cPanel has just released cPanel and WHM 11. The control panel has been substantially rewritten to improve performance and security. This is an extensive upgrade from previous versions and offers a number of new features including Apache 2.x support and utilities to switch from Apache 1.x to 2.x. cPanel 11 now supports RHEL/CentOS 3, 4 and 5 and Fedora 5 and 6.
Backend improvements promise increased speed of the control panel's interface and faster email processing. SpamAssassin processing is also improved. Public key authentication has been built into cPanel and WHM. From within WHM's Security Center, server administrators can now block traffic from specific IPs with Host Access Control and manage the impact of brute force attacks with the cPHulk which disables authentication to services including cPanel, WHM, SSH, FTP, IMAP, and POP3 after an attack has been detected.
A number of new cosmetic features have been added as well, including an integrated help and greater flexibility branding your interface. Resellers can now manipulate fonts, colors, table borders and easily add their own logo.
As with all new upgrades, we strongly recommend waiting until the dust has settled a bit before rushing to upgrade. cPanel notes that this is an major upgrade and they are actually releasing it in two stages. The release build of stage two will be available later this month. Before attempting an upgrade, you will need to run a number of minor updates such as updating to Perl 5.8.8, which cPanel strongly recommends. Please consider waiting at least a couple of weeks before upgrading to this new version. Once it has had more time in the real world we can find out what, if any, problems arise during the process. Waiting, especially with an upgrade as extensive as this, can save you a lot of headaches and downtime.
For more detailed information visit the cPanel 11 preview site.
