Addon Domains?

Howdy,

You can have as many domains (ie, Virtual Servers) per account as you like.

To create additional Virtual Servers, just go into Create Virtual Server, and choose the Sub-Server option at the top.

Also, make sure that particular account is allowed to have multiple domains -- you can verify that by looking in Administrator Options -> Edit Owner Limits. In there, make sure "Maximum allowed virtual servers" is higher than "1".

-Eric

Ok, I have a similar question. Let's say I have three websites: http://1.com, http://2.com & http://3.com set up under a cloud server with cPanel, with http://1.com being the main website and http://2.com & http://3.com as addon domains. Here's the problem with cPanel:

1) I can only have one username for cPanel, whether I have one website or three.

2) I am told that if I want to move http://2.com & http://3.com into their own cloud server with their own cPanel later, that I would experience downtime even in a cloud environment and that the only way to avoid this is to just start them off separately, each under its own cPanel.

So can Virtualmin solve my two problems? Can I initially host three websites under one Virtualmin, each managed with a separate username? Can I eventually separate them into their own cloud server with their own Virtualmin without downtime? Thanks in advance for any help.

Howdy,

Can I initially host three websites under one Virtualmin, each managed with a separate username

Well, if I understand what you're asking -- I think so!

One Virtualmin account can have as many domains as you like. By default, there's just one administrative user for all the domains in that account, but you can add additional admin users.

Can I eventually separate them into their own cloud server with their own Virtualmin

So you'd essentially like to be able to migrate one of these domains to it's own server at some point?

You can do that with these steps --

• First, I'd suggest moving the one domain into an account of it's own when you're preparing to migrate it to a new server. You can do that by going into Server Configuration -> Move Virtual Server, and making it a Parent Virtual Server.

• Second, generate a backup of your domain that you'd like to move (in Backup and Restore -> Backup Virtual Servers), copy that backup to your new server, and restore it. That domain will then be setup on your new server -- and then all you have to do is change the nameservers so that they're pointing to the new server.

If you setup that domain on the new server before changing the nameservers to make it live, especially if you do some testing first -- you should be able to perform that migration without downtime.

-Eric

Thanks for the quick reply. The impression I'm getting at is that Virtualmin works very similar to cPanel in that if I want to separate the websites, I might as well just start them off separately, each under its own Virtualmin. This is because:

1) To me the process you described is similar to cPanel (except more automated since with cPanel I think I have to separate the websites manually) and still means downtime, unless for a very static website which two of my websites are not. I mean what happens when someone posts to my website in the old server between the time the backup is being moved and restored, right before the nameserver points to the new server? Don't they get lost unless I shut the website down during the move? Similar situation with email?

2) Until now I used shared hosting so will have to move all the data anyway since I'm trying to switch from cPanel to Virtualmin. But the new cloud server I just bought actually comes with multiple cpu cores that allow me to build and divide into multiple virtual machines inside at once, and add more resources as needed later. So I might as well separate the websites once and for all right now when they're tiny instead of trying to separate them later.

So assuming that I might just have to end up installing three copies of Virtualmin for each website:

1) I want to confirm that if one of the websites is a web development firm and will have lots of addon domains for clients, from what you are saying that it is possible for each client to log into their own account and view only their addon domain, and I can log in as like a super admin and see everything? This all in the free version? This cannot be done in cPanel (unless clients all get their own which no way in hell can I afford) and is the main reason why I want to switch.

2) The cloud server initially comes with 1 gig of ram, so I can split into three virtual machines with 256 mb, 384 mb & 384 mb or however I want as long as they total 1 gig. I want to know what the recommended minimum amount of ram is for Virtualmin (under CentOS) to run for one tiny website? And what about the estimated minimum for one tiny website with say 9 additional tiny addon domains? Is it still the same? I ask because there seems to be lots of wrong information everywhere that Virtualmin is a resource hog, which I highly doubt, and also because I want to plan ahead.

Again, thanks in advance for any help.

I mean what happens when someone posts to my website in the old server between the time the backup is being moved and restored, right before the nameserver points to the new server? Don't they get lost unless I shut the website down during the move? Similar situation with email?

Well, busy sites do make such migrations trickier :-)

What you may want to do in your case is --

1. First make a full backup, copy that to your new server, and restore that. The copy and restore of a full backup may take awhile.

2. Right before making the nameserver switch, generate a new backup, but this time, just a database backup, and then copy and restore that database backup.

Now, even doing the above, you could experience a lost post to your website. Many web apps support some sort of maintenance or read-only mode -- you could always enable that maintenance mode for just a few minutes while that final backup is being transferred.

So I might as well separate the websites once and for all right now when they're tiny instead of trying to separate them later.

Sure, that's one less step to do later.

So assuming that I might just have to end up installing three copies of Virtualmin for each website:

Hmm, you don't need three copies of Virtualmin.

You'd install Virtualmin once, and you'd create 3 accounts within it -- one for each domain (or, Virtualmin calls them "Virtual Servers").

it is possible for each client to log into their own account and view only their addon domain, and I can log in as like a super admin and see everything? This all in the free version?

Yup! That's correct, and the features you described are available in the free GPL version of Virtualmin.

You can see the differences between the GPL and Pro versions here:

http://www.virtualmin.com/compare.html

Two of the more popular features of the Pro version are the Install Scripts (the ability to install apps like WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal (amongst many others) with just a click or two, and the Pro version also supports resellers.

But, the GPL version is quite functional, and many shared web hosting providers happily run the GPL version.

The cloud server initially comes with 1 gig of ram, so I can split into three virtual machines with 256 mb, 384 mb & 384 mb or however I want as long as they total 1 gig

Well, I'll be honest -- I think you'd be better off not splitting that up.

there seems to be lots of wrong information everywhere that Virtualmin is a resource hog

Virtualmin itself is small... the process takes about 40MB on my system here. And it can be configured to use less than that if desired.

However, other services in the stack can use a lot more RAM... ClamAV and SpamAssassin are both fairly important for email users, but those daemons together take up over 200MB of RAM on my system.

MySQL and BIND can each use a bit of RAM too.

Now, there's ways to tune them to use less RAM... there's a whole documented written for assisting folks in tweaking systems to use less RAM.

But, were you to use just one server with 1GB of RAM -- you wouldn't need to do most of that tweaking, and because of that, you'd see better performance for all the services running on that server.

Sure, you could create 3 separate VPS's -- but I think you'd see better performance making just one server, and having your domains share the resources on that one server.

Also, note that with anything less than 3GB of RAM, I'd highly recommend using a 32bit OS, and not a 64bit OS.

Using a 64bit OS uses nearly twice as much RAM, and isn't really going to benefit you until you push beyond 3GB of RAM.

-Eric

Man you're awesome, thanks again. I decided to take your advice and install one Virtualmin and just go from there. I'll just add more servers as needed for now and if I get lucky and become successful then I'll worry about the rest. One more question: Which OS would you recommend from the following list?

http://dediserve.com/cloud-machines-templates.html

I'm thinking CentOS 6.0 x86? I just learned that x86 means 32 bit. :D

Howdy,

I don't have a specific OS recommendation, other than to suggest using one of the "Grade A" supported OS's listed here:

http://www.virtualmin.com/os-support

I'd suggest going with the most recent version of which ever OS you choose. So, if you're thinking CentOS 6 x86, that should work well.

-Eric

After going back and forth between CentOS & Debian, I think I'll stick with CentOS. That list helped. Thanks!