Introduction

Amazon Web Services (AWS), one of the pioneers in the world of cloud computing, serves everyone from individuals to gigantic companies with its hundreds of services. Unfortunately, the AWS console can be complicated at times and is a highly technical and information-dense UI, thereby making it ideal for offering free and open-source management panels specifically designed to ensure easy managing of AWS resources. This article is going to examine in detail some of the best open-source utilities available along with installation steps towards using them for AWS services like EC2, S3, Route53, and more.

1. Why Should I Use a Third-party Panel for AWS?

AWS Console could truly be convoluted and contains hundreds of services.

Even very simple operations might need a number of tabs and adjustments as a prerequisite.

Time savings could be gained through API-tied management systems.

Non-technical folks can easily manage resources through user-friendly interfaces.

2. Headliners in Production and Free AWS Admin Panels

2.1. CloudPanel

Features: Instantly simple install on WordPress, PHP Apps across EC2. Client management, database control, SSL, and so on have been covered.

License: Partly open source, free for individual use.

Installation:

curl -sSL https://installer.cloudpanel.io/ce/v2/install.sh | sudo bash

Support: Ubuntu 22.04, Debian 11

2.2. Cockpit

Features: Observing server state, monitoring of services, docking container management.

Licenses: Open-source GPL

Installing:

sudo apt install cockpit -y
sudo systemctl enable --now cockpit.socket

Access: https://server-ip:9090

2.3. Webmin

Features: Management of all Linux systems including Apache, Nginx, MySQL, etc via interface.

License: Open-source

Installation:

wget http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/webadmin/webmin_2.013_all.deb
sudo dpkg -i webmin_2.013_all.deb
sudo apt --fix-broken install

Access: https://server-ip:10000

2.4. HestiaCP

Features: Acts like a hosting cPanel on AWS EC2 servers and provides management for DNS, mail, database, SSL, FTP.

License: Open source

Setup:

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hestiacp/hestiacp/release/install/hst-install.sh
bash hst-install.sh

Note: Ubuntu 20.04 and 22.04 are supported.

2.5. CyberPanel

Features: LiteSpeed supported customizable hosting panel for AWS EC2.

License: Free version is available.

Installation:

sh <(curl https://cyberpanel.net/install.sh || wget -O - https://cyberpanel.net/install.sh)

3. Create IAM User and Key to Access AWS API

All these panels require IAM users and Access Key to get access to AWS services.

Steps:

AWS Console > IAM > Users > Add User

Programmatic Access must be marked

Add Required Permission Policies (such as EC2FullAccess)

Note Access Key ID and Secret Key

4. Installation De Panel on an EC2 Server (General Flow)

AWS Console > EC2 > Launch Instance

Select Ubuntu 22.04 (suitable for either CloudPanel or Cockpit).

T2.micro selection (Free Tier).

Connect via SSH:

ssh -i "key.pem" ubuntu@ec2-public-ip

Then install via one of the above scripts