Everything about cPanel Directory Structure

cPanel is a web hosting control panel. It is one of the most popular control panels in the web hosting field. If you are using cPanel or planning to install it on your server, it is good that you know about the cPanel directory structure. Before moving to cPanel directory structure, let’s see an overview on what a web hosting control panel is.

What is a Web Hosting Control Panel?

A webhosting control panel is a web-based interface that allows customers to manage their websites easily even without technical knowledge. There are many types of control panels in the circle of web hosting. To use a control panel, you need to install it on the server. Various common web hosting control panels are described below.

cPanel

Plesk

DirectAdmin

H-Sphere

Webmin

In the above list, only Webmin is available for free of cost. Remember that once cPanel installed, you cannot remove it from the server. You need to reload the server itself to remove the cPanel.

What is cPanel

cPanel is a linux-based webhosting control panel. It provides a graphical interface and tools to manage your hosting products. It is one of the most popular web hosting control panel. The control panel is easy to use and does not require any technical expertise. cPanel comes in two faces, WHM and cPanel. The WHM gives the root level access and reseller privileges as well. cPanel control panels are available for each main accounts. Before moving to cPanel directory structure, let’s see what the directory structure means.

Directory Structure

The organization of files into a hierarchy of folders is known as the directory structure. It describes how the files are arranged in the filesystem as contents of folders and for displaying the files. The directory structures will be in a hierarchical tree model.

cPanel Directory Structure

Now let’s see the cPanel Directory Structure in detail. The first directory we are going to see is Apache – /usr/local/apache. Let’s see the sub classifications.

Apache

Apache – /usr/local/apache
bin- apache binaries are stored here: httpd, apachectl, apxs
conf – conﬁguration ﬁles are stored here.– httpd.conf: php.conf
domlogs – domain access and stat log ﬁles for all domains are stored in this location
htdocs – The default apache DocumentRoot location
include – Here the header ﬁles are stored.
libexec – shared object (.so) ﬁles are stored here: libphp4.so,mod_rewrite.so
logs – apache logs: access_log, error_log, suexec_log
man – apache manual pages
icons – icon/jpg/gif images
modules – shared object (.so) ﬁles are store here: Apache-2.x+
Init Script :/etc/rc.d/init.d/httpd or /usr/local/apache/bin/apachectl: apache start script
cPanel script to restart apache – /scripts/restartsrv_httpd
/opt – Apache modules built here

Exim

Conf : /etc/exim.conf – exim main conﬁguration ﬁle is stored here.
/etc/localdomains – list of domains allowed to relay/receive mail
Log : /var/log/exim_mainlog – incoming/outgoing mail logs
Log : /var/log/exim_rejectlog – exim rejected mails are reported here
Log : /var/log/exim_paniclog – exim errors are logged here
Mail queue: /var/spool/exim/input
Cpanel script to restart exim – /scripts/restartsrv_exim
Email forwarders and catchall address ﬁle – /etc/valiases/domainname.com
Email ﬁlters ﬁle – /etc/vﬁlters/domainname.com
POP user authentication ﬁle – /home/username/etc/domainname/passwd
Catchall inbox – /home/username/mail/new
POP user inbox – /home/username/mail/domainname/popusername/new
POP user spambox – /home/username/mail/domainname/popusername/spam• Program : /usr/sbin/exim (suid – -rwsr-xr-x 1 root root )
Init Script: /etc/rc.d/init.d/exim : /scripts/restartsrv_exim : service exim restart
Check queue: exim -bpc

ProFTPD

Program :/usr/sbin/proftpd
Init Script :/etc/rc.d/init.d/proftpd : /scripts/restartsrv_ftpserver
Conf: /etc/proftpd.conf
Log: /var/log/messages, /var/log/xferlog
Accounts ﬁle – /etc/proftpd/$username -all ftp accounts are stored here

Pure-FTPD

Program : /usr/sbin/pure-ftpd
Init Script :/etc/rc.d/init.d/pure-ftpd : /scripts/restartsrv_ftpserver
Conf: /etc/pure-ftpd.conf
Accounts ﬁle: /etc/proftpd/$username (all ftp accounts are stored here)
Anonymous ftp document root – /etc/pure-ftpd/ip-address

Mysql

Program : /usr/sbin/mysqld :/usr/bin/mysqld_safe
Init Script : /etc/rc.d/init.d/mysql : service mysql start/stop : /scripts/restartsrv_mysql
Conf : /etc/my.cnf, /root/.my.cnf
Data directory – /var/lib/mysql (location for all database storage)
Database naming convention- username_dbname (eg: john_sales)(DBMapping)
Log: Startup errors – /var/lib/mysql/hostname.tld.err
Socket ﬁle – /var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock, /tmp/mysql.sock

SSHD

Program :/usr/local/sbin/sshd
Init Script :/etc/rc.d/init.d/sshd – /scripts/restartsrv_sshd – service sshd restart
Conf: /etc/ssh/sshd_conﬁg
Log: /var/log/messages

Perl

Program :/usr/bin/perl or /usr/local/bin/perl
Directory :/usr/lib/perl5/5.8.x/ or /usr/local/lib/perl5
Version: perl -v
Check: /scripts/checkperlmodules : /scripts/perlmods -s
Installer: /scripts/perlinstaller : perl -MCPAN -e shell
Build: /home/.cpan :/home/.cpcpan

Named(BIND)

Program: /usr/sbin/named
Init Script: /etc/rc.d/init.d/named
Conﬁg: /etc/named.conf
Zone ﬁles:/var/named/
Log: /var/log/messages: /var/named/data/named.run

