Configuration Change Journal for WHM & cPanel
What changed right
before the outage?
Watchdog quietly snapshots your server's configuration - WHM settings, EasyApache and PHP, /etc, crontabs, packages, accounts and firewall rules - and shows you exactly what changed, when, and who was logged in at the time.
Part of the Server+ suite. Pairs with Server Commander's Downtime Investigator, which lists Watchdog's recent config changes right next to the traffic and error data.
Every Change, On the Record
Snapshots are stored on your own server in a deduplicated history, so an unchanged snapshot costs nothing and a year of history fits in megabytes.
WHM & EasyApache
Tweak Settings, Basic Setup, update preferences, hosting packages, feature lists, resellers and backup configuration. The EasyApache 4 profile, Apache and Nginx config, php.ini and PHP-FPM pools.
/etc, Cron & Access
Every text config file under /etc, every system and user crontab, sudoers, sshd config and root's authorized_keys - plus file permissions and owners, so a stray chmod shows up too.
Packages, Accounts & Services
Installed packages with versions (so an overnight update is obvious), cPanel accounts with plan, owner, IP and suspension, enabled services and listening ports.
Firewall Rules
iptables, nftables and firewalld rules plus CSF config and allow lists - with packet counters and the constantly moving block lists filtered out, so only real rule changes register.
Built for Shared Admin Teams
Each change lists the WHM, cPanel and SSH logins since the previous snapshot. Admins can snapshot before and after their work with a name and a note, and Slack or Discord can be pinged when something changes.
Secrets Stay Secret
Private keys, /etc/shadow and FTP password files are never stored. Password, secret and token values are replaced by a short fingerprint: you see that a secret changed, never what it is.
When Watchdog Pays for Itself
Most outages on a well-run server start with a change. Watchdog makes the change easy to find.
1. "The site went down at 14:20 - what changed?"
Open Before an incident, pick the time the problem started and how far back to look. Watchdog lists every snapshot in that window and the net difference across it, grouped by category, with a line-by-line diff for each file and the time the file was edited.
2. Several admins, one server
When three people have root, "did anyone touch the PHP settings?" is a real question. Watchdog records who was logged in between snapshots, lets each admin sign their own snapshots with a note, and keeps a searchable history of every file.
3. Drift after updates and migrations
Compare any two points in time: before and after a cPanel update, an EasyApache profile change or an account migration. Watchdog shows which packages moved, which config files cPanel rewrote and which cron jobs appeared.
Know What Changed.
Cancel anytime. No contracts. Included in the Server+ Suite.
- One license per server hostname
- Scheduled snapshots every 5-60 minutes
- Timeline, incident lookback and compare views
- Slack & Discord change notifications
- Priority Support
Enter the hostname of the WHM server you want to license.
Need the full toolkit? Save with the Server+ Suite bundle