cPanel/WHM vs Plesk Control Panel for Linux VPS Web Hosting
The web hosting plans of ALL fully-managed Virtual Private Servers come with a control panel .. usually either cPanel/WHM or Plesk (the two biggies).
Of the two, cPanel/WHM is considered more stable and secure. It is widely regarded as the most mature web hosting control panel on the market (for Linux-based servers).
WHM = Web Host Manager.
WHM allows you to administer an unlimited number of sites (as a web hosting reseller), by setting up a separate account for each client, each with their own individual login/access (to cPanel).
I did not want Plesk .. for reasons best described by the Sales people at ServInt (Virginia/DC area). See here (copy-n-paste):
"Our engineers strongly encourage our clients to use cPanel/WHM. It is updated more frequently than Plesk. This is because cPanel/WHM has a LARGER USER BASE. As a result, bugs and exploits are identified and resolved more quickly.
The core packages for Plesk (PHP, MySQL, etc.) are not easily upgraded. In fact, upgrading Plesk's add-on software tends to break things. Whereas, cPanel/WHM comes with an automated update tool that allows you to select your updates from a variety of update trees, allowing the updates to be performed either manually or automatically.
Of course, no control panel is perfect. In fact, most are fairly buggy. But of those on the market today, we feel strongly that cPanel/WHM is by far the most comprehensive, well-written and best-supported.
I should also note that employees from hosting companies, and cPanel's support staff frequent cPanel's user-forums. A wealth of information can be found there. Whereas traffic at Plesk's forums is rather sparse. Certainly you can see how access to updated information about bugs, exploits, and 3rd-party software issues can be helpful in administering your VPS."
Plesk is made by Parallels (formerly SWsoft): the same people who make Virtuozzo (VPS virtualization software), which is what WiredTree uses to 'virtualize' its VPS servers.
Admittedly, I have no experience with Plesk, but have heard less-than-exthusiastic reports from those who do.
A Plesk-based VPS normally costs less than a cPanel-based VPS. Plesk is also less complicated (easier to use) than cPanel, tho many claim Plesk lacks the security features that are found standard in cPanel/WHM. Plesk is written in PHP, while cPanel is based on Perl scripts.
I also heard that all virtual hosts on a Plesk VPS operate under the same Apache user, which seems hard to believe, due to configuration conflicts and limitations this could cause.
Another cool thing about cPanel is the ability to move your site (migrate) .. to another cPanel-based server, by creating a backup (clone) at the old server and restoring (the backup clone) at the new server.
Plesk seems to be the favorite of those who host their sites on a Windows-based server. Far as I know, cPanel only supports Linux-based servers .. tho rumors are circulating that cPanel may release a control panel for Windows .. sometime in early-2009 (.. which usually means it won't arrive until mid-2009).
For more on the topic of which control panel is best for you, see » Plesk vs cPanel.
On the next page, we'll look at what might possibly be the coolest service a prospective web host can offer (for web hosting n00bs) » Website Migration Assistance. We'll also review what's involved if you decide to move your site yourself and restore your own cPanel backup (*.tar.gz).