Configuration Files Reference

This page lists the configuration files used across the OpenPanel stack: the OpenPanel user panel, OpenAdmin admin panel, opencli command-line tool, and the default files shipped by openpanel-configuration, deployed to /etc/openpanel/ on install.

Unless noted otherwise, all paths are on the host filesystem, not inside containers. Files under /etc/openpanel/ are considered defaults/templates — most are copied into a user's home directory (/home/<username>/...) on account creation, where the user's own copy takes over.

DANGER

Manually editing these files can break the panel or be overwritten during updates. Prefer changing settings from OpenAdmin > Settings (or the relevant panel UI) whenever an option is exposed there.

Panel core settings

Path	Used by	Format	Purpose
`/etc/openpanel/openpanel/conf/openpanel.config`	OpenPanel, OpenAdmin, opencli	`key=value`	Main panel settings: license key, enabled modules, session/2FA settings, nameservers, update settings
`/etc/openpanel/openpanel/secret.key`	OpenPanel, OpenAdmin	raw text (hex)	Signing key for session cookies/CSRF, also reused as the Dovecot master-password source
`/etc/openpanel/openpanel/default_locale`	OpenPanel	text	Default UI locale
`/etc/openpanel/openpanel/translations/`	OpenPanel, OpenAdmin	dir	Translation catalogs
`/etc/openpanel/openpanel/static/`	OpenPanel	dir	Override dir for `css/custom.css`, `js/custom.js`, `robots.txt`, `security.txt`
`/etc/openpanel/openpanel/features/default.txt`, `<plan>.txt`	OpenPanel, OpenAdmin	text list	Feature flags available per plan
`/etc/openpanel/openpanel/quota_report.json`	OpenPanel, OpenAdmin	JSON	Cached disk/quota usage report
`/etc/openpanel/openpanel/conf/custom_dashboard_section.json`	OpenPanel, OpenAdmin	JSON	Admin-injected custom dashboard content
`/etc/openpanel/openpanel/conf/knowledge_base_articles.json`	OpenPanel, OpenAdmin, opencli	JSON	Cached "how-to" / knowledge base links
`/etc/openpanel/openpanel/conf/domain_restriction.txt`	OpenAdmin, opencli	text list	Domains forbidden from being added by users
`/etc/openpanel/openpanel/conf/blacklist_useragents.txt`	OpenAdmin, opencli	text list	Blocked user-agents (bot/scraper blocking)
`/etc/openpanel/openpanel/conf/public_suffix_list.dat`	opencli	text	Public suffix (TLD) list, used for DNS zone-apex handling
`/etc/openpanel/openpanel/custom_code/custom.css`, `custom.js`, `in_header.html`, `in_footer.html`	OpenPanel, OpenAdmin	CSS/JS/HTML	User-editable custom code injected into the panel UI
`/etc/openpanel/openpanel/service/pagespeed.api`	OpenPanel, OpenAdmin	text	PageSpeed Insights API key
`/etc/openpanel/openpanel/service/service.config.py`	(system)	Python config	systemd/service config, fetched during updates
`/etc/openpanel/modules/`	OpenPanel, OpenAdmin	dir	Third-party/custom plugin modules (`<plugin>/readme.txt` metadata)
`/etc/openpanel/skeleton/`	opencli	dir	Template files copied into every new user's account directory
`/etc/openpanel/no_port`	opencli	flag file	Marker file
`/etc/openpanel/upgrade/skip_versions`	opencli	text list	Versions to skip during `opencli update`

Per-user account data — `/etc/openpanel/openpanel/core/users/<username>/`

Path	Format	Purpose
`ip.json`	JSON	User's dedicated IP assignment
`.lastlogin`	text	Last login timestamp
`aliases.yml`	YAML	Cached email alias list
`emails.yml`	YAML	Cached email account list
`notifications.yaml`	YAML	Per-user notification preferences
`ip.json`, `activity.log`, `custom_message.html`	JSON/text/HTML	Allowed IPs, activity log, suspension message (OpenAdmin)

Per-website data

Path	Purpose
`/etc/openpanel/openpanel/websites/`	Per-website metadata directory
`/var/www/html/<domain>`	Document root (base dir for File Manager)

