Reqad - the alternate hosting control panel

Open source & self-hosted. Reqad is a free control panel for Rocky Linux, AlmaLinux and RHEL - manage hosting, email, DNS, SSL, WordPress and multiple PHP versions from one clean dashboard.

Easy to use, with no license fees. Built for running your own domains or client sites on a single VPS, with predictable costs.

Features

• Hosting accounts - per-domain accounts with disk-usage monitoring
• Email - Exim + Dovecot + Roundcube webmail + SpamAssassin, with SPF, DKIM, SRS, forwarders and autoresponders
• WordPress toolkit - install, one-click login, page cache, security hardening and PageSpeed scores per site (details below)
• Multiple PHP versions - per-account PHP 7.x/8.x with OPcache, APCu and a full php.ini editor
• SSL/TLS - Let's Encrypt & ACME certificates for the panel and every hosted domain
• DNS management - Cloudflare, cPanel and PowerDNS providers, with wildcard support
• Databases - MySQL/MariaDB with phpMyAdmin
• cPanel migration - import existing accounts with domains, mail and databases
• File manager - account-level, with CodeMirror editor, bulk operations, chmod and archive support
• More tools - browser terminal, SSH keys, cron jobs, backups and service control

WordPress toolkit

Each WordPress site gets its own management page:

• Install and discover - one-click install with the database created automatically. A rescan finds existing installs, including ones in subfolders.
• One-click login - opens wp-admin straight from the panel.
• Site overview - WordPress, PHP and theme versions, pending plugin updates, disk usage, SSL status and the login URL.
• Screenshot and PageSpeed - a site screenshot plus Google PageSpeed scores for performance, accessibility, best practices and SEO.
• Performance - Nginx page cache, a real system cron in place of WP-Cron, a search-engine indexing switch, and a maintenance mode that returns HTTP 503 so search engines come back later.
• Security hardening - per-site switches with recommended defaults:
  • Web server rules: block xmlrpc.php, wp-config.php, sensitive files and author scans; forbid PHP in wp-includes, uploads and cache directories; add security headers; block aggressive crawlers; allow logins only from listed IPs.
  • WordPress settings: hide the WordPress version, disable dashboard file editing, turn off pingbacks, move the login to a custom URL.
  • Files: regenerate the security keys and restrict file permissions.

Page cache and the Reqad Cache Purger plugin

On Nginx servers, turning on Nginx cache serves pages straight from a FastCGI cache, without running PHP for anonymous visitors. Logged-in users, the cart, checkout and wp-admin are never cached.

Reqad also installs its companion WordPress plugin, Reqad Cache Purger. The plugin clears the cache automatically when content is published, updated, trashed or deleted. It also adds a purge button to the admin bar, an optional cache warmer and a cache self-test.

Demo

Try Reqad without installing anything - a live demo panel is available at reqad.com/demo.

Requirements

• OS: Rocky Linux, AlmaLinux or RHEL 8 / 9 - a fresh, clean install
• Architecture: x86_64
• Memory: 1 GB RAM minimum, 2 GB or more recommended
• Access: root over SSH
• Hostname: a fully qualified name (e.g. srv1.example.com) with a DNS A record pointing to the server - see Step 2
• A free reqad.com account with the server's IP added - needed before you install, see Step 1

Stack it manages: Nginx / Apache · MariaDB · Exim / Dovecot · PHP / Roundcube · PowerDNS / Cloudflare · Let's Encrypt · WordPress · Monit · CSF firewall.

Installation

Installing takes three steps, in this order:

1. Register and add your server's IP at reqad.com
2. Set the hostname and reverse DNS
3. Run the installer

Step 1 - Register and add your server's IP

Do this first. Reqad is in early access and its package repository (repo.reqad.net) only answers servers whose IP address is on the allow-list. Until your server's IP is added, the install command fails and opening the install.sh link in a browser asks you to sign in. That is expected; it is not a bug.

1. Register a free account at reqad.com and confirm your email address.

2. Add your server's public IP on your account page. If you don't know the IP, run this on the server:

   curl -4 ifconfig.me

3. Wait a minute or two. The IP is allow-listed shortly after you add it; then the installer can reach the repository.

See reqad.com/download for the same steps.

