Originally designed by John Nick Koston, the cPanel is basically a web hosting control panel, which is Unix based. Web hosting becomes an easier process with the use of cPanel. This is because it provides a graphical user interface & several automation tools which simplify the process of web hosting. cPanel makes it easier for end users to control different aspects of the website & maintain it as well.
With cPanel, even those users not having much knowledge about server operating systems, can host a website easily. Several standard system administration processes can be automated, as cPanel has a command line & allows API-based access. Due to its design, the cPanel can function both as a dedicated server & as a virtual private server. Besides the points highlighted in the above paragraph, other advantages of cPanel include - its accessibility, since it can be accessed through any browser. It can also control a wide variety of functions, right from managing virtual e-mail accounts to file management systems.
Yet another advantage of cPanel hosting is that the server can be managed and configured through any computer. To do so, the administrator could use his office computer, log in from a friend's computer, or at any other place. With cPanel hosting, there is no need to be concerned with finding a compatible operating system or any need to worry about configuration files. Making data back-ups can be automated in a cPanel server, this saves time as well as programming costs. Migrating accounts (& data) from one server to other is really simple in cPanel hosting. Also the site is restored to a new server in complete working order, with all its customized settings intact. Other benefits of installing cPanel are that - the websites & server can be easily monitored for details like - resource use & visitor statistics, etc.
In case a threat is detected, the cPanel automatically notifies the administrator & also suggests simple steps to protect the server. As a caution, it should be stated that once installed, the cPanel is quite difficult to remove. To remove cPanel, the server would need formatting & the operating system would need to be reinstalled.