A record that resides on your server and that contains your server’s hostname and IP address. The A entry tells DNS servers the identity of your server, which allows visitors to find your server on the internet. You can add an A entry for your hostname in WHM’s Add an A Entry for Your Hostname interface (WHM » Home » DNS Functions » Add an A Entry for Your Hostname).
Permissions that a server’s owner grants to a reseller. You can define ACLs in the Edit Privileges section of WHM’s Reseller Center interface (WHM » Home » Resellers » Reseller Center).
Note:
Access Control Lists are not the same as Account Creation Limits.
Account
A record that lets you access privatized information. For example, your cPanel account lets you manage your website. You can create new cPanel & WHM accounts in WHM’s Create a New Account interface (WHM » Home » Account Functions » Create a New Account).
Account Enhancements
Account Enhancements allow you to control whether a cPanel account can access a third-party application, without modifying the account’s package settings.
To add or remove Account Enhancements from an existing cPanel account, use WHM’s Modify an Account interface (WHM » Home » Account Functions » Modify an Account).
You can add Account Enhancements to a new cPanel account in WHM’s Create a New Account interface (WHM » Home » Account Functions » Create a New Account).
Note:
If you have not installed any third-party applications that use Account Enhancements, the Account Enhancements section will not appear in WHM’s Modify an Account (WHM » Home » Account Functions » Modify an Account) or Create a New Account interfaces (WHM » Home » Account Functions » Create a New Account).
To configure a third-party application to use Account Enhancements, you must add account enhancements during the installation process.
To allow a Reseller to assign and unassign Account Enhancements, you must enable the Use Root Account Enhancements privilege in WHM’s Edit Reseller Nameservers and Privileges interface (WHM » Home » Resellers » Edit Reseller Nameservers and Privileges).
Account Suspension
The restriction of an account, usually because of unpaid fees. Hosting providers can suspend accounts until they receive payment, and then unsuspend the account.
Additional services for cPanel users (for example, blogs, message boards, and shopping carts). You can install cPAddons in WHM’s Install cPAddons Site Software interface (WHM » Home » cPanel » Install cPAddons Site Software).
Warning:
In cPanel & WHM version 104, we deprecated the cPAddons-related interfaces and plan to remove it in a future release. For more information, read our cPanel Deprecation Plan.
Aliases
A second domain that points to a primary domain. For example, both http://www.cpanel.net/ and http://www.cpanel.com/ point to the same website, because cpanel.com is a domain alias for cpanel.net. This makes your website available from another domain name.
AlmaLinux OS
An open-source, community-driven Linux operating system distribution from The AlmaLinux OS Foundation. The AlmaLinux OS is one of cPanel & WHM’s supported operating systems.
A program that provides information about the visitors to a website in both graphical and statistical views. You can work with information from Analog in cPanel’s Analog Stats interface (cPanel » Home » Metrics » Analog Stats).
Ancestor Domain Control Validation
Successful Domain Control Validation (DCV) of a domain applies to all of its subdomains as well. For example, if the example.com domain succeeds, the store.example.com subdomain would also succeed.
Anonymous FTP
A protocol that lets visitors who don’t have FTP accounts upload and download files to and from a website. Although it poses security risks, anonymous FTP is convenient if you want to make files publicly available to download. You can configure anonymous FTP in cPanel’s Anonymous FTP interface (cPanel » Home » Files » Anonymous FTP).
Important:
When you set up anonymous FTP, you must change file permissions and directory access permissions in order to protect any sensitive information.
Apache®
A web server software that receives requests from browsers and serves web pages to the browsers. You can configure Apache in WHM’s Apache Configuration interface (WHM » Home » Service Configuration » Apache Configuration).
Apache Handler
A record that determines how the Apache software processes a specific type of file. By default, Apache only handles certain file types. You can configure Apache handlers in cPanel’s Apache Handlers interface (cPanel » Home » Advanced » Apache Handlers).
