Hosting Control Panels: Part 2 — ISPmanager

ispmanager — a commercial hosting control panel from a Russian developer. It is widely used by Russian hosting providers; many offer it preinstalled on VPS. After WebPros stopped servicing customers from Russia and Belarus on March 31, 2026, ispmanager became the main replacement for cPanel and Plesk on Russian servers: the developer accepts payments in rubles and supports importing data from both panels.

Editions and prices

Current version — ispmanager 6. Prices as of September 2026, from the official site:

• There is a 14-day trial period with full functionality.
• Docker is available only on Pro and Host plans. A separate CloudLinux license is required for integration with CloudLinux.
• A separate product is released for hosting providers — ispmanager 6 business. It allows creating reseller accounts, setting tariffs and limits (sites, CPU, memory, disk, mailboxes, backups) and connecting billing: BILLmanager, WHMCS, RootPanel.
• Prices were increased on February 1, 2026. New prices apply to new orders and renewals after that date.

Server requirements

• CPU, memory, disk: at least one core, 1 GB of RAM and 10 GB on disk. On AlmaLinux, CloudLinux and Rocky Linux you need at least 1.5 GB of RAM, otherwise the panel may install incorrectly. For normal operation the developer recommends 4 GB.
• Operating systems: AlmaLinux 8, 9 and 10; Debian 11, 12 and 13 (Debian 13 — from version 6.147); CloudLinux 8, 9 and 10; Ubuntu 22.04 and 24.04 (recommended); Rocky Linux 8.
• A static IP address configured in the network interface configuration. If the address is assigned via DHCP, correct operation is not guaranteed.
• A clean system: there must be no other control panel or separately configured web and mail services on the server before installation.

Installation

The installer script is downloaded from the developer’s site and run as root:

wget https://download.ispmanager.com/install.sh -O install.sh
sh install.sh

For servers outside Russia the documentation provides a separate script install.eu.sh. The installer asks step by step:

1. Update branch: stable (stable) or beta (with the latest changes but still under testing). For production servers — stable.
2. Panel edition according to your license.
3. Web server set: Nginx with Apache (MPM-ITK), OpenLiteSpeed or commercial LiteSpeed.

You can run the installation non-interactively by passing parameters on the command line. This option is described in the documentation and is convenient when servers are deployed automatically.

After installation the panel opens at https://IP-address:1500/ispmgr. Login is root and password is root. You should immediately close port 1500 in the firewall for all addresses except your working ones, or expose the panel only via VPN.

Features

• Sites. Web servers Nginx, Apache and OpenLiteSpeed. Multiple PHP versions, as well as Python and Node.js for individual sites. Let’s Encrypt certificates.
• One-click CMS installation: WordPress, Drupal, Joomla and others. The Softaculous app catalogue and the Site.pro site builder can be connected.
• Mail on site domains, with built-in webmail.
• DNS, file manager, FTP, databases with management tools.
• Scheduled backups.
• Protection: firewall, DDoS protection module, antivirus integrations, user permissions management.

Migration from cPanel and Plesk

ispmanager supports importing sources ispmanager 4, 5 and 6, cPanel and Plesk. Users, sites, domains, mailboxes, databases, PHP settings and SSL certificates are migrated. There are three migration methods:

• rsync. Data is copied directly without intermediate archives, so no disk space is needed for backups. This method is not available for Plesk.
• Backup. A user backup is created in the source panel. It is uploaded to ispmanager from a computer, by URL or by direct connection to the source panel.
• Remote storage. This method transfers accounts between ispmanager servers of the same edition.

After import you need to check two things:

• Let’s Encrypt certificates continue to work but are not automatically renewed. They need to be reissued in ispmanager.
• Database passwords must be entered manually when migrated from cPanel.

Procedure for migration without downtime:

1. Deploy the new server with ispmanager and migrate one test user.
2. A day before the switch, reduce the DNS record TTLs for the sites, for example to 300 seconds.
3. Check the sites on the new server by adding its address to your computer’s hosts file.
4. Migrate the remaining users and repeat data synchronization immediately before the switch.
5. Switch A records and MX records to the new server.
6. Reissue certificates, update the SPF record for the new IP address, check the DKIM signature and ask your provider to configure the reverse DNS record (PTR) for the mail server.
7. Keep the old server running for a few days until you are sure mail and sites are working.

Common mistakes

• Installing on a server with already running services. The panel is designed for a clean system and can conflict with manually configured Nginx, Postfix or BIND.
• Less than 1.5 GB of RAM on AlmaLinux or Rocky Linux. Installation may fail with errors.
• IP address via DHCP. The developer does not guarantee correct operation: sites, mail and DNS zones in the panel are tied to the server’s address.
• Port 1500 open to the whole Internet. A panel with root access is the first target for password guessing.
• License not sized correctly. On Lite you cannot create more than ten sites. Count sites in advance to avoid having to switch plans in a hurry.
• Backups only on the same server. In case of disk failure or a ransomware attack they will be lost along with the sites.

When to choose ispmanager

Choose ispmanager if the server is located in Russia, you need developer support, documentation in Russian and payment in rubles, and if you are migrating from cPanel or Plesk and want to transfer sites and mail using built-in tools. For one or two personal sites a license may be excessive — in that case consider free alternatives HestiaCP and FASTPANEL.