Webuzo on an InterServer VPS (2026): Included Panel, First Login, One-Click Apps, Domains, SSL, Backups

1. What Webuzo is, and what "included" means

InterServer's Webuzo page describes the product as "App-ready cloud compute with Webuzo control from $3 per month" and the panel as something that "adds a single-user control panel to InterServer cloud compute, with one-click applications, domain tools, email, databases, FTP, and SSH controls." The starting configuration is one slice: "1 Slice Webuzo VPS $3/mo. 1 CPU core, 2GB memory, 40GB SSD storage, and 2TB transfer. Webuzo panel selected during VPS ordering." On cost the page is direct: "Webuzo is included with InterServer Webuzo VPS orders, so there is no separate control panel license cost for this landing page path."

Webuzo is made by Softaculous, and sells licences on its own. Its pricing page in September 2026 lists cloud/VPS plans at $2.50 a month (Personal, 1 user account, billed $27.50 a year), $5 (Mini, 4 users), $13 (Professional, 15 users) and $20 (Business, unlimited users), each with automatic updates and technical support, plus a 15-day trial. Two things follow. First, the panel InterServer bundles is worth a few dollars a month at Webuzo's own prices, which is why bundling it is possible where bundling cPanel (from $29.99) is not. Second, Webuzo's own site now calls itself a "Multi-user control panel" with admin, reseller and end-user levels, while InterServer's page calls it single-user; Webuzo's how-to on disabling single-user mode shows that a default install runs in single-user mode and can be switched. For one owner with their own sites, which is who InterServer's page addresses, the distinction does not matter; for a reseller, section 12 points at cPanel.

2. Slice count and operating system

Webuzo's installation guide sets the floor: "RAM - Minimum 1 GB (Recommended 2 GB for best performance)", "Disk Space - Minimum 5 GB (Recommended 10 GB for best performance)", and it must go on a "Newly installed OS" from its list, which on its Install Webuzo V4 page (last modified 2026-08-04) includes AlmaLinux 8, 9 and 10, Ubuntu LTS 18.04 through 26.04, Rocky Linux 8 to 10, CloudLinux 8 and 9, and CentOS 7 and 8. The list is Webuzo's and includes releases whose own vendors no longer support them; on InterServer, choose a current one. A single InterServer slice (2 GB, 40 GB) is above the recommendation for the panel alone; the applications decide the rest.

Slice specs are from InterServer's Webuzo page cards; the "fits" column is this guide's judgement, not a measurement. InterServer's FAQ describes CPU as "every two slices has access to one CPU core".

On the order form, choose the Webuzo product path (the panel is "selected during VPS ordering"), a region (New York, Dallas or Los Angeles, same price), the slice count and an operating system template. Webuzo's requirement is a clean OS with "no PHP, Apache, MySQL installed on the server" before the panel goes on, and InterServer's OS page says panels "work best when the selected OS template matches the panel vendor requirements". AlmaLinux 9 or Ubuntu 24.04 are both on Webuzo's list; pick AlmaLinux if you may ever move to cPanel, Ubuntu if you know it better. Since InterServer installs the panel on this path, the requirement is theirs to meet; it matters if you install Webuzo yourself on a plain slice later.

3. First login: the admin panel

Webuzo's documentation: "To login to the Webuzo Admin Panel, visit the following URL : https://Your-IP:2005/ OR http://Your-IP:2004/ The username and password will be the root credentials details of your server." Use 2005. The first visit shows a browser warning because the panel has no certificate for a bare IP yet; that clears once the hostname resolves and has a certificate. Then, in the order Webuzo's own post-install notes give:

1. Panel Config (Admin Panel, Settings, Panel Config). Webuzo: "After the installation is completed we recommend you check the panel configuration." Set the server IP and a hostname "which will not be used by any user", such as srv1.yourdomain.com, and create an A record for it at your DNS host.
2. Nameservers. The panel asks for a primary and secondary nameserver (ns1 and ns2 of your domain). If the server will be its own DNS, register those at your registrar pointing at the server IP; if DNS stays at your registrar or Cloudflare, enter them anyway and manage records there. The second is simpler for one owner and keeps DNS up when the server is down; this is the guide's judgement, Webuzo supports both.
3. Change the root password from the admin panel's Settings, and store it in a password manager. This is the server's root password as well as the panel's.
4. Firewall. Webuzo lists the ports it wants open: "2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 21, 22, 25, 53, 80, 110,143, 443, 465, 993,995 , 587 and 3306". Close 2002 and 2004 (the plain-http panel ports) and 3306 (MySQL) from outside unless you need them; the admin panel's Security section has IP Block and a CSF firewall configuration for this.

