Install and Configure CentOS Web Panel (CWP)

Install and Configure CentOS Web Panel (CWP): CentOS Web Panel is a free Web Control Panel that is used for Web Hosting.

The web-based control panel is required for easy management of Server, Domains, Users, Emails, Databases, FTP etc. It avoids the use of SSH every time.

CentOS Web Panel can be installed on both VPS and dedicated servers enabled with root access.

Features of CentOS Web Panel

1. Apache Web Server with all Apache Modules
2. Compatible with Litespeed Web Server
3. Multiple PHP support and switching
4. MySQL and MariaDB Support
5. Email Service with Postfix, Dovecot along with Roundcube WebMail, Spamassasin etc.
6. Config Server Firewall (CSF)
7. One-click WordPress installer
8. Software installer with softaculous.
9. Highly compatible with cPanel Accounts and Migrations
10. Video Streaming support

Pre-Requests

#1 System Requirements

Below are minimum server requirements to install CentOS Web Panel
32 Bit Operating System with 512M of RAM with 20 GB of Hard Disk Space
64 Bit Operating System with 1G of RAM with 20 GB of Hard Disk Space
Generally recommended specification is 4GB of RAM with 100 GB of Hard Disk Space to optimally run anti-virus and other tools.

#2 Operating System

CentOS Web Panel can be installed on CentOS6, CentOS7, RedHat6, RedHat7, CloudLinux6 and CloudLinux7.

At least a minimal version of the operating system is required.

#3 HostName

Fully Qualified Domain Name is required for a Server ex:- server. Domain.com

To set a Fully Qualified Domain Name, type below command

# hostnamectl set-hostname server.domain.com

Check if the hostname is set properly with below command

# hostnamectl

#4 Server IP Address

CentOS Web Panel installer does not support Dynamic IP or Internal IP Address. CentOS Web Panel can be installed over Static Public IP Address. Additional IP Addresses can be configured based on the requirement for Dedicated IP to Websites.

#5 Software Packages

Install wget with below command

# yum -y install wget

Keep the server up-to-date with below command

# yum -y update

Finally, reboot the server for all settings to take effect.

CentOS Web Panel (CWP) Installation

CentOS Web Panel installation takes more than 30 minutes based on the hardware specifications.

Below are the steps to install CWP in CentOS6

# cd /usr/local/src
# wget http://centos-webpanel.com/cwp-latest
# sh cwp-latest

Below are the steps to install in CentOS7

# cd /usr/local/src 
# wget http://centos-webpanel.com/cwp-el7-latest 
# sh cwp-el7-latest

Once CWP is installed, note down Web Panel URL, Admin credentials and MySQL Credentials and reboot the server. Also, take care to allow the port 2030 for HTTP ad 2031 for https in firewall.

Any packages like softaculous, PHP-FPM can be installed during the initial setup or can be installed via GUI after the installation.

Log in to Web Panel with URL and credentials displayed after installation.

CentOS Web Panel (CWP) Configuration

Login to CWP with the root password

The initial dashboard alerts on basic configurations to be done. Fix all alerts and configurations

Click on each alerts to fix and make the dashboard clean

• Install and enable ModSecurity

Click on each alert to fix and make the dashboard clean

• Enable CSF firewall and allow all required ports in the firewall.

• Hide processes owned by other users. To enable this setting, at least one account has to be created in the Web Panel.
• Change SSH port from 22 to highly secure one and allow in CSF

Once the above settings are done, the dashboard will give data on top processes running in the server, Disk Usage, CPU Usage, Service status etc.

Other configurations: Configure CentOS Web Panel

• Setup Name Servers

Edit default name servers and modify as per actual name servers and IPs

• Packages

Create at least one hosting package so that it can be used in Domain/Account creation.

• Add alert email for all notifications

Add Admin Email for any service alerts and Firewall alerts

Now the Server is ready for Hosting with CentOS Web Panel