Apache SpamAssassin™
An application that filters suspected spam. You can configure Apache SpamAssassin to filter spam more or less aggressively, based on the user’s needs.
You can enable this service in WHM’s Tweak Settings interface (WHM » Home » Server Configuration » Tweak Settings).
You can create spam filters in cPanel’s Spam Filters interface (cPanel » Home » Email » Spam Filters).
You can use these values when you develop cPanel plugins.
Application Programming Interface (API)
A set of programming standards and tools that third-party or internal developers can use to interact with a software application. WebPros International, LLC provides APIs that you can use to customize and integrate with cPanel or Webmail, WHM, and Manage2.
An email protocol that helps combat phishing, spoofing, and spam. ARC verifies email authentication in messages that your server forwards or redirects. Google and other large email providers may require ARC headers in these types of messages.
If you enable ARC in cPanel & WHM, your server adds ARC headers to forwarded emails and emails sent via mailing lists. For more information, read our Exim Configuration Manager Basic Editor documentation.
Authentication
A process that lets you confirm the identity of someone with whom the server shares sensitive information. In software, authentication usually involves either a username and password set or a public and private key pair.
You can configure two-factor authentication (2FA) for cPanel, WHM, and Webmail accounts.
A nameserver that returns responses to queries for one or more DNS zones. Name Server (NS) records point to the domain’s authoritative nameserver. These nameservers don’t cache DNS information for related domains.
Autoresponders allow you to automate replies to incoming email. You can configure automatic email response messages in cPanel’s Autoresponders interface (cPanel » Home » Email » Autoresponders).
The system periodically inspects users’ installed certificates and replaces those that are about to expire or that are insufficient to provide a baseline level of security.
This feature is available in WHM’s Manage AutoSSL interface (WHM » Home » SSL/TLS » Manage AutoSSL).
AWStats (Advanced Web Statistics)
A program that provides information about the visitors to a website. AWStats presents information in both graphical and statistical views. You can work with AWStats data in cPanel’s Awstats interface (cPanel » Home » Metrics » Awstats).
B
Backscatter
Backscatter is the term for bounced email messages (or failed Delivery Status Notifications) that the system erroneously sent to a domain when an attacker forged the domain’s name as the sender of spam.
Use SPF on your mail server to reduce backscatter.
Outscatter, misdirected bounces, blowback, and collateral spam are common synonyms for this term.
Backup
A copy of your website’s or server’s files, directories, databases, and email configurations.
We recommend that cPanel users store a backup copy of their website on a personal computer.
The total size of all of the files that the system transferred to visitors’ computers.
Every time a visitor views a file, such as a web page, image, video, or audio file, the server transfers that file to the visitor’s computer.
Hosting providers often limit a site owner’s bandwidth because it can affect the performance of the server.
cPanel users can check bandwidth use in cPanel’s Bandwidth interface (cPanel » Home » Metrics » Bandwidth).
Bayes Testing (Bayesian Spam Filtering)
A method by which you can filter spam based on statistics. This method uses tokens (generally words) in emails to determine whether an incoming message is spam.
This technique relies on Bayesian statistics. Bayesian classifiers correlate the use of tokens with spam and non-spam emails to calculate a probability that an email is or is not spam.
You can create spam filters in cPanel’s Spam Filters interface (cPanel » Home » Email » Spam Filters).
The Junk button in Roundcube also uses Bayesian spam filtering to train the system to recognize spam.
Berkeley Internet Name Domain (BIND)
The most prominently-used DNS server software. This is also referred to as named.
One of the options for how to handle mail that the default or catch-all email addresses of cPanel users receive.
This option discards mail after the server accepts it. For this reason, it may result in additional spam that your users receive, and places a larger load on your server than the fail option.
You can create filters in cPanel’s Spam Filters interface (cPanel » Home » Email » Spam Filters).
