WHM Admin Guide
Server-level management for hosting administrators â creating accounts, managing services, monitoring your server, and configuring security.
On this page
Accessing WHM
WHM is the server-administrator interface. Log in with your root credentials at:
https://YOUR-SERVER-IP:8443/whmOnly the root user (or admin accounts granted WHM access) can log into WHM. Regular hosting account users log into cPanel at /login.
Dashboard & Server Stats
The WHM dashboard shows a live view of your server â updated automatically every 60 seconds:
| Metric | Description |
|---|---|
| OS | Operating system and version (e.g. Ubuntu 24.04 LTS) |
| PHP | Active PHP version installed on the server |
| Uptime | How long the server has been running since last reboot |
| Load | 1-minute CPU load average. Values over your CPU count indicate high load. |
| Disk | Used vs total disk space on the root partition |
| Memory | RAM in use vs total available RAM |
The Services section shows the live status of all key services â Apache, MariaDB, Postfix, Dovecot, ClamAV, and Fail2ban.
Managing Accounts
Go to Accounts in the WHM sidebar to create and manage hosting accounts.
Creating a Hosting Account
Click "Create Account"
Fill in the primary domain, username, and password for the new account.
Set resource limits
Assign disk quota (MB), email account limit, and database limit. Set to 0 for unlimited.
Choose a package (optional)
If you've created hosting packages, select one to apply predefined limits automatically.
Save
hstPanel creates the system user, home directory, document root, and nginx vhost automatically.
Account List
The account list shows all hosting accounts with their domain, disk usage, and status. Click any account to:
- Log in as â opens that account's cPanel without needing their password
- Edit limits â change disk, email, and database quotas
- Suspend â disable the account (sites return 503)
- Delete â permanently remove the account and all its data
Account deletion is permanent. All files, databases, and email for that account are removed immediately. There is no recycle bin. Always back up first.
Service Management
Go to Services in WHM to start, stop, and restart server services.
| Service | Actions available | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Apache | Start / Stop / Restart | Restart after editing PHP or vhost configs |
| nginx | Start / Stop / Restart / Reload | Reload applies config changes without dropping connections |
| MariaDB | Start / Stop / Restart | Brief outage during restart â sites return DB errors momentarily |
| Postfix | Start / Stop / Restart | Outgoing email queues during stop |
| Dovecot | Start / Stop / Restart | Active IMAP connections drop during restart |
| ClamAV | Start / Stop / Restart / Update DB | Update DB fetches the latest virus definitions |
| Fail2ban | Start / Stop / Restart | Stopping Fail2ban removes active IP bans |
Restarting MariaDB causes a brief outage for all websites using databases. Do this during low-traffic periods.
Server Information
Server Info in WHM shows a detailed breakdown of your server's hardware and software:
- CPU model, core count, and architecture
- Total RAM and swap
- Disk partitions and mount points
- Kernel version
- Installed PHP extensions
- MariaDB version and uptime
- Network interfaces and IP addresses
Firewall
The Firewall section in WHM lets you manage UFW rules without touching the command line:
- View active rules â see all open ports and allowed IPs
- Open a port â allow traffic on any TCP or UDP port
- Block an IP â deny all traffic from a specific IP or CIDR range
- Close a port â remove an allow rule
Default open ports after install: 22, 80, 443, 8443, 25, 587, 993, 995.
DNS Management
If your server is acting as its own nameserver, go to DNS in WHM to manage DNS zones:
- Create zone â adds a new DNS zone for a domain
- Edit records â add, modify, or delete A, CNAME, MX, TXT, and SPF records
- Delete zone â removes a domain's DNS zone
Most hosting setups use the domain registrar's DNS or a service like Cloudflare rather than running their own nameserver. DNS management in WHM is only relevant if your server's IP is set as a nameserver (NS record) at your registrar.
SSL / TLS
Go to SSL in WHM to manage certificates for your panel domain and hosted domains:
Panel SSL Certificate
By default, hstPanel uses a self-signed certificate on port 8443. To replace it with a trusted Let's Encrypt certificate:
Point a domain to your server
Set an A record for a domain (e.g. panel.yourdomain.com) pointing to your server IP.
Issue certificate in WHM â SSL
Enter the domain name and click Issue via Let's Encrypt. The certificate is installed automatically.
Update panel URL
WHM â Settings â Panel URL â set it to your new domain so links in the panel use the correct URL.
Security & Fail2ban
The Security section in WHM shows active Fail2ban jails and banned IPs:
- SSH jail â bans IPs after 5 failed SSH login attempts (10-minute ban)
- nginx-http-auth jail â bans IPs after repeated 401 errors
- Apache-badbots jail â blocks known malicious user agents
Unban an IP
fail2ban-client set sshd unbanip 1.2.3.4Check ban status
fail2ban-client status sshdSoftware Installer
WHM â Installer provides one-click installation of popular web applications into any hosting account:
- WordPress
- Joomla
- Drupal
- PrestaShop
- phpBB
Select an account, choose the application, set the installation path, and click Install. The installer creates the database, copies files, and runs the setup automatically.