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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
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    196

    Moving away from cPanel

    To what control panel have you moved from cPanel and was it difficult?
    What control panel would you suggest with all of your experience, and why?

    I am using server/servers for offering hosting services.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
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    If you just decide to forcefully move away from CPanel and change your clients' control panel, they will be annoyed for sure.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Location
    Sussex, England
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    194
    If you really want to move away then I'd recommend DirectAdmin, I think there are some good convertors around.

    I wouldn't however recommend that you just switch panels - it will piss a lot of clients off, especially if they came to you because you have cPanel.

  4. #4
    If you are doing it for your own server, not a big deal. Cpanel is by far the best, but plesk also will do.

    Depends on your skills actually. If you have reasonably good knowledge of the platform, control panels doesnt make much of a difference.
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  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
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    You need to study first why do you want to move away.

    If you have more clients already using CPanel and looking forward to move to other control panel then, you are just giving a reason to lose clients.

    The most important thing here is that you know the control panel well and that it is serving you well.

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  6. #6
    I dont think moving from cpanel is going to work too well, since you will need a new server(s) formated, setup with new panel/software and move account. However if you just plan to offer a NEW option to new clients (And any current that want to move) that should be fine/easy enough. In that case, I'd consider Plesk (easier to use than cpanel for basic stuff) for the next hosting servers you setup. I dont think you will find any realistic way to 'move' all your existing clients from one panel to any new one, without pissing them off (and possibly loosing some settings/data). And as it goes, Cpanel is in my opinion the most feature rich and configurable of all the control panels out there- meaning anything you move to probably will be a downgrade in the eyes of your clients. The flip side is cpanel is very confusing to some, so a dumbed down option like Plesk (or even ServerCP from Servix) is a fine option.

    Always good to offer options, clients seem to like that - i just wouldnt force anyone to change.
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  7. #7
    Well , it would cause your customers or users using the panel , to become an inflict which would be bad for them.

    Changing a panel which they were used to => another panel...

    But if you whant to change your panel Cpanel change it to Plesk. The other proffesionel leader in the Web control panel Like as Cpanel.
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  8. #8
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
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    Hanoi
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    4,309
    another vote for DA. We have switched 20+ servers from cPanel to DA without any problem. Customers are happy with switching, they enjoy new control panels with less trouble. Beside it, whenever I need help, John is always helpful.

    Highly recommend to switch to DA

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Earth
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    98
    cPanel is probably one of the main reasons many customers pay for your service. Plenty of people like the "power" that cPanel offers and I guess its one of the more well known control panels.

    There are down sides to cPanel, for instance, lots and lots of bugs. There are bugs and updates are only released every so often. It can also be annoying when something goes wrong, as cPanel is one of those control panel that digs right into your system and edits important system files.

    DirectAdmin is a good solution because it is a great control panel and it's easy to use and many people I know prefer it over cPanel. I used H-Sphere for a while also, the old version of course, and that proved to be quite good also as it handled all of my financial area.

    Every control panel has their good side and bad side, and I could point alot of things that one control panel has that another doesn't.

    If you want to keep your customers, than I suggest staying with cPanel. If the option is there, or in the future, maybe your business could invest in another server which operates with a different control panel, so then your customers have a choice.

    Regards,
    Drac

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Posts
    1,272
    Why do you want to leave Cpanel? I think Cpanel is really good control panel and most people are used to using it. I would never signup for a host that didn't have Cpanel. I bet some of your customers will be mad.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
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    Earth
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    Quote Originally Posted by mohamoud
    Why do you want to leave Cpanel?
    I'm not a big fan of cPanel but I'd like to know his reasons as well.


    Jaime

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    The Mighty Jungle
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    258
    If you move away, move to Plesk or Interworx. Both make it _very_ easy to move from cP, and both are excellent. SWsoft has unbelievable support for their panels also. HSPComplete is what my provider (EuroVPS) wraps everything up in and it's pretty nice. Another product made by SWsoft. I have never been happier with another billing system.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Nov 2003
    Location
    Newport Beach, CA
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    Ensim has the best security, but they seem to have fallen behind the curve when it comes to aesthetics.

