pre-order doubt

[Lem0nHead]

hello

i'm interested on purchasing DirectAdmin because i liked 15minuteservers.com plans... i just would like to know if it has some features that would be useful for me

i use cPanel for more than 1 year on my server... I don't want to switch to cPanel on this one because users are already adapted to it, but I want to use it on my new server

my questions:
1) it's not hard to get some E-Mail from people asking to migrate from a server to mine... since most servers use cPanel, they can do "backup" on one and "restore" on mine and everything goes well... so the question: is there a way to restore cPanel generated backups on DirectAdmin?

2) does DirectAdmin has a tool like easyapache?

3) about security: is there something jailed on DirectAdmin? FTP, SSH (jailshell), CGI, PHP...

4) is there a "free" (that comes in the package) portuguese version of DirectAdmin? if not, is it easy to change themes (i may want to add my logo on top) and language?

5) if I get problems compiling apache, or specially "urgent" problems (that makes some service down), will you give support fast?

6) does it works well on FreeBSD?

sorry because the number of questions, but I want to be sure about everything

thanks

 

[jmstacey]

1. Not through the control panel. There is a tool in the 3rd party forums that will help you transfer accounts over but can only be run by someone with sufficient permissions through ssh.
At the moment, DirectAdmin only has backup restore functions integrated for DirectAdmin made backups

It is possible a plugin could be made specifically for the task of restoring cpanel (and other) backups to directadmin through a nice interface.

2. Yes, its called customapache. As well as updating apache you can also update other key services such as php, curl, zend etc.

3. I think everything but ssh is jailed properly. There is another forum regarding the implementation of a jail (still under development), but I don't have a link

4. There is no portuguese translation as far as I know. It is easy to change theme but the problem is that the language system is not fully complete. Some of the text is hardcoded into DA and there's no way of editing it.

5. I suppose it depends on what kind of license you buy, since the Lifetime only has 90 days of support. Response times are usually the same day. The forums are also an excellent resource (although not an official support option)

6. Definitely. I'm running 4.10 without any problems.

 

[Lem0nHead]

jmstacey, directadmin has a relationship (maybe owned by the same company?) with 15minuteservers, doesn't it?

if so, would i get support for DA while i'm paying 15MS?

 

[Lem0nHead]

also, i didn't find where i can reconfigure apache on the demo admin panel...
which options does it have?
1) compile last 1.3.X apache version;
2) compile last stable PHP version where i can choose which modules to compile (GD, FreeType, MagicQuotes, etc);
3) compile last stable mysql version
4) "emergency compile" (cpanel has something like that)... it would compiles everything with defaults to make sure it works in case of any instability
5) mmcache integration (cpanel doesn't have it... i had to do on my hands, but could do for DA too)
6) optional phpSuExec or something similar to it?
7) SuExec for CGI?

to make the answer easy, you can just say Y/N for 1 to 7
and/or a screenshot of the admin area or some demo...

thanks

 

[toml]

Lem0nHead,
DirectAdmin does not have a point and click build system. It does have a pretty easy build setup for apache/php/frontpage from the command line. So, you would need to ssh in and build/install it as root. There are two configuration files to edit, one for apache/ssl and the other for php, you can add/delete most anything to these files, as long as you retain the shell script format.
So to answer your questions:
1) yes - command line
2) yes - command line for last stable version, but modules are configured via configure.php script
3) mysql binary is installed, not compiled for DirectAdmin, at least for the RedHat systems.
4) not exactly, but the ./build clean; ./build update; ./build should build on all supported systems.
5) no
6) no
7) yes

 

[Lem0nHead]

thanks for the fast answer

so far so good
a few more questions (i swear they will end soon)

3) what about for FreeBSD installation?
6) so PHP is just supported to be run as apache module?

 

[toml]

thanks for the fast answer

so far so good
a few more questions (i swear they will end soon)

3) what about for FreeBSD installation?
6) so PHP is just supported to be run as apache module?

I believe that FreeBSD is installed as a binary, but I am not sure. I don't run a FreeBSD DirectAdmin box. And php is currently only run as an apache module.

 

[Lem0nHead]

a few more

which SMTP client does DA support? qmail, exim? and which POP3 client?
are there support for secure servers (https, pops, smtps, imaps)?

are there stats of accounts that uses more resources (CPU, mem)? that may be very useful to track heavy scripts
what about mails? stats of sent mails, received mails (for each account)?

does DA alerts when some vuln is find on it, requesting to update? if so, how is that alert done? (WHM shows it on the main page, but it would be nicer if it could E-Mail the alert because we check E-Mail more often then logging to WHM)

well...
sorry to bore with so many questions, but i wanna be sure of what my customers will have... and this questions may be part of some FAQ later

thanks

 

[nobaloney]

Re: a few more

which SMTP client does DA support? qmail, exim? and which POP3 client?

DA uses exim for SMTP, and VM-POP3D for POP.

are there support for secure servers (https, pops, smtps, imaps)?

HTTPS yes. I'm not sure about the others. Perhaps someone else can help us.

are there stats of accounts that uses more resources (CPU, mem)? that may be very useful to track heavy scripts

No.

what about mails? stats of sent mails, received mails (for each account)?

Only in the logs; no tracking in DA.

does DA alerts when some vuln is find on it, requesting to update? if so, how is that alert done? (WHM shows it on the main page, but it would be nicer if it could E-Mail the alert because we check E-Mail more often then logging to WHM)

DA itself is a statically compiled C++ program and is updated regularly, but you have to check and update it yourself, or add a cron job to your server which will check for updates and install them as necessary.

As for services installed by DA, no, DA doesn't notify you of additions, but you can use an outside service (some are free) to notify you of changes to their download pages. While you can script DA to update these automatically as well, we don't recommend that, because udpating these scripts runs a rebuild system that could impact server load and availability.

As for services loaded by your OS, you can script checking and updating automatically for most supported operating systems.

There are third-party companies offering updating services, either alone, or as part of a server maintenance/managmenet contract. We're one of those companies.

Jeff