RE: [Openvds-devel] Control Panels

[rick oneil]

I think that the web based administration is the ticket as well.  We use
ensim technology now and I've become very imtimate with the technology. This
will be obvious in theis email.

The webmin based product is ok, but the real solution is total management
with what I propose as the openVDS "Rack Manager"

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RACK   MANAGER
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"RACK MANAGER" -  this, I propose, should be the chief system administrators
interface for all openVDS hosting servers (i'll call then PHYSICAL SERVERS
from this point on for clarity).  There will be no customer or reseller
access to the Rack Manager.  Best case scenerio is that it resides on a
different physical server then any used for VDSes.  System admins (SA's)
will log in to this much the way the webadmin 1.4.5 is setup, using apache
mod_auth_mysql directives and the main user database being setup on mysql.

        Top page of rack manager will list all physical servers, with active
monitoring of selected services.
                click on a physical server, it expands to show all VDSes on 
that physical
server
                        click on VDS link and it expands to show applications 
installed on that
VDS
                                (also can get properties for that VDS and get 
basic info on VDS,
customer information,  with links to launch VDS manager, User Manager, etc.

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within the rack manager the following functionality should be present:

        USER MANAGER - this section is where the SA can assign other SA's,
customers and resellers thier access levels and other information.  it
should include a phpMyAdmin type interface for the SA to add fields to the
mysql database so the database can optionally be used for the ISP's customer
database.

        SKEL MANAGER - here we can generate skels, connect to a central skel
repository (public and/or private, SA's choice) where skels can be stored,
with description of features, versions and installed applications.
                this skel manager can be used to deploy skels to physical 
servers.
                the skel manager should be able to install rpms to skels easily
                rename copy and delete skels
                have a mysql database table for skels for version control, apps 
installed
and other comments

        PHYSICAL SERVER MANAGER - create new physical servers, act as ftp or nfs
source for a new installation of a physical server, generate the boot disks
for whatever os that the physical server is being installed on (Redhat 6.2,
Redhat 7.2, Redhat 8.0?, Debian, Freebsd...)
                choose the openVDS version to install
                setup openVDS openSSH specific port for communication from rack 
Manager to
Physical Servers

        VDS MANAGER - create, modify, suspend and delete VDSes on physical 
servers.
functionality should include modifying the following attributes on a VDS
                admin password for VDS
                ip address for VDS
                ip address quotas - (including ranges, subnets)
                name based domain quotas
                ip based domain quotas
                cpu quotas - percentage of available cpu resources
                memory quotas - percentage of available memory quotas 
(including swap)
                process quotas - number


        APPLICATION MANAGER - featuring the instalation of applications on VDSes
along with connection to a central application repository to store openVDS
ready applications. These should be RPM's encapsulated in a openVDS
"wrapper" that includes openVDS specific setup information.  The Application
manager should also be able to wrap the RPMS and additionally submit them to
the repository.  An optional feature for the encouragement of commercial
vender development for openVDS is to offer an optional unlocking key for the
openVDS wrapper.


        SIGNUP MANAGER - also, to facilitate further automation and instant
provisioning, that RACK MANAGER should include a facility for accepting
posts from trusted hosts to
        1.)     create new customers and assign them to a pre-created VDS, 
makeing the
account instantly available.
        2.)     create new customers and assign them to a general hosting VDS 
for
single website sales
        3.)     add new services to existing customers

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Reseller Interface
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running on the same physical server as the rack manager is the Reseller
Interface.

when the customer(reseller) logs in, they see only, all the VDSes that they
own.
much like the current webadmin logic, they can own multiple VDSes and
multiple people can have access to thier own list of VDSes.

when a selection to manages a certial VDS is made, then the Reseller
interface will simply send the user to the webmin based VDS Control Panel
that is installed on each and every VDS.

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VDS Control  Panel
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on each VDS

http://vdsFQDN.com/admin - redirects to the VDS webmin for that entire vds,
(SSL optional)
                this is where the "openVDS Webmin"  should go.

http://www.vdscustomerdomain.com/admin - site manager for virtual hosts, or
the resellers customer login
        integrated stats, apache config, file manager with tar and backup
facilities, email manager, majordomo, spam filters...
http://www.vdscustomerdomain.com/username       - user manager for each virtual
domain


please comment on this proposal.

thanks,

Rick O'Neil
address@hidden