Is it really necessary to have a GUI panel?

[horsa]

Can't all these be done from SSH? If we are hosting a few of our own sites do we really need to spend the money to get a fanciful cPanel or Direct Admin? I find that its a pure waste of money.

[surfspeedy]

It really depends on your skillset. If you are comfortable with all the config files and procedures, you can manage the sites without any control panel.

Control panels just make things easy so anyone can manage their servers without worrying much about the configs and how stuff works internally.