A method of access control for privileges to a defined list of users, programs, or network addresses. In cPanel & WHM, this term can refer to:
In BoxTrapper, a list of rejected email senders. BoxTrapper automatically deletes any messages from senders who are on the blacklist.
In cPHulk, a list of rejected IP addresses. cPHulk never allows logins to your server from IP addresses on the blacklist.
In Exim, a list of IP addresses from which the system drops SMTP connections unconditionally.
Blocker
A condition that the system discovers and which doesn’t allow the system to perform a version update. The cPanel & WHM update process performs compatibility checks to identify blockers before it upgrades to a new version.
Bounce Message
An email reply that informs a sender that there was a problem with email delivery.
BoxTrapper
An application that requires senders to reply to a verification email in order to filter spam through challenge-response verification.
The system only accepts the original email after the sender replies to the verification message.
You can configure these settings in cPanel’s BoxTrapper interface (cPanel » Home » Email » BoxTrapper).
You may also see the following terms:
BoxTrapper Blacklist — A list of incoming email addresses that the BoxTrapper application automatically blocks. cPanel automatically sends a configurable warning message when it receives mail from a blacklisted address.
BoxTrapper Ignore List — A list of incoming email addresses that BoxTrapper automatically ignores.
Note:cPanel does not send a warning notification on receipt of mail from these addresses.
BoxTrapper Whitelist — A list of incoming email addresses that BoxTrapper automatically accepts.
Branding
Changes to the cPanel interface to match your company’s logo and brand. Branding changes also include updates to image assets or text labels. For more information, read our Guide to cPanel Interface Customization and Branding.
Brute Force Attack
An attack during which the attacker enters a large number of combinations of characters in an attempt to decrypt a key. WHM includes cPHulk, a protection system that lets you lock out brute force attackers after a specified number of failed attempts.
The file for an SSL certificate, an electronic document that ties a public key to a trusted entity. This electronic document is a key piece in the authentication process.
Cache
Stored information that the server accesses in lieu of the information source, saving bandwidth and time.
You can configure DNS record caches in WHM’s DNS Zone Manager interface (WHM » Home » DNS Functions » DNS Zone Manager).
You can configure disk usage cache data in WHM’s Tweak Settings interface (WHM » Home » Server Configuration » Tweak Settings).
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
A style sheet language in markup language that describes how a document, often in HTML, should appear. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) regulates CSS standards.
Catch-All Address (Domain Default Address)
Note:
This address is not the same as the cPanel account’s system user email account, which catches mail for domains that don’t have a configured default address.
The email address to which cPanel & WHM routes any email messages to nonexistent email accounts on a domain. You can set up a default address in cPanel’s Default Address interface (cPanel » Home » Email » Default Address).
Certificate
An electronic document that states the identity of a server. This lets end users know that they communicated with the correct website.
A DNS record that lets you specify which CA will issue an SSL certificate for a domain. If no CAA record exist for a domain, all CAs can issue a SSL certificate for a domain.
A file that contains details about an SSL certificate, such as its issuer and that issuer’s certificates and chain of trust. Browsers include a built-in list of trusted certificate authorities, and compare their lists against CA bundles to determine whether to trust an authority.
A request that you send to a certificate authority for an identity certificate.
cPanel can generate a CSR for you. However, authorities vary with regard to the information that they require. Check their requirements before you apply for a certificate.
You can manage CSRs in the Certificate Signing Requrest (CSR) section of cPanel’s SSL/TLS interface (cPanel » Home » Security » SSL/TLS).
A record of which certificate authorities have vouched for the authenticity of other certificate authorities. For a certificate authority to sell certificates, another certificate authority must vouch for them.
A code that pairs a sequence of characters with a set of numbers, which allows a computer to store and transmit the characters. UTF-8 and ASCII are popular character sets.
More:
For more information, read Wikipedia’s article about character sets.
A routing method that lets you create routable subnets with finer granularity than the traditional network classes.
