These forums are locked and archived, but all topics have been migrated to the new forum. You can search for this topic on the new forum: Search for automating virtualmin/cloudmin/webmin/usermin on the new forum.
Web Hosting and Cloud Computing Control Panels
Absolutely. That's a huge part of why we built Virtualmin and Cloudmin.
There are command line and remote APIs for doing exactly this...and they're really easy to use, too. It usually only takes one command to fire up a new virtual server in Virtualmin or a new virtual machine in Cloudmin.
Here's the developer docs index for Virtualmin and Cloudmin:
http://www.virtualmin.com/documentation/developer
The command line docs sections cover the actual commands, and the remote sections cover how to use those commands via HTTP requests (which can be done with just about any language that can make web requests; even a shell script can be used with a web client like wget or curl or fetch). You can also get usage summaries from the commands themselves by calling with no argument, like this:
virtualmin
Or:
cloudmin
And for a specific command:
virtualmin create-domain
And you can get the manpage for each command like this:
virtualmin help create-domain
We're happy to answer any questions you have about making it all spin. But, it's usually pretty easy to integrate into most systems, at least from the basic "create a new account" perspective. Automatically handling deletions and disabling and resizing and such gets a bit more complex, and very few ecommerce systems are targeted for that kind of usage. In such cases, you might go with one of the pre-existing billing systems that support Virtualmin out of the box, like WHMCS or AWBS. WHMCS also has support for Cloudmin now.
--
Check out the forum guidelines!
Thanks for the reply. I will definitely look into WHMCS to help with my current solution.
Also, is there anytime in the near future for a cloudmin demo? Or is it very similiar to virtualmin.
Also, is there anytime in the near future for a cloudmin demo?
We haven't figured out how to securely virtualize a virtual system, so a demo is a little bit difficult. ;-)
It'll happen eventually.
Or is it very similiar to virtualmin.
It is not similar in functionality, at all...there is very nearly no overlap in the tasks the two products perform. It is similar in UI appearance and usage, since they're both Webmin modules and use the same theme.
But, no, I can't say that using the Virtualmin demo would give you any notion of what using Cloudmin is like. They serve very different purposes, though often the same users would use both products.
--
Check out the forum guidelines!
Thank you greatly for the response.
I know that this question has popped up alot in the forum, but it didn't hurt to ask again. I really want to buy this software but am a little bit worried that after I buy the software, it won't perform the tasks I am looking for, and that will be X dollars down the drain. I've read extensively through the docs and it seems to be what I am looking for, so I guess this time I will have to go with my gut feeling.
Also,
I research HyperVM and heard alot about its security issues. What type of steps does cloudmin take to reduce the risks of exploits?
I really want to buy this software but am a little bit worried that after I buy the software, it won't perform the tasks I am looking for, and that will be X dollars down the drain.
As ronald mentioned, we offer a money back guarantee on everything we sell. If you're unhappy for any reason, we'll happily refund the full purchase price. We simply don't want unhappy customers; life is too short for that kind of thing. So, if you don't find the software provides a great value, we want you to have your money back.
I research HyperVM and heard alot about its security issues. What type of steps does cloudmin take to reduce the risks of exploits?
Security isn't any single feature or coding practice, and so it's not really useful to say, "Webmin supports SSL, password timeouts, and has been audited by security professionals, and thus our products are secure". Networked software is always under attack, and new exploits are being discovered every day. With our products, we do the best we can to mitigate security risks. We take security issue reports very seriously. And, the security history of Webmin (and related products) is quite good, given the size and value of the target (millions of users, runs as root, often has access to other systems, etc.) and how often it is the target of attacks.
The most important thing about Webmin/Virtualmin/Cloudmin, however, from a security standpoint is really just that it is very actively maintained. We don't have any secret knowledge or amazing skills that would allow us to write completely bug-free code; but when problems are found, we fix them quickly. Unmaintained code is pretty much guaranteed to be insecure code at some point, and Webmin/Virtualmin/Cloudmin has never been unmaintained and is at no risk of becoming unmaintained (we are a real company with real stockholders and three people with plans to grow further in 2010; it is not a one-man operation nor is it on the verge of financial collapse or anything else catastrophic that would put the code at risk).
So, the best thing we can offer as evidence of future security is our history of security and active maintenance. It's been pretty good for over a dozen years, so you can probably trust that we'll do a decent job in the future, too. We aren't arrogant enough to say that we'll never make mistakes, including security mistakes. In addition to our own concerns about security, there are a number of generous security professionals (some of them Virtualmin customers, even) who periodically audit the code and let us know about the problems they find. Needless to say, we're grateful to those folks.
--
Check out the forum guidelines!
for virtualmin there is a 45 (i think) days money back return policy, at least 30 days, so you won't be throwing away money if it doesnt fit your needs
Webmins code has been around for 13 or more years used by millions. virtualmin has been audited recent year and a few minor catches have been improved. cloudmin is also written by Jamie (mostly)
In my opinion its solid but the developer can answer these questions much better than I as a user can. I trust this software to run my business.
I have been using webmin nearly since its birth and virtualmin since its birth and I have never been disappointed in it.
I maintain a large number of servers and cloudmin has been a real time saver being able to look at a glance how each server is doing and if any updates are needed. In a click I can upgrade all server packages and even upgrade all installed scripts.
Is VM Pro worth the money... hands down its the best non-invasive control panel out there. The other cp's slam us because they know they suck and usually will ruin a servers performance. A good example is cPanel and VHCS, both claim #1 in hosting control panel solutions, and both are so invasive that if you even tried a normal upgrade of the server packages you are 99% likely to break it. In fact if you even use VHCS you will never be able to use the console again as it stores everything in mysql, even the users and passwords. If either of those cp's break so does everyone that has a account in it, websites and email would not function correctly if at all.
VM Pro and Cloudmin use the normal system files just as if you used the console command line. If by chance webmin/virtualmin/cloudmin all broke at the same time or separately your clients would never lose anything, from sites to email. This is how safe a cp should be.
People say that webmin/virtualmin/cloudmin will never last long because its basically a 2-man business but I can tell you that there is enough of a userbase that if both Jamie and Joe died in one day we old guys could take over the development and continue what they started and in the same spirit of coding and customer support.
And WHMCS is by far the best billing and auto-provisioning program out there for VM Pro and Cloudmin. WHMCS can be setup to auto create/suspend any hosted site.