Guide: control panels
Looking for a Windows hosting control panel? You may need an engineer, not more switches
A hosting control panel gives you screens full of settings and expects you to know which ones matter. ServerMaid takes the other route: it does the work of an experienced Windows server engineer, building a production-grade IIS, PHP and MySQL web server, proving it works, and keeping it that way.
Server setup £99 £49.50 plus Websites and SSL £79, £39.50 per server for twelve months, unlimited websites. 30-day money-back promise.
What people want when they search for an IIS control panel
Most people looking for a control panel for Windows Server do not want a panel for its own sake. They want PHP websites running on IIS, a database that is not open to the internet, SSL certificates that renew themselves, backups they can trust and a server that does not quietly break. A panel is the usual way to get there, but it still leaves the engineering to you: which PHP settings, which folder permissions, which firewall rules, what to do when FastCGI stops.
Traditional server-management tools give you controls and expect you to know what to do with them, and many expect a web server that is already set up before they will even install. ServerMaid takes a different approach. Give ServerMaid a Windows Server and it helps build, secure, verify, monitor, maintain and repair a production-ready IIS web server, without requiring you to become a Windows sysadmin. ServerMaid automates much of the work normally performed manually by an experienced Windows server engineer, starting from a fresh Windows Server with nothing else installed.
It starts from the result: it knows what a production web server should look like, builds it, checks it and keeps checking it:
Build → Verify → Monitor → Detect → Repair
You still decide where websites live, which database to use and which PHP version to run. The specialist work behind those decisions is done for you.
Side by side
A control panel, and the ServerMaid way
A typical hosting control panel
- Gives you the controls and expects you to know how to use them
- Adds its own web login and management port to the internet-facing server
- A red warning when something fails, and a search engine for the rest
- Settings changed by hand are simply the new settings
- Backups are made; whether they restore is up to you to find out
- Migration copies the old server, mistakes and all
With ServerMaid
- Builds IIS, PHP, MySQL, firewall, permissions and SSL to a known-good design
- Runs on the server over your Remote Desktop session, with no extra web panel and no inbound port
- Every problem explained: what is wrong, why it matters and how to fix it
- Drift detection notices settings that changed and offers to put them back
- Backups verified by fingerprint and by a real restore test
- Migration moves the websites and leaves the old server's mistakes behind
Preview, apply, verify, roll back
A panel changes a setting the moment you press the button. ServerMaid treats server changes as the serious thing they are: each change is shown to you before it runs, checked afterwards and recorded so it can be rolled back. Changes that touch Remote Desktop run with a safety timer and are undone by themselves if you cannot get back in, so a firewall change made through ServerMaid cannot lock you out of your own server.
Less to attack, not more
Web-based panels are software on your server with a login page on the internet, and they need patching and protecting like any other website. ServerMaid adds none of that. It is a Windows application you open on the server itself; your websites and databases never leave it. Its outbound connections are for your licence, signed updates, official downloads such as PHP and MySQL, and Let's Encrypt certificates.
When a full control panel is still the right choice
Be clear about what you need. ServerMaid is built for people who run PHP and MySQL websites on their own Windows servers: developers, agencies, businesses and small hosts. It does not run a mail server or a DNS server, and it does not give your customers their own logins. If you resell shared hosting with mailboxes and customer self-service, a full panel may suit you better. If you want your own sites on a server that is set up properly and stays that way, ServerMaid is the shorter road.
Questions about control panels
Is ServerMaid a Plesk alternative?
For people who host PHP and MySQL websites on their own Windows Server, yes. ServerMaid builds and hardens IIS, PHP and MySQL, adds websites with free SSL, backs them up and keeps the server healthy. It does not run mail or DNS servers or give your customers their own logins, so if you resell hosting with those, a full panel may still suit you better.
Is there a cPanel for Windows?
cPanel runs on Linux only. On Windows Server the choice is a Windows control panel, doing everything by hand in IIS Manager and PowerShell, or a tool such as ServerMaid that does the configuration for you.
Does ServerMaid have a web interface?
No. ServerMaid is a Windows application you use on the server over Remote Desktop. There is no extra web login or management port for attackers to find, and nothing about your websites or databases leaves the server.
Can I still use IIS Manager?
Yes. ServerMaid builds a standard IIS server. If you change something by hand, the Repair scan notices, shows what changed and puts safe settings back in one click; anything that needs a decision is left for you.
What does it cost compared with a panel?
Server setup is £99 £49.50 per server for twelve months, with Websites and SSL £79 £39.50 for unlimited websites. Agency licences cover 3, 6 or 12 servers with every module, billed yearly. See pricing.
Build it. Secure it. Prove it. Watch it. Repair it.
ServerMaid, the automated Windows web server engineer. Single servers from £99 £49.50 for twelve months; Agency licences for 3, 6 or 12 servers.