How to Configure a cPanel Dedicated/vps Server in 5 Quick Steps

How to Configure a cPanel Dedicated Server in 5 Quick Steps

Summary

In this post we are going to cover five quick steps you can take to make sure your new cPanel dedicated server is ready to host your websites and applications. While we will take care of the initial installation of the operating system and configuration of the network interfaces, there are still a few steps to take before the cPanel dedicated server is ready.

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Completing the Initial cPanel Server Setup When You First Login

Most people tend to move through this critical step just clicking on the defaults and in some cases that’s okay. But there are a few very useful options to update here that will make your life much easier in the long run.

First, make sure that the server’s hostname and primary/secondary nameserver entries are correct. cPanel will attempt to configure most of this based on the hostname that we set in the initial setup but it’s still a good idea to double-check this setting.

Second, make sure to setup a contact email address for your cPanel dedicated servers, allowing your cPanel dedicated server to notify you of problems quickly so you can react before things get out of hand. If things do get out of hand, our support staff is here for you.

2. Running Apache Update for Your cPanel Servers

This step is very important in keeping your cPanel dedicated server secure as it will dictate the types of PHP scripts and commands that can be used on your websites and applications. Using the interface is easy, all you need to do is check the appropriate boxes for the PHP versions and modules that you need and then click “Start Build”. It’s very important that you do not close the browser window while this is working, as the process will need to be restarted if you do. It should be completed in anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, but if it takes longer than an hour or fails you should notify our support team so we can troubleshoot the problem with setup of your cPanel dedicated server.

3. Creating Packages for Your cPanel dedicated server Accounts

Some only think this should apply if you intend to use the cPanel dedicated servers to host websites for clients or third parties but we see it as a quick and easy way to ensure that your sites don’t consume all of the resources allocated to your cPanel Dedicated server. Packages can be setup from the Package Manager in WHM and it only takes a few minutes to do. Setting up packages will allow for sites to be setup quickly and efficiently while guaranteeing there will be ample resources available for all of the sites and applications you host.

4. Check Out the Security Center in WHM

This is probably one of the most overlooked sections in WHM but it can enable a greater level of security for cPanel dedicated server.

First, click on the Compilers Tweak section and enable compiler access for the users that need it, for example ‘root’ and ‘apache’. Be sure to not assign access to the compilers is the user ‘nobody’. Many common exploits depend on a working C/C++ compiler on the target system to work properly and enabling this tweak will disallow that from happening.

Second, the SMTP Tweak and Shell Fork Bond Protection should both be enabled. The first prevents unauthorized users from bypassing the mail server to send mail, which is a common trick for most spammers. The second will keep a user with SSH access from crippling your server with a fork bomb that will consume most or all of the server’s available resources and possibly crash the server.

5. Configuring Backups to your cPanel Dedicated Server

Don’t Forget The Backups

We all know how important backup hosting can be and setting up automated backups on a cPanel dedicated server is very simple. Login to WHM and go to Backup, then Configure Backup and check the Enabled box. After that, you can choose the length for backup retention and the days and times you want it to run. The default settings work for most people, but some may need to tailor the settings to meet specific needs, for example free disk space. As an added bonus, backups can be setup to transfer files to an off-server FTP account on one of our backup servers. Also, the backup script is setup to run at night as well to conserve resources and maintain the integrity of your cPanel dedicated server.