As a newbie leasing my first server, should I go with Plesk or Ensim? I am not selling web sites to other but only using the server for my own web sites.
Thanks all,
Bradley

I just started hosting and found plesk very easy to use.

If you are not planning on reselling services, why care about a control panel at all? Do yourself a long term favour and learn to admin the box from the command line.

Personally I like Ensim better.. Where your not using it for reselling or anything it would not really matter.. I would go to both sites www.ensim.com and www.plesk.com and try there demos, Personally I tried Plesk for a while and was not that happy with it so I migrated to Ensim.. Good Luck.

i'd say plesk because as you learn more things you may want to get rid of the cp all together, i've heard troubles uninstalling ensim, i know its possible, but it can be a pain, the good thing with plesk is that it has an uninstall script, i personally don't use a control panel (we may be waiting for hostgui (for the fbsd install compatibility))

PS: i'll finish the post when i get home from school :)

Originally posted by mwatkins
If you are not planning on reselling services, why care about a control panel at all? Do yourself a long term favour and learn to admin the box from the command line.

He's a newbie ;).

EDIT: It looks like you are wanting to lease from RackShack, do you have any linux skills at all? Though you might not need it if you are just hosting a few sites.

>> He's a newbie

Yes, I understand that but my opinion and advice still stands. IMO his first step should be to find a spare PC and load up FreeBSD, or Linux, and learn.

Since he won't be reselling he doesn't need all the features that PLESK etc offer, and the use of such tools will retard his learning. Sure, he'll be up and running faster - probably, but I think the price of success is a little pain once in a while.

If a person has basic computing skills, knows about FTP, Telnet (or SCP and SSH preferably), has an inquisitive mind and a drive to learn - and some time - then learn on the command line.

Originally posted by LogicBrendan
i'd say plesk because as you learn more things you may want to get rid of the cp all together, i've heard troubles uninstalling ensim, i know its possible, but it can be a pain, the good thing with plesk is that it has an uninstall script, i personally don't use a control panel (we may be waiting for hostgui (for the fbsd install compatibility))

PS: i'll finish the post when i get home from school :)

You may be waiting awhile at the rate they seem to be doing stuff :D.

Bradley,

By the time you actually get a server, it will be the year 2025, you will have posted 15029 threads - webhosting will be done at the speed of thought, and freebsd and linux will have been bought out by microsoft.

:P

LOL

Thanks for all the answers to all my posts.
I see that this is offered:
Your choice of: Plain Red Hat 7.2, Ensim or Plesk.
Since I am a newbie and my goal is to get web sites of my own up and running quickly, not to be a reseller, which option is best? I think I would rather get sites up and running quickly and learn command lines later, unless you experts continue to tell me that getting a control panel is a mistake.
Bradley

Its a mistake.

I am not selling web sites to other but only using the server for my own web sites.

If what you posted at the beginning of this thread is true, then you have nothing to lose by skipping the control panel route and learning the old fashioned way.

Adding new 'web sites' to an already running server is dirt easy.

If getting the basic box up and running is intimidating, I'm sure someone out here will help you out. My own personal preference would see you getting FreeBSD as I feel its more secure by default, but whatever - just get on with it.

But adding / managing a collection of web sites once the server is up? Simple. You can learn what you need through the ton of available on-line documentation. http://httpd.apache.org/

Adding a new VirtualHost directing in a config file is pretty simple stuff. Taking the time to learn this will not appreciably slow you down.

In fact, in the time span that has expired since your first post and this one, you could have had a server built from scratch, OS installed, Apache installed, away you go.

To borrow a phrase, "just do it!", whatever "it" is.

If the choice is between Ensim and Plesk, I'd definitely choose Plesk. It's just more stable than Ensim, so it's better for you in the long run.

If you gonna use plesk, be careful of what you going upgrade or install. It can break plesk.
As what other guys had said, use plesk if you gonna do reseller business.

If you are into shared hosting, go for ensim. Most servers had unlimited ensim domain license while plesk is limited to about 200 or less domain license .

quote: Most servers had unlimited ensim domain license while plesk is limited to about 200 or less domain license

If you just put on plain red hat linux you can have as many domains as you want - correct?
Bradley

There is also a "middle path" to consider. Using a server admin control panel such as Webmin ( www.webmin.com ) - free. In this case, you would go for a vanilla OS install without plesk or ensim and then dl and install webmin. Webmin doesn't "take over" your file system, etc, and go installing this or that and mucking with your configs. It is a more gentle interface that passively provides a web-form GUI interface to your most common sys admin tasks.

I have a server that is not for mass virtual web hosting (just hosting a few sites) and (although I have never tried one of the hosting oriented CPs such as ensim or plesk), I like using webmin. Sometimes I use webmin (for example for working with bind) and sometimes I prefer to work at the bash command line - it just depends on the task and where I am located when I am accessing the server.

Originally posted by bradley
quote: Most servers had unlimited ensim domain license while plesk is limited to about 200 or less domain license

If you just put on plain red hat linux you can have as many domains as you want - correct?
Bradley

yes. You must know what you doing. You can use webmin.