    I've got Plesk windows and Linux servers now and I'm pretty happy with it. I'll admit, the windows box seems to have a bunch of issues. The linux machine has virtually no problems.

    I don't like cPanel and won't use it (security mainly, then what seems to be a LOT of bugs). But if I were running it I think I'd be hard pressed to switch. Regardless of what you're switching to, customers don't like change. That part you can count on. If they're happy and not complaining about cPanel I recommend starting a new direction by getting your next server as Plesk, or Direct Admin. But I wouldn't consider swapping the cPanel server. Give your customers the option to move. Then as time goes on you'll be adding more to plesk or whatever and can cycle the cPanel server out.

    Just makes more sense to me to transition slowly. Definitely going to save you some headaches.
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  14. #14
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    Duluth, MN
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    286

    Post

    Having dealt with a number of people who have left cPenal or started to migrate away from it I have a few thoughts on the matter.

    Quote Originally Posted by Drac
    cPanel is probably one of the main reasons many customers pay for your service. Plenty of people like the "power" that cPanel offers and I guess its one of the more well known control panels.
    While there are some users who know what cPanel is and insist on it, but the vast majority of users just want _a_ contril panel that does the hard work for them and is easy to use be it cPanel, InterWorx, Plesk, DA, Ensim, or something home grown.

    There are down sides to cPanel, for instance, lots and lots of bugs. There are bugs and updates are only released every so often. It can also be annoying when something goes wrong, as cPanel is one of those control panel that digs right into your system and edits important system files.
    cPanel does (arguably) have the most features of the main panels, but it also does a lot of things that most people will never even use, and a lof of people will gladly give that up for something that is easier to use and breaks less often.

    Every control panel has their good side and bad side, and I could point alot of things that one control panel has that another doesn't.

    If you want to keep your customers, than I suggest staying with cPanel. If the option is there, or in the future, maybe your business could invest in another server which operates with a different control panel, so then your customers have a choice.
    Only you know your own customers and are the best person to judge how they will react. Regardless of what you choose to do make sure you keep them informed as to what is going on and why. We've dealt more than a few angry customes who woke up one day to find our new account screen where their homepage used to be and screamed bloody murder to us because their host dodn't tell them what was going on.

    My recommendation: If you have a small company and don't expect any backlash from your users then make the switch to whatever panel you choose, but KEEP THEM IMFORMED.

    If you are a larger company, set up a new server or two with your panel of choice and ask people to voluntarily move to the new panel. Give them reasons to (ie why the new panel is better) and perhaps offer them an incentive (e.g. a month's free hosting plus free migration back if they don't like it).

    Then make the new panel your default for new sign ups. Over time most of your user base would be using the new panel, you could even leave cPanel as an option but something people have to request and as the cPanel boxes emptied (either from migrations or clients leaveing) consolodate your clients onto fewer cPanel boxes and then reformat the remaining to the new panel.

    Good luck!

    For what it's worth your cleints are probably more tolerant of these things than you or other give them credit for. JUST KEEP THEM INFORMED. I know from talking to hosts that the vast majority of clients are glad to get away after an migration from cPanel to InterWorx and I suspect the same of Plesk, DA, etc.
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  15. #15
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Chicago
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    1,000
    Last August, Ubiquity moved 7k cPanel accounts dispersed across a mass of servers for a project of ours into one common storage server in an InterWorx cluster without the slightest technical headache. I believe that then we were only beta testing their then new mass transfer feature, but it worked flawlessly. That's the only CP I'm aware of that supports an easy mass transfer from cPanel that I'm aware of; also what the iworx site says..