OpenAdmin settings

Path	Format	Purpose
`/etc/openpanel/openadmin/config/admin.ini`	INI	Main OpenAdmin settings (incl. `email_storage_location`)
`/etc/openpanel/openadmin/secret.key`	text	Session/auth secret key
`/etc/openpanel/openadmin/users.db`	SQLite	OpenAdmin user accounts database
`/etc/openpanel/openadmin/config/notifications.ini`	INI	Sentinel/notification thresholds
`/etc/openpanel/openadmin/config/services.json`	JSON	Service enable/status list
`/etc/openpanel/openadmin/config/features.json`	JSON	Feature toggle config
`/etc/openpanel/openadmin/config/log_paths.json`	JSON	Custom log file paths shown in the log viewer
`/etc/openpanel/openadmin/config/forbidden_usernames.txt`	text list	Blacklisted usernames for new accounts
`/etc/openpanel/openadmin/config/reseller_template.json`	JSON	Default template applied to new resellers
`/etc/openpanel/openadmin/config/shortcuts.json`	JSON	UI shortcut/menu definitions
`/etc/openpanel/openadmin/config/terms.md`	Markdown	Terms of Service text shown at signup
`/etc/openpanel/openadmin/config/quick_start.dismissed`, `tour.skip`	flag file	Onboarding/tour dismissal flags
`/etc/openpanel/openadmin/ssh_whitelist.conf`	text	SSH login IP whitelist
`/etc/openpanel/openadmin/resellers/<name>.json`	JSON	Per-reseller configuration (allowed plans, etc.)
`/etc/openpanel/openadmin/usage_stats.json`	JSON	Usage/telemetry state
`/etc/openpanel/openadmin/service/openadmin.service`	systemd unit	Installed as the `admin` systemd service
`/usr/local/admin/custom.css`	CSS	Custom OpenAdmin UI override
`/usr/local/admin/modules/api/available_endpoints.txt`	text	Enabled API endpoints
`/usr/local/admin/modules/security/csf.pl`	script	ConfigServer Firewall control script
`/usr/local/admin/core/search/filtered.json`, `filter.json`	JSON	Command-palette / search index
`/usr/local/admin/templates/emails/`	dir	Admin email report templates

Docker / Podman & containers

Path	Format	Purpose
`/etc/openpanel/docker/compose/docker-compose.yml`, `.env`	YAML/env	Main podman/docker-compose stack (mysql, redis, openpanel, caddy, bind9, ftp, phpMyAdmin, clamav)
`/etc/openpanel/docker/compose/nodejs.yml`, `python.yml`	YAML	Compose overlays for Node.js/Python app hosting
`/etc/openpanel/docker/compose/1.0/docker-compose.yml`, `.env`, `autostart.services`	YAML/env/text	Per-account container stack template (legacy "1.0" webserver stack)
`/etc/openpanel/docker/templates/docker_*.conf`	conf	Per-website nginx-vhost snippets matching the container backend
`/etc/openpanel/docker/daemon/rootless.json`	JSON	Rootless Docker daemon config template
`/etc/openpanel/docker/overlay2/*.json`	JSON	`/etc/docker/daemon.json` templates per filesystem/distro
`/etc/openpanel/docker/modprobe.txt`	text	Kernel modules loaded at boot (symlinked to `/etc/modules-load.d/podman.conf`)
`/etc/openpanel/docker/selinux/pasta_local.pp`	SELinux policy	Rootless podman networking policy
`/root/.env`	env	Root-level docker-compose environment (e.g. `CADDY_IMAGE`)
`/root/docker-compose.yml`	YAML	Host-level compose stack for core services
`/home/<user>/.env`	env	Per-user container stack env vars (`WEB_SERVER`, `MYSQL_TYPE`, etc.)
`/home/<user>/docker-compose.yml`	YAML	Per-user container stack definition
`/home/<user>/.config/containers/{storage,containers}.conf`	conf	Rootless podman container config

Web servers & reverse proxy (Caddy, Nginx, Apache, OpenLiteSpeed, OpenResty, Varnish)

