What are the advantages and disadvantages of going with a CLEAN Redhat 7.x server with no host control panel?

We do not plan on becoming a "hosting company" but will host roughly 20 smallish client websites. We have no need for things like automated sign-ups etc. and it seems like a Control Panel would be more trouble then it is worth in our situation. The only area I can see a real need for is the automation of email account set-up, and surely there must be simpler solutions than a full blown control panel.

It is also important that we can do things like custom PHP builds: is my impression correct that many control panels actually make this sort of thing difficult (due to integration with the panel)?

Thanks for any opinions.

I honestly believe a setup in particular WebHost Manager/CPanel4 will do the job. It's nice and easy. <removed> In my personal experience it's the ideal software for a new company, or an established company. It's updated almost daily, and the features are great.

this depends on your clients type.

- If your clients are geek, you can tell them to telnet into your box and do the rest. For email setup, you can once alias domains to each user and let them edit .procmailrc for their email

- but if your clients are lamers , you can't tell them how to use telnet , you need control panel. There are easier way like postfix+vpopmail or vmailmgr (don't use qmail, it's very anal)

If you want custom built PHP, you can run another webserver on another port as root , don't forget to secure your scripts so that nobody read it.

I use a clean server with no control panel, I wouldn't have it any other way :D

Although, one caveat is that most of my clients ARE geeks ;)

Just make sure you're confident that you know how to hand-administer everything. If you can do it, avoid the commercial panels and pass the savings on to your customers.

For e-mail, I use VPOPMail + QMail + Courier IMAP Server + Squirrelmail + QMailAdmin. It gives my users a free e-mail administration "panel" where they can add/delete e-mail accounts in their domain on a whim.

Yes, QMail is anal, but for me it was worth the work.

I think Postfix will not only worth your work , but worth your time and resources.

You might not want to use a control panel, but it is handy to have a web-based version to do things with just in case you are in a hurry or need someone else to do something for you and they are not so techie.

If you do not have the money I would suggest something FREE and something simple like Webmin.

Thanks for all the advice. My clients are NOT geeks at all, so much so that even a control panel would be too much for them. Even with a control panel, I would be the guy going to create accounts, set up FTP, etc. So really, a control panel would be primarily a convienence for ME as opposed to a help for my clients.

And because I'm currently comfortable on the command line, compiling Apache and PHP etc, it seems like a control would add an unnecessary level of complexity to the server. I got so seduced by all of the "CPanel vs. H-Sphere" threads that I didn't stop to think I that I did not a panel at all.

So unless I hear other arguments, I'm pretty convinced that I will go with a clean server and then maybe look at something like Webmin down the road if needed.

(rpg-works - thanks for all your email set-up info. Sounds like what I may need...)

Good luck, another great post to a solution :)

I know for a fact that you can compile your own version of PHP with plesk and cpanel, im not sure about the others, but im pretty confident it can be done fairly easily. If that is one of your main concerns, it shouldn't be.

tbroeker,

I am with rpg.

I host over 60 web sites and some 200 emails on a FreeBSD PIII 256 MB 40 GB IDE server and I do everything from the command line

I took a lot of time to choose my OS and server software and it has paid me rich dividends in
security
very high uptime [100% for 187 days - not even a reboot]
low server loads [0.02 - 0.10 max]
and a lean, mean and highly functional server.

I have only FreeBSD, tinydns, Apache, proftpd and qmail+vpopmail+courier-imap+sqwebmail+qmailadmin

I also give SSH, mySQL and PHP, PERL.

CGI is enabled through suEXEC.

The server is working fine and all the daemons are compiled from tarballs.

I strongly recommend you not to use a control panel! They create more problems than they solve

Good Luck
Balaji

motley fool, i am the same way :)

no control panels here!