Install cPanel and WHM on Your VPS

Why cPanel on a VPS

1. Easy account management. Manage many hosting accounts from one place.
2. More productivity. Common server tasks have buttons.
3. Better security. cPanel brings firewall, scanning and update tools.
4. Scale. You can change resources as your sites grow.
5. Speed. It has caching and tuning tools.

Requirements

Software

• A supported operating system. cPanel supports AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux, CloudLinux and Ubuntu (for current releases). Older guides mention CentOS, which has reached its end of life.
• A fresh server with no other control panel, web server or database installed.
• A valid cPanel license. You buy it from cPanel or a partner.

Hardware

• At least 2 GB of RAM (cPanel recommends 2 GB or more; very small servers will struggle).
• At least 20 GB of disk space (more is better).
• A network connection and a static IP address.

Steps

1. Install a supported operating system on the VPS and update it.

sudo dnf update -y

1. Set a fully qualified host name, such as server.example.com:

sudo hostnamectl set-hostname server.example.com

The name must resolve to the IP address of the server.

1. Install cPanel. Run the following as root. It downloads and starts the official installer:

cd /home && curl -o latest -L https://securedownloads.cpanel.net/latest && sh latest

The installation takes 30 to 60 minutes. Do not close the session. Use screen or tmux so it keeps running if SSH drops.

1. Open WHM. When it finishes, go to https://your_server_ip:2087 in a browser. Log in as root.
2. Run the setup wizard. Accept the license terms, enter your email address, set the host name and the nameservers, and choose the settings you want.
3. Create accounts. In WHM, use Create a New Account to add a domain, user and package.
4. Set up email. Each account owner can create mailboxes under Email Accounts in cPanel.
5. Install more software. cPanel includes tools such as Softaculous (extra license) and WordPress Toolkit to install apps.

Troubleshooting

• The installer says another service exists. The server must be clean. Reinstall the operating system.
• The host name is not valid. Use a name with at least two dots, for example server.example.com, not just server.
• The license fails. Check that the license is for the IP address of this server.
• Ports are blocked. Open ports 2082, 2083, 2086, 2087, 80, 443, 25 and 53 in your firewall.

Quick recap

• Use a fresh, supported OS and a valid license.
• Set a proper host name, then run the cPanel installer.
• Finish the setup in WHM on port 2087.