CIDR notation is the combination of an IP address and an abbreviated subnet mask. This mask consists of a slash (/) and the number of bits (which is between 0 and 32). Larger numbers indicate smaller network segments. For example, the CIDR notation 192.168.1.64/29 corresponds to an IP address of 192.168.1.64 and a subnet mask of 255.255.255.248, with a total of eight addresses in the segment.
Some cPanel & WHM interfaces (for example, cPanel’s IP Blocker interface (cPanel » Home » Security » IP Blocker)) use CIDR notation.
Client
Any application that accesses a service on another computer. When you work with cPanel & WHM, for example, you may need to configure an SFTP client.
Web clients include browsers like as Google Chrome™.
FTP clients include FileZilla® and Cyberduck.
CloudLinux™
A commercial Linux operating system distribution from CloudLinux, Inc. CloudLinux is one of cPanel & WHM’s supported operating systems.
A group of linked servers. cPanel & WHM has two separate clustering options:
DNS clusters keep DNS records synchronized among a group of computers and eliminates the need for manual updates.
Configuration clusters allow the system to replicate settings from a primary server to secondary servers.
Collection
A group of calendars, contacts, or other resources. In cPanel & WHM, a collection may be either standalone or shared with other email users of a cPanel account.
Email users manage their collections in Webmail’s Calendars and Contacts Management interface (Webmail » Calendars and Contacts Management) and share them in Webmail’s Calendars and Contacts Sharing interface (Webmail » Calendars and Contacts Sharing).
Command Line Interface (CLI)
A means of interacting with a computer that consists of entering commands. Unix systems often call this a shell.
Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE®) System
An archive of publicly-known security threats, vulnerabilities, and exposures. The CVE system assigns numbers (CVE identifiers), which provide a reference point when you evaluate the coverage and effectiveness of security tools and services.
Compiler
A computer program that translates source code that developers wrote into a language that a computer can read. This helps to protect your server from attacks and vulnerability exploits.
You will need to use a compiler with Ruby and other types of application.
Use WHM’s Compiler Access interface (WHM » Home » Security Center » Compiler Access) to manage your system’s complier access.
A Content Delivery Network (CDN) is a world-wide network of servers that delivers data quickly to a world-wide network of users. This network architecture helps prevent unbalanced server loads and provides high availability.
cPanel
The companion software to WHM. WebPros International, LLC designs cPanel to simplify website maintenance for website owners.
A system that administrators can use to sell products from various vendors (for example, the cPanel Store) through the cPanel & WHM interface. For example, cPanel’s SSL/TLS Wizard interface (cPanel » Home » Security » SSL/TLS Wizard) uses the cPanel Market to sell SSL certificates.
Third-party developers can use External Authentication modules to authenticate with OpenID Connect-compliant identity providers.
You can configure External Authentication in WHM’s Manage External Authentications interface (WHM » Home » Security Center » Manage External Authentication).
cpdavd
cPanel’s WebDAV, calendars, and contacts daemon. cpdavd provides access to cPanel’s Web Disk interface (cPanel » Home » Files » Web Disk), Calendars and Contacts Management interface (cPanel » Home » Email » Calendars and Contacts Management), and Calendars and Contacts Sharing interface (cPanel » Home » Email » Calendars and Contacts Sharing).
cPHulk
A WHM feature that helps protect your web server from malicious users who try to gain unauthorized access through brute force attacks.
cpmove
A copy of a user’s website, which you can create when you run the /usr/local/cpanel/scripts/pkgaccount script. The cpmove file is useful as a backup, and you can manually upload it to restore the user’s web files.
cpsrvd
cPanel Service Daemon, the software that runs cPanel & WHM on your server.
CPU Load
The amount of processing capacity that programs on your server are consuming, in percentage format.
A file that has a cPanel account’s user information. It also contains the account’s resource limits, privileges, features, and package extensions. The system stores a file for each cPanel user in the /var/cpanel/users directory, under the user’s username.
