has any of you guys already used freevsd on their servers?
If so, have you tried to install plesk on a virtual machine?

would like to hear about your experiances...

we use freeVSD commercially and you couldn't put plesk on a VS - plesk requires root access and at best a VS admin only has psuedo admin rights

It is a problem with freeVSD in that a domain on a VS doesn't have web control panel access only the VS admin does so he/she has to set up email for clients etc

However we aim it at 'power' users who have multiple domains and want to access the config files - for this its good - although upgrades can be a nightmare

shorty

Originally posted by shorty
we use freeVSD commercially and you couldn't put plesk on a VS - plesk requires root access and at best a VS admin only has psuedo admin rights

This is true - within the virtual server environment root access is only available to the ISP administrator. freeVSD's admin user does have enough privilege to configure local services though, so theoretically it may be possible to get Plesk up and running. We are not planning to get Plesk working under freeVSD however, since we are working on a set of admin interfaces that run natively as apps rather than as a slow, inflexible web based system.

Interestingly though, as an ISP with a requirement to support my customers, I'm not sure I'd want to give away root access except under *very* limited circumstances. I've seen some pretty major ****-ups made by non-experienced sysadmins running dedicated servers... Anyone else felt this pain before?


It is a problem with freeVSD in that a domain on a VS doesn't have web control panel access only the VS admin does so he/she has to set up email for clients etc

Again, correct at present but we are about to release an interface for virtual domain owners called VSDMail to connect and manage their mail settings, including add/remove mailbox, change password, manage incoming addresses and forwarders and autoresponders. Again, this is a native client running on the desktop for speed and user familiarity.


However we aim it at 'power' users who have multiple domains and want to access the config files - for this its good - although upgrades can be a nightmare


It just so happens that the next release will include a tool for upgrading freeVSD from any previous version. As far as I am aware this tool has passed the first round of testing and is available from CVS right now. We will also make available a 2 CDROM set containing an optimised version of Redhat plus automated freeVSD install which will simplify the installation process no end. Commercial tech support will also be included with the CD....

freeVSD is growing up very quickly indeed ;)

so theoretically it may be possible to get Plesk up and running

thats one hell of a stretch of theory:)

I'm not sure I'd want to give away root access except under *very* limited circumstances. I've seen some pretty major ****-ups made by non-experienced sysadmins running dedicated servers

us neither to virtual account users - however I think unabomber is looking at dedicated which really means you get root access and all the responsibility with it - root access is required to install both freeVSD and Plesk

such things as plesk are designed for 'not-so-experienced sys-admins' so they say - I wouldn't say freeVSD was - in fact I don't see plesk and freeVSD even operating in the same market - chalk and cheese - I would see freeVSD competing more against Shpera and Ensims VPS - and freeVSD does need a good panel to run in the VS's - something that does more than email - we are working on a PHP panel for domains/users in a VS

we are a commercial ISP using freeVSD and we get no support from freeVSD - we would happily pay for such support as we got a good response from our launch and have had a good take up for it

The CD release would be good as our NOC is remote and we could just mail a copy to our engineer over there - rather than doing partition images which we do right now - whats the price going to be ?

shorty

Originally posted by shorty


thats one hell of a stretch of theory:)

I don't know exactly how Plesk operates, so you could be right. However, it may not be so much of a problem as you think. From the host server as root you can log into a virtual server as root - try

$ bevs -r [vsname]

That is true root within the virtual server environment. The main reason root access within the VS can't be given to customers is because customers could edit the skel template and affect other users. The reason we use a skel template is because it reduces the per-vs resource impact to around 10MB diskspace and 16MB RAM. That's why you can run 200 or more VS's on a relatively low-spec machine when Ensim/Sphera would manage at best 40-50 on that same machine...


us neither to virtual account users - however I think unabomber is looking at dedicated which really means you get root access and all the responsibility with it - root access is required to install both freeVSD and Plesk

such things as plesk are designed for 'not-so-experienced sys-admins' so they say - I wouldn't say freeVSD was - in fact I don't see plesk and freeVSD even operating in the same market - chalk and cheese - I would see freeVSD competing more against Shpera and Ensims VPS - and freeVSD does need a good panel to run in the VS's - something that does more than email - we are working on a PHP panel for domains/users in a VS


You are right to a certain extent, however the overall aim is to simplify webhosting without taking away the advanced features. That is to say provide the admin interfaces for users but don't pretend that ISP's don't need experienced sysadmins to run and support their servers. I'm not sure I would want to trust my website with an ISP that does not have the in-house experience to deal with major problems.

In fact I see posts on here all the time where unscrupulous ISPs do just that - sign up customers like crazy, run into a problem and bury their heads in the sand when they can neither solve the problem or afford to bring in help because they pitched their prices way too low... Of course the majority of ISP's don't operate this way but technical support in times of trouble does seem to be the major differentiator...

freeVSD is an advanced web hosting framework and we don't pretend that Joe Public could run it. We can (and have) shorten and simplify the installation procedure so that it works first time every time - but we shouldn't fool the user into a false sense of security with unsubstanciated claims that server farm management is a piece of cake. It's not. It's a job for a professional. Sorry if this sounds like a rant but I wanted to state my position ;o)

There is a tool for VS administration - it's called VSDClient and it supports reboot, users, passwords, permissions, quotas, apache virtual hosts, sendmail virtuser/aliases, true 'virtual domain' email using procmail/vm-pop3d, DNS management, and SSL connections.

I'd love to hear more about your web based interface. In particular, does it use the freeVSD administration protocol?

we are a commercial ISP using freeVSD and we get no support from freeVSD - we would happily pay for such support as we got a good response from our launch and have had a good take up for it

Drop me a line off-list and we can talk support... We're still finalising a few things so I'd rather talk about it away from the public forums...


The CD release would be good as our NOC is remote and we could just mail a copy to our engineer over there - rather than doing partition images which we do right now - whats the price going to be ?[/B]

£99 GBP including:

- Redhat 6.2 + Security Errata + Updates
- freeVSD 1.4.10 (auto-install on boot)
- Pre-built skel templates
- Utility to upgrade from any previous version
- VSDControl, VSDClient, VSDMail lite versions
- 30 day installation/upgrade support (web based)
- Full documentation
- User guide hard-copy

We're aiming for the end of August but no promises because there's a lot to tie together. freeVSD 1.4.10 has been tested from end to end and will be the preferred release for production systems. A LOT of work has been done to squash all significant bugs found... As I said before, freeVSD is over the growing pains now so expect to see Good Things in future...

sounds good - I will email you off forum

shorty

Would it be possible to install PLESK and freeVSD on the same machine, so that for instance as a webhost one could offer the option of either a PLESK account or a freeVDS+webmin account ? All running off the same linux box.