What kind of features you want see in next i-MSCP releases ?

    Guys, look here please:
    ISP Manager Demo
    CPanel Demo
    I think we can catch some ideas there.


    1) php in gui - already implemented in ispmanager - base settings (mostly used options) and advanced (user can edit php.ini in text editor, but than panel checks it on upload)


    2) OpenVZ optimized branch or configs inside main branch or installer can get amount of memory, cpu and select which settings for configs of services are better to use (I'm not sure, administrator's work may be)


    3) roundcube - replace squirrelmail or add as a second webmail with login link from login page and inside panel (better way)


    4) optimize gui for 1024x768 where it is possible (replace icons with text by icons with a tooltips) for netbooks and small monitors


    5) backup system - please look demo of ISP Manager and you will see how we can do it


    6) ssh (I am not sure if it is really needed but some users wants) - some type of Java SSH you can implement, working GPL solutions exists


    7) manual backup with all domain's settings and mail-boxes (user can create and download it) + transfer system from one server to another + import from other panels (export may be)


    8) billing - you need to divide users and domains (user can create more than 1 domain), I will think about this later, looks like not easy


    9) cronjobs - we can look how it is implemented in ISPConfig 3


    10) DNS management enhancement - some sites does not need NS server at the server with hosting becouse domain name hosted by other NS servers; you need to add working solution for secondary NS if the domain hosted only by own servers (becouse domain name can not be hosted by one server only); you can add some type of users which can use DNS only and add all possible settings for DNS; you can add DNS-gui-editor for DNS tepmlates; administrator, resseler, user can add templates and templates defaults by their own way, it is like each type of users can set their own language settings in panel


    11) template management with themes in gui - like in wordpress


    I will add some ideas later.

    Guys, look at ISP Manager Demo
    and CPanel Demo.
    I think we can catch some ideas there.


    1) php in gui - already implemented in ispmanager - base settings (mostly used options) and advanced (user can edit php.ini in text editor, but than panel checks it on upload)


    2) OpenVZ optimized branch or configs inside main branch or installer can get amount of memory, cpu and select which settings for configs of services are better to use (I'm not sure, administrator's work may be)


    3) roundcube - replace squirrelmail or add as a second webmail with login link from login page and inside panel (better way)


    4) optimize gui for 1024x768 where it is possible (replace icons with text by icons with a tooltips) for netbooks and small monitors


    5) backup system - please look demo of ISP Manager and you will see how we can do it


    6) ssh (I am not sure if it is really needed but some users wants) - some type of Java SSH you can implement, working GPL solutions exists


    7) manual backup with all domain's settings and mail-boxes (user can create and download it) + transfer system from one server to another + import from other panels (export may be)


    8) billing - you need to divide users and domains (user can create more than 1 domain), I will think about this later, looks like not easy


    9) cronjobs - we can look how it is implemented in ISPConfig 3


    10) DNS management enhancement - some sites does not need NS server at the server with hosting becouse domain name hosted by other NS servers; you need to add working solution for secondary NS if the domain hosted only by own servers (becouse domain name can not be hosted by one server only); you can add some type of users which can use DNS only and add all possible settings for DNS; you can add DNS-gui-editor for DNS tepmlates; administrator, resseler, user can add templates and templates defaults by their own way, it is like each type of users can set their own language settings in panel


    11) template management with themes in gui - like in wordpress


    I will add some ideas later.

    Replace squirrelmail with roundcube (+1)


    Cron admin for clients, but only with admin interface for all cron jobs and email notification to admin when a job created or changed. (+1)


    Full DNS magamement: example change the IP of the domain.tld to an external address or change the MX.


    Add rsync backup type


    Disable ajax in pma as default setting.

    OS: Debian Buster

    i-MSCP: GIT 1.5.3-maintenance branch

    My votes:
    -1 Billing system
    This has nothing to do with server administration. We should concentrate in one thing and do it well instead of trying to cover everything. It would be much better to provide the required hooks so that external billing systems (WHCMS and the like) can be used with i-mscp.


    +1 Cron system
    So long as it is administrator-supervised as Kika proposed.


    -1 User-editable php configuration
    First of all, notice that right now the user can modify its php.ini settings by modifying the php5 starter script and telling it to load the php.ini from another place. Therefore, my point is not about security reasons (you have to slightly trust your users, with the proper monitors in place to detect abuses).


    However, allowing users to easily modify the php.ini trhough the GUI is calling for troubles. Max upload limit reached? Hell, change it to 2Gb so that we never find this again... and the server is suddenly vulnerable to easy Denials of Service. To summarize, I think that php.ini settings are in the server admin's domain, not in the user preferences domain. If they need something changed, try to make them ask the admin or they will break stuff without no one noticing.


    -1 Advanced backup system
    I'm against this because I think that there's no backup solution that fits all the potential i-mscp users.


    First of all, the gzip/bzip backups that we do right now are extremely bad because they impose a huge load to the server, possibly killing it (by io/memory starving) in the process. Thus, I would remove these periodic backups altogether.


    As I see it, there are two kinds of backups:


    1. User backups: these are backups of websites with their databases. The users themselves should be the ones responsible of performing this type of backups (using ftp and mysql/pma), not the server.


