ISPConfig Roadmap

[till]

Here is my idea of an ISPConfig roadmap. Please feel
free to comment it and post your Ideas.


ISPConfig 2.x releases

- Support for new linux distributions like Gentoo, Slackware etc.
- Smaller feature and usability enhancements



ISPConfig 3.x releases

The ISPConfig 3.x series will be a major rewrite of the application
to solve many problems that cannot be solved with the current framework.

- Switch from a config file based approach to configure the daemons
to a SQL database backend. This will improve scalability of the
application and makes it possible to manage more than one server
with the controlpanel.

My idea is to build this around the following programs

Mailserver: exim as default.
Why? Exim is easier to configure and install then postfix e.g. no SASL needed for smtp
auth, maildrop not needed for sql based mailquota, for SQL based autoresponders i
have not found a solution for postfix at all (please correct me if you know one).
As alternative postfix with SQL, but postfix needs much more
helper programs and system configuration to work. And when you look at the forums
you can see which problems this often causes even if the howtos are used.
For exim only one binary and one config file is needed for all the functionality
(OK, and a start script ;) )

Webserver: Apache2

DNS-Server: DJBDNS
Are there any better and stable SQL based DNS servers available?

Database Server: MySQL as default
Also support for Postgres, Firebird will be nice.

FTP Server: ProFTPD and maybe pureftpd


Global changes in how ISPConfig works:
------------------------------------------------------------------

- separate Email, FTP and Shell user accounts.
- You can select for each website on which server it is hosted,
same for email domains. Email and Websites can be on different servers.
- Email accounts are separaeted from websites, you can have email
only accounts.

And many other of the feature requests from the forum ... :)

Till

[mphayesuk]

How about a way to interconnect more than one server running ISPConfig.

You will hate me for saying this but like the way that Active Directory can replicate to other servers in case one of the servers dies. Granted keeping a copy of the customer web data is asking too much and will take up too much space, but keeping a copy of the customer account details and passwords ect... would be very handy.

[till]

How about a way to interconnect more than one server running ISPConfig.

You will hate me for saying this but like the way that Active Directory can replicate to other servers in case one of the servers dies. Granted keeping a copy of the customer web data is asking too much and will take up too much space, but keeping a copy of the customer account details and passwords ect... would be very handy.

This can be achieved with the new Setup and this is one of the reasons why i chose the mysql based way. When all the configuration data is stored in the database, you can use the MYSQL database replication features to "clone" the setup. The new framework for ISPConfig that I'am currently working on has also a feature that i named datalog, it logs all changes of the mySQL database and can replay these changes to one or more external databases without needing the mysql replication faetures. The administrator can use the datalog also as an unlimited undo function if enabled.

[domino]

Both ProFTPD and PureFTPD, Exim, and MRTG is what I would love to see in this Control Panel.

[pontifex]

Hi,
and when will the new version be avail?

Ciao
PM

[till]

There is no release date yet. It depends on the number of developers.

[Bailx]

I think the new list of features would be enough to want me to definatly use ispconfig, rather than cpanel or plesk or something... :cool:

[hadisaadeh]

Dear All
Who said that ?
ispconfig 3

is from the association ( ispconfig administrators ) or not ?
is that really

please reply asap
________
Extreme q (http://extremevaporizer.info)

[till]

What is your question?

I've posted the ISPConfig 3 roadmap and yes, I'am one of the core developers from projektfarm GmbH, the company behind ISPConfig and 42goISP.

[hadisaadeh]

Why you make that ?
older systems differs from newer ?


regards
________
Roor bong (http://roorbongs.org)

[till]

1) This is open source software, if you find bugs, post them or fix them yourself.
2) There is no other roadmap for ISPConfig 3.
3) ISPConfig is very stable and is used by many poeple.

If you dont like ISPconfig, dont use it.

[falko]

i see that these systems will fail ?
why /
No, ISPConfig doesn't fail, except when your system doesn't fulfill the requirements. If you set up your system as described in any of the tutorials mentioned at the bottom of http://www.ispconfig.org/documentation.htm, then you will have a very stable system!

i see that every day you put road map diferrent from the old system
why ?
unstable system
There's only one roadmap, and Till posted it only once!

i see that system is good
but unstable like cpanel?
No, it's not unstable. I'm using it in production environments every day, without any problems.
Please don't blame your own errors on ISPConfig!


there is many faults
As I said above, it is a stable software. If you find a bug, then tell us exactly what you did so we can try to reproduce the bug, post logs that show the error, tell us on what platform you are, etc. but please in a constructive way and not by making hysterical posts here!

