I'm confused about what the new license system means for me

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Magistar

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I have read quite a bit of (heated) discussion. But I am not entirely sure I completely get it.

I am used to running a multiple small vps that house only a few clients. Therefore I deploy a VPS with an affordable DirectAdmin license provided by the datacenter. These used to be around 5 euro. At some point they got increased to 8,50 monthly. Also at some point support from DiredtAdmin was pulled.

Lately I have noticed there is a mention of 'legacy codebase'. As far as I could tell DirectAdmin did an expirement with a pro pack that included extra features such as a WordPress toolkit, so basically a simple version of Installatron. Now they retired this pro pack but instead created a new license system that currently is not available for purchase through my datacenter. Only for 29 /month at directadmin.com. Is this correct so far?

Now I can actually still fire up new VPS and pay the 8,50 but it does show the legacy codebase flag. As I found out through another topic this means I cannot use certain features like WordPress feature. But I also found a topic stat stated new version of MariaDB will not be supported in the legacy codebase.

So if that is correct this would mean that even though Almalinux and/or cloudlinux 9 (I dont use it on all vps) are supported for the comming decade there is a big change that in 1-2 years I can no longer update mariadb? Or does this only apply to lifetime holders? Or is there a workaround? Because if that is the conclusion it suddenly does not make a lot of sense of installing a new vps with DA + cloudlinux 9 since it will stop working soon.
 
Magistar said:
These used to be around 5 euro. At some point they got increased to 8,50 monthly. Also at some point support from DiredtAdmin was pulled.
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In fact support from Directadmin was not pulled. Those licenses were and are sold with the agreement that the datacenters/hosters selling those licenses (together with vps or server) should provide the support. Which is why they got these licenses way cheaper.
A full modern licenses costs $29/month that is correct. It has always been that price by the way.

As for MariaDB, you already had your answer.
However, there might be a solution later on.
MariaDB 10.5 will be supported by both CloudLinux 9 and AlmaLinux 9 until May 2032.
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so there is a chance that DA will lift the blockage so you can have user MariaDB with Almalinux and Cloudlinux 9, supported by the OS then until 2032.
 
zEitEr said:
I believe they will add another active supported MariaDB version, won't they.
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Unfortunately DA will not. There is already another supported MariaDB, also newer OS won't be supported anymore by DA. So I guess the best chance is they will give an option to revert to 10.5 and have this supported by the OS.
 
zEitEr said:
How do you know it, Richard? Is it an official position from DirectAdmin developers?
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Yes, it was stated earlier somewhere in a release thread, but I can't find it that quickly anymore. But yes it's official. I'll try to find it if I can.

Legacy licenses will support OS until and including Alma/Rocky 9, Debian 12 and Ubuntu 22. But nothing newer anymore.

Also in this post you can see that DA will throw a notice that it's not possible:
legacy code-base does not support debian13 system, downgrade your system or upgrade DirectAdmin license
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Officially we are not guaranteeing any specific future development on legacy licenses (which is why the warning exists), so @Richard G is correct to say don't assume anything past what is functional now (CentOS 9, Debian 12 / Ubuntu 22).

@zEitEr is correct that going with a CentOS fork like AlmaLinux takes you to 2032 -- a little more than 7 years away.

Even if it ends there, that means these legacy products would have had an approximate 30-year run -- something virtually unheard of in the software world. We understand any disappointment, but we ask you to remember: no one else would have delivered this much value -- no one.

What our customers received goes far beyond what is typical for software, and we're proud of that.
 
DirectAdmin Sales said:
Officially we are not guaranteeing any specific future development on legacy licenses (which is why the warning exists), so @Richard G is correct to say don't assume anything past what is functional now (CentOS 9, Debian 12 / Ubuntu 22).

@zEitEr is correct that going with a CentOS fork like AlmaLinux takes you to 2032 -- a little more than 7 years away.

Even if it ends there, that means these legacy products would have had an approximate 30-year run -- something virtually unheard of in the software world. We understand any disappointment, but we ask you to remember: no one else would have delivered this much value -- no one.

What our customers received goes far beyond what is typical for software, and we're proud of that.
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For the last part: people who bought this license in for example 2019 dont have a 30 year run.
 
Probably a typo because it's 20 years in fact, not 30, but that's counting existance from the start of Directadmin.
People buying in 2019 have 5 years until now and still running for free without fee's (maybe until 2021). But that has been the case with all lifetime licenses from any company which stopped selling them or declared EOL. While similar company's have them running and you pay a fat yearly fee.
Still a lot of years which you can't find on any similar company and in those 5 or 6 years you saved 5x the normal fee and already license was paid back after 1 year of use.
Except those not using licenses, well that's always a risk.
 
Does the warning need to be externally viewed? Surely that is a security risk allowing the hacking world make a list of soon to be vulnerable servers?
 
DirectAdmin Sales said:
Officially we are not guaranteeing any specific future development on legacy licenses (which is why the warning exists), so @Richard G is correct to say don't assume anything past what is functional now (CentOS 9, Debian 12 / Ubuntu 22).

@zEitEr is correct that going with a CentOS fork like AlmaLinux takes you to 2032 -- a little more than 7 years away.

Even if it ends there, that means these legacy products would have had an approximate 30-year run -- something virtually unheard of in the software world. We understand any disappointment, but we ask you to remember: no one else would have delivered this much value -- no one.

What our customers received goes far beyond what is typical for software, and we're proud of that.
Click to expand...
Hello my worry is not the Almalinux but the EOL date of MariaDB which is set to expiry in 1.5 years:

MariaDB 10.6 (LTS) Ends in 1 year and 5 months
(6 July 2026)

Currently I am not allowed to install a newer version of MariaDB that is supported for longer:
MariaDB 10.11 (LTS)
Ends in 3 years and 1 month
(16 February 2028)

So if 10.11 is not supported within 2 years I will have a problem of not being able to update a core component of running websites; the database server. What is the official strategy to deal with that?
 
Magistar said:
What is the official strategy to deal with that?
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As said you will have that issue with Debian or alike.
With Almalinux, you can downgrade to MariaDB 10.5 and then not MariaDB but the OS (so Almalinux) support fixes for MariaDB 10.5 until EOL in 2032.

With Debian and derelatives, you encounter the same issue in 2028 that Alma users will have in 2032. Which is either keep using EOL OS (because those are also the OS eol dates) and eol MariaDB, or switch to a modern DA license at that time or earlier.
 
F.Y.I. -

From RHEL package browser, it looks (not confirmed) MariaDB packages were simply rebase, but may not have backport fix

For example, RHEL 8 shipped MariaDB 10.3:
- Official MariaDB 10.3 was EOL on 25 May 2023, last version of 10.3 series is 10.3.39.
- RHEL version (10.3 series): 10.3.39 released on 2023-06-22

ref.: https://access.redhat.com/downloads...73+72b0d35f/x86_64/fd431d51/package-changelog


Richard G said:
With Almalinux, you can downgrade to MariaDB 10.5 and then not MariaDB but the OS (so Almalinux) support fixes for MariaDB 10.5 until EOL in 2032.
Click to expand...
 
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