    http://interworx.com/products/iworx-cp/switch

    Of course if your company is not massive, single transfer may still be an easy solution. Tim's advice about keeping your client's informed is pretty crucial. Send out LOTS of e-mails. If you have company a forum, blog, or billing system that allows you to keep web-based updates, get that out there ASAP. Also get it in your WHM news. We did all of that, but six months after our migration, we still had people asking - where's my cpanel? The fact that the brilliant marketing (and it is) behind cpanel makes users equate their product name with the product's function doesn't help in limiting the confusion, but you'll get through it. Most of our members welcomed the change after the dust had settled, and many in fact specifically thanked us for the sleek new interface and features.
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  16. #16
    +3 for Interworx

    http://www.interworx.com/

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    North Yorkshire, UK
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    4,164
    We're in the process of moving to H-Sphere from cPanel, purely because bugs in cPanel have lost us lots of customers in the past few months.

    I've done a little bit of testing and so far so good ...

    Dan
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  18. #18
    Join Date
    Nov 2003
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    1,093
    I'd move from cPanel to DirectAdmin since this is a panel which has a lot of potential, is fast, secure and has all the core features a client could want.
    ManageMyServices was sold by me in September 2009. I no longer have any affiliation with this company.

  19. #19
    I believe Psoft now has a migration utility for moving out of Cpanel. Check out psoft.net. I also saw a banner ad on one of these forums advertising this.
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  20. #20
    Join Date
    Jan 2002
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    Boston
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    Quote Originally Posted by e-places
    Ensim has the best security,

    Do you have any information to follow up this claim? I moved about 1k sites from Ensim 3.5 > cPanel about 2 1/2 years ago mainly due to the high resource usage I saw with Ensim and also the annoying way they had certains services setup where you have to rely on Ensim to come out with a patch (very very slow) or depend on someone else from the community to get one out faster (Thanks to gpan over at ev1 for many of these)

    Things may have changed with Ensim now where the panel is setup to run differently but I must say the move to cPanel was the best move I have ever made for my business and has given me a lot of nights good sleep compared to what I had to deal with when I was using Ensim. other that that I thought it was a great CP

  21. #21
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Brighton, MI
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    1,583
    we are currently moving from cpanel to hsphere as well. Not a fascinating amount of clients but enough to give me heartburn that is for sure.

    The process is 99% manual and is a pain, but I anticipate it going smoothly as it has so far.

    We chose hsphere for it's clustering ability as we are working on a "high reliability" project and decided it would be best for everyone in the long run

    as far as clients getting upset that we are moving from cpanel, we got a few groans but once they took a test drive they were all for it, especially the resellers.

  22. #22
    Join Date
    Nov 2003
    Location
    Newport Beach, CA
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    Quote Originally Posted by OKI-Paul
    Do you have any information to follow up this claim? I moved about 1k sites from Ensim 3.5 > cPanel about 2 1/2 years ago mainly due to the high resource usage I saw with Ensim and also the annoying way they had certains services setup where you have to rely on Ensim to come out with a patch (very very slow) or depend on someone else from the community to get one out faster (Thanks to gpan over at ev1 for many of these)

    Things may have changed with Ensim now where the panel is setup to run differently but I must say the move to cPanel was the best move I have ever made for my business and has given me a lot of nights good sleep compared to what I had to deal with when I was using Ensim. other that that I thought it was a great CP
    You've used both ensim and cpanel and can't immediately see the security increase in ensim? Seriously? Even in the most simplistic terms of the way sites themselves are secured?. The thing you're complaining about doesn't even exist anymore.

    And yes, that patch management has changed. you can use yum, up2date etc.

    I don't like ensim's control panel, and it makes it a pain to do things on the machine, which is expected with a cp that's focused so much on security. There are nuances that I HATE about ensim. Has nothing to do with CPU use but I can certainly see why someone wouldn't like it.
    Last edited by fastnoc; 06-22-2006 at 01:19 AM.
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