Cron Job
A task that the system runs at a scheduled interval. The tasks exist in the crontab Unix configuration file.
cPanel users can manage cron jobs with cPanel’s Cron Jobs interface (cPanel » Home » Advanced » Cron Jobs).
Server administrators can manage cron jobs with WHM’s Configure cPanel Cron Jobs interface (WHM » Home » Server Configuration » Configure cPanel Cron Jobs).
crond or cron
The cron daemon manages cron job scheduling. In Red Hat® systems, like AlmaLinux OS and CloudLinux, crond is the daemon’s name. In Debian® systems, like Ubuntu®, the daemon’s name is cron.
You can manage this service daemon from WHM’s Service Manager interface (WHM » Home » Service Configuration » Service Manager).
In cPanel & WHM, the restartsrv script’s crond service manages both the crond and cron daemons in their respective systems. For more information, read our The restartsrv script documentation.
Cross-Site Request Forgery Attack (XSRF or CSRF)
A type of malicious attack that forces a user to execute unauthorized commands, usually through a link, to exploit a trusted website.
To help prevent these attacks, cPanel & WHM requires every request to contain a unique per-session security token.
One-click attacks or session riding are common synonyms for this term.
CURRENT
One of cPanel & WHM’s release tiers. We have tested and verified versions on this tier, but they may not contain all of the proposed functionality of a release.
A symbolic link that refers to a pathname that doesn’t exist. For example, a symbolic link could point to a file that doesn’t exist.
Data Center
A facility that houses servers. A data center is generally a safe place to keep a server because it typically includes backup power supplies, multiple communication connections, and environmental controls.
Dedistribution
The process of moving some or all of a distributed cPanel account’s functionality from a child node back to the parent node. For example, returning a cPanel account’s mail functionality from a Mail Node child node to the parent node.
Default Address (cPanel Account Default Address)
Note:
This address is not the same as a domain’s default address, which catches mail for a specific domain after you configure it.
The email address to which cPanel & WHM routes any email messages to nonexistent email accounts or other invalid recipients on your cPanel account. You can check your cPanel account’s default address inbox in cPanel’s Manage Email Accounts interface (cPanel » Home » Email » Manage Email Accounts).
Deprecated
A term that WebPros International, LLC uses to describe a feature that we no longer support or will remove in an upcoming release.
Dictionary Attack
A method in which a malicious user tries to guess a password with words from a dictionary.
To help prevent this attack type, enable the Dictionary attack protection setting in WHM’s Exim Configuration Manager interface (WHM » Home » Service Configuration » Exim Configuration Manager).
Digital Signature Algorithm (DSA)
A method that you can use to generate public and private keys for the signing of data.
Directory Harvest Attack (DHA)
A brute force attack technique. Spammers attempt to find valid email addresses on a server through guesswork and various permutations of common addresses. WHM includes cPHulk, a protection system that lets you lock out brute force attackers after a specified number of failed attempts.
Disk Space Quota
A limit that hosting providers place on the amount of disk space that an account may use.
Website owners can locate their usage data in cPanel’s Disk Usage interface (cPanel » Home » Files » Disk Usage).
Server administrators manage users’ disk space quotas in WHM’s Quota Modification interface (WHM » Home » Account Functions » Quota Modification).
Distributed cPanel Account
A cPanel account that exists on two or more linked nodes.
DNS Zone
The administrative part of the Domain Name System (DNS). This directs internet traffic to the correct location. For example, example.com is a DNS zone with servers that direct its internet traffic. You can add DNS zones to the server in WHM’s Add a DNS Zone interface (WHM » Home » DNS Functions » Add a DNS Zone).
dnsadmin
A program that manages DNS services and DNS clustering.
Your primary domain’s document root typically defaults to the public_html directory.
