cPanel administration page. You can then proceed using the same instructions mentioned above.

Hidden Linux Files and How to View Them in cPanel

There are many reasons why you might want to block a user from your website. They could be trying to gain access to passwords, sending spam, or harassing users on a forum or comments section of your site. One way to stop them is to block their IP address. It is not fool proof, as some people may have dynamic IPs or use a fake IP address. Still, it may be a good temporary solution.

cPanel provides a tool that makes blocking IP addresses very easy. To use it, do the following:

1. Login to cPanel
2. In the security section, click “IP Deny Manager”
3. Type the IP address into the box
4. Click “Add”

That IP address will stay banned as long as you have it on your list, so you should make sure that it is one that you actually want to ban. You can also ban entire ranges of IP addresses like the following:

11.12.13.14-11.12.13.18
or
11.12. (implies everything in 11.12.*.* will be blocked)

In addition to IP addresses, you can also ban fully qualified domain names (FQDN). Whenever you want to unban an IP address or domain, simply click the “x” button next to the address under the “Remove” header.

As stated above, the effectiveness of an IP ban largely depends on the stability of the address. If you are sure the user will continue to have that IP address, the ban will be effective. Otherwise, it may only be a temporary solution to a problem that necessitates more creative security measures.

How to Block IP Addresses with cPanel

Anonymous FTP (file transfer protocol) is a type of FTP connection that does not require the user to login to the server. For security reasons, this is generally a bad idea, as it gives unknown users access, even if it is limited, to your system. In some situations, however, the benefits may outweigh the risks.

If you must have anonymous FTP, cPanel makes it easy to get it up and running. To do so, follow these steps:

1. Login to cPanel and scroll down to the section labeled “Files”
2. Click “Anonymous FTP”
3. To allow users read-only access, check the first box labeled “Allow anonymous access to ftp.yourdomain.tld”
4. If you also want users to be able to anonymously upload files (a really bad idea), check the second box labeled “Allow anonymous uploads to ftp.yourdomain.tld/incoming”
5. Click “Save Settings” to finish
6. Optionally, add a welcome message for anonymous users and click “save message”

After you have given anonymous access, any files you put into your /pub directory will be available for user downloads. This is useful if you host a mirror for free software or provide other free download servers for your users.

Users will be able to download files from within their web browsers, from FTP clients, or from desktop file managers that support the FTP protocol. Windows Explorer, Mac OS X Finder, and most Linux file managers (Nautilus, Dolphin, Thunar, etc) all have FTP support.

Because of the potential for security problems, you should only use anonymous FTP if you absolutely need it. If you do not, you should check your settings to make sure it is disabled, as some hosts may enable it by default.

How to Setup Anonymous FTP with cPanel

Have you ever wanted to replace your boring “404 Error: File Not Found” page with something awesome like a picture of a Jedi saying, “These are not the pages you are looking for”? Apache HTTP Server has a built-in error document replacement system, and cPanel provides an easy graphical interface to replace boring Apache error codes with your own masterpieces.

To change your error pages in Cpanel, follow these simple instructions:

1. Login to cPanel and find the “Advanced” section at the bottom.
2. Click the “Error Pages” button
3. Choose the domain you want to manage (If you only have one, skip to step 4)
4. Click on the error page you want to change
5. Enter the HTML code for your error page
Tip: If you want to use a different HTML editor, you can paste the code into the box after you are finished editing.
6. Enter any tags you want to insert. These will be replaced with the information the button specifies.
7. When you are finished, click “Save”.

Any error pages you use will be valid throughout your entire site and will override any standard error pages, including those used by your web hosting provider. Some of them, like 404 Not Found and 500 Internal Server Error, are more common than others. Therefore, you should probably only spend time on errors pages that are likely to get hits.

Apache uses .htaccess files to determine what the error pages will be. If you prefer to use this manual method rather than cPanel’s, you can follow these instructions to get started.

