need some clearance

[sniperscope]

hi.
I am currently customer of cPanel. I am selling dedicated hosting. At the beginning i was happy cPanel but as you can imagine cPanel cost me a lot money when my customer increase.
So, i am thinking to give a try to DirectAdmin. I read many topics and posts in various forums. and most of people says DA's features almost same as cPanel/WHM.

Here is something i want to clear some of questions.
1 - Does DA support un-installation?
2 - If i buy yearly license is it possible to change lifetime at anytime?
3 - Can i use CSF with DA WITHOUT a problem?
4 - Does DA has Mod Security?
5 - Does DA has Munin or equivalent software?
6 - How can i manage SSL certificates? since i did not see any option in demo account.
7 - Does DA update CentOS and it-self automatically?
8 - How can i create hosting packages?
9 - Is there tweak settings like cPanel provide?
10 - How can i create a new account? because i didn't see any menu entry for that.
11 - Is there any trial license?

NOTE: I always use CentOS 5.x as server Operating System.

Regards

 

[SeLLeRoNe]

Hi,

i will reply on what im sure is correct

1 - AFAIK No, there is no un-inistallation script.
2 - Probably yes, but, you need to contact sale dept for a clear reply
3 - Definitly yes.
4 - Can be added following some how-to here on this forum
5 - No, but can be installed (i use to use munin and nagios on my servers)
6 - SSL Cert can be easly handled from CP (http://www.site-helper.com/ssl.html)
7 - No OS is updated via DA, DA can be it-self updated (and his software installed too, apache mysql etc) using crontab.. but.. honestly i would not suggest that.
8 - Check this: http://reseller.site-helper.com/packages.html
9 - What do you mean for tweak? There are tons of posts here for tweak mysql apache, mods for apache and whatever
10 - Check this: http://reseller.site-helper.com/create.html
11 - Yes, contacti sales dept they can provide a 30day trial.

DA is based on RHEL if i dont remembar bad (or mayble directly on CentOS) aqnd than ported on other OS, so, CentOS is the most secure compatible installation (ive also used FreeBSD and Debain and ofc work great too).
Now im on CentOS 5.8 and 6.2 (32 and 64 Bit) and it work great.

FYI, the complete guide with screenshot, as ive already menthioned, can be found on: http://reseller.site-helper.com/

Hope i've been more clear possible.

Regards

 

[sniperscope]

Dear SeLLeRoNe
Thank you for your reply. It helped me most.
When i checked demo admin account of DA i found Admin Level, Reseller Level and User Level all those levels for server administration?

You might know EasyApache in WHM. i found that there is nothing like EasyApache in DA after a little search. Does it mean i have to install everything one by one manually?

In your post:

7 - No OS is updated via DA, DA can be it-self updated (and his software installed too, apache mysql etc) using crontab.. but.. honestly i would not suggest that.

Could you please explain a little why don't you suggest updating?

I am here and asking those question because simply i am concerning Security and Update.
I am Japan based very small company. I don't want to get bad image for my customer since i am beginning of hosting business.

Anyway, I found that DA has better Security than cPanel also faster and smaller then cPanel.
How about update? As you may know Plesk has a lot of problem updating. if you backup your server in version 8 and next day upgrade to version 9 will makes your back up useless.
Does DA has such problems?

 

[SeLLeRoNe]

Your welcome.

Regarding your doubts ill try to be more clear.

I dont know what EasyApache is but on DA based server you got an utility (SSH based) that is called custombuild that manage the installation and update of about everything related to the hosting (not OS), here an example of output on my versions lists:

>/usr/local/directadmin/custombuild/build versions
Latest version of DirectAdmin: 1.40.3
Installed version of DirectAdmin: 1.40.3

Latest version of Apache: 2.4.1
Installed version of Apache: 2.4.1

Latest version of ProFTPD: 1.3.4a
Installed version of ProFTPD: 1.3.4a

Latest version of PCRE: 8.20
Installed version of PCRE: 8.20

Latest version of curl: 7.25.0
Installed version of curl: 7.25.0

Latest version of FreeType: 2.4.8
Installed version of FreeType: 2.4.8

Latest version of AWstats: 6.95
Installed version of AWstats: 6.95

Latest version of dovecot: 2.1.3
Installed version of dovecot: 2.1.3

Latest version of Exim: 4.77
Installed version of Exim: 4.77

Latest version of SpamAssassin: 3.3.2
Installed version of SpamAssassin: 3.3.2

Latest version of ClamAV: 0.97.3
Installed version of ClamAV: 0.97.3

Latest version of MySQL: 5.1.62
Installed version of MySQL: 5.1.62

Latest version of PHP (CLI): 5.3.10
Installed version of PHP (CLI): 5.3.10

Latest version of RoundCube webmail: 0.7.2
Installed version of RoundCube webmail: 0.7.2

Latest version of phpMyAdmin: 3.4.10.2-all-languages
Installed version of phpMyAdmin: 3.4.10.2-all-languages

If you want to update all the available versions run: /usr/local/directadmin/custombuild/build update_versions

I dont suggest auto-updated 'cause, for example, about a month ago a new CURL version was released but had a bug that was making crash wordpress (i think was wordpress not sure, but was a cms) and most of my customer has their website unavaible, so, i had to downgrade CURL untill next release was out and without the bug.

I use to have a setup to receive email once update for software are avaible (like the list ive posted here) and manually log into the box and do update, ofc curl is an isolated problem and updates can be made automatically, but, i prefer not

Relating the security DA have an integrated Brute Force Monitor (BFM) that check logs for Brute Force attempts on all services and can be easly integrated with CSF (that will receive the IP and ban it).

At today (from about 7 years) none of my server has been hacked (at least never directadmin).

Can happen that user have bugged cms (phpnuke, wordpress and whatever) but with mod_ruid2 the uploaded file have always user owner so, the most bad thing should be a customer website hacked cause of a bug on their website.

Custombuild as i sayd is managed to update the listed software and DA itself too, but, will not manage operating system updates.

More information about CB can be found here: http://www.directadmin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=29824

Hope ive been more clear, if not, feel free to ask for details

Regards

 

[sniperscope]

you are so helpful
Thanks for reply.

Let me contact Sales department and start installation DA today.

Wish you have a great day.