Getting Started with CorePanel

Welcome to CorePanel - the modern, secure, and blazingly fast web hosting control panel designed for RHEL-based servers. This guide will help you get started with CorePanel and unlock the full potential of your hosting infrastructure.

What is CorePanel?

CorePanel is a next-generation web hosting control panel that combines security, performance, and ease of use. Built from the ground up for modern hosting needs, CorePanel provides:

• True User Isolation: Each account runs in a completely isolated environment with dedicated PHP-FPM pools
• WordPress Optimization: Built-in Early Hints, on-the-fly WebP, and performance optimizations
• Modern Stack: CoreHttpd with HTTP/3, PHP 8.4, 8.3, 8.2 and 7.4 side by side, and MariaDB 10.11 LTS out of the box (dynamic caching & JS/CSS minification on Pro)
• Security First: SELinux Enforcing, native pxShield WAF, privilege-separated services, and more

Why Choose CorePanel?

CorePanel is designed for hosting providers and agencies who need a reliable, fast, and secure control panel without the complexity of traditional solutions. Our users report up to 3x faster WordPress sites compared to traditional cPanel setups.

Quick Start

Prerequisites

Before installing CorePanel, ensure your server meets these requirements:

• Operating System: RHEL 8/9/10, AlmaLinux, or Rocky Linux
• Architecture: x86_64 (64-bit)
• RAM: Minimum 2GB (4GB+ recommended)
• Disk Space: At least 20GB free space
• Network: Clean installation with internet access

Important

CorePanel requires a fresh server installation. Installing on a server with existing control panels or web server configurations may cause conflicts.

Installation Steps

Installing CorePanel is straightforward. Follow these steps:

1. Update your system

dnf update -y

2. Run the installer

curl -fsSL https://get.corepanel.net/install.sh | bash

The installer sets up the full stack: CoreHttpd, PHP-FPM (7.4 and 8.4), MariaDB 10.11 LTS, Postfix/Dovecot, Rspamd, PowerDNS, Pure-FTPd, and the CorePanel services.

It asks for confirmation before touching the server, because it takes ownership of the whole hosting stack and there is no uninstall — install on a fresh server only. For unattended provisioning, skip the prompt with --yes:

curl -fsSL https://get.corepanel.net/install.sh | bash -s -- --yes

3. Initialize the server

Run the interactive setup wizard to configure the panel hostname, administrator email, and password:

corepanel system init

See Initial Server Setup for a full walkthrough of the wizard.

4. Access the panel

Once initialization completes, access your panel at its configured domain:

https://panel.example.com

Log in with the user coreadmin and the password shown at the end of the wizard (also stored in /root/.corepanel_password).

If the panel domain does not resolve in DNS yet, you can reach the panel right away at https://<server-ip> (accept the self-signed certificate warning; verify the fingerprint printed by the wizard). That IP endpoint stays available afterwards as your way back in if DNS or the certificate ever breaks — see Accessing the panel by IP.

Installation Time

The installation process typically takes 10-15 minutes depending on your server’s specifications and network speed.

Core Concepts

Understanding these key concepts will help you make the most of CorePanel:

Accounts and Isolation

Each account in CorePanel runs in a completely isolated environment:

Feature	Description	Security Benefit
Dedicated PHP-FPM Pool	Each account has its own PHP process	Prevents cross-account PHP exploits
Separate Linux User	Each account is a separate system user	Operating system-level isolation
Disk Quotas	Per-account storage limits	Prevents storage abuse
File Permissions	Strict permission enforcement (0600 isolation)	No unauthorized file access

WordPress Optimization

CorePanel includes built-in WordPress optimizations:

• Early Hints (HTTP 103): Pre-load critical resources before the page loads (all editions, on by default)
• Image Optimization: On-the-fly WebP conversion (all editions, on by default)
• Dynamic Caching: Intelligent caching with automatic cache invalidation (Pro and up)
• JS/CSS Minification: On-the-fly asset minification (Pro and up)

Backup System

CorePanel’s backup system provides:

1. Full Account Backups: A self-describing archive with the home directory, MySQL databases, mailboxes, and credentials
2. Scheduled Backups: Recurring per-account or server-wide schedules (daily/weekly/monthly presets or custom cron) with retention pruning
3. Full Restore: Recreate an entire account — domains, DNS, mail, databases, and files — from a single archive

Common Operations

Here are some common tasks you’ll perform with the corepanel CLI:

Creating a New Account

Accounts are created from their primary domain. The CLI prompts for the account password (at least 12 characters, with lower-case, upper-case, and digit):

corepanel account create example.com --owner-email john@example.com

Finding an Account ID

Most commands identify accounts by their numeric id. Resolve a domain to its id with:

corepanel account list --search example.com

Adding a Domain

Add an alias (parked) or addon domain to an existing account, using its account id:

corepanel domain add 12 shop.example.net --type addon

Checking Service Status

corepanel status

Full CLI Reference

See the CLI Reference for the complete list of commands, flags, and examples — accounts, domains, subdomains, mail, cron, backups, and more.

Next Steps

Now that you understand the basics, explore these topics:

• Initial Server Setup: The corepanel system init wizard in detail
• CLI Reference: Every corepanel command, flag, and example
• Mail System: Learn about the email stack, SPF, DKIM, and authentication

Need Help?

If the docs don’t cover what you’re after, write to us — we answer every message.

Automation

Everything the panel does goes through CorePanel’s JSON-RPC 2.0 API — the same interface used by the web UI and the corepanel CLI. For scripted provisioning today, use the CLI, which supports non-interactive usage and JSON output:

# Scripted account provisioning
printf '%s' "$ACCOUNT_PASSWORD" | corepanel account create example.com --password-stdin --php 8.4 --quota 5120

# JSON output for scripting
corepanel account list --search example.com --json | jq '.[0].accountId'