    2. Server backups: including websites/dbs/mails/configs. The best way to backup the whole set of resources stored in the server is extremely dependent on the specific deployment. I use a centralized backup server that makes periodic copies of all my servers using rsnapshot. Other people might prefer rdiff-backup, bacula, or any of the other myriad of solutions out there. Furthermore, my backup shedule doesn't need to match anyone elses, and having plain FS vs LVM2 vs BTRFS significantly changes how backups should be done.


    Therefore, I think that each admin should chose and implement the best solution for himself.


    +100 API Support
    Yes, I think that having an (as complete as possible) API is not just a nice feature, but the feature. Aside from billing and order systems, an api would allow for many other things. For instance:
    - Webmail plugin that allows users to change their pass and set their vacation message. Since it would be using the api, the plugin would *not* have to be updated for each new panel version.
    - Custom panel that allows an admin to see/control some things on many servers at once. For instance, just having a unified list with all my clients' domains, and that redirected me to the corresponding panel on click would be a great time-saver for me.


    +1 Full DNS magamement
    This is a much needed thing. Allow admins/resellers to define the "templates" (to be stored in the db, in the form of records that use placeholders), and then allow users to modify both the zone's properties and all the records.


    +1 Different webmails as plugins
    Define a plugin interface to allow the admin to install different webmail packages. Something similar to the "software installer" but specifically for webmail packages, that end up well integrated in the GUI. This would have two advantages:
    1. No need to fight over which should be the default webmail package (don't include any webmail package in the installation, and let the admin install the one(s) that he wants when configuring the panel).
    2. Webmail packages can be updated without requiring new panel versions. This is extremely important because as of now we are forced to release a whole new version of the panel whenever a security issue appears in the included webmail!


    -1 Support for DSPAM
    DSPAM does not look very well maintained nor developed. It was totally inactive for a long while, and despite they are supposedly working on it again, I have not seen any great progress. Additionally, there are no debian/ubuntu packages for it, so it will be a PITA to properly maintain it within i-mscp.


    IMHO, if we have to integrate any antispam software, the best option would be amavisd-new+spamassassin, which also does a pretty good job and is much better maintained.


    -1 Support for PureFTPd
    Don't get me wrong. I have nothing against PureFTPd, but why would it be better to use it? I simply think that it would be better to focus the development efforts on the other features discussed in this thread.


    Edit:


    +1 "Debug mode" switch for the websites
    I think it would be great to give users the option to switch their website to a "Debug mode". This is, when debug mode is activated, php is setup so that it produces verbose error logs (in the phptmp folder), apc is disabled for the domain, mod_rewrite logs are generated, etc. (I know I thought of other settings, but my mind is failing me right now hehe). This would be a great help when trying to see why a website is failing. Obvisusly, debug mode should somehow deactive itself after some time (1h?) to prevent users leaving it always on and degrading the server's performance unnecessarily.

    Edited once, last by kilburn ().

    Quote from kilburn


    -1 Support for DSPAM
    DSPAM does not look very well maintained nor developed. It was totally inactive for a long while, and despite they are supposedly working on it again, I have not seen any great progress. Additionally, there are no debian/ubuntu packages for it, so it will be a PITA to properly maintain it within i-mscp.


    Debian Squeeze doesn't contain the DSPAM, it's fact,
    but Lenny and all Ubuntu releases (including Oneiric) do.


    Quote from kilburn


    IMHO, if we have to integrate any antispam software, the best option would be amavisd-new+spamassassin, which also does a pretty good job and is much better maintained.


    I have been using amavisd-new+spamassissin four years then I changed to DSPAM. I've already been DSPAM user since three years and I didn't regret.
    Amavisd-new+spamassassin is not the best. Due to Perl scripts this solution causes high CPU usage. The DSPAM is written in C so it's very fast and very precise.


    "Support for DSPAM" was just a vote. I can use DSPAM with i-MSCP (more accurately Postfix) so I don't worry :)


    Quote from kilburn


    -1 Support for PureFTPd
    Don't get me wrong. I have nothing against PureFTPd, but why would it be better to use it? I simply think that it would be better to focus the development efforts on the other features discussed in this thread.


    ProFTPD contains more vulnerabilities than Pure-FTPd.


    Pure-FTPd - found 2 issues since 2004-07-05
    list: https://secunia.com/advisories/search/?search=pureftp


    ProFTPD - found 75 (!) issues since 2003-06-19
    list: https://secunia.com/advisories/search/?search=proftp



    And what about PostgreSQL support?

    1. Lenny is not longer supported by i-MSCP
    2. ProftPD is ok for now. We will see in future who we can allows admin to choose.
    3. Mysql is ok for now. We are a panel, not a CMS

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    SSH key for online support

    Edited once, last by oldev01 ().

    I work on making i-MSCP module based so alternative servers can be used. At start we will allow choose between courier and dovecot.
    Later we can add alternative to any server is need (including module for pure-ftp).
    Postgresql will be eventually supported for users, but not as backend for panel itself (I think this is what jonci asked postgresb db for users)

    Edited once, last by oldev01 ().