Froxlor as Control Panel for Server Management

Effective solutions for server management are becoming increasingly important. Systems with graphical user interfaces allow for a significant reduction in the need for console commands, enabling intuitive server management. In addition to well-known control panels like cPanel and Plesk, the open-source software Froxlor is gaining ground in the market.

What is Froxlor?

Froxlor is a control panel for web hosting providers that enables the management of emails, domains, FTP access, and more through a graphical user interface. The software is open-source and available free of charge under the GNU GLP 2.0 license.

The project was founded in 2010 by an experienced development team from the SysCP project. SysCP was a server management program at the time, but it was abandoned in May 2010. However, the developers were able to incorporate the experiences gained from SysCP into their work on Froxlor.

It has always been the developers' goal to provide powerful software for server management that is compatible with various systems and also freely available.

Alternatively, the control panel can also be used on a Froxlor VPS hosting or Froxlor Dedicated Server.

What can Froxlor do?

The control panel is driven by a team of dedicated IT professionals, constantly improved and continuously expanded with new features. As a result, the software's range of capabilities also grows. The basic elements are summarised below.

Multilevel User System

Froxlor allows creating different user profiles with various permissions. The following profiles are possible:

• Administrator
• Reseller
• Customer

Users can define limits for email accounts, subdomains, FTP accounts, or MySQL databases per customer. Resellers can customise the graphical user interface to the booked packages. This way, individual resources and features can be unlocked for each customer.

In addition, additional FTP accesses and a ticket support system can be created.

Encryption and Security

In addition to the option to install free SSL certificates from Let's Encrypt, customers can deposit certificates per domain. Data transmission encryption is active by default but can be deactivated if necessary. It is also possible to determine the SSL ports. Through Single Domain SSL certificates, each address can be encrypted separately.

PHP Configurations

Since version 2.0, Froxlor supports the PHP 8 scripting language by default. In addition, various configurations are possible and can be set separately for each domain.

Real Multistack

Froxlor allows managing different domains. For each readable internet address, it can be defined whether it should be assigned to an IPv4 or IPv6 address. Furthermore, the ports through which the addresses are addressed can be determined.

System Requirements and Software Support

The control panel is designed for Debian-based Linux distributions. Therefore, it runs optimally on operating systems such as Ubuntu, Debian, or Gentoo Linux. The program can be installed either directly through the package management of the respective distribution, via downloading the .tar file (Tarball), or through Github.

Froxlor provides comprehensive documentation that explains the installation in various ways.

In order for the control panel to function for server management, several other software installations are also necessary. Froxlor initially requires a web server. The application supports the most well-known systems such as the Apache 2 HTTP Webserver, Nginx, or the Lighttpd Server. Additionally, an up-to-date PHP installation and a MySQL/MariaDB server are essential for server management.

In addition, Froxlor supports many other software modules that administrators can use to expand functionality.
A name server like PowerDNS allows for the mapping of domain names to IP addresses. FTP servers like ProFTPD can be integrated, as well as Mail Deliver Agents (MDA) or Mail Transport Agents (MTA). Froxlor also supports statistic tools like Webalizer, which is particularly important for administrators and resellers.

Applications of Froxlor

Since the control panel can be downloaded for free from the developer's website, the software is easily accessible. However, due to its extensive functionality, it is primarily suitable for professional web hosting providers looking for a powerful solution to manage many customer accounts.

The control panel can also be used for personal use in managing smaller server networks. However, applications with less functionality are usually more suitable in this case.

The major advantage of Froxlor is that it is completely free to obtain. This means that companies need to budget less for server management, which is particularly interesting for startups. There are no acquisition costs for the appropriate software.

However, the system is not just a temporary solution for the beginning but can compete with commercial competitors. This allows hosting providers to offer permanently affordable rates for web hosting packages or servers.

Who is Froxlor suitable for?

Experienced server administrators will find the control panel easy to use. Beginners may need some time to get familiar with it. However, the program's documentation is comprehensive and answers most questions.

If issues arise, the community forum is available where users can get more or less help. Before using Froxlor, users should consider that there is no professional support available. If problems or disruptions occur, users may need to resolve them on their own.

Furthermore, in-depth knowledge and skills in server management and Linux operating system administration are required for setting up and using the free control panel. The Microsoft IIS web server compatible with Windows is not supported.

Use our Web Hosting Control Panel Comparison to find out which admin tool is best suited for your individual needs.

Our article is based on our own experiences and research, as well as information from external sources.

Sources & further links on the topic:
https://froxlor.org/ (official Froxlor website)

Image credit:
Gerd Altmann on Pixabay