I'm going to be writing a control panel fairly soon (hell, i've got 2 weeks of holiday, it's gonna start to be written!) and I was wondering what you lot looked for in a control panel re: features.

http://www.cyberpanel.co.uk/ shows a basic feature tree.

I'd welcome any comments on features that I could do.

The primary language will be ASP cos that's what I know, but I am considering learning PHP as that would allow for easier porting to *nix.

Question: Will this be for Windows 2000 or Unix/Linux? What operating systems will it support?

As it says at the top, it will primarily be for Windows Servers, though I may well port it to Linux when i'm done. I'll be working on it on a Windows 2000 Server, but it should also be able to operate a NT4 Server too.

I'm tossing up various ideas on the coding front for various functions at the moment it's just ASP, but it may well use Custom Components to bring in extra functionality.

yea! finially a decent windows 2000 control panel!

*We hope*

yeah, i've used the donhost panel, and while it's pretty good, it's not quite there ;) this panel should be pretty good... i'm starting coding it tommorow - been playing round with SQL Server today, and i've figured out how to make it do what I want it to do now... let the games begin!

Good luck :) Let us know any updates :cool: if you need any help give me an email, I might be able to help you out.

Cool, well i've registered a domain name for it, so when that updates i'll be posting updates to it.

There will also be a bug tracker on the site, and a signup to get access to the test server (i'll be operating 2 servers off my cable line, one for development and one for testing)

Update:

www.cyberpanel.co.uk has registered. This will be the project site.

Coding has started, and it seems very responsive, even on a P3-500 running SETI all the time.

I've put up the first screenshot to the site (see the bottom of the page)

Avatar,

Do you have any pricing ideas yet? Just trying to get an idea.. Thanks.

No idea, i'll probably do some sort of discount scheme for beta testers tho.

Make sure it has what Donhost's panel doesn't - A WAY TO GET INTO YOUR CUSTOMERS ACCOUNTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Donhost left us without this, and then blamed us for not checking what our customers where doing - like HOW WERE WE MEANT TO KNOW DONHOST??????????????????

Originally posted by 311
yea! finially a decent windows 2000 control panel!

*We hope*

We're in talks with a major UK player in the CP market....They arent releasing it until the summer but you may forget about CPanel, Plesk, HC, H-Sphere and all the other ones....windows or not ;))

I've seen a few demos and it is about times someone wrote one worth looking at :)

Keep your eyes peeled....i know they're about to drop the bomb ;)

Cheers,

You've whet our appetities Jonny; surely you can tell us a little more ? ;)

Make sure it has what Donhost's panel doesn't - A WAY TO GET INTO YOUR CUSTOMERS ACCOUNTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Donhost left us without this, and then blamed us for not checking what our customers where doing - like HOW WERE WE MEANT TO KNOW DONHOST??????????????????

If you look in the feature list, it states that a master ftp will be available.

The user accounts will be assigned by path\reselleraccount\useraccount thus making it simple for resellers to manage their users (and also allowing a lot more flexability in terms of drives, resellers should be able to be spawned onto a dif. drive if youw ant to)

Keep your eyes peeled....i know they're about to drop the bomb
/me lobs a grenade.

Will you let me know when you need the beta testers? Thanks..

Yeah, will do, dunno what webhosting talk will think about this thread tho!

If anyone at WHT wants to move this to a more relevant forum, feel free ;)

As for beta testing, it'll happen sometime within the next few weeks I feel, i'm starting to write the code now, so basic features like webs, e-mail and ftp will come online soon. At that point i'll release it for testing.

whats your backend going to be avatar?

Cheers,

backend is an SQL Server 2000, running on Windows 2000 Advanced Server. (Cos that's what my test server happens to be running this week)

You *could* run it on a DSN Less access database, but I err, wouldn't recommend it.

It runs pretty sweet on the SQL Server.

Any one with any feasible feedback or ideas for addition to the project can either PM or email avatar or me.

Originally posted by kermitsworld
Any one with any feasible feedback or ideas for addition to the project can either PM or email avatar or me.

Thought that was your name in the credits Ian ;)

is it a cluster package or stand alone ?
what mail / dns / ftp packages will it support ?
why asp instead of com and exe ?
is there a bandwidth monitoring option ?

Cheers,

is it a cluster package or stand alone ?
Initially standalone, clustering support will probably be added later. Raised on the Feature tree tho, thanks.
what mail / dns / ftp packages will it support ?
mDaemon/msDNS/FTP Serv-U
any suggestions on packages you would like to see supported?
why asp instead of com and exe ?
Err, I know it ;)
is there a bandwidth monitoring option ?
Hopefully.

nice to see you Jonny

Maybe another possible feature is when root or resellers create accounts and they choose the password for the account that it will use the roots password or the resellers password to so they can be accessedx with both but the account owner doesnt know that


Just a though

if you would like me to ewxplain in more detail let me know

Thanks

i get what you're saying, but that wouldn't be such a good idea anyway. You'll be able to use a master FTP account, and also to emulate your user in certain aspects. I might well write in the ability to view your user's password, what are people's thoughts on this?

About the ability to see user password


That might not be such a good idea because,

if by some slim chance someone hacked root and gained access to the server before they were noticed they would have access to everyones account and delete them or modify them as they please and just might cause headaches for the root

But they could change the password if they gained root any way but if they did it right they might not ever be caught and no one would know how or why their files are being deleted or modified

but if their passwords were the same as roots they could do it anyway i just didnt think that far untill you said something


Thanks
Daniel

yeah precisely.

i was thinking of restricting all admin logons to localhost/ip (or at least making it optional) to make it ultra secure.

don't worry, every idea sounds great until you think it through throughly ;) it's the rare one that *is* exactly right that I'm aiming for, so keep em coming ;)

Liscense cost... or did someone already ask?

Someone did, and I have no idea ATM. Discounts will be available for Beta Testers.