How To Access cPanel/WHM Via Command Line As The Root User

It is true that cPanel & WHM automates many of the server administration tasks that you may need to do as a "root" user.

One of the requirements to get the best of your machine is to be familiar with the Linux command line.

• It is important to note that cPanel & WHM requires the "root" user to use BASH by default. As a system administrator, you can modify the shell for other users.
• In cPanel & WHM version 72 and later, you can use cPanel's Terminal interface (cPanel >> Home >> Advanced >> Terminal or WHM's Terminal interface (WHM >> Home >> Advanced >> Terminal) to access the command line from within the interface.

Access the command line

To access your cPanel & WHM server from the command line, perform the following steps:

1. Use the correct method for your computer's operating system to open the command-line interface (CLI):
   • Microsoft Windows® — Open the Command Prompt program. To do this, click Start and enter, Command Prompt in the Search text box. Double-click Command Prompt in the list that appears.
   • MacOS® — Open the Terminal program. To do this, click the Applications icon in the dock, click the Utilities icon, and then click the Terminal icon.

   • Ubuntu — Open the Terminal program. To do this, press the Ctrl+Alt+T keys.

2. Your CLI program opens with access to the local computer. You must use SSH to access the cPanel & WHM server. To do this, enter the following command and press Enter:

   ssh username@hostname

   In this comment, username is your account's username, and hostname is the server's hostname. For example, to log in as the root user on the example.com server, run the following command:

   ssh root@example.com

3. The CLI prompts you for the account's password. Enter it and press Enter.

4. The CLI's display will appear similar to the following example.

   Last login: Fri Feb  6 12:50:38 on ttys000
   MyComputer:~ myname$ ssh username@example.com
   Password: 
   Last login: Fri Feb  6 12:52:33 2015 from 10.1.4.202
   username@example [~]# 

   You can now navigate the server's file system and run commands, within the limits of your account's permissions on the server.

    

Note: If you receive an error message that appears similar to the following example, you may not have SSH privileges enabled on the server.

ssh: connect to host example.com port 22: Connection refused 

Because command line access (shell access) has certain security implications, many web hosting providers restrict this access.

Please contact our technical support team if you are not sure what to do.