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VPS Control Panel
Hello, So as ive seen via my google searches and reading many discussions on here this is a common question and im going to say im sorry ahead of time for that, but none of the threads seemed to answer my specific question.
I currently run ESXI box with 20 or so VMs for game servers. ARMA, Minecraft etc... up until now i manage them all the best i can, as you can guess I am only one person trying to make 20 or more people happy and that gets very exhausting.
I am looking for a free or yearly cheap licence for a VPS control panel that allows users who i allow to login and do very basic tasks such as stop and restart and ftp into a jailed directory IE there game files. and shell access. nothing to fancy i do not need email or website configuration since i am not running either of those.
So what can the good people of lowendtalk recommend.
Notes:
All my servers are linux.
i would like good documentation on how to do what i need such as if there is any configuration needed to just be able to allow users to stop start etc...
Example:
I currently have a VPS with a provider and they use solusvm the only options i have are the ones i requested i need in this discussion.
Thanks
Comments
Why not create a user account in ESXi for each user so they can only access their VM?
i thought about that now im not using vcenter im using the vsphere client. and i say this with all the love for my users but theres a reason they have me host there server, i think stop start and restart would be the easiest solution for everyone
ESX is limited in 'free' options. If you were to move to KVM/OpenVZ then you could use Proxmox or you could use Virtualizor (paid) to run Xen/KVM/OpenVZ
I really do enjoy ESXI even the free version and im to established in ESXI to move to a different platform now
Now I think I understand your last post my idea is not to install one client to run all the vms I have I would just be installing what ever control panel you recommend per VM
Do you have a billing system or are you doing everything by hand?
as of right now all users are in a free trial mode just made this ESXI server and all the users are gaming friends. So no billing system at the moment another thing i will need to work on before i start expanding into the public market
One thing to keep in mind, the free version of ESXi is for personal use only so when you start selling the services you'll need to start paying VMware for the ESXi licensing. If you're trying to do this as cheap as possible then Proxmox is probably your best bet.
If you're just offering the services for free for friends then you can easily code up a basic PHP page for your clients to start/stop/reboot their VMs.
oh yes i plan on buying a licence if all goes well with the server. im basically in the stabilization step at the moment im just trying to get all my ducks in a row before I start trying to sell it. and before i used esxi i used proxmox and the only thing i disliked about it was the console it was way buggy for my liking.
ESX is going to get pricey when you properly license it. Potentially too expensive to use and break even. It maybe a good time to reconsider that position.
You could potentially build an agent that sits on ESX then build a control module that interfaces to that agent to control the VMs. If I remember rightly ESXi is missing an API but that may have changed by now.
You may also be able to control their Windows client via an API or DDE (whatever its called this millennium) and that in turn controls ESXi
Now let's say this if I did want to rebuild from the ground up could I say use proxmox and install virtualizor or a alternative on top of that or is that not a good idea?
Proxmox is a control panel sitting on top of Debian, Virtualizor is another control panel sitting on top of your choice of Linux distribution. Neither would work with ESX.
You could code a module for Virtualizor to control ESX, we've started a project to build a custom provisioning module in Virtualizor to support our deployment requires (not with ESXi, another platform). I've not seen the code, but one of my colleagues has said the code is well written and easy for him to make the required modifications.
The guys who wrote Virtualizor maybe prepared to write a module for ESXi. @Virtualizor - what do you think? Easy to do?
hey sounds good to me, so now that i have a better grasp on all this say i was to switch from esxi to centos with virtualizor. I only went with ESXI because of its simplistic nature, would doing the alternative be any less simplistic? and would you recommend doing it?
@TheGame - lets say you use Virtualizor on Centos; then you could use something like Blesta or WHMCS to automated the billing/provisioning. They will control Virtualizor so that you can have an almost automated process from order to service delivery.
Are you hosted at Delimiter? I remember speaking to someone with Game in their name, if so you can get a free license from them for Virtualizor and Blesta and give it a go.
oh no im running my own HP G8 server.
Well it sounds like i have a project to do. im going to give it a run in a Vm on my desktop first and then proceed to go from there.
Any documentation you would recommend?
Virtualizor has a free trial - I assume you'll want to run KVM so have a look at this:
http://www.virtualizor.com/wiki/Install_KVM
sounds good to me thanks for the link now as far as licencing goes if all works well i will to buy one will i need to buy one licence for every guest i create or just one for the host?
You just buy one per node (ie one for your server) then you can power up as many VMs as you can on the system without additional cost.
thanks for all your help on this.
Yes Virtualizor can be integrated easily into other Virtualization platforms. We do have esxi on our roadmap as well.
Go for proxmox personally
Okay so i just finished testing virtualizor at-least for the time being, and i have come to a realization due to multiple problems on my end with the lack or resources and time i am just going to keep running servers for free for friends and fun.
That being said I still have a issue due to the fact i only have 1 IP address which is my own with virtualizor i cannot make more than one server. So I would still like to have a way for my friends to control there VPS while im away with a control panel, since I am up for switching from ESXI i am all ears to any ideas or recommendations