Path	Format	Purpose
`/etc/openpanel/caddy/Caddyfile` (mounted as `/etc/caddy/Caddyfile` in container)	Caddyfile	Main reverse-proxy config for all websites
`/etc/openpanel/caddy/domains/<domain>.conf`	Caddyfile snippet	Per-domain vhost config, incl. WAF toggles
`/etc/openpanel/caddy/suspended_domains/<domain>.conf`	Caddyfile snippet	Vhost for suspended domains
`/etc/openpanel/caddy/templates/.conf`, `.html`, `wp.rules`	templates	Domain, suspended-user/domain, WordPress vhost templates
`/etc/openpanel/caddy/redirects.conf`	Caddyfile snippet	Global HTTP redirects (webmail, OpenAdmin port)
`/etc/openpanel/caddy/coraza_rules.conf`, `check.conf`	Coraza rules	WAF rule set
`/etc/openpanel/caddy/coreruleset/rules/*.conf[.disabled]`	OWASP CRS	WAF (Coraza) core rule set
`/etc/openpanel/caddy/ssl/custom/`, `ssl/certs/`, `ssl/acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org-directory/`	dir	Custom and Let's Encrypt SSL certificate storage
`/etc/openpanel/nginx/nginx.conf`	conf	Default Nginx template
`/etc/openpanel/nginx/user-nginx.conf`	conf	Per-user Nginx include, copied to `/home/<user>/nginx.conf`
`/etc/openpanel/nginx/vhosts/openpanel_proxy.conf`	conf	Reverse-proxy vhost for the panel itself
`/etc/openpanel/nginx/vhosts/1.1/docker_*.conf`, `nginx_proxy_headers.txt`	conf	Per-website nginx-vhost templates (current stack)
`/etc/openpanel/nginx/vhosts/docker_*.conf`	conf	Per-website nginx-vhost templates (legacy "1.0" stack)
`/etc/openpanel/nginx/certs/cert.crt`, `cert.key`	PEM	Default/self-signed TLS cert used before a real cert is issued
`/etc/openpanel/nginx/default_page.html`, `suspended_user.html`, `suspended_website.html`	HTML	Placeholder/suspension pages
`/etc/openpanel/nginx/cloudflare.inc`	conf	Cloudflare real-IP restore config
`/etc/openpanel/nginx/options-ssl-nginx.conf`	conf	Recommended TLS options
`/etc/openpanel/nginx/modsecurity/*.conf`	ModSecurity rules	WAF rules for the nginx engine
`/etc/openpanel/apache/httpd.conf`	conf	Apache template, copied to `/home/<user>/httpd.conf`
`/etc/openpanel/openlitespeed/httpd_config.conf`	conf	OpenLiteSpeed template, copied to `/home/<user>/openlitespeed.conf`
`/etc/openpanel/openlitespeed/start.sh`	script	Container entrypoint
`/etc/openpanel/openresty/nginx.conf`	conf	OpenResty template, copied to `/home/<user>/openresty.conf`
`/etc/openpanel/varnish/default.vcl`, `default`	VCL	Varnish cache config, copied to `/home/<user>/default.vcl`
`/home/<user>/nginx.conf`, `openresty.conf`, `openlitespeed.conf`, `httpd.conf`, `default.vcl`	—	Per-user generated webserver configs
`/var/log/caddy/domlogs/`	dir	Per-domain access logs
`/var/log/caddy/stats/`	dir	GoAccess stats data
`/var/log/caddy/coraza_waf/<domain>.log`	JSON-lines	Coraza WAF access log
`/etc/openpanel/goaccess/goaccess.conf`	conf	GoAccess web-log analytics config
`/etc/openpanel/goaccess/GeoLite2-*.tar.gz`	MaxMind DB	GeoIP data for GoAccess

DNS (BIND9)

Path	Format	Purpose
`/etc/bind/named.conf`, `named.conf.local`, `named.conf.options`, `named.conf.default-zones`	BIND conf	Core BIND9 configuration, DNS cluster settings
`/etc/bind/zones/<domain>.zone`	BIND zone	Per-domain DNS zone file
`/etc/bind/zones/backups/`	dir	Zone file backups
`/etc/bind/rndc.key`	key	BIND RNDC key
`/etc/openpanel/bind9/zone_template.txt`, `zone_template_ipv6.txt`	template	Templates used when generating new DNS zones