Courier

Program: /usr/lib/courier-imap/libexec/couriertcpd
Init Script: /etc/init.d/courier : /scripts/restartsrv_courier
Conﬁg: /usr/local/libexec/courier-imap
Log: /var/log/maillog

Dovecot

Program: /usr/sbin/dovecot
Init Script: /etc/init.
Conﬁg: /etc/dovecot.conf
Log: /var/log/maillog

EasyApache

/var/cpanel/easy/apache
/var/cpanel/userdata
/usr/local/apache/conf/
/var/cpanel/templates/apache2
/usr/local/cpanel/src/templates/apache2
/home/cpeasyapache
/opt
/usr/local/cpanel/logs/easy/apache

cPanel

cPanel installation directory structure – /usr/local/cpanel
3rdparty/ – tools like fantastico, mailman ﬁles are located here
addons/ – AdvancedGuestBook, phpBB, etc.
base/ – phpmyadmin, squirrelmail, skins, webmail, etc.
bin/ – cpanel binaries
cgi-sys/ – cgi ﬁles such as cgiemail, formmail.cgi, formmail.pl, etc.
logs/ – cpanel access_log, error_log, license_log, stats_log
whostmgr/ – whm related ﬁles
base/frontend – cPanel related ﬁles – themes+ perl/ – internal Perl modules for compiled binaries are here.
etc/init – init ﬁles for cPanel services are stored here.

WHM

WHM related ﬁles – /var/cpanel – whm ﬁles are present here.
bandwidth/ – rrd ﬁles of domains
username.accts – reseller accounts are listed here.
packages – list of hosting packages are here
root.accts – list of root owned domains are here
suspended – list of suspended accounts are here
users/ – cpanel user ﬁle: theme, bwlimit, addon, parked, sub-domains all are listed here
zonetemplates/ – dns zone template ﬁles are taken from here

Important cPanel/WHM ﬁles (& Conﬁg ﬁles)

/usr/local/apache/conf/httpd.conf – This is the apache conﬁguration ﬁle.
/etc/exim.conf – This is the email server conﬁguration ﬁle.
/etc/named.conf – This is the name server (named) conﬁguration ﬁle
/etc/proftpd.conf – This is the proftpd server conﬁguration ﬁle
/etc/pure-ftpd.conf – This is the pure-ftpd server conﬁguration ﬁleetc/valiases/domainname (catchall and forwarders are set here)
/etc/vﬁlters/domainname – email ﬁlters are set here
/etc/userdomains – all domains are listed here addon, parked, subdomains, and the usernames
/etc/localdomains – exim related ﬁle all domains should be listed here to be able to send/receive emails
/etc/cpbackup-userskip.conf
/etc/sysconﬁg/network – Networking Setup
/etc/hosts
/etc/resolv.conf – Networking Setup–> Resolver Conﬁguration
/etc/nameserverips – Networking Setup–> Nameserver IPs ( for resellers to give their nameservers )
/var/cpanel/resellers – For addpkg, etc permissions for resellers.
/etc/chkserv.d – Main » Service Conﬁguration » Service Manager
/etc/ipaddrpool – free IP addresses
/etc/ips.dnsmaster – nameserver IP’s
/etc/domainips – dedicate IPʼs set for speciﬁc domains
/etc/wwwacct.conf – account creation defaults ﬁle in WHM (Basic cPanel/WHM Setup)
/etc/cpupdate.conf – This is the Update Conﬁg file
/etc/cpbackup.conf – Conﬁgure Backup
/etc/clamav.conf – clamav (antivirus conﬁguration ﬁle )
/etc/my.cnf – This is the mysql conﬁguration ﬁle
/usr/local/lib/php.ini – This is the php conﬁguration ﬁle
/etc/ips – IP addresses on the server (excluding shared IP’s) (IP Functions–>Show IP Address Usage )
/var/run/chkservd – Main » Server Status » Service Status
/var/log/dcpumon – top log process
/root/cpanel3-skel – skeleton directory. Eg: public_ftp, public_html. (Account Functions)
/var/spool/exim/input – Mail queue
/var/spool/exim/msglog – email message logs
/var/spool/cron – cronjobs are stored here for all users
/var/cpanel/users – cpanel user ﬁle that deﬁnes account settings
/var/cpanel/users.cache – user cache ﬁles that are read by cPanel
/var/cpanel/cpanel.conﬁg – cpanel conﬁguration ﬁle ( Tweak Settings )
/var/cpanel/Counters – To get the counter of each users.
/var/cpanel/bandwidth – To get bandwith usage of domains
/var/cpanel/userdata – Deﬁnes parked, addon, subdomains as well as VirtualHost
/var/cpanel/logs – transfer logs
/var/cpanel/easy/apache – easyapache build ﬁles/proﬁle
/var/cpanel/userhomes – session home for cPanel, Horde, Roundcube, phpmyadmin
/var/cpanel/serviceauth – chkservd service user/pass data
/var/cpanel/updatelogs – upcp daily logs
/var/cpanel/horde – version ﬁle, backups and logs are stored here
/var/cpanel/roundcube – version ﬁle, backups and logs stored here
/var/cpanel/squirrelmail – version ﬁle stored here
/var/cpanel/packages – default and custom packages created herevar/cpanel/databases – dbmapping ﬁles
/var/cpanel/cpanelsync – DNS Clustering ﬁles

If you need any further assistance please reach our support department.

Everything about cPanel Directory Structure

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Everything about cPanel Directory Structure

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Everything about cPanel Directory Structure

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