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Control panels like Plesk or cPanel are widely used tools for managing web servers, databases, email boxes and DNS. However, for webmasters, web designers and developers with limited system skills, the use of such tools may not be the optimal solution. In this article, we will explore in detail ten reasons why you may not need a control panel like Plesk or cPanel, and why it may be more beneficial to rely on a professional systems engineer.
1. Customization Limitations
Control panels such as Plesk and cPanel are designed to simplify the management of web servers, making a series of complex operations accessible even to those without advanced knowledge of systems engineering. These tools offer intuitive graphical interfaces that allow you to perform daily configuration and maintenance on web servers, databases, email boxes and DNS with just a few clicks. Their main attraction lies in their ease of use and the ability to centralize the management of multiple services in a single platform, eliminating the need to execute complex command line commands.
However, this ease of use comes at a price. Control panels like Plesk and cPanel, while robust and well-tested, are designed to be general-purpose solutions, suitable for a wide range of users and use cases. As a result, they do not offer the level of malleability and customization that a professional systems engineer with years of experience can provide. The standardized structure of these panels can in fact limit the possibilities for optimization and specific adaptation to the needs of a single project.
2. High cost
Control panels like Plesk or cPanel have significant costs that can severely impact your server management budget. In recent years, the entry of the investment fund Oakley Capitals, which acquired both solutions, has led to substantial changes in the pricing model. Notably, Oakley Capitals introduced a new pricing model that moved from being server-based to a model based on server-hosted domains.
In the past, Plesk and cPanel costs were primarily determined by the number of servers they were installed on. This model was relatively simple and allowed the costs associated with server management to be managed predictably. However, with the acquisition by Oakley Capitals, the pricing model was radically changed. Now, costs are calculated based on the number of domains hosted on the server, leading to a significant increase in expenses for many users.
This paradigm shift has had a significant impact, especially for those managing numerous domains. While previously the cost was fixed regardless of the number of sites hosted, now each additional domain leads to an increase in the monthly fee. This can push costs well above $50 per month, a figure that could cover the cost of a high-quality dedicated server with impressive specs, such as an 8-core/16-thread AMD processor, 64GB of DDR5 RAM, two hard drives NVMe in 1GB RAID 512 and 1 Gbit per second connectivity.
This continuous increase in prices applies the so-called boiled frog principle, where gradual changes go unnoticed until the situation becomes unsustainable. Users find themselves paying more and more for the same features, without immediately realizing the overall increase in costs. Every year, with small variations in pricing, they find themselves incurring expenses that were initially much lower.
3. System Responsibilities
A control panel like Plesk or cPanel does not eliminate the need for advanced systems skills in case of problems. Despite their intuitive interface and user-friendly features, when a server failure or a botched update occurs, immediate and competent intervention is required to restore services. This is a critical aspect that is often underestimated.
System updates are essential to keep your server secure and running with the latest technologies. However, situations may arise where an update fails, causing compatibility issues or even making the control panel unreachable. In these cases, a webmaster without advanced skills may find it difficult to diagnose and resolve the problem. A professional systems engineer, on the other hand, has the experience necessary to quickly identify the cause of the problem and implement an effective solution, minimizing downtime.
4. Backup and Disaster Recovery
The backup and disaster recovery procedures offered by control panels are not always sufficient to guarantee complete data security and integrity. These tools, while useful for basic backup operations, fail to cover more advanced and critical data protection needs. A robust solution, in fact, requires the implementation of advanced technologies, such as incremental backups in append only mode, which allow you to add only new data or changes to existing backups, reducing the risk of data loss and optimizing storage space. archiving.
Additionally, to ensure adequate protection, backups must be performed on geographically dispersed Storage Area Networks (SANs). This practice ensures that data is replicated across multiple locations, protecting it from local disasters such as fires, floods, or hardware failures. The geographic distribution of backups is a key component of an effective disaster recovery strategy, allowing you to quickly restore data in the event of disasters that compromise the main office.
Without a proven backup and disaster recovery procedure managed by professionals, there is a high risk that a hacker could compromise the server and delete all backups. Cyber attacks are increasingly sophisticated and targeted, and a standard backup system, such as that offered by control panels, may not offer the necessary protection against these threats. A skilled hacker can penetrate the system, disable security measures and delete backups, leaving the organization with no means to restore critical data.