Mail (OpenMail / Dovecot / Postfix)

Path	Format	Purpose
`/usr/local/mail/openmail/compose.yml`	YAML	Mail server docker-compose stack
`/usr/local/mail/openmail/mailserver.env`, `.env`	env	docker-mailserver environment config
`/usr/local/mail/openmail/docker-data/dms/config/postfix-accounts.cf`	conf	Postfix mail account list
`/usr/local/mail/openmail/docker-data/dms/config/postfix-regex.cf`	conf	Postfix regex/alias rules
`/usr/local/mail/openmail/docker-data/dms/config/opendkim/keys/`	dir	Per-domain DKIM signing keys
`/usr/local/mail/openmail/docker-data/dms/dovecot/userdb`	conf	Dovecot mailbox user database
`/usr/local/mail/openmail/docker-data/dms/mail-logs/mail.log`	log	Mail server log
`/usr/local/mail/openmail/postfwd/postfwd.cf`	conf	Postfwd policy config (per-domain sending limits)
`/etc/dms-settings`	conf	docker-mailserver settings snapshot
`/etc/openpanel/email/snappymail`	dir	SnappyMail webmail config

FTP

Path	Format	Purpose
`/etc/openpanel/ftp/vsftpd.conf` (mounted as `/etc/vsftpd/vsftpd.conf`)	conf	vsftpd server config
`/etc/openpanel/ftp/all.users`	text	Master FTP user list
`/etc/openpanel/ftp/users/`	dir	Per-user FTP account config
`/etc/openpanel/ftp/server.conf`	conf	FTP server settings (e.g. hostname)
`/etc/openpanel/ftp/filezilla.conf`, `cyberduck.conf`	template	FTP client-config templates served to users
`/etc/openpanel/ftp/start_vsftpd.sh`	script	Container entrypoint

PHP

Path	Format	Purpose
`/etc/openpanel/php/ini/<version>.ini`	php.ini	Default php.ini per PHP version (5.6–8.5), mounted into containers
`/etc/openpanel/php/options.txt`	text	Default PHP option definitions shown in the panel
`/etc/openpanel/php/ini.txt`, `extensions.txt`	text	Selectable php.ini directives / extensions
`/etc/openpanel/php/extensions_table.json`	JSON	Table of installable PHP extensions
`/etc/openpanel/openpanel/php/api_versions.json`	JSON	Cached list of available PHP versions
`/etc/openpanel/php/composer/*.phar`	binary	Composer versions installed into user containers
`/etc/openpanel/php/ioncube/`	dir	ionCube loaders per PHP version
`/home/<user>/php.ini/<version>.ini`	php.ini	Per-user, per-version PHP config
`/home/<user>/php.ini/options.txt`	text	Per-user PHP option overrides

Databases (MySQL/MariaDB, PostgreSQL)

Path	Format	Purpose
`/etc/my.cnf`	my.cnf (INI)	Panel's own MySQL client credentials (`[client]` section)
`/etc/openpanel/mysql/host_my.cnf`, `container_my.cnf`	my.cnf	Host- and container-level MySQL client auth
`/etc/openpanel/mysql/mysqld.cnf`, `user.cnf`	conf	Server/user database config
`/etc/openpanel/mysql/keys.txt`	text	Allow-list of editable `my.cnf` keys for users
`/etc/openpanel/mysql/initialize/1.1/plans.sql`	SQL	Seeds the panel database with default hosting plans
`/etc/openpanel/mysql/scripts/dump.sh`	script	DB dump/backup helper mounted into containers
`/etc/openpanel/mysql/phpmyadmin/pma.php`, `config.inc.php`	PHP conf	phpMyAdmin container config
`/home/<user>/custom.cnf`	my.cnf	User's MySQL resource-limit config override
`/home/<user>/my.cnf`	my.cnf	User's MySQL root client credentials
`/etc/openpanel/postgres/postgresql.conf`	conf	Default PostgreSQL config template
`/etc/openpanel/postgres/keys.txt`	text	Allow-list of editable PostgreSQL config keys
`/home/<user>/postgre_custom.conf`	conf	Per-user PostgreSQL config override

