Stability

cPanel 11 offers improved stability for your hosting operations. With a number of backend improvements along with some new features, we've worked extensively on ensuring and improving the stability of the product.

EasyApache 3

Our new Apache build and configuration system, EasyApache 3, offers unmatched stability for the compilation and configuration of Apache. EasyApache 3 not only provides a simple interface to build and configure Apache but a whole system of checks and balances to keep Apache running. During the build and configuration phases, multiple test are run against the build and configuration to ensure Apache will remain up after any changes. If the new build or configuration would take Apache down, EasyApache 3 will roll back the changes to ensure you have a working Apache build and notify us of the problem.

Backups

Along with improvements to the way we package up accounts for backups and transfers, we've team up with R1Soft to allow our customers access to their data protection and disaster recovery solution, CDP. CDP is a near-Continuous Backups system capable of providing hundreds of recovery points per day scheduled as little as 5 or 10 minutes apart. 

Service Monitoring and Restarts

As uptime is of the upmost importance in hosting, cPanel and WHM offer service monitoring and automatic restarts for major services on your server (Apache, MySQL, IMAP, etc). Not only do we build in service monitoring and restarts but we also offer the ability to add in monitoring and restarts for custom services. for more information, see slides 46-48 of this presentation (PDF slides).

Improved Account Level Alerts

Services such as email and the ability to upload files are often as important as the visibility of a site. cPanel 11 has added improved features to notify administrators and account owners of disk usage, email account quota information, and other statistics. With customizable warning levels, you'll be sure that your customers do not run out of resources without a lot of warning.

Backend Enhancements

Numerous backend enhancements focused on stability have taken place for cPanel 11. These include better storage of account data including more redundancy, better separation of configuration data from services, lower memory footprints for many cPanel processes and many other backend changes aimed at enhancing the stability of the product.

cPanel 11 offers greatly enhanced security through a combination of strengthened backend code, and many new utilities which allow you to provide fine grained security policies for your server. These numerous enhancements make it extremely easy to keep your servers locked down tight.

Public Key Authentication

Public Key Authentication allows your users to use a public and private key pair to access your server for SSH connections and Account Transfers. The use of public key authentication allows you to disable password authentication. This means that only those users that have access to a private key will be able to connect to your server, thereby enhancing your authentication security greatly.

cPHulk Brute Force Protection

cPanel 11 marks the debut for the much anticipated cPHulk Protection system. cPHulk protects your vital services by disabling authentication to those services after a brute force attack is detected. It protects: cPanel, WHM, SSH, FTP, IMAP, and POP3 from brute force authentication attacks. cPHulk will remain transparent to the attacker whose authentication attempts will feel normal, even while authentication is disabled. Thus, you can get substantial information about the attack. You can even customize authentication thresholds and lock out times!

Host Access Control

The best security policy is to not offer a connection to a service. However, that is not always realistic. Understanding that same principle, you can use the new Host Access Control feature to only provide access to a specific set of IP addresses to the services on your server, or to block access from specific IP addresses. With a simple to use interface, it's easy to prevent unwanted access to the services on your server.

Enhanced XSS Protection

Substantial backend changes have been made to further protect cPanel and WHM users from cross-site scripting. Many behind the scenes functions have been added to render such nuisances harmless.

Performance

cPanel 11 offers enhanced performance for your server and your clients. Many changes to backend and frontend code have increased speed and reduced server load.

Apache 2 and 2.2 with the new EasyApache

cPanel 11 includes a new EasyApache interface which provides access to Apache 2 and Apache 2.2 configurations. These configurations can be edited to be very specific, including custom Apache and PHP build options and configure flags. With the enhanced performance of Apache 2, and the ability to fully customize your Apache installation, your web server will be running full speed in no time at all.

Faster Email

Changes in backend code have sped up email handling. Those using SpamAssassin will notice a reduction in load on heavily loaded servers. This means that less time will be spent processing mail so your CPU can be used for other important tasks.

cPanel Interface Speed

With the addition of many new features and options to the cPanel interface comes a drastic reduction in page load times. Load times as low as below 1 second have been seen on a cached reload of the interface (~1.5 seconds uncached). This drastic increase in speed will make the interface more appealing to use for your clients while reducing the amount of load on the cPanel engine.

