I know many people here use CPanel. I am running Win2k as my OS and CPanel is not ready yet for it. If I cannot find a resonably priced alternative I am going to write my own.

Anybody want to collaborate? I would like to build one then lazily market it afterwards as a reasonably priced product. I figure if a few people here spec it out and build it then it should be very nice. Possibly release it as free-ware for a while to get some good testing.

Why not just use CPanel?
It's pricing is quite reasonable for what you get.

Then again you shouldn't even need a control panel on a NT box if you have remote access.

I'll help you write one. I have a huge start already. It will have to be Open Source if I work on it though. That's just how I am.

I already have a set of admin pages that once installed on a server give a user the ability to create web sites, users, FPSE, host headers, etc, all using ADSI and .asp. These would be a good starting point.
I'm not exactly sure how to allow multiple users that can each create sites on a single server. That seems tricky in IIS. I've never seen cpanel, so I'm not sure how they manage which users' own which sites.

If you just WANT to write one because, eh ... you want to ... I can send you some files from jobs I've done in the past.

Originally posted by Bulldog
Why not just use CPanel?
It's pricing is quite reasonable for what you get.

Then again you shouldn't even need a control panel on a NT box if you have remote access.
Agree on the second point, but maybe I'm overlooking some major functionality on the CPanel issue. CPanel only seems valuable to *nix hosters, where most things are driven by configuration files and not a MetaBase and GUI.

Windows gives you a very powerful GUI to manage web sites, and the mail servers that I would recommend also give a MMC based plugin for admin. Stats are a no-brainer on windows, too. User managament is easy, as is disk space management (using disk quotas) backup is a no-brainer as well. True, there is no centralized admin sites for these things, but they can be done from one server on the LAN wher you can TermServ in and control all of your servers from one server in your rack. You can do everything you need via terminal server on one machine. All you really need on W2k IMHO is a script that creates a User/password, directory, then creates a site in IIS and puts a default placeholder page in that dir. ADSI4NT does this, and it's free. Everyhting else is already included in W2k.


I'll NEVER spend $$$ on a WHM or Control Panel in Windows.
(you can quote that :D )

The only reason I could see wanting a control panel on a Windows box would be if you're hosting other people off of that box.

Originally posted by Bulldog
The only reason I could see wanting a control panel on a Windows box would be if you're hosting other people off of that box.
Good point. I have no need to host multiple reseller accounts from a single box. This just seems like a scam when I can give a guy his own box with no guilt that I'm overselling for a few $$$.

Hmm. I'll have to re-think this. I am new to the hositng game som maybe I am just overkilling it. Let me give this some thought.

Yaeh, If you just need to set up a new hosting customer, download these:

http://www.adsi4nt.com/

and hang out at iisfaq.com It rocks pretty hard

I am at the site now am will be reading it. Thanks for the info.

(Excuse the rambling i am about to do)

I've had a few hosting accounts (all Linux) and have used Cpanel before as a USER. From the discussion i see here, you are all talking about a cpanel from the admin's point of view. (Which makes seems easier but the same things can be done with IIS right?)

What about on the users end? Is there something like Cpanel for WINDOWS that lets users log onto their hosting and display all their information and allows them to access/modify/edit it? Some script i can d/l or see a demo off before i buy it? I know jack diddly about hosting and i have no idea how this information is stored. I'm just interested in how the back end works and if its something i could do for other people.

From a hosting customer's user's point of view, there's not a lot of configuration possible (safely) in IIS. Typically the account is set up with a single writeable dir under the user's web root. This is for databases and such. Then the user ftp's in and uploads stuff. DBConnect strings are done with DSN-less connections, so no control panel needed there. Brinkster has a control panel, and it's really just a web based file manager with a crude editor.

What other types of stuff would you want to do as a customer?

Resellers are a different breed altogether and my personal opinion is reseller accounts are a scam. If you don't know enough to manage an entire dedicated server (windows or *nix) you shouldn't be in the hosting business. I don't think there is any middle ground between hosting customer and dedicated server owner.

Mileage may vary, these opinions are my own, etc. etc. etc. blah blah blah.


Get a dedicated server with Terminal Server access and have at it.

Thank you for your your reply!

I don't suppose you could point me to a site that talks about security issues with IIS? I have used IIS before (look ma, I can change the 404 error pages) but my knowledge of it is rather weak and its my work's server, so I can't just play with it and run a muck.

This current job is some sidejob I (might) take from a friend's company who only has a PHP programmer and doesn't know anything about IIS and Windows hosting. So I'm still unclear of exactly what the client wants, I send a long list of questions to be answered but right now I'm just trying to see what is/isn't possible and how long it will take to do/learn.

http://www.thedpq.com/cpanel.gif There's a screencap of my cpanel that's running on Linux. I'm (guessing) This client has seen Cpanels like this and wants one for their own site. If some things can't be safely done then I need to be able to understand, and tell them, why.

It basically just provides users with their info and lets them customize their.

I'll try to get a list of features the clients 'thinks' they need, and what they have installed on their server. But I'm guessing things like changing their FTP Password, contact email, mailing options(assuming they have something installed to handle that).

woo Brinkster, i haven't used them in a while. I used to use them before i got hosting through work. As you pointed out, its more like a file manager, not exactly what they are looking for i'm sure.



Thanks again for your help.