Cron (Ofelia)

Path	Format	Purpose
`/etc/cron.d/openpanel`	crontab	System-wide cron jobs for OpenPanel (do not edit manually)
`/etc/openpanel/ofelia/users.ini`	INI	Template cron config, copied to `/home/<user>/crons.ini`
`/home/<user>/crons.ini`	INI	Per-user scheduled job definitions

Backups

Path	Format	Purpose
`/etc/openpanel/backups/backup.env`	env	Default backup destination/schedule template
`/etc/openpanel/backups/customized.template`	Go template	Backup success/failure notification message template
`/home/<user>/backup.env`	env	Per-user backup destination config (S3/WebDAV/SSH/Azure)

Firewall & security

Path	Format	Purpose
`/etc/csf/csf.conf`	conf	ConfigServer Firewall main config
`/etc/csf/csf.deny`	text	CSF deny list
`/etc/openpanel/csf/csf.blocklists`	text	CSF blocklist sources
`/etc/sysconfig/imunify360/integration.conf`	conf	Imunify360 panel integration config
`/etc/sysconfig/imunify360/malware-filters-admin-conf/ignored.txt`	text	Files ignored by malware scanning
`/etc/pam.d/imunify360-deny`	PAM conf	Deny rule for blocked SSH logins
`/etc/openpanel/clamav/domains.list`, `extensions.txt`	text	ClamAV scan target lists
`/etc/openpanel/wordpress/vulnerability/`	dir	Cached WordPress vulnerability database
`/etc/ssh/sshd_config`	conf	SSH daemon config (port, root login)
`~/.ssh/authorized_keys`	OpenSSH	Per-user SSH keys

WordPress & app installers

Path	Format	Purpose
`/etc/openpanel/wordpress/htaccess/apache.htaccess`, `litespeed.htaccess`	.htaccess	Default `.htaccess` per webserver engine
`/etc/openpanel/wordpress/mu-plugin.php`	PHP	Must-use plugin injected into new WordPress installs
`/etc/openpanel/wordpress/sets/plugins.txt`, `themes.txt`	text list	Default plugin/theme bundles offered in the installer
`/etc/openpanel/wordpress/wp-cli.phar` (mounted as `/usr/local/bin/wp`)	binary	WP-CLI
`/etc/openpanel/<app>/archives/` (wordpress, joomla, matomo, mediawiki, moodle, nextcloud, opencart, prestashop)	dir	Cached installer archives per application
`/etc/openpanel/matomo/credentials`	text	Stored Matomo admin credentials

System integration

Path	Format	Purpose
`/etc/passwd`, `/etc/shadow`, `/etc/group`	system	User/group accounts, read/modified by `opencli` user management
`/etc/subuid`, `/etc/subgid`	system	Subordinate UID/GID ranges for rootless podman
`/etc/fstab`	system	Checked/modified for storage/quota mounts
`/etc/hosts`	system	Updated with domain/IP mappings
`/etc/logrotate.d/openpanel`, `caddy-logs`, `syslog`	logrotate	Log rotation rules
`/etc/openpanel/ssh/admin_welcome.sh`	script	SSH login MOTD/welcome script
`/root/openpanel_restart_needed`, `openadmin_restart_needed`, `openadmin_is_disabled`, `disable_openadmin_reboot_ui`, `disable_openadmin_terminal_ui`, `disable_2087_port`	flag files	Restart/feature-disable state flags
`/tmp/.openpanel_license_cache.json`	JSON	Cached license validation result

Panel core settings​

Per-user account data — /etc/openpanel/openpanel/core/users/<username>/​

Per-website data​

OpenAdmin settings​

Docker / Podman & containers​

Web servers & reverse proxy (Caddy, Nginx, Apache, OpenLiteSpeed, OpenResty, Varnish)​

DNS (BIND9)​

Mail (OpenMail / Dovecot / Postfix)​

FTP​

PHP​

Databases (MySQL/MariaDB, PostgreSQL)​

Cron (Ofelia)​

Backups​

Firewall & security​

WordPress & app installers​

System integration​

Related documentation​