The cPanel Service Daemons

Overview

This document lists the services (daemons) that exist on cPanel & WHM servers. A daemon is a program that runs as a background process, rather than under a user's control.

To view a complete list of daemons on your server, run the WHM API 1 servicestatus function.
To view a list of daemons that you can enable and monitor via the interface, use WHM's Service Manager interface (WHM >> Home >> Service Configuration >> Service Manager).

Services

Note:

In cPanel & WHM version 76 and later, certain server profile configurations affect a service's availability. For more information, read our How to Use Server Profiles documentation.

Daemon	Service name	Description
`apache_php_fpm`	PHP-FPM service for Apache	This daemon improves the performance of EasyApache 4's PHP-based internal applications. Important: This option is only available on systems that use EasyApache4. You cannot install or remove the PHP-FPM daemon in this interface. You must use the EasyApache 4 interface (WHM >> Home >> Software >> EasyApache 4). Note: In cPanel & WHM version 76 and later, the Database Node, DNS Node, and Mail Node server profiles disable this service.
`clamd`	ClamAV Daemon	This daemon scans your server for malicious programs. Note: To install or uninstall ClamAV, use WHM's Manage Plugins interface (WHM >> Home >> cPanel >> Manage Plugins).
`cpanel-dovecot-solr`	IMAP Full-Text Search (FTS) Indexing (Powered by Apache Solr^™).	This daemon provides fast search capabilities for IMAP mailboxes. Notes: To install or uninstall IMAP Full-Text Search (Powered by Apache Solr), use WHM's Manage Plugins interface (WHM >> Home >> cPanel >> Manage Plugins).™ In cPanel & WHM version 76 and later, the Database Node and DNS Node server profiles disable this service.
`cpanel_php_fpm`	PHP-FPM service for cPanel Daemons	This daemon improves the performance of PHP-based internal applications that ship with cPanel & WHM, such as: phpMyAdmin phpPgAdmin Webmail applications Any third-party PHP application that the user installs. Note: This service will accelerate a maximum of ten concurrent processes per user.
`cpanellogd`	cPanel Log and Bandwidth Processor	This daemon compresses and archives cPanel & WHM log files at the end of each month into a single file for each type. For more information, read our cPanel Log Rotation Configuration and The cPanel Log Files documentation.
`cpdavd`	cPanel DAV Daemon	This daemon enables a set of HTTP extensions that allow users to manage their websites remotely. Important: If you plan to host other people’s websites on your web server, do not disable this daemon. Note: In cPanel & WHM version 76 and later, the Database Node and DNS Node server profiles disable this service.
`cpgreylistd`	cPanel Greylisting Daemon	This daemon manages Greylisting, a service that protects your server against spam from sources that your server does not recognize. For more information, read our Greylisting documentation. Note: In cPanel & WHM version 76 and later, the Database Node and DNS Node server profiles disable this service.
`cphulkd`	cPHulk Daemon	This daemon manages cPHulk Brute Force Protection, a service that provides protection for your server against brute force attacks.
`cpsrvd`	cPanel Server Daemon	This daemon is the application server for cPanel, WHM, and Webmail services. Note: In cPanel & WHM version 76 and later, when you disable the Web Server role, this daemon listens on ports `80` and `443`. For more information, read our How to Configure Your Firewall for cPanel Services documentation.
`crond`	Cron Daemon	The `cron` scheduling daemon. For more information, read our Cron Jobs documentation.
`dnsadmin`	cPanel DNS (Domain Name System) Admin Cache	`dnsadmin` runs as a standalone daemon. This improves speed, but increases it memory usage. Deselect this option if you wish to use multiple `dnsadmin` processes for zone-related actions.
`exim`	Exim Mail Server	The SMTP mail server daemon is the part of your mail server that sends and receives mail. We recommend that you monitor and enable this feature for most servers. Warning: If you disable this service, the following options do not appear in the Mail section of WHM's Tweak Settings interface (WHM >> Home >> Server Configuration >> Tweak Settings): Discard FormMail-clone message with bcc: Email delivery retry time Track email origin via X-Source email headers Max hourly emails per domain The percentage of email messages (above the domain's hourly maximum) to queue and retry for delivery. Maximum percentage of failed or deferred messages a domain may send per hour Number of failed or deferred messages a domain may send before protections can be triggered Add X-PopBeforeSMTP header for mail sent via POP-before-SMTP Enable BoxTrapper spam trap Enable Email Archiving support Enable Apache SpamAssassin™ spam filter
`exim-altport`	Exim Mail Server (on another port)	By default, Exim listens to the following ports: `25` `465` `587` This option allows you to configure Exim to listen to an additional port. Note: In the text box, enter the additional port number on which you wish to allow Exim to run.
`ftpd`	FTP (File Transfer Protocol) Server	The FTP server daemon runs your FTP server. Enable this feature if you plan to host other people’s websites on your web server. Important: We strongly recommend that you monitor this feature. Note: In cPanel & WHM version 76 and later, the Database Node, DNS Node, and Mail Node server profiles disable this service.