[hadisaadeh]

That if i used ispconfig 2
( post fix mail )
and comes ispconfig 3
( Exim )

and i have at least 100 web sites with emails ?

how i can transfer to another system
postfix-> Exim
________
Sl175 (http://www.cyclechaos.com/wiki/Honda_SL175)

[till]

That if i used ispconfig 2
( post fix mail )
and comes ispconfig 3
( Exim )

ISPConfig 3 is not even in alpha state yet. ISPConfig 2 will not
be dropped if ISPConfig 3 is released, because ISPConfig 3 has
a totally different architecture.

and i have at least 100 web sites with emails ?

how i can transfer to another system
postfix-> Exim

With an import script ;)

[pontifex]

Hi,

another interessting feature might be that ispconfig is able to handle backupMX entries, means that the exim MTA can accept emails from a domain, which is not "installed" in ispconfig and relys them to the server with the next lower MX entry...

Ciao
PM

[mphayesuk]

I know that this was mentioned above but I would like to say that having an import option to get all current version 2 customers and putting them into version 3 is a must, if you want people to use V3. Also the option to install and convert over V2 ie if your running one server with V2 on it you can just install V3 over the top and everything will be done for you... if this can be done easyily (I know its a big ask but it would make life a lot easier if this could happen).

Thanks

[till]

Noone said that there wont be an import script to import settings from ISPConfig 2 to ISPConfig 3. As i posted above, the development of ISPConfig 2 will not stop when ISPConfig 3 is released.

ISPConfig 3 is not a simple upgrade or some new features for version 2, its a completely different architecture and so an automatic upgrade without manually installing new services first will not be possible.

[Bailx]

i'd imagine that if you focused too much on the import scripts, rather than the actual development of v3, that it would take much longer. you might take a lesson from vbulletin on this one... and work on the v3 release first.... and then afterwards finish the upgrade (impex) scripts for people who want to upgrade.

[till]

We have not started working on the imports scripts yet and I will start this task first when ISPConfig 3 is relaesed as Beta or RC1.

[lerra]

A thing that poopt up in my mind...aint it posseble to day to run ispconfig 2.x on multiply servers if you nfs the webdir and configdirs and check the config files (at the mailserver etc) and md5 check them and if they are edited, copy over it and reload it. Its a days work of scripting or am i wrong?
Its a ugly way anyway:)

[heftigrat]

My one big issue with ISPConfig is the setup, that's it. Otherwise it's fantastic, and I'm very grateful good ppl are working on it. Are y'all German, btw?

Anyway, my suggestion would be that if the user has not fullfilled some requirement, for instance if xyz.domain.dom does not resolve to anything, warn the user and allow them to 1. update their DNS, or 2. choose a different hostname before proceeding. Another for instance is if the MySQL pass doesn't match, allow the user a couple of chances to retype it. Finally, if the install MUST abort, have it clean up the install files automagically.

That's all I have to say, other than thanks for putting together such an awesome package. This thing has some great features and potential for future growth. I've suggested it to our sysadmin, as we host DNS, web, email, and ftp, and currently enter EVERYTHING by hand. While it's fun to edit raw zone files, it would be nice to give customers an interface to do it instead. ;)

Thanks again!

[falko]

Are y'all German, btw?
The core development team is German, that's right.

[heftigrat]

The core development team is German, that's right.
Fantastic! Those crazy Germans, what will they think of next? :p

You might want to sticky this thread, roadmaps are very nice. :)

[falko]

Fantastic! Those crazy Germans, what will they think of next? :p
Winning the FIFA World Cup! :D

[nveid]

Mailserver: exim as default.
Why? Exim is easier to configure and install then postfix e.g. no SASL needed for smtp auth,

Personally I find postfix /much/ easier to configure than exim, and I thought authentication for smtp SASL requirement was configurable?
maildrop not needed for sql based mailquota

I believe postfix-vda covers the quotas, http://web.onda.com.br/nadal/, which is also a debian package. I've been using it for awhile and it works well.

