What is the future for Legacy DirectAdmin License holders?

[Richard G]

However.... My question there in post #66:

b.) But wat about -existing- lifetime licenses. Do they still have their lifetime free upgrade and support, or will they also have to pay $99 a year?

was answered with #post67

We are NOT touching any existing license. If you bought a license that said lifetime updates for free, you are getting lifetime updates for free.

So that gave me the impression that we were safe, in spite of the fact that it was said update here again while I asked upgrade.

 

[Richard G]

In fact this was the first change were old licenses would keep everything. New lifetime licenses would have to pay for upgrades and support 100/year.
After that, everything changed again and they pulled the new ones together with the old ones (which wouldn't be touched) and then was decided that upgrades were not given anymore to old licenses either.
I understand the reasons, but as known I'm not happy with the solution given.

The date of 2038 was never a DA ending date. That is kind of a year2000 date but then for Linux (click). Everything in Linux has 2038 as end date.

 

[redjersey]

If you do not consider running MariaDB 10.6 after two years as an option - then yes, I think you could consider it worthless for you.

Anyone using RHEL 7 based system (for example CentOS 7) and NOT using DirectAdmin gets MariaDB 5.5 from the distro packages. Yet there are lots of servers running in such configuration. So it really depends on what you need or what requirements you have.

When we purchase the lifetime license (in my case it's external lifetime license, which is much more than the internal one) we were told that we will receive future updates. So now you "transferred" our lifetime licenses into "legacy" and we no longer receive MariaDB updates?

 

[Nemesiz]

I have one license. I bought it in 2007. Payed $299 and no one was talking about license will become legacy or outdated.

Do I have rights to ask for compensation ?

 

[redjersey]

I have one license. I bought it in 2007. Payed $299 and no one was talking about license will become legacy or outdated.

Do I have rights to ask for compensation ?

Right now, their "compensation" is to offer us 1/2 price of the standard license, which means we will have to pay them $29/2 = $14.5/mo. How generous

 

[drc]

To help legacy license owners, we are currently offering a special discount where a license can be converted to Standard at approximately 1/2 price. This puts them at a tremendous price advantage compare to someone paying regular price. This can be discussed with the sales department.

Does this include the Code 500 pay monthly / Datacenter Internal pay monthly license?

If so, 15 USD/month for new standard licenses. I can accept this.

But paying 29 usd for something I pay 5 usd per month is crazy

We have not yet abandoned DA like many other companies.

Actually, 15 USD/month is a good price for resellers. I'm sure no one wants EOL.

 

[staff_nowa]

Does this include the Code 500 pay monthly / Datacenter Internal pay monthly license?

If so, 15 USD/month for new standard licenses. I can accept this.

But paying 29 usd for something I pay 5 usd per month is crazy

We have not yet abandoned DA like many other companies.

Actually, 15 USD/month is a good price for resellers. I'm sure no one wants EOL.

If you accept 15 USD for payment every month, Just open your account, and you can upgrade your lifetime license to a paid 15 USD license.

 

[drc]

If you accept 15 USD for payment every month, Just open your account, and you can upgrade your lifetime license to a paid 15 USD license.

What is being talked about here is the upgrade of monthly paid internal licenses, not lifetime ones.

 

[Arieh]

Still for me it doesn't sound fair or reasonable logical to draw the line at this MariaDB version. You're going to make DA ready for it anyway. And it's a core feature of any webhosting stack, a database. Will a legacy DA license at some point not provide a basic LAMP stack that is not EOL/not getting any security patches?

I think you could draw many lines outside of the LAMP stack, but not inside it. Lets say in some time there is a new webserver or database or other technology that DA will provide. Then you could argue that that is not included in the legacy license. But I mean, a database? It's just one very basic thing to have.

 

[quape.net]

I've been a long-term supporter of DirectAdmin, and I generally opt for paid versions for my new VPS/servers.

However, I find the limitations imposed on the lifetime license quite concerning, especially when it comes to addressing CVEs for my clients. It seems counterproductive for DirectAdmin to potentially expose us to risks in an effort to coerce an upgrade.

Running a business myself, I comprehend their rationale. Nonetheless, I believe the emphasis should be on enhancing the Pro Pack with additional features. The lifetime license should at least guarantee a basic, secure LAMP setup without the need for extravagant extras. Yet, ensuring security should be a mutual priority for both license holders like us and DirectAdmin. If our systems were to be compromised due to outdated components like MySQL 10.6, not only would DirectAdmin's reputation as a reliable control panel be tarnished, but our credibility would also be at stake.

I love you directadmin please dont be like cpanel and walk their path.

Some suggestions is to have a donate button so that whenever we use the custom build we will be reminded of Directadmin greatness and we will donate. You might get more than the license fee and retain customers.

