First login to WHM (Web Host Manager), which is the administrative interface for the cPanel control panel. To do so, you just need to go http://ipaddress.com:2086, where you’ll be prompted for the root password. Once you login to WHM, go to the “Create a New Account” section.

The first steps to create your account are to enter your domain, and preferred login information.

If you have pre-defined packages, which set your resource specifications, you can set them in the next step.

If you have installed the RVSkin set, you can select from a list of RVSkins for your control panel theme. If you haven’t purchased the RVSkin set, x3 is a default cPanel which still has the full functionality.

In the final section, if you’re running an offsite mail server, this is the section you’ll set it in using the remote mail exchanger option. If the VPS itself is hosting the mail server (and most will be), then you’ll just use the local mail exchanger option.

At this point, you’ll want to double check all the options to make sure that everything is correct. If it is, hit that “Create Account” button and watch WHM do it’s thing. Once it has completed, you’ll see the following confirmation page (and no, I do not use 123$$$terry as my password).

Don’t worry ISP Manager users – you’re up next week!

                          

Control Panels

cPanel – cPanel is likely the most recognizable control panel available on the market today. cPanel provides a front end interface to manage your websites files, email address, mysql databases, and many other tasks. Along with the client side management, cPanel also comes with the WHM (Web Hosting Manager) interface, which provides an interface to for server administrators and resellers to perform many different tasks, such as setting up new websites, updating Apache,  and other server-side software. Each cPanel license is $10 per month.

ISPManager - ISPManager is a low resource consuming control panel software with a multi-level user system. It provides a graphical interface for server administrators, resellers and individual clients. Like cPanel, you have the ability to administrate certain functions of the web server, and each individual website. ISPManager licenses are available free at VPS.NET.

DirectAdmin – DirectAdmin provides a GUI for managing both your server and your website, while consuming minimal resources. DirectAdmin provides access for administrators, resellers, and individual users. DirectAdmin is $10 a month.

Server Administration

Pro-active, Fully Managed Administration – We realize not everyone wants to worry about their server – they want to worry about their website. We offer a fully managed hosting solution where we’ll handle the migration of your website to VPS.NET, the initial VPS server setup, and then monthly security overhauls to make sure everything is running properly. With this, we also offer a 100% SLA. This solution is available for $99 a month with a $45 setup fee.

On Demand Server Administration - In addition to the fully managed solution, we have on demand administration that you’re able to use when you run into a problem. On demand administration is good for kernel upgrades, PHP/Perl Installation and Configuration, Control Panel Installation and Configuration, Backup/Migration Assistance, Software Installation or Web Server Assistance. On Demand tickets are $10 each and last for 24 hours.

Server Monitoring

Server Density – Server Density is an addon tool that allows you to easily monitor your server for abnormalities through your email and/or your iPhone. Inside of Server Density you’re able to track CPU Load, Memory Utilization, processes, disk usage, network traffic, and apache & nginx status. Server Density is available for $7.50 a month.

DotDefender - DotDefender is a software that monitors and logs your servers traffic, detecting any suspicious traffic activity. DotDefender is capable of running a website specific rule set, limiting the number of false intrusion detection attempts. DotDefender licenses are available for $15 a month.

Backups

Snapshot Backups – Snapshot backups are easy and effective. Using snapshot backups, VPS.NET will take a”snapshot” of your VPS node once a day, every day, and at the end of the month will retain one daily,  one weekly, one monthly and then a day of your choice for backup. When restoring, individual files cannot be restored. We can only restore an entire backup. Snapshot backups are available for $5 a month.

Rsync Backups – With Rsync backups, we give you offsite backup space capable of backing up your entire VPS Node. You’re then able to use Rsync, Duplicity, or any other backup script available to automatically backup your VPS. With Rsync you’re able to restore individual files. Rsync backups are $5 a month.

R1Soft Backups – R1Soft backups are the “enterprise” version of our backup solutions, with continuos data protection through a graphical interface. Multiple copies of individual files are kept on hand and can be restored as necessary. R1Soft has a license charge of $15 per month.

Control Panel Addons

Softaculous – Softaculous is a script auto-installer that has a repository of over 130 commonly installed website scripts. It integrates directly in with both cPanel & ISPManager. Licensing is available at $9 a year.

Rvskin - The Rvskin set “beautifies” cPanel, offering you 2 additional skins in 7 different colors. Even more advantageous is the Rvskin set is available in 25 different languages. Rvskin is only available for users running cPanel and is $18 a year.

Misc.

Lightspeed Web Server – LiteSpeed Web Server is the leading high-performance, high-scalability web server. It is completely Apache interchangeable so LiteSpeed Web Server can quickly replace a major bottleneck in your existing web delivery platform. Litespeed is a drop in replacement for Apache on cPanel servers. Lightspeed licenses are only available for users running cPanel and can be purchased for $14 a month.

CodeBase – Codebase is a source code hosting and project management platform. While a CodeBase account usually runs you $79 a year, VPS.NET subscribers are able to get one free of charge.

FusionIO Node - FusionIO is solid state, high performance database hosting solution. With the solid state technology, your databases are able to be transferred and processed significantly faster, dramatically speeding up dynamic content driven websites. FusionIO nodes are available in both Atlanta and London and are $50 for every 2 Gigabytes of Storage Space.

HostBill – For company’s out there selling web hosting services off of our VPS Nodes, I highly recommend you look into HostBill. It’s a great client management system, with payment gateway support, and a complete support suite. Best of all, it’s available free of charge at VPS.NET.

                          

It’s been a great few weeks at VPS.NET, lots of new and exciting features, and now, an announcement that will no doubt be exciting for many users, we have finished an agreement with ISP Systems for offer their flagship Control Panel “ISPmanager PRO” for FREE for our VPS.NET customers.

ISPmanager is a server administration control panel, admired by it’s clean and simple to use interface, it’s the perfect companion for a VPS.NET account.

For full details on ISPmanager Pro please visit ISP System

Users can also login to a demo account by visiting ISPmanager Pro Demo

ISPManager Pro is powerful but lightweight, it only utilizes 10MB of ram and 40MB of HD space, the regular pricing for ISP Manager is €34.00 /month, a fantastic value for VPS.NET customers who get it for free.