Whoa, big question: Doing what cPanel can do directly on the (Linux) box itself

[IKEA]

As posted here:

I've had very little experience with webservers as such, and the little time that I've hosted a domain was on a preconfigured cPanel web-control-panel. I'm getting, in the not-too-distant future, a server where I'll be hosting ShopWorlds.com with a friend of mine. Of course I want (and need) pretty much the same features that cPanel and cPanel's WHM have to offer with the minor problem that I don't, at the moment, have $1500 to spare on something like that.

My Question:
Is there a (convenient/fast/easy) way to accomplish all of the features (click the above link for details) of these two products, provided we have physical access to the machine, it is running Linux (we haven't decided on what flavour as of yet, suggestions to this would also be welcome), and we have only the one domain and maybe one, maximum two others?

A cPanel license is that expensive because it is meant for big firms and hosting companies who want their customers (note the plural, we're talking 1000+ different accounts, here) to have an easy way to access and control their domain or webmail OVER THE INTERNET.
Most of these parametres, obviously, don't apply to us seeing as we're only having one or two domains on the server and we have actual physical access to it.

I know this is a pretty big question with an even bigger answer to it, but maybe even if you know of a Linux app (or even a site which discusses this sort of thing), please tell (and link) me!

Muchos gra

[KernelPanic]

Have you looked into using Webmin? it has many modules and some neat features.

Also, try and post your question here also.

[ June 15, 2004: Message edited by: Tux ]

[WMD]

Yes, Webmin.  That was my first thought as well.  
It has some great server tools, and lots of 3rd-party add-on modules.

Having said that, cPanel is definately the shiznit, and Webmin won't do quite as much.  But, Webmin does hava really good Apache tools and stuff.

[Master of Reality]

If you have physical access to it why do you need cPanel?

[Fett101]

quote:Originally posted by The Master of Reality:
If you have physical access to it why do you need cPanel?

That's what he's asking. He want's to know how to do the things Cpanel does right on the local machine. It's kinda silly because I dunno if anyone wants to sit around and type that much for some guy on a board. Now, if he asked how to do the same thing as a few specific features, that would be probably be doable.

[TheQuirk]

Yuck. Cpanel. H-Sphere, on the other hand, costs only $95 + $5/account. Pretty cheap.

Dunno why you don't want to rent a server from 1&1 or Rackshack and get a control panel for free, though. Or just get a reseller account and have everything configured for you.  

Regardless--everything CPanel does can be done without it (with sometimes less headache), and there are a few free alternatives available. Try looking at webhostingtalk.com.