How to Set Custom Error Pages in cPanel

Email is increasingly becoming a crucial method of communication for business. Just about every form or application you fill out will ask for an email address. If you want to communicate with colleagues, employees, or even just friends, email is a great way to send a letter without having to look for stamps.

When you have your own website, you most likely have the ability to create and manage one or more email accounts. If your web hosting provider uses cPanel, you will be able to setup email accounts quickly and easily.

Create Email Accounts

To create an email account, click on the “Email Accounts” button. It will then present a form that asks you for the username (the part in front of the @ symbol). If you have multiple domains, you will need to select the domain you want as well. You can then enter your password or use the password generator. Finally, specify the disk space quota for the account and click “Create Account”.

Once an account is created, you should be able to access it using an email client (POP3 or IMAP) or through webmail, if offered by your hosting provider.

Using Forwarders

You can use forwarders for a variety of purposes. For example, I sometimes use it to catch typos (when someone spells my email name “travis” instead of “tavis”). You can also use it to redirect emails like “support” and “billing” to the same place. Moreover, you might have an email account with a service like Gmail and prefer to have emails sent to your domain forwarded there.

To create a new forwarder, click “Forwarders” and then click “Add forwarder”. The form will first ask you for the email address that you want to be forwarded. This should not be one that already has an account associated with it. Next, choose a destination, either an email account on your server or an external one. Alternatively, you can choose to discard it, useful for an address that only gets spam.

For more information about other email management tasks you can perform in cPanel, visit the cPanel documentation online.

How to Manage Email Accounts with cPanel

If you have a shared hosting account, you probably do not have a choice in the web-based control panel that you use unless you switch from one web host to another. With a VPS or dedicated server, however, the choice is ultimately yours. If the time ever comes that you want to switch to a new hosting automation system, there are a few things you should know.

Not all hosting control panels use similar technology to accomplish their goals. This is not just a reference to scripting languages. After all, the underlying code could be completely different and still be compatible with other software. The issue here is how the control panel interacts with other software.

For example, some control panels are tightly integrated with services like Apache HTTP Server. Others may even install their own custom versions of the software during the control panel’s initial setup. Therefore, it is important to know exactly how your control panel is setup before you consider attempting to transfer your websites from one to the other.

In the event that it is not possible to directly transfer from one control panel to another, you can still attempt a manually conversion, since the actually content of your website should not be directly connected to the control panel. But if you are hosting several websites, even hundreds, it may be quite a formidable task. Furthermore, there is no guarantee that you will be able to do it without causing some damage to websites, especially if it requires you to use a different file system structure.

Transferring from one control panel system to another can be a major operation, as big as a total server migration. If you must do it, you may want to consider getting outside help to make sure it all goes smoothly.

Moving from One Control Panel to Another

When you want to manage a Windows server, there are not a lot of quality web-based control panels available, especially if you want something that is familiar and easy to use. One option you might want to consider is Enkompass, a Windows control panel designed by the makers of cPanel/WHM.

Among significant features of Enkompass is that it provides the same familiar cPanel interface that millions of users depend on for the daily management of their websites. Therefore, if you are comfortable using cPanel for Linux servers, Enkompass will make you feel right at home.

Some of the features of Enkompass are:

• Works with Windows Server 2008 and Microsoft IIS7 web server
• Supports both MySQL and Microsoft SQL Server 2005-2008
• Utilizes Active Directory for enhanced scalability
• Scripting management, including .NET, ASP, PHP, Perl, AJAX, Silverlight, XML, and others.
• Standard web features: domain management, database management, FTP setup, email accounts, analytics (with AWSTATS), and file management.

There are many reasons why a user or system administrator may want to have a Linux server, Windows server, or both, and with Enkompass, you can create a unified web-based management experience that encompasses both Linux and Windows.

You can install Enkompass on Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2. With it you also get the cPanel community for support, as well as the documentation available on the cPanel website. This includes full installation instructions, from preparing Active Directory to actually installing the control panel. Once installed, it will function pretty much the way you would expect any other cPanel web hosting automation system to function. This includes server, reseller, and user website management options.

Enkompass Windows Web-Based Control Panel