We currently use cPanel / WHM on a reseller account but are looking at getting a dedicated server. My first thought was to duplicate this set up on the dedicated box to allow us to quickly create new accounts. I'll be a managed server so they'll have set up the LAMP stack.

I'm curious if I actually need cPanel and WHM. We don't use many of the features from cPanel / WHM, just creating accounts and databases, clients do not have FTP access. I'm no sys admin and come from a Windows / GUI background but have some knowledge in setting up development servers.

WHM: Creating accounts

I presume this sets up the Apache virtual host, FTP access and DNS settings. I've some knowledge of editing the Apache files to create virtual hosts. Am I correct in thinking as long as the DNS is pointing to the server IP and the virtual host is configured the server can serve the (php) pages?

I'm not sure I need per site FTP access as only we will have access so I could have a server wide/htdocs only access to view all the site.

The company who supply the dedicated hosts would also provide the own DNS management tool so I'm not need to cPanel one.

MySQL: Creating users and databases We use cPanel to create the MySQL users and databases. As it's a dedicated box and I can have root access I think this could be replaced by SQLyog for db management and phpMyAdmin for user management.

Do you I need cPanel or can I get by editing a few text files for creating the accounts, then use the MySQL tools for databases? Or am I missing something major with how the sites are configured?