Me again... getting toes wet now (sort of)

TexasPrairieGal

TexasPrairieGal

Member
Yep... it's me again with another probably silly question.

I've familiarized myself with the billing side... now I want to start looking around in my SSD-2 package. Before I login, could someone please explain the difference between a cPanel and a Power Panel? As I slooooowly get myself up and running will I need both to manage my sites???

BTW, is there an easy way to search the knowledgebase? It says I can "search the entire knowledgebase by entering keywords in the navigation bar beside this text.", but there's no nav bar that I can find (and I tried clicking everywhere...lol). I'm using Firefox if that makes a difference???

Thanks in advance for the hand-holding! :)
 
Hi TexasPrarieGal,

Personally I've only ever logged into the Power Panel a few times since I signed up. cPanel and WHM are where you will spend the majority of your time.
 
Thanks Dan!
So I decided to login and "look" at the Power Panel to see what it was but I get the following message (didn't go any further). Have I (once again) set up something wrong?? I don't know if this is coming from my Norton or Firefox.
(note: I really am a newbie at all of this. I'm going to be setting up an ecommerce site but before this I've always been with hosted saas... so I am so clueless about almost everything). Sorry to be so pesky...
ETA:.... I logged into my cPanel and in the upper right corner it says "insecure connection" in a bright yellow-orangy box. If I click on that I get the same "untrusted connection" screen.
upload_2013-8-6_15-0-17.png
 
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That's a Firefox warning telling you that the SSL certificate was not issued from a valid certificate vendor. It's self signed by your server and will still encrypt data just fine. At the bottom there click the 'I Understand the Risks' button. You should be able to save it too so that the warning won't come up anymore.
 
Awesome! Thank you again, Dan!
I have one more question (for now....lol). Is there anywhere some sort of "log" that shows any activity in the cPanel? Like logins, updates, bla bla bla...

ETA: I think I found the log ("change log")... but will it show logins or anything like that?
 
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TexasPrairieGal said:
I have one more question (for now....lol). Is there anywhere some sort of "log" that shows any activity in the cPanel? Like logins, updates, bla bla bla...
Click to expand...

The only log that will have this is going to be /usr/local/cpanel/logs/access_log

Unfortunately this log isn't in the most friendly of formats for the novice user and is only accessible via SFTP or SSH, and you'll need tools such as grep to really filter out the information you're looking for.
 
The change log in WHM will tell you what's new/different in the updates.

As far as a log file for logins goes there is a /usr/local/cpanel/logs/login_log for unsuccessful logins and /usr/local/cpanel/logs/access_log for successful logins and you would get to those using SSH.
 
Thank you both! I think my learning curve just got steeper.... I have no clue what SSH or grep is... I've used FTP before, so I'm guessing that's related to SFTP somehow? I think I've got my homework cut out for me!
 
Morning TexasPrarieGal :)

SFTP is secure FTP and is how you can FTP to your server at the root level.

SSH connects you to your server at the command line level, like the old old DOS used to (if you are old enough to remember that). You will need a client like Putty to connect to it.

You are correct in that there is a learning curve but don't let it scare you off because you do after all have a managed system and you have lots of backup should you need it ;)
 
Good Morning Dan!!!
I just laughed so hard I almost spit coffee all over my desk. Am I old enough to remember the old DOS? Well...yes... I'm old enough to remember. BUT I guess my rememberer must be totally broken (hubby says I'm actually old enough to remember CPM, whatever that was? I think he might have just insulted me!). But OMG, I'm still sideways on SSH... and now along comes "putty"????? o_O I think I need to borrow your avatar!!!
 
LMAO ok so now you've got me spitting up my morning life giving fluids!

I would say not to even worry about Putty or SSH until you run into something that needs it. How's that? ;)

When you first signed into WHM it should have walked you through an initial setup which would have configured your host name and your nameservers. If it didn't then the KH people likely configured it for you. You might want to just take a look and make sure everything is how you would like it.

WHM is your home base. It's where you create accounts (domains) and define how much disk space they will have, how many email addresses, whether they have root access, and so forth.

If you are going to be creating a lot of accounts you will want to create Packages. This is simply a template for what an account will be alotted.

And then the account's cPanel is where you will go to define things for the account itself. Such as creating email addresses, creating MySQL databases, creating FTP users and things like that.

If you have an existing website you will want to wait until you have all of your files uploaded (using FTP to the public_html directory) to change your nameservers at your domain registrar to your new nameservers on your shiny new VPS. If it's a brand new domain then you can just change them or at least make sure they are correct for your nameservers.

There are a lot of tutorials around and even some you may find of interest on our own forum here.

Ok, that's a pretty quick run through and I am sure you will have more questions but that's alright we all have them at times :)
 
Grief, WHM??? I have 2 logins... one for cPanel and one for that Power Panel thingie. Where in the heck is WHM??? I looked at the Power Panel... and then just decided to stop looking. That cPanel actually made my hair frizzy (true story)!!

I won't be doing tons (I don't think?). A couple of ecommerce stores and blogs to go with... oh, and email addys. That's probably about it. So.... I have decided to totally blatantly cheat! I've hired someone to do "stuff" for me so I don't get too cranky (it's ugly when I'm cranky). I'm honestly going to try to learn about some of this stuff... but aaaaack!!!

Seriously, your overview is very helpful... and so is that link!!! Off to do some reading.
**note to self: make room for computer in bathroom** :rolleyes:
 
The cPanel login you have is most likely your root login for WHM (Web Host Manager). It should be something like https://<IP# or host.name.com>:2087. As I said after you create a domain in there then the cPanel for that domain comes into play which will be something like https://<IP# or host.name.com or domain.com>:2083.

Don't worry you'll figure it out before too long. Oh, and don't drop that laptop into the tub! :eek:
 
Welcome to KnownHost, TexasPrairieGal. I dare say you are going to really enjoy partnering with KnownHost. You'll never find a more friendly company to deal with, that much is certain. In the 5+ years I've been a KH customer, I've never stopped being amazed with the outstanding customer service.

Try not to allow yourself to be too overwhelmed with strange, new terminology. Just get comfortable with running your site/s and the rest will come to you in due course. Things like using PuTTY for SSH access? I was a KnownHost customer for over 3 years before I ever used SSH access. As I slowly become more familiar with it, I find myself using it more often, but it still isn't anything I use as much as once a week.
 
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