An expert systems engineer, with years of experience in the field of cybersecurity and data management, can implement a solid and secure backup strategy that minimizes these risks. This professional is able to configure incremental backups in append only mode, which prevents overwriting or deletion of data, and to distribute backups across geographically distant SANs. Additionally, a systems engineer can constantly monitor the backup process, run periodic tests to ensure data integrity, and update backup and disaster recovery strategies based on new threats and industry best practices.
Additionally, a systems engineer can implement advanced security measures to protect the backups themselves, such as data encryption and controlled access to backups. These additional measures ensure that even if a hacker manages to compromise the main server, backups will remain safe and inaccessible without the appropriate security credentials.
5. Protection against DDoS Attacks
Control panels do not offer protection against distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. These attacks, which aim to overload the server with an unsustainable volume of traffic, require advanced networking and systems expertise to be effectively mitigated. Without adequate defense, a DDoS attack can easily take your server and control panel offline, causing severe service disruptions and financial losses.
An experienced systems engineer can analyze network logs to identify the type of attack and determine the source of the malicious traffic. This analysis process is critical to understanding the specific characteristics of the attack, such as its scope, duration, and vectors used. With this information, the system administrator can implement customized mitigation measures to reduce the impact of the attack.
Among the mitigation measures that a system administrator can adopt are country or ASN (Autonomous System Number) filtering. This approach allows you to block traffic from specific geographic regions or from networks known to be used for malicious activity. For example, if the attack comes predominantly from a certain country, the system administrator can configure the firewall to block all traffic from that country, significantly reducing the load on the server.
Another mitigation technique is applying rate limits at the application level. This method involves limiting the number of requests a single IP address can make in a given amount of time. By implementing rate limits, the system administrator can prevent a single IP, or a small group of IPs, from overloading the server with incessant requests. This measure is particularly effective against DDoS attacks that exploit a limited number of sources.
Furthermore, the systems engineer can use advanced traffic analysis tools and specialized DDoS mitigation solutions. These tools are designed to automatically detect anomalous traffic patterns and respond quickly to neutralize the attack. For example, they can redirect malicious traffic to a “scrubbing center,” where it is filtered before reaching the main server, thus ensuring continuity of service for legitimate users.
Without these advanced skills and measures, a DDoS attack can easily overwhelm the standard defenses offered by control panels, leading to complete server inaccessibility. This not only negatively impacts user experience, but can also compromise the organization's reputation and lead to significant financial losses due to prolonged downtime.
6. Technical Limitations
Plesk and cPanel impose technical limitations that can negatively impact site performance. These control panels, although they offer a wide range of functionality, are limited to the technological choices made by the developer companies. As a result, users often have to work with specific versions of PHP, the operating system kernel, or the WebServer, which may not be the most suitable or up-to-date for their particular needs.
For example, the versions of PHP supported by Plesk and cPanel may not include the latest features or security improvements, forcing users to use outdated or unoptimized versions. In other cases the exact opposite can happen, when a customer has the urgent need to host applications written with obsolete PHP versions such as 5.6. This can pose a significant problem for web applications that require the use of the latest versions of PHP to ensure optimal performance and security.
The operating system kernel is another critical element. Plesk and cPanel may be locked to specific kernel versions that do not support the latest technologies or performance improvements. This may limit your ability to optimize the server for resource-intensive applications or to implement new features that require an updated kernel.
Similarly, the WebServer versions (such as Apache or NGINX) supported by Plesk and cPanel may not be the latest, limiting access to new features and performance improvements. This is especially problematic for advanced technologies like Varnish Cache, a powerful caching tool that can significantly improve website performance. Configuring and optimizing Varnish Cache on a server managed by Plesk or cPanel can be complicated or even impossible due to limitations imposed by supported versions of the WebServer.
Another relevant example concerns advanced network protocols such as HTTP/3 or QUIC. These protocols offer significant improvements in speed and security over previous versions. However, their implementation on servers managed by Plesk or cPanel can be difficult if the control panel does not natively support the necessary versions of the software. This means that users may not be able to fully exploit the benefits of these protocols, penalizing website performance.
