Hi, I'm no expert, I've only started administering a server 8 months ago and I know a minimum of php and perl. And I am learning fast about mysql.
I've got a project that I am trying to prepare for in about 6 moths time :
I want to create my own CP which includes 4 different levels:
1)Server administrator
2)Reseller
3)Domain owners
4)Webusers
And with a simplified setting up options (creation of plans etc...)

I don't mind using free software such as qmailadmin or webmin or something like this, as long as it does what I want. Could anyone suggest some good books or something for learning how to do this.
I will need to know how to manually set up accounts before I can even think about programing one !
So I will need to understand more about apache (httpd.conf etc ...)
About DNS setup, file ownership settings, how to create pop addresses
I'm ready to buy all thenecessary documentation but I want to get it right ....

I think that it would be good to have something as good as plesk but for free.... so if oneday it works out I think that I will make it opensource. And anyone who wants to help with the creation is welcome !

hoot

so if oneday it works out I think that I will make it opensource.
Now that would be fantastic. All I can say is please do it!

Right now, I can't find a best option (for my budget):

I don't like ensim because I've heard so many complaints about how it places things in lots of nonstandard locations, so you basically have an ensim server.

I don't like plesk because i don't think it offers a great interface to clients / domain owners. The server admin part seems to work great, but that's only half the game.

cPanel is great all around, but there is no way I can afford it.

Webmin is great because it's free, but it appears to be a lot more time consuming to use and doesn't offer clients / domain owners an interface at all.

I'm going to do my best but it could take alot of time as I still have a lot to learn about linux, anyone know a good book that would get me started?

Hoot

I don't have a good book to suggest, but I would like to bring your attention to the webcp project. webcp.can-host.com, which is a free php control panel.

It may be better to work with some foundation than starting out stratch. In any case, one free and working control panel with 10 developers is better than 10 free but incomplete CP with 10 separate developers.

Peter

Yes you are right, thats why I suggested that anyone who wanted to help could + that I was ready to use anything that is already started as long as I'm allowed too (just because it's free doesn't meen that it's open source !)

I'll give it a look,
Thanks,

hoot

looks good !
I think that my first job is to understand everything that it does and then add missing features etc ... I like it bacause the code seems well formated and simple, even the installation doesn't seem hard at all !
Thanks,

hoot