4. The first user and the end-user panel

Sites belong to users, and the owner's own sites are no exception: create a user for yourself rather than working as root. Webuzo's guide: "You can Add User from your Webuzo Admin Panel > Home > Users > Create New Account", where "In domain information, enter your valid details", optionally pick a plan, and "Populate the fields and Click on Save User." The wizard asks for the primary domain, a username, a password and an email address; leave the feature set and IP options at their defaults on a single-owner server. The same form has a "Make reseller" checkbox and shell-access and cron switches, which is where Webuzo's multi-user side lives.

That user then logs in to the end-user panel, which Webuzo's documentation places "at port 2002 and 2003 : https://Your-IP:2003/ OR http://Your-IP:2002/". Everything in sections 5 to 9 happens there; the admin panel is for server settings, users, updates and backups of the whole server. The admin panel can open any user's end-user panel without the password, which is handy when you administer for someone else.

5. Adding a domain and pointing DNS

The user's primary domain exists from the wizard. For more, Webuzo's guide puts it in the end-user panel under Domains, Add Domain, with a dropdown "for selecting domain as a Parked, Addon or Subdomain", the domain name, and two checkboxes: one "if you want to issue a Lets Encrypt certificate via Webuzo" and one "if you want Webuzo to add the Mail Validation Records". Leave both checked for a domain that will host a site and send mail. Wildcard records are supported with an asterisk in the host field.

DNS itself is outside the panel unless the server is the nameserver. At your DNS host, point the domain and www at the server IP with A records. Do that before ticking the Let's Encrypt box, or add the domain first and issue the certificate later from Automatic SSL (section 7), since the certificate authority has to reach the domain on the server to validate it.

6. Installing WordPress and other applications

This is what the panel is for. WordPress has its own manager; Webuzo's guide: "Go to Webuzo End User Panel, on the top right corner click on the WordPress logo. This will take you to the WordPress manager. Click on Install and select the domain from dropdown list and fill the directory in which you want to install a WordPress site. Add Admin account details like Username, Password and Email address and at the bottom click on install. After Successful Installation you will get URL for WordPress Admin and WordPress Site." Leave the directory empty to install at the domain root.

Everything else goes through the Softaculous installer inside the panel. InterServer's page: "Webuzo supports hundreds of scripts, including WordPress, Joomla, PrestaShop, Magento, phpBB, SMF, WHMCS, MyBB, CubeCart, and PHP-Fusion", and Webuzo's own comparison page counts "350+ one-click installs". The installer creates the database and the admin account for you; what remains yours is choosing a version of PHP per domain (MultiPHP is in the panel) and keeping the application updated, which the installer can also do. For code that is not a packaged script (a Node.js, Python, Go or Ruby app), Webuzo's Application Manager in the end-user panel runs it behind the web server; its documentation has a page per runtime.

7. SSL with Let's Encrypt

Webuzo issues Let's Encrypt certificates in two places: the checkbox on Add Domain, and the end-user panel's SSL section. Its guide places the tool in the end-user panel under SSL, Automatic SSL, where a certificate is installed either "for your single domain" by clicking install beside it or "for all domains" from the top of the wizard, with LOGS, REVOKE and RENEW actions per domain; "If your certificate has expired, Webuzo will renew your domain certificate." In practice the log is where you look when a domain stays on the browser warning, and the cause is almost always DNS not yet pointing at the server.

8. Email

The end-user panel's Email section covers accounts, forwarders, MX records, SpamAssassin and webmail (Roundcube among the clients in Webuzo's documentation), and the Add Domain checkbox for "Mail Validation Records" writes SPF and DKIM into the zone when the server is the nameserver; if DNS lives elsewhere, copy those records from the panel to your DNS host. Two things sit outside the panel. First, the reverse DNS (PTR) record for the server IP, which receiving mail servers check: only the IP's owner can set it, so ask InterServer by ticket to point it at your hostname; Webuzo's how-to on adding a PTR record explains what the record should say. Second, whether outbound port 25 is open on a new InterServer server is not stated on the pages this guide read; if a test message does not leave, that is the first question for the ticket. For anything beyond a personal domain, sending through a relay is the reliable route, and Webuzo's how-to on a remote SMTP server covers it.

