How to navigate the H-Sphere control panel

Weberz utilizes the H-Sphere web hosting control panel. H-Sphere has been a proven control panel that many web hosts use as the interface to their hosting services. Due to the number of features and the overall flexibility of H-Sphere, the interface can seem overwhelming. This article will break down the sections of H-Sphere and explain them to help customers gain a better understanding of how it works.

All work performed in the control panel is done via a web browser. H-Sphere has been fully tested to function and be 100% compliant with Internet Explorer 5.0 and above. Other browsers normally function without any problems, but they have not been as extensively tested as IE.

There are a few requirements before one can login and begin to use the control panel. Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher browser, java installed and cookies enabled are all needed to utilize the control panel.

When a user signs up for a hosting account, they are instructed to choose a username and password. The username and password are used to gain access to the control panel. To login to the control panel navigate to http://cp.weberz.com. To access the control panel over a secure connection, navigate to https://cp.weberz.com. This will bring up the login page. Enter the username and password and click the login button. There is also a lost password button that provides a way for a user to recover their account information.

As soon as the login button has been clicked, the control panel will authenticate the user and begin the login process. Within a few seconds the Quick Access page will be displayed. The Quick Access page has links to various sections of the control panel. These links are provided as a quick way to jump from one section to another after logging in. Alternatively most of the same sections can be selected from their respective locations in the menu. Depending on the skin, or style being used, the menu will either be listed vertically on the left or horizontally across the top.

To make things easier to follow, the rest of this article will be broke up into sections, one for each section of the control panel.

Main:

The Main section of the control panel contains the rudimentary and base level functions of the hosting account. Here is a listing of the links contained in this section:

Domains
Web Options
Change Password
Change Account
Add Account
Account Settings

Domains

The domains link will open the configuration page for the domains associated with the hosting account. Domains can be added, removed and/or modified from this page. Sub Domains can also be added to an existing domain. This page also displays information about the IP address that the domain is associated with, what name servers the domain is using for DNS resolution, mail service controls (ability to turn mail on or off for the domain), web service controls (ability to turn http traffic on or off for the domain), how much transfer has been used since the beginning of the last billing cycle, ftp password and domain name for proper ftp connections, the absolute path (required by some scripts) to the web space on our servers, FTP password and site information and domain aliases. At the bottom of this page is the link to set up a new domain in your web space.

Web Options

The Web Options section contains more of the nitty-gritty settings for the hosting account. When the web options link is clicked, a listing of domains associated with the account will be displayed. From here a user can either click on the edit hosting parameters icon to configure the web options domain, or click on the view icon to have the domain loaded in another browser window.

When a user clicks on edit hosting parameters, a configuration page for that domain is displayed. This page allows for tweaks to be made to how the server handles the domain as well as what features are turned on or off for that domain. Some of these features include error logging, stats logging (webalizer and awstats), front page support, site studio support, PHP support, ecommerce, etc.

You can turn these features on or off by clicking the on/off icon that corresponds to the feature that is to be enabled/disabled. After making any changes to this section, always go to the top of the page and see if the second option, server configuration, needs to be applied. If the control panel reports that there are changes to be made, click the apply button. This will apply the current config, save it, and set the changes in the running config.

Change Password

The change password link is pretty self explanatory. It allows a user to change their control panel password. To change the CP password, click the change password link. When the Changing Password page appears, type in the desired new password, type it again to confirm it, and then choose whether or not to reset the FTP password at the same time. Once all of the information has been entered, click Change button. Once the control panel has finished processing its information the password will be changed.

Change Account

If the user has multiple accounts setup in H-Sphere using the same username, they can use the choose account page to switch between them.  This allows the user to go back and forth between accounts without having to logout and login again with another username.

Add Account

The add account page allows users to setup another hosting account, on the same plan or a different one, using the same user name.  This is handy if you want all of the accounts to have the same user name.  Typically users only have one account and do not use this option unless they run out of resources on their hosting plans.  If thats the case they have the option of setting up a new account here, or changing their plan to one with higher resources.

Account Settings

The account settings page allows you to modify the default settings for the control panel account. From this section a user can change quota limits, ftp password, set default settings for Anti-Spam and Anti-Virus (if included with plan), view your instant access url, etc.

Email:

Email

The email section contains links that allow a user to configure the email service for their domain. To configure, add and/or remove email resources, click on the Email icon in the email section. This will open up the mail manager. The mail manager is the central configuration hub for all mail resources for all domains associated with the control panel account. The mail manager allows one to create new mail resources (email, mailing lists, etc.) as well as configure those resources (add anti-spam or anti-virus, auto responders, etc.).