Step 2 - Hostname and reverse DNS

Set the server's hostname before you install. Reqad needs a fully qualified name that resolves in public DNS to the server's IP address: the panel is reached at that name and its Let's Encrypt certificate is made for it. localhost, single words like myvps and local-only names (.local, .localdomain) can't be used.

hostnamectl set-hostname srv1.example.com
host srv1.example.com     # must show the server's public IP
host 203.0.113.10         # reverse DNS of the IP - should show srv1.example.com

• A record: create it at your DNS provider, srv1.example.com → the server's IP.
• Reverse DNS (PTR): set it in your hosting provider's control panel, to the same name. If the hostname can't be used, the installer takes the reverse DNS name instead, as long as that name passes the same check. If you install the mail stack, a matching PTR also helps your mail get delivered, since many mail servers check it.

If the hostname doesn't pass, the installer stops at the start, before installing Reqad, and tells you what to fix. Behind NAT the name may point to a public address the server doesn't see itself: the installer only warns about that, and the certificate for the name works as long as ports 80 and 443 on that address reach the server.

Step 3 - Install

Once your server's IP is allow-listed (Step 1), run one command on a fresh EL8 or EL9 server - the same command for both, it detects which one you are on:

bash <(curl -sSL https://repo.reqad.net/install.sh)

It checks the server, then opens a terminal UI to choose the web server, PHP version, whether to install the mail stack, the SSH port and the timezone:

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Rocky Linux 9.4 (Blue Onyx) · x86_64                     │
│ srv1.example.com   203.0.113.10   4 vCPU   7.8G RAM      │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ ▸ Web server    [ nginx + php-fpm ] [ apache + mod_php ] │
│   PHP version   [ 7.4 ] [ 8.2 ] [ 8.3 ] [ 8.4 ] [ 8.5 ]  │
│   Email stack   [ no ] [ yes ]                           │
│   SSH port      22                                       │
│   Timezone      Europe/Bucharest                         │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                    Start installation                    │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
  ↑↓ move · ←→ change · ⏎ select · q quit

Pick Start installation and it sets up the web stack, MariaDB, SSL and - if you asked for it - the mail stack. A log of the run is kept at /var/tmp/reqad-install/install_reqad.log.

Unattended

Pass any option and the UI is skipped, using the defaults for anything you leave out:

bash <(curl -sSL https://repo.reqad.net/install.sh) \
  --template nginx_php-fpm \
  --php 8.4 \
  --email \
  --ssh-port 1922 \
  --timezone 'Europe/Bucharest'

Option	Default	What it does
--template	nginx_php-fpm	Web server stack: nginx_php-fpm or apache_modphp
--php	8.3	PHP version: 7.4, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4 or 8.5
--email / --no-email	off	Install Exim, Dovecot and Roundcube
--ssh-port	22	Moves SSH to another port; turns off password logins once root has an SSH key
--timezone	server's current	Sets the server clock, e.g. Europe/Bucharest
--skip-update	—	Skips the initial system update and package install
-y, --yes	—	Runs with every default, no UI
--dry-run	—	Prints what would be installed and changes nothing
--help	—	Lists every option

Note. The installer does not read environment variables. The older install-el8.sh / install-el9.sh scripts, and the SSH_PORT / TIMEZONE / TEMPLATE / PHP_VERSION / WITH_EMAIL variables they used, are replaced by the single install.sh and the options above.

If the installer can't download anything or asks for authorization, the server's IP is not allow-listed yet: check that the IP on your account page is the one curl -4 ifconfig.me shows.

Premium

Reqad stays open source and free to self-host. A Premium subscription, per server, adds:

• Account Panel - a control panel for each of your customers on port 2083: WordPress Toolkit with staging, email, files, databases, domains & SSL, backups and metrics
• Hosting Pro - hosting packages with limits, disk and mailbox quotas, monthly bandwidth limits, account suspension, own IP addresses and Apache behind Nginx
• ModSecurity - web application firewall with the OWASP Core Rule Set, per account
• FTP server - Pure-FTPd with TLS and per-account FTP users
• Full server transfer - move accounts from cPanel® / WHM® servers over SSH, with all their data
• Other add-ons - WireGuard VPN, Minecraft Java server
• Priority email support and help with migrations and setup

Premium has its own installer. As with the free version, register and add the server's IP first (Step 1). The installer sets up the base system as above and then the add-ons:

bash <(curl -sSL https://repo.reqad.net/install-premium.sh)

See reqad.com/pricing for plans and prices, and Which version? for a full comparison.

cPanel® and WHM® are registered trademarks of WebPros International LLC. Reqad is not affiliated with or endorsed by them.

License

GPL-3.0.