 

[d.dobrev]

What they don't get is - a lot of LLH who do business *INVESTED* a lot of money to buy licenses with a plan to pay-off that investment by having customers use hosting with DA.
Have they necessarily profited from these licenses in the long run? I've heard some of you have 100s (perhaps more) licenses. If memory serves, when I purchased my LL it was ~250$ or something, which is not much, but to someone with 100 licenses that's 25000$.

Basically we (as in LLHs) spearheaded DA's ability to develop and F us over when they no longer needed us (as in - as soon as possible).

The new terms offered to LLHs are basically garbage. How would you ever trust a company that offered you a lifetime license only to screw you over few years later by twisting your hands to pay more? I wouldn't trust them if they offered me to pay 250$ again for an "upgraded blah blah lifetime license that I won't later be screwed off on" ...

"We really enjoyed your money, but now it's time to start milking you 'cause we feel like it (and cause we can force you)"

This is BS and maybe the only solution is a big big law suit. Either they loose, or we do (which is the point we're at right now). I'm in, if the rest of you are.

 

[ericc]

Why was nothing formally communicated with license holders? Even up to this day, many license holders with active licenses have had no communication from DirectAdmin. An email to explain that support beyond MariaDB 10.6 has been pulled from the license (or however you want to phrase it) is the very minimum that I would expect.

Wasn't the first time.

Evolution skin doesn't look that bad after getting news about MariaDB..

 

[ericc]

It is DA lifetime license description from 2017. How "upgrades/updates" option is different from current Standard license?

https://imgur.com/a/jAyStuu

 

[ericc]

This is BS and maybe the only solution is a big big law suit. Either they loose, or we do (which is the point we're at right now). I'm in, if the rest of you are.

Guess they calculated it. Again. Small web hosting companies would never sue them (what's the actual probability for them to unite). Big ones, who still use lifetime DA licenses, will receive upgrades/updates for free or they will get some special deal. That's it.

 

[ccto]

We do allow you to not use CustomBuild. The fact that CustomBuild was merged with DirectAdmin does not mean you must use it now. You can continue to manually install all software components. As long as DirectAdmin is compatible with the external software it will work just fine.

Keeping CustomBuild with DirectAdmin makes it easier to make configuration changes. For example we know how CustomBuild will configure software in each DirectAdmin version with strong guarantees. When CustomBuild was not bundled with DA there were a lot of problems because you could have old DA but new CB, or old CB but new DA (less likely scenario). Now we know what CB bundled with DA supports.

@fln , may I know, within a single DirectAdmin server (running with legacy license), does DirectAdmin allow we install MariaDB from distro RPM package (from RHEL/RockyLinux/AlmaLinux), instead of CustomBuild one?


"Allow" means we (as admin and as end-users) can manage database inside DA panel, CustomBuild (with legacy license) can continue to compile Apache, PHP(s), RoundCube, phpMyAdmin, IonCube, dovecot, Exim, etc.


(If my understanding is right, MariaDB 10.5 inside RHEL 9 Full Life Application Streams shall have 10 years update since released (I wish AlmaLinux follow too))
https://access.redhat.com/support/policy/updates/rhel-app-streams-life-cycle

(Update: It may not work. No MariaDB update in CL7 since 2020)

 

[ericosman]

@ccto
No as fln wrote here :

. So the line is drawn now, we make sure legacy DA works with MariaDB up to 10.6, but not with newer versions. While subscription based licenses continues to receive integration updates to work with the latest versions.

So you will be limited to the current MariaDB that you have.

 

[ccto]

My concern is MariaDB 10.5 in RHEL ones shall contain update till 2032 (instead of 2026).
Not sure AlmaLinux one follow or not.


(Update: It may not work. No MariaDB update in CL7 since 2020)

@ccto
No as fln wrote here :

So you will be limited to the current MariaDB that you have.

 

[smtalk]

@fln , may I know, within a single DirectAdmin server (running with legacy license), does DirectAdmin allow we install MariaDB from distro RPM package (from RHEL/RockyLinux/AlmaLinux), instead of CustomBuild one?

Yes, it does. You could use OS version provided RPM, 3rd parties provided RPMs from CloudLinux etc. or even remote MySQL servers (installed on a separate server, not running DA at all).

My concern is MariaDB 10.5 in RHEL ones shall contain update till 2032 (instead of 2026).

Yes, this statement is completely correct

 

[ericosman]

Yes, it does. You could use OS version provided RPM, 3rd parties provided RPMs from CloudLinux etc. or even remote MySQL servers (installed on a separate server, not running DA at all).

Than how should i read this?

Legacy DirectAdmin will not work with higher MariaDB versions even if they are installed manually or DB is in external server.

 

[ericc]

Than how should i read this?

I don't think we should read this at all. Because that may change. I also have subscription license - Personal, but it is marked as "legacy". Besides, MariaDB 10.11 is not listed under Pro Pack features, so whom to believe?

You know, when you try to implement some BS to get more $, but can't find any consistent way to do that. It still sounds like and remains a complete BS.