The mail manager also provides relevant information for connecting to the mail server along with statistics about how much mail traffic has gone through the domain for that billing period. When a domain is set up, there are two default email accounts that are automatically created. They are webmaster and postmaster. These accounts are provided by the control panel and should not be tampered with.

Any mail resources that have been set up will be displayed towards the bottom of the mail manager. The email address is listed in the first column, the resources included with that address are displayed in the second column and the properties for the email address (size of mailbox, mailing list settings, forwarder information, etc.) are displayed in the third column. To edit an email address, simply click on the address and the configuration page for that address will load. This page will allow a user to modify the settings for that mail resource. For more information on how to setup an email address, configure settings, etc. please visit our Email section of the knowledge base.

Webmail

The webmail icon is a link that allows the user to enter their mailbox name and password so they can login to the webmail interface. The webmail interface can also be accessed by end users by going to mail.yourdomainnamehere.com. This will give them a choice between Weberz’s two webmail interfaces, Horde and SQWebMail. Weberz recommends Horde as the preferred webmail interface.

FTP:

FTP Manager:

The FTP section is where settings for the FTP service can be modified. This section will also contain the username and hostname information that is needed to login to the FTP server. This information can be found by clicking on the FTP Manager. When the FTP manager loads, information about the amount of traffic used, the username, the full path to the directory on the FTP server, etc. is displayed. The ability to change the FTP password is also in this section.

Contact/Billing Info:

The contact and billing info section of the control panel allows the user to modify information that Weberz uses to contact/bill the customer. These settings can be changed at anytime.

Contact Info

Clicking on the contact info link opens the contact info page. This is where the current contact information can be modified or viewed. This information is only used by Weberz when the situation arises that would justify contacting the customer. Returning phone calls and billing issues are great examples of when Weberz might utilize this information. Weberz does not sell or disclose any of the information provided by the customer to any 3rd party for any reason. Weberz respects your privacy.

Billing Info

The billing info section of the cp allows a user access to the billing information for their account. Customers can set up multiple billing profiles, remove old billing profiles and change their method of payment in this section.

Billing Statement

Clicking on the Billing Statement section will open up the Account Billing Info section of the control panel. Customers can review their current/past invoices and view detailed invoices. The invoices display what was accrued/charged/credited during the billing period for that invoice.

Cancel Account

In the unlikely event that a customer decides to cancel their account, Weberz provides a way for them to cancel the account. The Account Cancellation section of the control panel allows the customer to cancel immediately or schedule the cancellation.

Scheduling the cancellation allows the customer time to download their data off of our servers before the data is deleted, or change their mind and stop the account cancellation. Canceling immediately starts the account cancellation process within 30 minutes of the customer scheduling the cancellation. When an account is cancelled, all data pertaining to that account is removed from Weberz’s servers.

Tools:

The tools section contains various goodies to help a customer fully utilize the functionality of their webspace.

Site Studio

Site Studio is a WSYWIG (what you see is what you get) website editor. It has a simplistic interface that allows people with absolutely no know-how of website design to create sophisticated looking sites with an easy to use interface. Its point and click simplicity makes it easy for even the novice user to appreciate.

File Manager

While hosting, files can start to build up in your webspace. Via the control panel, Weberz offers a web based file manager that allows uploading, moving and renaming. All of the basic controls that one is accustomed to are available via the file manager. It even has a wizard that steps through password protecting directories.

Stats

When a website becomes a vital part of business, or even if it’s just for fun, knowing how many visitors have surfed their way to the site can be a handy thing to know. Weberz provides two stats programs that allow customers to easily view how many hits their website is getting per hour/day/month. Webalizer is the more basic run of the mill stats program, while awstats is a more in depth stats program. Both have proven themselves to be useful tools to the end user.

Submit URL

The hardest part of webhosting can be getting people to visit the site. Where do people turn when they want to find something on the internet? Search engines, of course. The control panel has the ability to submit websites to search engines based on keywords, description, etc.

Reverse Traceroute

Traceroute is a utility that has been around for years. Using a familiar graphical interface, customers can use the reverse traceroute function to trace where people are coming from, or to test for broken connections between on machine and another.

Webserver:

Configuring the webserver with custom behaviour is a snap in the control panel. The webserver section contains tools that allow the user to change how their site operates, what error messages display, etc.

Error Pages

When a webserver can not find a page that is being requested, or it can not authenticate the user properly, there are different error pages that are displayed. The H-Sphere control panel allows one to customize their site with there very own error pages. Each type of error page is associated with certain errors. Now these pages can be customized to add that personal touch.