Overview

We recommend and support the use of the cPanel installer to install and provision cPanel & WHM. However, we understand that this is not the most efficient way for a VPS (Virtual Private Server) hosting company to provision a VPS, because this process requires extra time. This article explains how hosting companies and data centers can provision a VPS or VM (Virtual Machine) with cPanel & WHM already installed for their customer. The installation of cPanel & WHM from a templated environment reduces the customer's setup time so that they can create a VPS and work on their website rather than their server.

Create a Minimal VM for Templating

A minimal template VM uses 10 GB of space, but you can expand it later as the customer requires.

This document creates a small template that you will expand after you set it up on the customer's VPS. Create a new minimal VPS to prepare your template.

Pre-configuration

We provide extensive documentation that explains how to preconfigure cPanel & WHM. For more information, visit the Installation Guide documentation.

We recommend that you customize the following files:

/etc/cpupdate.conf
/etc/cpsources.conf
/etc/wwwacct.conf
/var/cpanel/cpanel.config

Release tier

cPanel, Inc. offers the following release tiers:

• EDGE
• CURRENT
• RELEASE
• STABLE

cPanel & WHM automatically defaults to the RELEASE tier. But, before you install cPanel & WHM, you can configure the /etc/cpupdate.conf file to select which release tier cPanel & WHM will use.

For example, if you wished to configure cPanel & WHM to use the CURRENT release tier, run the following commands:

# touch /etc/cpupdate.conf
# echo "CPANEL=current" >/etc/cpupdate.conf

If you wished to use EDGE or STABLE tiers, replace the word current with the desired release tier.

Other files

HTTPUPDATE=fastupdate.example.com

cPanel Installation

After you finish your pre-configuration, you can install cPanel & WHM. Follow the Best Practices for cPanel Virtualization Templates as you usually would to install cPanel.

Deploy your VPS

When you deploy the customer's VPS, you must automatically update some files. If you use the libguestfs virt-sysprep command, you can achieve this via the "--firstboot" or "--firstboot-command" flags. If you do not use the libguestfs command, consult your hypervisor's documentation for an alternative option to run scripts or commands upon first boot.

Before you deploy your VPS, complete the following steps:

• Automatically call the /usr/local/cpanel/bin/set_hostname script on the first boot of the image before any cPanel services start. You can either randomize the hostname or set the hostname based on your customer's choice.
• Update ADDR within /etc/wwwacct.conf to the main IP address for the VPS.
• If you run a 1:1 NAT environment, run the /scripts/build_cpnat script to build your NAT file, and configure Apache accordingly.
• Run the /scripts/rebuildhttpdconf script to rebuild your Apache configuration with the correct addresses.

The following bash script executes the steps above, but it does not update ADDR:

#!/bin/bash

readonly PROGNAME=$(basename $0)
readonly PROGDIR=$(readlink -m $(dirname $0))
readonly ARGS="$@"
readonly HOSTNAME=$(hostname --fqdn)
readonly CPHULKPASS=$(/usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/bin/perl -MCpanel::PasswdStrength::Generate -e 'print Cpanel::PasswdStrength::Generate::generate_password(14)')
readonly MSECPASS=$(/usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/bin/perl -MCpanel::PasswdStrength::Generate -e 'print Cpanel::PasswdStrength::Generate::generate_password(14)')
readonly ESTATSPASS=$(/usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/bin/perl -MCpanel::PasswdStrength::Generate -e 'print Cpanel::PasswdStrength::Generate::generate_password(14)')
readonly LPROTPASS=$(/usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/bin/perl -MCpanel::PasswdStrength::Generate -e 'print Cpanel::PasswdStrength::Generate::generate_password(14)')
readonly RCUBEPASS=$(/usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/bin/perl -MCpanel::PasswdStrength::Generate -e 'print Cpanel::PasswdStrength::Generate::generate_password(14)')
readonly MYSQLPASS=$(/usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/bin/perl -MCpanel::PasswdStrength::Generate -e 'print Cpanel::PasswdStrength::Generate::generate_password(14)')