The document root directories of any addon domains or subdomains depend on your server’s settings.
Domain Control Validation
A CA uses Domain Control Validation (DCV) to verify that a certificate requester owns the domain before issuing the certificate. The CA can use one of the three following DCV methods to verify ownership:
Email — Send a validation email to the administrative contact for the domain.
DNS — Check a special CNAME record for the domain in DNS.
HTTP — Check a hashed text file on the requester’s website.
Domain Name
The name that a site owner gives to a website, which appears in the website’s URL and email addresses.
Generally, domains use the example.com format, where example is the domain name and com is the top-level domain.
You can add and manage domains in cPanel’s Domains interface (cPanel » Home » Domains » Domains).
Domain Forwarding (Redirect)
A technique that allows you or your users to automatically send visitors to a domain when they access another domain. For example, a user may reach example.com when they enter example2.com. You can set up and manage domain forwarding in WHM’s Setup/Edit Domain Forwarding interface (WHM » Home » DNS Functions » Setup/Edit Domain Forwarding).
Domain Name System (DNS)
The component of the internet that converts human-readable domain names (for example, www.example.com) into computer-readable IP addresses (for example, 93.184.216.34).
A DNS record can specify which mail servers exist for a given domain. These records also identify which nameservers contain authoritative information about your domains and services.
The nameserver software on your server manages nameserver records. cPanel & WHM offers BIND and PowerDNS as nameserver software options.
Warning:We removed the MyDNS and NSD nameservers in cPanel & WHM version 106 and later. We strongly recommend that you migrate to PowerDNS. For more information, read our cPanel Deprecation Plan.
Domain-Validated (DV) Certificate
A digital certificate for SSL/TLS verification. The certificate authority (CA) verifies that the applicant controls the DNS domain via email, phone, or other method.
These certificates are the least secure level of domain validation, since the CA does not attempt to verify who the domain owner actually is.
You can purchase and install DV certificates in cPanel’s SSL/TLS Wizard interface (cPanel » Home » Security » SSL/TLS Wizard).
DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM)
An email authentication method which attempts to verify that a message actually came from the domain it appears to have originated from. You can enable DKIM in WHM’s Enable DKIM/SPF Globally interface (WHM » Home » DNS Functions » Enable DKIM/SPF Globally).
Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC)
DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) is a technical specification to help reduce the potential for email-based abuse. A DMARC policy uses DNS to confirm that an email message uses a valid DKIM and SPF record, and that the From: header matches those records.
Many large email networks require that you use a DMARC policy to help protect their users from spam email. To prevent email rejections or spam flags within these networks, your domain must use a DMARC policy.
To set a default DMARC policy when you create a new account, select the Enable DMARC on this account. checkbox in WHM’s Create a New Account interface (WHM » Home » Account Functions » Create a New Account).
To apply a default DMARC policy to all domains on the server, use WHM’s Email DNS Record Manager interface (WHM » Home » DNS Functions » Email DNS Record Manager).
To create a custom DMARC record or modify an existing DMARC record for a domain, use WHM’s DNS Zone Manager interface (WHM » Home » DNS Functions » DNS Zone Manager) or cPanel’s Zone Editor interface (cPanel » Home » Domain» Zone Editor).
A version of cPanel & WHM that lets you run a dedicated physical nameserver. This version of cPanel & WHM is extremely minimal and only replicates DNS zones to your other servers.
More:
For more information, read our cPanel DNSOnly documentation.
Dynamic DNS (DDNS) Domain
This type of domain simplifies access to a network that uses a dynamic IP address via a webcall URL. For example, a user can use this domain to access their home network, even when the IP address changes. For more information, read our Dynamic DNS feature documentation.
E
EasyApache (EA)
A part of cPanel & WHM that installs, modifies, and validates your Apache web server, PHP, and other components.
More:
For more information, read our EasyApache documentation.
Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA)
A variant of Digital Signature Algorithm that uses elliptic-curve cryptography (ECC). ECDSA provides equivalent security to RSA keys using smaller key sizes. As a result, ECDSA keys generate smaller certificates. Smaller certificates can result in faster connections and website loading times.
Email Deliverability
Whether a system can deliver email to recipients. Email deliverability often gauges whether email campaigns will succeed, and it can help you identify mail-related DNS problems. You can view email deliverability information in cPanel’s Email Deliverability interface (cPanel » Home » Email » Email Deliverability).
End of Life (EOL)
The stage of software’s lifecycle when the author no longer provides security updates or bug fixes. When a version of WebPros International, LLC’s software, an operating system, or third-party software that ships with cPanel & WHM reaches EOL, we can’t guarantee support for that version of software.
Pages that display warning messages when visitors encounter problems while they try to access your site. You can customize these pages in cPanel’s Error Pages interface (cPanel » Home » Advanced » Error Pages).
Exim
A free mail transfer agent software that is highly flexible and easily configurable. You can modify your Exim configuration in WHM’s Exim Configuration Manager interface (WHM » Home » Service Configuration » Exim Configuration Manager).
EXPERIMENTAL
An unstable feature or setting that may cause unintended consequences. Exercise extreme caution if you enable an EXPERIMENTAL feature or setting.
Important:
These features may not function with other features or settings.
These features are not currently effective security controls.
EXPERIMENTAL features don’t qualify for our security bounty.
Extended Fourth Filesystem (ext4)
A journaled filesystem that Linux servers often use. ext4 is the successor to the ext3 filesystem. We requireext4 for all cPanel & WHM installations.
This command initiates the process of sending an email and follows with the server sending its domain name.
The esmtp command notifies the receiving server or client that the sending server supports ESMTP extensions.
Extended SMTP (ESMTP)
An extension of the original Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)’s protocols. ESMTP sends an EHLO request to a mail server or client to identify the server’s supported protocol. The server returns a list of its available ESMTP commands.
Extended Validation (EV) Certificate
A digital certificate for SSL/TLS verification. The certificate authority (CA) verifies that the applicant controls the DNS domain with a comprehensive identity validation process.
These certificates enable HTTPS on a user’s web browser address bar and state the name of the verified owner.
These certificates are the most secure level of domain validation.
You can purchase and install certificates in cPanel’s SSL/TLS Wizard interface (cPanel » Home » Security » SSL/TLS Wizard).
External Authentication
This feature allows system administrators to grant users the ability to access their cPanel accounts with an external account provider, such as a cPanel ID or with a Google® account.
Third-party developers can use External Authentication modules to authenticate with OpenID Connect-compliant identity providers.
You can configure External Authentication in WHM’s Manage External Authentications interface (WHM » Home » Security Center » Manage External Authentication).
A method that you can use to transfer files from one computer to another. cPanel & WHM includes an FTP server that website owners can configure.
You must install an FTP client (for example, FileZilla and Cyberduck) on the local computer in order to send files to and receive files from the FTP server.
You can select an FTP server in WHM’s FTP Server Selection interface (WHM » Home » Service Configuration » FTP Server Selection) and configure it in WHM’s FTP Server Configuration interface (WHM » Home » Service Configuration » FTP Server Configuration).
You can create and manage FTP accounts in cPanel’s FTP Accounts interface (cPanel » Home » Files » FTP Accounts).
Filesystem
The system that the operating system uses to manage files and directories. If your server uses multiple partitions, each partition might use a different filesystem.
Filter
In cPanel, a tool that processes email based on your preferences. For example, a filter can automatically discard spam or save mail from a specified sender to its own folder.
You can apply filters to the main email account on a domain with the Global Email Filters interface (cPanel » Home » Email » Global Email Filters).
You can customize filters for each individual account with the Email Filters interface (cPanel » Home » Email » Email Filters).
WHM users can set up more types of filters, like Exim filters.