In contrast, a systems engineer with full access to the server can overcome these limitations. With the freedom to choose and configure the latest and most appropriate versions of PHP, the operating system kernel, and the WebServer, a systems engineer can optimize the server for the specific needs of the project. This includes the implementation of advanced technologies such as Varnish Cache and protocols such as HTTP/3 and QUIC, ensuring that the website functions to its maximum capabilities.
7. Updates and End of Life
Control panels like Plesk and cPanel are difficult to maintain and update, especially in view of an EOL (End of Life) of the operating system. This means that when support for an operating system ends, users face significant challenges in keeping their operating environment secure and up to date. A recent example of this issue was the EOL of CentOS 7 in June 2024.
With the end of support for CentOS 7, Plesk and cPanel have chosen to maintain compatibility with this operating system, but at an additional cost of €5 per month. This surcharge represents an additional financial burden for users who wish to continue using an outdated operating system. The decision to charge extra for ongoing compatibility may seem like a temporary fix, but it doesn't solve the long-term problem of needing to upgrade to a newer, supported version of the operating system.
Those looking to upgrade to a newer operating system are faced with the onerous task of migrating all their data and services to a new machine. This migration can involve significant labor costs, not only in terms of the time needed to transfer the data, but also to configure and test the new operating environment, as well as point all the new DNS. Server migration can be complex and risky, especially if it is not done correctly, leading to possible downtime and service interruptions.
A professional systems engineer can manage upgrades and migrations more efficiently, reducing both costs and downtime. Thanks to his experience and expertise, a systems engineer can plan and implement the migration in a methodical and safe way. This includes evaluating current server configurations, preparing the new operating environment, migrating data and services, and performing extensive testing to ensure everything works correctly in the new system.
Additionally, a systems engineer can identify and resolve any issues that may arise during the migration process, minimizing the risk of downtime and interruptions. It can also optimize the new operating environment to improve performance and security, ensuring that the server is configured to take full advantage of the new features and improvements offered by the updated operating system.
8. Problems with Mailservers
The control panels include mail server services (SMTP, POP3, IMAP) which can cause serious problems in case of spam. When a site hosted on a server is hacked, attackers often use it to send large amounts of spam emails. This behavior can quickly lead to the server's IP being placed on global blacklists, preventing all mailboxes managed by the server from sending emails. As a result, legitimate email communications are blocked, causing significant inconvenience to customers and damage to the company's reputation.
Managing these incidents requires quick and effective intervention, which often goes beyond the capabilities offered by control panels like Plesk or cPanel. A professional systems engineer can implement preventative measures to significantly reduce the risk of such problems. One of the key strategies is the use of alerts on mail queues. These alerts can monitor outgoing email volume in real time and immediately report any suspicious or anomalous activity, such as a sudden spike in the number of emails sent.
When suspicious activity is detected, a system administrator can quickly intervene to identify and isolate the compromised site, stopping the sending of spam before the server's IP is blacklisted. This timely intervention is crucial to minimize damage and prevent further problems.
Furthermore, a system administrator can configure the mail server to use secondary IPs. This technique, known as IP rotation or IP warming, involves assigning different IP addresses for sending emails, reducing the risk of a single IP being blocked. If an IP is blacklisted, the system administrator can quickly reconfigure the mail server to use an alternative IP, restoring email sending functionality without significant interruptions.
In addition to these immediate measures, a systems engineer can implement long-term solutions to improve mail server security and prevent future compromises. These solutions can include the adoption of advanced authentication protocols such as SPF (Sender Policy Framework), DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) and DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance), which help verify the authenticity of emails in exit and reduce the risk of server abuse to send spam.
Another important preventative measure is to set up firewalls and intrusion detection systems (IDS) to monitor and protect email traffic. These tools can detect and block unauthorized login attempts and other suspicious activity, helping to keep your mail server secure and operational.
9. Useless Features
Plesk and cPanel offer more services than most users need. These control panels include features like Ruby, Node.js, and other services that, while useful in certain contexts, are not often used on LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) systems, which represent the majority of web applications. The inclusion of these features only adds complexity to the system without providing real benefits to most users.