is_file() {
    local file=$1
    [[ -f $file  ]]
}

is_dir() {
    local dir=$1
    [[ -d $dir  ]]
}

main() {
    is_dir /usr/local/cpanel \
        && /usr/local/cpanel/bin/set_hostname ${HOSTNAME} \
        && /usr/local/cpanel/bin/checkallsslcerts --allow-retry \
        && /scripts/build_cpnat \
        && /scripts/rebuildhttpdconf \
        && /scripts/mysqlpasswd root ${MYSQLPASS} \
    is_file /var/cpanel/hulkd/password \
        && /scripts/mysqlpasswd cphulkd ${CPHULKPASS} \
        && echo -e "user=\"cphulkd\"\npass=\"${CPHULKPASS}\"">/var/cpanel/hulkd/password \
        && /scripts/restartsrv_cphulkd
    is_file /var/cpanel/modsec_db_pass \
        && /scripts/mysqlpasswd modsec ${MSECPASS} \
        && echo ${MSECPASS} >/var/cpanel/modsec_db_pass
    is_file /var/cpanel/roundcubepass \
        && /scripts/mysqlpasswd roundcube ${RCUBEPASS} \
        && echo ${RCUBEPASS} >/var/cpanel/roundcubepass
    is_file /var/cpanel/eximstatspass \
        && /scripts/mysqlpasswd eximstats ${ESTATSPASS} \
        && echo ${ESTATSPASS} >/var/cpanel/eximstatspass \
        && /scripts/restartsrv_eximstats
    is_file /var/cpanel/leechprotectpass \
        && /scripts/mysqlpasswd leechprotect ${LPROTPASS} \
        && echo ${LPROTPASS} >/var/cpanel/leechprotectpass
}

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Updating your Templates

As cPanel, Inc. releases updates, you will need to update your templates.

To avoid this situation, plan regular updates on all of your templates.

To update your template, run the following commands:

# yum update -y
# /scripts/upcp

Before you shut down the VM to create the template, run the following commands to ensure that cPanel, Inc. does not lock your license:

# /scripts/restartsrv_chkservd --stop
# /scripts/restartsrv_cpsrvd --stop
# rm -f /usr/local/cpanel/cpanel.lisc

The following bash script runs the commands shown above:

#!/bin/bash

readonly PROGNAME=$(basename $0)
readonly PROGDIR=$(readlink -m $(dirname $0))
readonly ARGS="$@"

is_file() {
    local file=$1
    [[ -f $file  ]]
}

is_dir() {
    local dir=$1
    [[ -d $dir  ]]
}

main() {
    is_dir /usr/local/cpanel \
    && /scripts/restartsrv_cpsrvd --stop \
    && /scripts/restartsrv_chkservd --stop
    is_file /usr/local/cpanel/cpanel.lisc \
        && rm -f /usr/local/cpanel/cpanel.lisc
    is_file /etc/.whostmgrft \
        && rm -f /etc/.whostmgrft
    echo "You should now shutdown this instance and template it up"
}

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Virtualization-specific Caveats

OpenVZ/Virtuozzo

Common Issues:

• The hostname on OpenVZ/Virtuozzo may not meet the requirement of a Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) on CentOS 7. Virtuozzo controls the hostname via VPS configuration (the --hostname parameter of the vzctl or prlctl commands). If you set the hostname manually from inside the VPS, Virtuozzo will reset the hostname on the next reboot. Ensure that you set up the full hostname correctly after you provision the VM, because cPanel & WHM requires an FQDN.
• OpenVZ/Virtuozzo requires that you enable second-level quotas, which can cause quota-initiation issues. For more information read our Enable Quotas on a Virtuozzo® VPS documentation, or Virtuozzo's Documentation.
• Jailshell requires specific steps to enable a full proc mount. For more information, read our Best Practices for cPanel Virtualization Templates documentation.

Related Documentation