`httpd`	Web Server	The web server daemon processes HTTP requests from visitors. Enable this feature to host websites with your web server. Notes: When you disable this daemon, the `cpsrvd` daemon takes over HTTP on the `80` and `443` ports. In cPanel & WHM version 76 and later, the Database Node, DNS Node, and Mail Node server profiles disable this service.
`imap`	IMAP (Internet Mail Access Protocol) Server	The IMAP daemon for Dovecot® processes how your users download their mail. For more information, read our IMAP vs. POP3 documentation. Important: We strongly recommend that you monitor this daemon. Note: In cPanel & WHM version 76 and later, the Database Node and DNS Node server profiles disable this service.
`ipaliases`	IP (Internet Protocol) Aliases	This feature allows you to add more than one IP address to your network adapter. Use this configuration to run multiple connections on a single network, where each connection serves an additional purpose.
`lmtp`	LMTP (Local Mail Transport Protocol) Server	The Local Mail Transport Protocol (LMTP) server allows Exim to connect to the Dovecot mail server.
`mailman`	Mailman	The Mailman mailing list manager allows your users to create a single email address to send mail to multiple email addresses. For more information, read our Mailing Lists documentation. Notes: In cPanel & WHM version 76 and later, the Database Node and DNS Node server profiles disable this service. The system does not start the Mailman service until the server hosts at least one mailing list.
`mysql`	MySQL^® or MariaDB^® Server	The MySQL^® database server processes database queries. If you plan to host any content management systems or applications that require a database, enable this feature or the `postgresql` server. Important: We recommend that you monitor this daemon. The system does not monitor this daemon by default. Note: In cPanel & WHM version 76 and later, the Mail Node server profile disables this service.
`named`	DNS (Domain Name System) Server	The Berkeley Internet Name Domain (BIND), NSD, PowerDNS, or MyDNS daemon runs the nameservers. Notes: You should only enable this daemon if you wish to use your own nameservers. For more information, read our Nameserver Selection documentation. In cPanel & WHM version 76 and later, the Database Node server profile disables this service.
`nscd`	Name Service Cache Daemon	This daemon manages a cache for name service requests. Important: We strongly recommend that you only enable this service on servers with at least 1,000 MB of available memory.
`p0f`	Passive OS (Operating System) Fingerprinting Daemon	The Passive OS Fingerprinting daemon (`p0f`) reports the visitor's operating system and other information for email notifications that the system administrator requests in the Contact Manager interface. This information helps a system administrator quickly identify visitors that trigger events that cause alerts. The spam prevention and cPHulk systems use this information to identify potential spammers and brute force attacks. For example, if a user logs in to a server from multiple locations and uses multiple operating systems, this may indicate that someone has compromised the user's account. For more information about this daemon, read the Passive OS Fingerprinting documentation at github. Note: If you disable this daemon, the notification footers will no longer contain the visitor information.
`pop`	POP3 (Post Office Protocol 3) Server	The POP3 daemon processes how your users will download their mail. Warning: We strongly recommend that you monitor this daemon. The system does not monitor this daemon by default. Note: In cPanel & WHM version 76 and later, the Database Node and DNS Node server profiles disable this service.
`postgresql`	PostgresSQL^® Server	The PostgreSQL^® database server processes database queries. If you plan to host any content management systems or applications that require a database, enable this feature or the `mysqld` server. Note: In cPanel & WHM version 76 and later, the Mail Node server profile disables this service.
`queueprocd`	TaskQueue Processor	The TaskQueue Processor processes the task queue periodically and resides in the `/usr/local/cpanel/libexec` directory. For more information, read our The Task Queue System documentation.
`rsyslogd`	System Logger Daemon	The system log daemon monitors your web server and logs the system activity. Important: We strongly recommend that you enable this daemon.
`spamd`	Apache SpamAssassin^™	The Apache SpamAssassin daemon attempts to filter spam messages. If you disable this daemon, make sure that you also disable it in WHM's Tweak Settings interface (WHM >> Home >> Server Configuration >>Tweak Settings). Note: In cPanel & WHM version 76 and later, the Database Node and DNS Node server profiles disable this service.
`sshd`	SSH (Secure Shell) Daemon	The secure shell (SSH) daemon allows users to connect to your server in a terminal session via SSH.
`syslogd`	syslog System Logger Daemon	The system log daemon. This daemon handles your web server's monitoring and logging system information.
`tailwatchd`	TailWatch Daemon	The TailWatch daemon monitors a log file for certain activities and then performs an action based on the activity. For more information, read our TailWatch documentation.
`tomcat`	Tomcat Server	Tomcat is an Apache module that provides a web server in addition to the Apache web server. For more information, read our EasyApache 3 Tomcat documentation. Important: EasyApache 3 does not support new installations of Tomcat. As of cPanel & WHM version 76, EasyApache 4 now supports Tomcat 8.5. For more information, read our Tomcat documentation.