9. Backups to a remote server

Webuzo's backup utility, in the end-user panel under Server Utilities, takes four kinds of backup ("Full Backup Home Backup Database Backup Mail Backup" in its own list), on demand or on a schedule, and stores them locally or on a remote server: "Remote server includes four types of servers SSH, FTP, Google drive and AWS", the last covering "Amazon s3 and s3 compatible". The steps, from Webuzo's documentation:

1. Add a backup server (Backup, Backup Servers tab, Add Backup Server): a name, hostname or IP, type, port, username, password and a backup location.
2. Schedule on the Schedule Backups tab: the backup type, the server, and a rotation limit ("You can choose the maximum limit for Auto Backups Rotation"). A nightly full backup with a rotation of seven, plus a weekly kept for a month, is a sensible floor for one server; the setting also allows very short intervals, which are for testing rather than production.
3. Restore from the same page with the restore icon beside a backup, and read the Logs tab afterwards; a backup you have never restored is untested.

The remote should be a different machine. InterServer's Storage Cloud Compute (1 TB for $3 a month, per its storage page) reached over SSH is the cheapest matching option; Backblaze B2 or any S3-compatible bucket is the other common choice. InterServer does not advertise VPS snapshots, so these backups are the only point-in-time copy you will have; the InterServer VPS guide has the reasoning, and the migration guide covers moving a site in and out by hand.

10. Updates and security

The admin panel's Updates section has two items in Webuzo's documentation, "Webuzo Update" and "System Update", the first for the panel and the second for the operating system's packages. Run both on the first day and on a schedule after. The Security section covers IP Block, SSH access, root SSH keys, password strength, country management and a CSF firewall configuration; Webuzo's comparison page lists "SSH, brute force protection, ModSecurity support, 2-factor authentication" among its security features. Turn on two-factor for the admin login, put your SSH key in and disable password SSH, and keep the panel's plain-http ports closed. The general checklist in this site's security hardening guide applies underneath the panel; what the panel manages (web server, PHP, mail), leave to the panel rather than editing configuration files by hand.

11. Support, and growing the server

InterServer's FAQ, with cPanel as its example: "If the server includes a control panel such as cPanel, we support software installed by the control panel, including the panel itself, web server, FTP, and mail." Its Webuzo page adds: "Managed support is included on Linux VPS plans with 8 or more slices. Support can help diagnose common server, service, database, control panel, and performance issues." Webuzo itself publishes documentation and runs its own support channels for the panel. For a one-slice Webuzo server, expect InterServer to keep the platform and the panel install working and to help with the panel's stack per the FAQ; what runs inside an application is yours. Confirm the boundary in a ticket if it will matter.

Growth is by slices: InterServer's page says "You can increase the slice count when the VPS needs more CPU, memory, SSD storage, or transfer for additional apps, domains, or traffic." The admin panel's Server Utilities show CPU, RAM, disk and bandwidth, which is where to look before deciding. Additional IPv4 addresses are $3 a month each, up to five, per the FAQ.

12. Webuzo, WordPress VPS or cPanel: InterServer's three paths

InterServer sells three ways to get a site onto a slice without building the stack by hand, and its own pages draw the lines:

• Webuzo VPS, this page. InterServer's FAQ: "Choose Webuzo VPS when you want a simpler single-user panel with one-click apps and lower panel overhead." One owner, many apps, no licence line.
• WordPress VPS. A separate product page: "Launch WordPress on isolated cloud compute configured by InterServer staff, with SSD storage, OpenLiteSpeed, FastCGI, LSPHP, LSCache, OPcache, and room to scale", at the same $3 per slice. No panel; a tuned WordPress stack set up for you. The better choice when the server will only ever run WordPress and you are comfortable without a control panel.
• cPanel VPS. From the same FAQ: "Choose cPanel VPS when the project needs the cPanel/WHM ecosystem, reseller-style account separation, or cPanel-specific workflows." A licence from $29.99 a month at cPanel's list price on top of the slices; the cPanel guide covers it.

InterServer's FAQ also names DirectAdmin as a Linux panel option, and its OS page lists Plesk; the order form is the current answer for those two. For the buyer InterServer's Webuzo page describes, one person with a few sites who wants a panel and does not want a second bill, the path on this page is the one to take: one or two slices, the Webuzo option, the admin panel on 2005 for the settings in section 3, then a user, a domain and the WordPress manager.