First of all, this is NOT a control panel thread. This is a thread on what's the best way to go with a ded server.

The story is this... I'm getting a special offer server from Fastservers. I spoke to a sales rep and a tech rep there and they both recommended that I get the box with the CPanel option. I don't know what to do. On my current box I have Webmin and it makes things much easier for me since I'm not a Linux sysadmin. So maybe control panels aren't so bad.

This leads to a couple of questions...

1) Since I'm not a sysadmin, is the addition of a control panel essential? Helpful? Harmful? Dangerous?

2) If it's decreed that a control panel can indeed be helpful, then which control panel? Is Webmin (which is free) enough? Or is it worth an extra 20 bucks for CPanel? (I know that there are other control panels out there, but since Fastservers doesn't offer them, they're not in the running.)

3) So it comes down to this... Do I order my box without CPanel and install Webmin? Or do I pay another $20 and get CPanel with my box? I could use the $20 on managed services instead of on the CPane - maybe that makes more sense. I just don't know.

Just so that you all understand my situation, I'm not running a hosting business (although I do have a couple of sites hosted). The box is really for my own sites. As I mentioned above, right now I'm using Webmin for those rare occasions that I need to mess with my box. I feel fairly comfortable with it and I see that it really helps me since I'm not a Linux expert. Is CPanel that much better? No different? Or should I just take a year off and learn Linux? Please don't tell me to learn Linux, my family misses me :)

I would greatly appreciate any comments on this. I really want to order my server already, and I'm stuck on this point.

Thanks

I you're not gonna run web hosting business, just take webmin and save the extra $20 to the managed service, I guess better you do that way:)

If you used webmin before and comfortable with managing your server and sites with it then opt for the no control panel option and install webmin.

Cpanel is nice and it does provide some options to update apache and some other vital components of the OS. But it might be an overkill if you do not need to use it often.

I am a Linux newbie myself and have Cpanel on my server because I am familiar with it. For me the sense of security from it is worth the money.

Originally posted by eddy2099
Cpanel is nice and it does provide some options to update apache and some other vital components of the OS. But it might be an overkill if you do not need to use it often. Aha! What sort of vital components. Part of the service that Fastservers offers is OS and security updates. So I might not need this option with CPanel. But maybe I do?

Part of the reason that I don't mess with my box that often is that I'm afraid I'll mess something up. Will CPanel protect me, or at least make it easy enough that I don't have to be so afraid to maintain my box?