How to Install CentOS Web Panel on CentOS 7.x?

This article will guide you on how to install CentOS Web Panel on CentOS 7.x.

CentOS web panel is a free and open-source web hosting control panel for CentOS Servers. It provides a powerful web interface through which you can manage your CentOS server and its services.

With Centos web panel, you can manage user accounts, Apache virtual hosts, DNS entries, MySQL databases, email accounts, and more. The CentOS web panel is also used to create and manage shared hosting servers.

Table of Contents

Step 1: Connect to your server and update all the install packages
Step 2: Install dependencies
Step 3: Setting the hostname and FQDN
Step 4: Download and install the latest version of the CentOS web panel
Step 5: CentOS web panel login

Pre-requisites 

1. You must have a clean/ fresh CentOS 7.x.
2. You must have root access or access to a user with sudo privileges.
3. A valid hostname is set on your server's primary IP Address.
4. A minimum of 1 GB RAM is required to install the CentOS web panel.
   If you want to enjoy full functionality, such as an anti-virus scan of emails, then you should have 4GB + RAM on your server.

Note
Once the CWP is installed on your CentOS servers, you can't uninstall or remove CWP; the only option is to rebuild your server.

Step 1: Connect to your server and update all the install packages

You can connect to your server through SSH as a root user or as a user with Sudo privileges. To do this, enter the following command in the terminal.

ssh root@IP_address -p Port_number

Note
Replace the IP Address and port number with your server IP address and SSH port number.

Once you are logged in to the server, you have to type the following commands in the terminal to update your currently installed packages to their latest available versions – 

yum -y update

This process may take 10 - 15 minutes to complete.

Step 2: Install dependencies

You will have to enable the required package for the CentOS web panel by installing the Development Tools bundle.
Type the following command in the terminal – 

yum -y groupinstall' Development Tools'

This process may take a few minutes to complete.

Then enter the following command in the terminal to enable the EPEL package repository on your system. It is a Fedora Special Interest Group that creates, maintains, and manages a high-quality set of additional packages for Enterprise Linux, CentOS, and more options.

yum -y install epel-release 

Step 3: Setting the Hostname and FQDN

Please be informed that a hostname should be an FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name). It is essential to use a subdomain as the hostname, such as demo.yourdomainname.com, and not the primary domain name, such as yourdomainname.com. 

You can check the hostname of your server by using the following command in the terminal – 

hostname

You can change or set a new hostname by the following command – 

hostnamectl set-hostname [hostname which you want to set]

Once you change it, you also need to update your system's host file. 

Enter the following command in the terminal to update the host's file – 

echo "IP_address hostname_yourdomainname hostname" >> /etc/hosts

Note
Once you change or set a new hostname for your server, you need to reboot your server for the changes to take effect.

Step 4: Download and Install the latest version of the CentOS web panel

Note
Make it a practice of downloading the latest version of the CentOS web panel from their official site (https://control-webpanel.com/).
You can use the WGet command to download the newest version of the CentOS web panel from their official website to your system.

To change the directory to /usr/local/src/ and download the latest version of the CentOS web panel, run the following command in the terminal – 

cd /usr/local/src/

wget http://centos-webpanel.com/cwp-el7-latest

Once the file is downloaded, we will go further toward running it using a shell. Enter the following command in the terminal to install the CentOS web panel through a script – 

sh cwp-el7-latest

The installation process may take 30 - 40 minutes because it needs to compile Apache and PHP from the source.

Once the installation is complete, a list of credentials will appear to access the panel.
Make sure to copy or write down the MySQL password and press Enter to reboot your server.

Step 5: CentOS web panel login

Once the server is online after reboot, open your web browser and navigate the following URL – 

http://Server_IP:2030

Or

https://Server_IP:2031

Use the user name as root; the password would be your server's root password.



Important Note

If you are unable to log in due to incorrect credentials and get this message – 'Encryption error!' or 'Login fail' – try changing your root password by using this command – 

passwd

Upon successful authentication and providing with the right login credentials, you will be directed toward the dashboard of the CentOS web panel as shown below –

That's all. 

We hope this article will help you to understand CWP installation on CentOS 7.

Please share your feedback and comments.