Introduction to Cloudmin
Cloudmin provides a web interface for management of multiple systems, typically virtual systems running under some virtualization technology such as Xen or OpenVZ. A single Cloudmin master can manage multiple host systems, each of which can in turn host multiple virtual systems.
The same UI is used regardless of the type of virtual system being managed, any multiple types can co-exist within the same Cloudmin install or on the same host system. Wherever possible, the same functions are available regardless of the virtualization type of the system being managed, even though their implementation may differ.
Virtual System Types
Cloudmin supports the following virtual system (VPS) types :
- Open Source Xen
- Citrix Xen
- OpenVZ
- KVM
- Linux VServers
- Solaris Zones
- Amazon EC2
In addition, it can manage and monitor real (non-virtual) systems, although not all functions are available.
Cloudmin Features
Virtual System Management
- Creation and deletion of virtual systems of any supported type
- Import of single or multiple existing manually created virtual systems
- Startup / shutdown / reboot / pause of virtual or real systems
- Imaging of systems, for creating additional instances with the same settings
- Support for multiple host systems, categorized by physical location
- Moving of virtual systems between hosts
- Updated packages from YUM or APT can be installed on one or multiple systems
- Text and graphical console access to virtual systems
- Root shell access to virtual systems, including parallel command execution
Resource Management
- CPU, RAM, network rate, bandwidth transfer and disk space limits can be configured for each system
- Xen and KVM disk images can be created on LVM or in regular files
- Xen virtual CPU pinning
- Disk, CPU and memory usage graphs
System Owner Accounts
- Additional Cloudmin logins with access to a subset of systems can be created
- Account plans can control functions available to system owners
- Plans can place limits on disk space, CPU, memory and bandwidth used
- RAM, CPU and disk usage over a billing cycle can be tracked for usage-based charging
Command Line and Remote API
- All Cloudmin functions can be used from shell scripts running on the master system
- All functions are also accessible via an HTTP-based API with JSON, Perl and XML responses
- API commands are self-documenting
Backup and Restore
- All virtual systems can be backed up, either on a regular schedule or on demand
- Backup destination can be on-host or to a remote system via SSH or FTP
- Virtual system's files can be restored from a backup
Virtualmin Integration
- Domains can be created, deleted, suspended or moved on any managed system
- Domain search across multiple systems
- System information collected by Virtualmin included in status graphs
- Virtualmin Pro license management and assignment
Amazon EC2
- EC2 instances can be created, deleted and managed like any other system
- Creation of AMIs from EC2 instances, as templates for additional systems on EC2
- Management of multiple EC2 accounts, in different availability zones
- Management of EC2 SSH keys
- Creation and assignment of EC2 security groups, including port-based restrictions
- Creation and assignment of EC2 static IP addresses
- Creation, management and assignment of EC2 volumes and snapshots
- Management of EC2 AMIs