Hi all,

UK National Networks LTD is looking at developing a new hosting control panel for win2003 servers as they find the current market is lacking. We would like to know what you guys would like to see in a control panel!

Please give requests/feedback/ideas

Rgds,

Something with a bloody decent billing / invoicing system.

Damn, I hope you are serious about this.

The current market sucks in my opinion. The only "1 stop solutions" are those that have to be edited by so many 3rd parties.

But definately billing/invoicing, managing recurring stuff then just having a processor as the 3rd party.

Then have pretty much what everything else has such as Helm and DotnetPanel.

Just the billing etc itself would make me switch.

Billing is the main concern for all!!!!!!!

Try to use as if the naive user can also manage.

Hi all,

UK National Networks LTD is looking at developing a new hosting control panel for win2003 servers as they find the current market is lacking. We would like to know what you guys would like to see in a control panel!

Please give requests/feedback/ideas

Rgds,

Well the majority of windows control panels lack the billing and 3rd party software integrations ..

IMO the control panel that will be perfect for the onging win2003 platform along with integration of various other softwares that are available for win2003 servers will be a good one. It should be user friendly and one more thing that you might need to take into consideration is that it should adapt itself with the various updates released by Microsoft from time to time.

All the best :agree:

Hi Guys,

A few questions just to expand on the feedback so far!

-What billing features would you like to see?
-What reoccuring tasks would you like to see integrated?
-Would you like built in ticket management etc?
-What 3rd Party software do you find crucial to your hosting business that you would love easy integration?

@thinksupport: Can you expand on what you mean by adapt itself to various updates released from MS? Do you mean service packs or general updates? And how should it adapt?

Also, if your interested in Alpha/BETA testing this, please drop me a PM with your email address and i'll add you to our development mailing list.

Rgds,
Chris

Here are few:
- Domain registration: You will find many web host asking for their favorite domain registrar integration, it would be wonderful if you could address that as well.
- Ticketing System: yes man, I would love to see a feature rich built-in ticketing module... Try to get near to what SupportTrio is currently providing ;)
- 3rd party Software integrations: An interface would be helpful but if you are asking for a list then first start from whatever other windows control panel currently support.


Blessed.

Hi Guys,

A few questions just to expand on the feedback so far!

-What billing features would you like to see?
-What reoccuring tasks would you like to see integrated?
-Would you like built in ticket management etc?
-What 3rd Party software do you find crucial to your hosting business that you would love easy integration?

@thinksupport: Can you expand on what you mean by adapt itself to various updates released from MS? Do you mean service packs or general updates? And how should it adapt?

Also, if your interested in Alpha/BETA testing this, please drop me a PM with your email address and i'll add you to our development mailing list.

Rgds,
Chris

Yep... I was referring to the service packs released by MS from time to time...
For instance, I still remember, when MS had released their Windows2003 SP1, and we had applied it to a server with Plesk... and had faced a lot of issues. No matter, Sw-soft later upgraded their product, but when SP1 was newly released it was not compatible with it.

Also, we would definately like to test your alpha/BETA products.. I have sent you a PM with the details. Thanks. ..!

Cool, we are looking at how we can integrate SUS (Software Update Services) into it which we are thinking would be pretty cool specially if we could get our own autoupdate software written kinda like what they have in CPanel.

Work on it will be starting next week hopefully when I have some developers free from our current project.

Rgds,
Chris

Something with a bloody decent billing / invoicing system.

Sounds like your looking for H-Sphere (http://www.psoft.net) ;).

Sounds like your looking for H-Sphere (http://www.psoft.net) ;).

Too bad it was lacking in being a purely windows solution:P

I have seen a dozen of post like this, but noone finally created a control panel. All those guys gathered feature requests and then disappeared. It seems it is not so easy to create a control panel of our dream [:)]

I have too, however most of these people have been individuals with regular jobs.

As for a status update:
We have decided upon the design of the system, and are halfway through the database design. We expect to provide people on our discussion list a preview in the next two weeks.

Rgds,

I think tieing the billing in with the control panel is a mistake. If you have them separate you can control multiple control panels or take advantange of new ones as they come along. If you have the billing tied to the CP and become dissatisfied with one billing or CP your stuck because its too hard (too much a oain in the arse) to move the billing which is the lifeblood of any company.

I know it would be easier to have the two together but really think about it. I've done it twice (moved off of cp's) and decided never again to have billing tied to the CP. Better to go with a product like AWBS or MB that works with numerous control panels and then you have options. Most CP's just tack on invoicing as an afterthought (IMHO)

WebGuyz, you feel that way because at this stage no one has been able to do it successfully, that's why.

Hopefully these guys can otherwise they will be just like the rest.

Even if they did succeed I would still feel the same way. After you do it 2 or 3 times (switch cp or billing systems) you may feel the same as well. :beer:

As you said WebGuyz, most CP's tack it on as an afterthought, we have actually thought it through before we started.

You do bring up a valid point, and our design philosophy is to make it as modular as possible so adding things like 3rd party scripts etc is just plug and play. I suppose we could the same for the control panel.

Rgds,

Why incorporate 3rd party software when some of it you can create yourself?

Professionals these days aren't "Professional" to me.

Look at Helm, it requires people to purchase 3rd party software that should be in it already.

Like Auto Registration / management of domains just to name one.

If Helm was smart, the least they could do is purchase those products and release them officially under them.

Don't just re-invent the wheel. Use what's already there and optimise it, not create the same crap that's there now. Or you can create something different. Something new.

By this i mean the user should be able to swap our default solution for a 3rd party software if they wish to do that. (Along with things like guestbooks/forums autosetup)

However we will support most major functionality.

Rgds,
Chris

If your going to do billing & invoicing please pay attention to these important areas:

Able to tax by location(state or country), product or service, and category and be able to do all three simultaneously.
Exclude/Include tax per invoice when creating manual invoices
Exclude tax by customer (non-profits)
PDF attachments in invoices that are sent out
Great report engine using SQL so that users can write their own reports.

Good luck!!

I agree with WebGuyz on keeping the billing aspect seperate.

Maybe release an addon that can do billing but make sure its open for others to use their own or 3rd party billing systems. We have created our own billing system as we could not find one to suit our business and will only use control panels that have external API's available.

There is one windows control panel that I know of that don't have an API for billing integration and are not releasing it as they are making their own to work with their CP.

Good luck with the project and will be interested in seeing any developments!

Thanks for your feedback guys, the actual CPanel will be open in this way for sure as we plan on our invoicing system having the ability to reside on a single server and yet control multiple other servers:)Rgds,

Good Luck with the project -- Well Do you have an estimated timeline, release of this control panel in the market ?

I don't consider billing as a major option. I use a third party billing system. The most important feature I think would be

1. A STABLE mail server.

2. The ability to administer and run the physical hosting on one server, and the mail server/mysql server on a separate server. This should be an option.

My only request is a decent WebService API to control as much of it as possible and the ability to add hooks into the system to call back to external systems ( ie: They upgrade their plan and it tells the billing system )

Thanks for your feedback guys, the actual CPanel will be open in this way for sure as we plan on our invoicing system having the ability to reside on a single server and yet control multiple other servers:)Rgds,

Was wondering if this ever got off the ground?

I would love to know if and when this thing takes off. Feel free to contact me, as I'd do beta testing if you'd need it.