, for SQL based autoresponders i
have not found a solution for postfix at all (please correct me if you know one).


I haven't tried this personally but I believe yaa does the trick, and its a debian package as well, http://frost.ath.cx/software/yaa/.

[falko]

Personally I find postfix /much/ easier to configure than exim, and I thought authentication for smtp SASL requirement was configurable?
Postfix will also be supported, don't worry about that. :)

I believe postfix-vda covers the quotas, http://web.onda.com.br/nadal/, which is also a debian package. I've been using it for awhile and it works well.
I use this patch myself in this tutorial: http://www.howtoforge.com/virtual_postfix_mysql_quota_courier, but I think it might be a bit of a problem for the average user to apply this patch. Of course we'll publish instructions on how to do it, but it will still be a problem for some...

[till]

Personally I find postfix /much/ easier to configure than exim, and I thought authentication for smtp SASL requirement was configurable?

I believe postfix-vda covers the quotas, http://web.onda.com.br/nadal/, which is also a debian package. I've been using it for awhile and it works well.



I haven't tried this personally but I believe yaa does the trick, and its a debian package as well, http://frost.ath.cx/software/yaa/.

One problem with patches is that we do not only need debian packages. We need at least Fedora 3 + 4, SuSe 9.3 - 10, RedHat 9 plus RH Enterprise packages and as Falko mentioned, many users wont be able to configure a complex patched system and keep it up to date. So we had to chose Exim as default, its easier to setup and compile for the average user.

[ovis]

Is there any shift in these programs or the way they will be configured in ISPC3 ? It would be nice people can choose all sorts of solutions them selfs (Free and Commersial) Well i never tryed a different solution myself. But i really like experiment with different tools such as VuurMuur, ASSP, Multiple Antivirus solutions.

Just a thougt

Ovis

[till]

Is there any shift in these programs or the way they will be configured in ISPC3 ?

Yes. Most daemons will get their configuration directly out of the mysql database. But we wont stop the ISPConfig 2 development when ISPConfig 3 is released, so noone has to migrate their server to ISPConfig 3.

It would be nice people can choose all sorts of solutions them selfs (Free and Commersial) Well i never tryed a different solution myself. But i really like experiment with different tools such as VuurMuur, ASSP, Multiple Antivirus solutions.

ISPConfig 3 will be much more modularized then ISPConfig 2. I think it will be possible to plugin additional modules easily.

[alexillsley]

Yea ISPConfig is great though i think it should be made more user orientated that site orientated. So one client/user should get a number of domains and subdomains, a number of FTP accounts, a number of SQL accounts. So the user should have a limit for the whole account not each site, this way i could give user 100mb of space between 2 sites and one FTP account for all the sites. Something like that, just an idea

Alex,

[brainz]

I really dont know alot.... But i know one think till and Falko are fantastic...

regards
brainz :cool:

[crypted]

I'm wondering what type of process, if any, will be available to upgrade ISPCONFIG v2 to v3 when the final version is available? I'm looking forward to the new ISPCONFIG. It's amazing that you have such great skills and are so kind to follow the opensource agenda.

By the way, I'd prefer Germany win the next FIFA cup rather than France or Mexico!

Danke vielmals!

[till]

I'm wondering what type of process, if any, will be available to upgrade ISPCONFIG v2 to v3 when the final version is available?

There will be no direct upgrading option available. The reason for this is that ispconfig 3 has totally different system requirements so that a system that has run ispconfog 2 before is not able to run ispconfig 3 without a complete reconfiguration or better a reinstallation.

I hope that we will be able to implement some kind of migration tool thats is able to import the website and user details from a ispconfig 2 system to a ispconfig 3 system but there was no time yet to write such a tool and my priority is to get the final of ISPConfig 3 out at the moment. We will not stop the support and updates for ISPConfig 2 so there is no need for fast a upgrade to ispconfig 3 from a technical standpoint.

[atjensen11]

I use YAA for autoresponders for my Postfix email server using a MySQL backend and virtual users. I used a tutorial on HowtoForge to setup the mail server and then added YAA later.

[till]

ISPConfig 3 uses maildrop based autoresponders and scripts to connect to the mysql database which works fine too.