1. Introduction
Installing cPanel & WHM on a Linux server requires meeting several hardware, software, and networking prerequisites. Official documentation emphasizes that installation must occur on a freshly installed operating system and that the server must have a public, static IP address.
The documentation states: “You must log in to the server as the root user in order to install cPanel & WHM.”
2. Licensing Requirements
Each server requires its own cPanel license, and licenses cannot be shared or transferred between servers.
The documentation states: “You cannot transfer a single cPanel & WHM license across multiple servers.”
Additionally, cPanel cannot run on IPv6-only servers; at least one IPv4 address is required.
3. Networking Requirements
3.1 Hostname Requirements
- Must be a registered, fully-qualified domain name (
FQDN). - Must not exceed 60 characters.
- Must resolve to a valid IP address.
The documentation states: “Your hostname must… resolve to a valid IPv4 or IPv6 address.”
3.2 IP Address Requirements
- Must be a valid IP address.
- On NAT networks,
1:1 NATandNAT loopbackmust be configured.
3.3 Network Interface
The server must use a static IP address.
The documentation states: “You cannot use an IP address that a DHCP service dynamically assigns to your server.”
4. Firewall and Network Manager
CloudLinux
- CloudLinux 7 requires disabling
Network Manager. - CloudLinux 8, 9, and 10 do not require disabling it.
Rocky Linux
- Rocky 8 automatically disables Network Manager during installation.
- Rocky 9 does not require disabling it.
Ubuntu
UFW must be disabled before installation.
systemctl stop ufw.service5. Hardware Requirements
- CloudLinux 7–10: 1.1GHz CPU, minimum 2GB RAM, minimum 20GB disk, 64-bit
- Rocky Linux 8–9: 1.1GHz CPU, minimum 2GB RAM, minimum 20GB disk, 64-bit
- Ubuntu 24.04: minimum 1.1GHz CPU, minimum 2GB RAM, minimum 20GB disk, 64-bit
The documentation states: “We strongly recommend that you install at least 3 GB of RAM if you want to install ClamAV.”
6. SELinux and AppArmor
SELinuxmust be disabled on CloudLinux and Rocky Linux.- SELinux must not be installed on Ubuntu.
The Ubuntu documentation states: “Do not install SELinux on your server. SELinux is not compatible with cPanel & WHM.”
AppArmor on Ubuntu is fully compatible.
7. Filesystem and Partitioning
- Recommended filesystems:
XFSorext4 - Minimum 20GB for the
/partition - Minimum 1,000,000 inodes
The documentation states: “The base cPanel & WHM installation requires at least 1,000,000 inodes.”
8. Supported Virtualization Environments
KVMVMwareXenVirtualBoxQEMU
CloudLinux and Rocky Linux have limitations with OpenVZ and Virtuozzo.
9. Perl Installation
Perl must be installed before running the cPanel installer.
The documentation states: “Perl must exist on your server before the installation script…”
10. cPanel & WHM Installation Command
The installation command is identical across all three operating systems:
cd /home && curl -o latest -L https://securedownloads.cpanel.net/latest && sh latestThe documentation states: “This command… downloads the latest version of cPanel & WHM, and runs the installation script.”
11. Important Pre‑Installation Notes
- Installation must occur on a freshly installed OS.
cPaneldoes not provide an uninstaller.- A public, static IP is required.
- Installing additional services beforehand may break the installation.
The documentation states: “We do not provide an uninstaller. If you wish to remove our software, you must reformat the server.”
12. Conclusion
Official cPanel documentation makes it clear that a successful installation of cPanel & WHM depends on meeting strict requirements related to networking, hardware, filesystems, SELinux, and virtualization. While CloudLinux, Rocky Linux, and Ubuntu differ in certain details, the core principles remain the same:
- Fresh operating system
- Static IP address
- SELinux disabled
- Firewall disabled during installation
- Minimum 2GB RAM and 20GB disk space