Using a standard control panel like Plesk or cPanel involves managing a wide range of pre-installed services, many of which are unnecessary for those who predominantly use PHP applications with a MySQL backend and a web server like Apache or NGINX. This abundance of unused features can complicate server management and increase the risk of security and performance issues.
For example, having services like Ruby or Node.js active on a server that mainly hosts LAMP applications means taking up system resources unnecessarily. These services can consume memory and processing power, reducing the availability of resources for the applications you actually use. Furthermore, each additional service represents a potential point of vulnerability, increasing the risk of cyber attacks.
A professional systems engineer can configure a server with only the necessary features, optimizing the use of resources and improving the overall security of the system. For example, it can disable or completely remove unnecessary services, thereby reducing the attack surface and freeing up resources that can be allocated to critical applications.
This optimization also has a positive impact on server performance. By eliminating unnecessary services, the server can operate more efficiently, with faster response times and greater stability. Furthermore, a less complex environment is easier to manage and monitor, allowing for faster and less problematic maintenance interventions.
Another significant advantage of relying on a systems engineer is the ability to further customize the server configuration based on the specific needs of the project. For example, if a website requires the use of an advanced caching system like Varnish or a modern networking protocol like HTTP/3, a systems engineer can configure and optimize these services to work best, which may not be the case. easily accomplished with a standard control panel.
10. Simple Website Management
To manage a website, you don't need a control panel like Plesk or cPanel. Management operations can be performed effectively using simpler and more direct tools. An FTP or SFTP login is sufficient to transfer files to the server, allowing you to upload, download and organize website files securely. This method is easy to use and allows complete control over your site's files without the need for a complex interface.
For database management, a tool like PHPmyAdmin is largely sufficient. PHPmyAdmin offers an intuitive web interface to manage MySQL or MariaDB, allowing you to perform operations such as creating and modifying tables, running SQL queries, and backing up data. This tool is widely supported and easy to use, making database management accessible even to those with basic technical skills.
As for email management, it is possible to use an external email control panel. Services like G Suite, Microsoft 365, or dedicated email hosting providers like ours offer user-friendly interfaces for managing inboxes, forwarding, and other email configurations. By using these services, you can avoid the complexity of managing an internal mail server, further reducing the administration burden and improving the reliability and security of your email service.
More technical users, with basic knowledge of SSH (Secure Shell), can quickly manage files and databases directly from the command line. SSH allows secure access to the server, allowing you to execute commands to manage files, configure the server, and run scripts. This access mode is particularly useful for performing batch operations, automating maintenance processes, and resolving issues quickly and efficiently.
Taking this approach significantly reduces cost and complexity compared to using a control panel like Plesk or cPanel. Without the need to pay for expensive licenses and manage an overabundance of unnecessary features, you can focus your attention and resources on the operations that are truly crucial to the operation of your site. Additionally, reducing complexity simplifies server management and maintenance, reducing the risk of errors and improving overall system security.
Conclusion
Relying on a professional systems engineer can cost little more than a Plesk or cPanel license, with indicative support fees of between 60 and 100 euros per month. The advantages include a service managed by experts with decades of experience, capable of offering customized solutions, managing emergencies and optimizing server performance. A professional systems engineer not only guarantees high-level technical support, but also the peace of mind of knowing that your server is in expert hands, ready to intervene in any situation.
In conclusion, for webmasters, web designers and developers, relying on a systems engineer is often the better choice than using a control panel such as Plesk or cPanel. This approach offers greater flexibility, security and performance, freeing web professionals from the limitations and increasing costs of control panels.
If you want to optimize the management of your servers and ensure excellent performance for your web projects, contact us today. Our company, Managed Server SRL, specializes in Linux hosting and systems engineering, with a focus on web performance. We offer customized services for CMS such as WordPress, Joomla, Drupal and e-commerce platforms such as WooCommerce, Magento and Prestashop. Trust our experts for a tailor-made service that meets all your technical and performance needs. Don't hesitate to ask for a free consultation and find out how we can help you improve the management of your server.