Firewall
A security application that protects servers from intrusion by hackers. For example, CSF is a popular firewall for Linux systems. Linux systems also include a built-in firewall, iptables.
A tool that lets you forward a copy of every email message that you receive to another address. When a forwarder exists, you still receive mail at the original recipient address.
If you create a forwarder before you create the original address, the system will forward messages to the end address but not to the original address, because it does not exist.
You can create and manage forwarders in cPanel’s Forwarders interface (cPanel » Home » Email » Forwarders).
Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN)
A name that uniquely defines a domain’s location.
The FQDN generally uses the host.example.com. format, with a trailing dot. However, for cPanel & WHM, a final dot is unnecessary, but the domain name must contain at least two dots.
You must write FQDNs in lowercase letters.
G
Gem (RubyGem)
A piece of software in the Ruby language. These exist in the RubyGems repository.
More:
For more information, visit the RubyGems documentation.
Generators (Web Statistics Generators)
Software applications that compile log statistics for your web server. For example, they can report the amount of bandwidth that each domain has transferred.
cPanel & WHM includes three statistics generators:
Server administrators can manage their server’s web statistics and software in WHM’s Statistics Software Configuration interface (WHM » Home » Server Configuration » Statistics Software Configuration).
Globally Unique Identifier (GUID)
A value that the system uses to identify a resource, similar to UUID. UUID is the more common identifier while Microsoft products are the main users of GUID.
GNU Privacy Guard (GnuPG)
A suite of tools that you can use for data encryption and signing. Generally, you will use these tools for signing emails. You can create and manage GnuPG keys in cPanel’s Encryption interface (cPanel » Home » Email » Encryption).
Graceful Reboot
This method stores new system information before the server shuts down and is the preferred way to restart your server.
A service that protects a server against unwanted email or spam. When you enable greylisting in WHM’s Greylisting interface (WHM » Home » Email » Greylisting), the mail server temporarily rejects any email from a sender that the server does not recognize.
If the email is legitimate, the originating server attempts to send it again after a delay.
After sufficient time passes, the server accepts the email.
gzip
A program that compresses files for disk space conservation, minimizes transfer times, and makes the transfer of multiple files easier.
The compressed files use the .gz file extension.
Unix and Linux systems often use gzip with the tar command to create a tarball file, which uses the .tar.gz file extension.
You can set the system’s gzip compression level in WHM’s Tweak Settings interface (WHM » Home » Server Configuration » weak Settings).
H
.htaccess
A file that resides in a specific directory and contains the directory’s configuration information. The .htaccess file may also contain authentication instructions.
.htpasswd
A file that resides in a specific directory along with an .htaccess file. This file contains encrypted password information when the owner has set up authentication for the directory.
Note:
You can use cPanel’s Directory Privacy interface (cPanel » Home » Files » Directory Privacy) to configure directory privacy.
Ham
Legitimate messages that the system marks as spam. Use the Not junk button in Roundcube to train the system to recognize ham.
A Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) command that a mail server or client sends to identify itself when it connects with another mail server. This command initiates the process of sending of an email and follows with the server sending its domain name. Older mail clients use this command because these clients don’t require service extensions.
Home Directory
A cPanel account’s highest-level directory, which contains all of the files and directories that the account’s websites use. Visitors cannot view the files in a home directory unless they reside in the public_html directory or one of its subdirectories.
Hostname
The unique, human-recognizable name for a server across the internet (for example, host.example.com).
System administrators can specify or change a server’s hostname with WHM’s Change Hostname interface (WHM » Home » Networking Setup » Change Hostname).
The server hostname is distinct from your domain name.
Hotlink (Inline Link)
A direct link that embeds a file, such as an image or video, from your site into another website.
When another site embeds your files, it uses your bandwidth to serve those files.
You can prevent hotlinking in cPanel’s Hotlink Protection interface (cPanel » Home » Security » Hotlink Protection).