Installing cPanel and WHM on your VPS, step by step

The short answer: cPanel installs with one command, as root, on a freshly installed AlmaLinux 8 or 9. You need a licence (chosen when you order the server), a full server name and at least 2 GB of memory. When it is done, you log in to WHM on port 2087, create the site's account and AutoSSL installs the certificate on its own. The VPS is unmanaged: the panel is yours to look after.

What cPanel needs

Requirement	What cPanel says	On our VPS or Cloud
Operating system	AlmaLinux, CloudLinux, Ubuntu 24.04. Rocky Linux is no longer supported.	Choose AlmaLinux 9 (recommended); AlmaLinux 8 and CloudLinux 8 also work. Ubuntu 24.04 is requested through a support ticket. Debian, Fedora, CentOS 7, Rocky and Ubuntu 20.04 to 23.04 will not do.
Memory and disk	2 GB and 20 GB minimum; 4 GB and 40 GB recommended.	VPS1 and Cloud1 meet the minimum; for real use, VPS2 or Cloud2 and up.
Clean system	Only on a freshly installed system. There is no uninstaller.	Server already used? Ask for a clean reinstall in a support ticket.
Licence	One per server, tied to its IP.	Solo Cloud (1 account), Admin Cloud (5), Pro Cloud (30) or Premier Cloud (100), when you order or through a support ticket. With a licence bought from us, first-line help is ours, through a support ticket, and we escalate to cPanel.

Installing, step by step

1	Name the server: a subdomain you will not use for websites, with an A record pointing at the VPS IP. Over SSH, as root (first steps with your VPS): hostnamectl set-hostname server.asuaempresa.ao

2	Disable SELinux, which cPanel does not support, and reboot: sed -i 's/^SELINUX=.*/SELINUX=disabled/' /etc/selinux/config reboot

3	Turn off the system firewall during the install, saving the rules: iptables-save > ~/firewall.rules systemctl stop firewalld.service systemctl disable firewalld.service

4	Run the official installer, which downloads the latest version and installs what it needs: cd /home && curl -o latest -L https://securedownloads.cpanel.net/latest && sh latest

5	Put a firewall back afterwards (cPanel suggests CSF or APF), with ports 2083 (cPanel), 2087 (WHM), 2096 (webmail), 80, 443 and the mail ports open.

First login to WHM

1	Open https://SERVER-IP:2087 and log in as root, with the root password. Accept the legal agreements.

2	Enter the contact e-mail and two nameservers. Without them, WHM will not let you create accounts. Which names to use: pointing a domain at your VPS.

The first domain and SSL

1	Under Account Functions, Create a New Account, type the domain, the password and the e-mail, and press Create. The account opens at https://asuaempresa.ao:2083.

2	Point the domain at the VPS IP, through the server's nameservers or with A records. VPS servers do not use our nameservers.

3	SSL is automatic: AutoSSL uses Let's Encrypt, included with the licence, and runs when the account is created and every night. If the domain only pointed later, force it with /usr/local/cpanel/bin/autossl_check --all.

What goes wrong most: installing on a system off the list (Rocky, Debian, Ubuntu 22.04), on a server with another panel, or with SELinux on. As there is no uninstaller, going back means reinstalling the system. And the server name cannot be a website domain: use server.asuaempresa.ao, not asuaempresa.ao.

Before installing, check the system with cat /etc/os-release and the memory with free -h. Still choosing? Compare them in which panel to install on your VPS.

Need a cPanel licence on a server you already have, or a clean system reinstall? Ask us.

Open a support ticket

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