Fast cPanel Account and Theme Switching

A new feature for Reseller accounts, you can quickly switch between any cPanel account owned by the reseller, or to any theme. This allows a reseller to quickly access their client's cPanel interface to perform tasks on their account. It also allows the reseller to switch to another theme to see exactly what their customers see, without leaving their cPanel interface.

Style

A professional, clean look is important to capture and retain clientele. cPanel 11 takes this thought to a whole new level. With an enhanced default interface including 10 style choices, and an easy to use branding interface for resellers, cPanel 11 is the ultimate in customizable, professional design.

Interface Styles

10 prebuilt interface styles allow your clients to choose a look that works for them. From business oriented to fun at the beach, the new styles are great for site owners of all types.

Web 2.0

cPanel 11 integrates web 2.0 functionality to provide users with a great feel to their interface. With features like collapsable menus, enhanced form validation, zooming, and other javascript and AJAX goodies, the new interface provides both fashion and function.

Branding

Enhanced Branding for Resellers

cPanel 11 puts branding into a whole new category, the category of simple to use. With cPanel 11, you can change any image within the interface to a custom image of your choice. You can even edit CSS to modify font colors, font sizes, table borders, and more. The new CSS based layout gives infinite flexibility in the customization of the interface to meet your needs.

Our enhanced branding for resellers will even allow you to add your own logo to the interface with a click of a button.

Language

cPanel 11 now has increased language and character set support. You can now easily change the language that is displayed in your cPanel interface. There are many language files available at http://lang.cpanel.net with more on the way. Changing the character set for your customers is easy as new language files can include the character set they need to use.

Integration

While cPanel and WHM provide a comprehensive set of tools for server administration automation, we understand the need for flexibility and integration of other services and software. New tools allow for easy integration.

cPanel Plugins

The new cPanel Plugins concept allows third party developers to integrate their software directly into the cPanel interface. You can add your custom icon directly into one of the existing menus in cPanel. This allows for easy installation across many systems. for more information, see: Plugins Developer Resources

Customizable cPanel Layouts

cPanel 11 is a CSS based layout which allows for infinite customization of the interface. With new UI command line utilities, you can edit colors, image display order, backgrounds, and much more!

WHM Plugins

WHM Plugins are programs that interact with WHM's functions, expand upon server automation, or work within WHM. cPanel 11 and WHM introduce the new XML API which allows third party software to easily integrate with WHM's extensive functionality. While this API is currently still being developed, it is opening the door way for super simple WHM integration. 

Update Integration

While not new to cPanel 11, update integration allows for easy custom changes for systems that require modifications to core services or functionality. /scripts/postupcp can be created to be executed after a cPanel software update is run. Like wise /scripts/post:service:up can be used for services like exim, ftp, etc.

Module Installer

Developers need quick access to modules that can enhance their software, and web site owners need modules to use with existing software. cPanel 11 provides the ability to install Perl Modules, PHP PEARs and RubyGems directly through the interface. Not only will it install the modules, it handles dependencies for you. To make things even easier, code is provided to allow developers to use local includes for the modules without having to modify their path.

PHP Config

For those who develop in PHP or have specific PHP requirements, PHP configuration and PHP information sections have been added to WHM and cPanel respectively. Within in the new PHP Configuration Editor, server owners can simply modify a few select PHP options, or use advanced mode to customize PHP to a higher level. These modifications, or the default PHP configuration can be provided for users within cPanel so they can ensure their PHP software will work.

Ruby and Ruby on Rails support

cPanel 11 supports the up and coming Ruby on Rails framework for web application development. Simply run /scripts/installruby to install both Ruby and Ruby on Rails. RubyGems can then easily be added through WHM or cPanel. You'll be diving into web application development in no time.

Better OS Integration

Users can configure email accounts for Outlook, Outlook Express, and Mail.app by double-clicking an installation shortcut. Users can also configure their WebDisk on Mac, Windows, or Linux with a simple installer.