Knowledge Base

What is WHM Tweak Settings, What Does it Do? Secure and Performant cPanel Management with the Most Accurate Settings

In cPanel & WHM systems, the Tweak Settings section, one of the most powerful areas for a server administrator, is essentially the central command room of a control panel. From here, you can make dozens of settings that directly affect the server's behavior, security, resource usage, and user experience. In this guide, we cover all the tabs within Tweak Settings in an explanatory, exemplary, and practical manner, explaining what important settings do, when they should be changed, and how to configure them in the best-case scenarios.

1. Compression

This section determines the server's data compression performance. High compression means less bandwidth usage but more CPU usage.

• gzip compression level: 6 is ideal. 9 can put excessive load.

• Number of pigz processes: Up to 4 can be used on multi-core servers.

• Chunk size: 4096 KB is a medium level; CPU consumption increases at higher levels.

2. cPAddons Site Software

Allows users to install software like WordPress and Joomla with a single click.

• An address like "[email protected]" should be defined as the administrator notification email.

• The "Non-cPanel source" option should only be enabled for custom applications.

‍ 3. Development

• Debug Mode: For developers. Allows you to monitor system behavior live. Should remain off on production servers.

️ 4. Display

• The cPanel interface theme, statistics displays, and the number of accounts listed per page are controlled from here.

• If "Display File Usage" is enabled, the inode limit becomes visible.

5. Domains

All domain name management-related settings are located here:

• Subdomain creation limits

• Automatic SPF and DKIM activation

• Auto-config support for Thunderbird and Outlook

• Recommendation: The "Prevent users from creating specific domains" feature should be enabled.

6. Logging

• Log detail level and log archiving habits are determined. If "Verbose logging" is enabled, the detail increases, but so does disk consumption.

7. Mail

You configure spam protection, queue management, and limitation principles in mail delivery here:

• "Max hourly emails per domain": A limit of 300–500 is ideal.

• "Initial catch-all": Should be set to Fail.

• "Enable SpamAssassin": Should be enabled, but pay attention to CPU usage.

• "Reject outgoing mail on spam suspicion": This is the system's response after detecting a high spam rate. "Reject" is safer.

8. Notifications

Controls the sending of critical notifications regarding disk, traffic, SSL, and resource usage:

• "Quota warnings": Should be enabled for warnings of 80% and above.

• "Bandwidth limit": Notification after 85% is recommended.

9. Packages

Default resource limits for newly created hosting packages are set here:

• Disk: 10240 MB, Mail Quota: 1024 MB, Bandwidth: 1048576 MB are recommended standards.

10. PHP

Timeout and memory values for PHP processes running in the cPanel interface:

• "Max execution time": Between 300–500 seconds

• "Memory limit": At least 512 MB is recommended

11. Redirection

Details such as automatic redirection to SSL and the target page after logout:

• "Always redirect to SSL" should definitely be enabled.

12. Security

Basic configurations that directly affect the security of cPanel:

• "Require SSL": Should be enabled

• "Enable File Protect": Mandatory security shield

• "Blank referrer safety": Should be enabled, prevents malicious calls

13. Software

• The active/passive status of services, background tasks, and maintenance services are in this tab.

• The activity of services such as "spamd" and "dnsadmin" directly affects system performance.

14. SQL

• Contains settings for DB disk calculations, default prefix usage, schema access, etc.

• "Require prefix" should definitely be enabled to prevent conflicts.

15. Stats and Logs

• Related to the retention period of statistics, log rotation, and the CPU load of statistics programs.

• "Exim stats retention": 10 days is an ideal starting point.

16. Stats Programs

• Tools such as "Awstats", "Analog", and "Webalizer" can be activated/deactivated.

• In case of performance problems, only "Awstats" can be left enabled.

17. Status

• "Critical load threshold": System load thresholds are set here based on the CPU core.

18. Support

• Access to cPanel documentation and the error reporting system:

• "Send error reports to cPanel": Can be left disabled, recommended for security reasons.

⚙️ 19. System

• Contains settings that affect the system's basic behaviors, such as Apache ports, jailshell, quota controls, and cpsrvd.

• "Enable optimizations for the C compiler": Should be enabled, shortens compilation times.

• "IPv6 support": Should be enabled if supported.

CONCLUSION:

The WHM > Tweak Settings area is a center where hundreds of small settings combine to shape a huge system behavior. Every setting you make directly affects the system's security, performance, and user experience. Therefore, changes should be tested in a test environment and then applied to the production system.

For comprehensive information and guides:

• WHM Basic Setup Guide

• cPanel Version Update

• Bulk Backup Transfer