[cpanel11] cPanel 11 rollout

The cPanel developers have released their latest update to cPanel, called cPanel 11. This update has a lot of changes to the backend code and base code of the cPanel backend, and really serves to provide a much more efficient manner of accomplishing tasks.

cPanel is the backend controlling software on basically all of our servers. It controls things such as the web server, the mail server, the database server, etc. It is also the control feature that you see when you log into your control panel, when you go to http://yourdomain.com/cpanel. Suffice it to say, the upgrade will affect a lot of functions on the server, although when I say affect I don’t mean it in a negative sense. However, as with any update, especially one of this magnitude, it would be wise to anticipate some problems or at least some questions, because the way some things work will change. I am taking as many measures as I can to insure that the update goes smoothly, but realistically, no number of measures will prevent all issues.

It should also be pointed out, that there’s really not a choice in regards to the upgrade. The upgrade can be postponed, but sooner or later the upgrade is going to have to be done. The current version of cPanel, cPanel 10, will go end of life eventually and support for cPanel 10 will likely fade very soon, because the cPanel developers cannot maintain two different versions of cPanel. There may be some changes in the way things work, when cPanel 11 is rolled out on our server, and at first it may take some time getting used to it, but I think eventually you will like the new features.

I have been taking the time to test some of the new features and new coding structure involved with cPanel 11. Some of the new features I have disabled because I don’t think they are quite ready for production use. Other features, I am looking into implementing those features in a manner that is more conducive to our web hosting offerings. Ultimately, the real test won’t come until the roll out has begun and our end users are using cPanel 11. I will be honest, I probably deal more with the backend of the server and probably don’t use the controls and features that are available to end users that much, and so it our users that have a better understanding of how those controls and features should work and can give us feedback when something isn’t working the way it is expected to work.

The rollout will likely work with us updating one or two servers to begin with. You will probably receive an e-mail from us before we do the update, once we schedule the update. Be sure that you are keeping your contact information up-to-date. You can use the Account Management link on the right and use the Contact Information link to update your contact information. It is important to note that we use a separate billing database and contact information, than the contact information that in your control panel. Just because you update your contact information in your control panel, does not change your contact information in our billing database. The rollout will be done in this manner so as to work on any issues that might be raised during the short rollout. It is easier to resolve an issue if it is only affecting one or two servers, rather than resolving an issue on all of our servers. The rollout will likely continue in this manner throughout all of our servers. As we become more and more comfortable with the update, we may rollout the update to more servers at one time. But we won’t be updating all of our servers all at once.

I’ve spent the last couple of days testing some of the new e-mail features. For the most part, you won’t notice any major changes, the changes are basically done to the backend code which just helps with efficiency. I hope to give some additional updates, maybe some screenshots of the new control panel, within the next few days.