What are the risks of installing non-cPanel apps?

[wa7son]

Will installing software on the server be a problem if it is done manually (i.e. not as specific cPanel plug-ins or scripts)?

I have for example been thinking about installing a WebDAV service, and if it is not directly supported by cPanel also OpenLDAP. What do I as an administrator have to be careful about in these situations? And what risks are there for my apps to suddenly stop working when I at a later point choose to upgrade cPanel to a newer version?

I know that there properly isn't a definitive answer to these questions, but I would like to know something about it so I at least know what to be careful about.

/thomas

[chirpy]

Usually it's fine. Unless you're going to install an app that's going to conflict with something that cPanel uses (e.g. web, mail, ftp servers, etc) then you can usually happily run apps alongside cPanel. That said, if they cause issues with cPanel and you then turn to cPanel for support, they likely won't help you.