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RackNerd WHM Reseller / Softaculous
Today I went to check the WordPress installations we have for sites on our WHM reseller accounts, only to find an error.
I submitted a support ticket and the reply I got was that we cannot access Softaculous from the Reseller WHM account.
Why would this be removed?
Comments
because Softaculous can be accessed per cPanel account (user account) that you created under your WHM. It applies to every WHM reseller with any company.
Just login to any cPanel account inside WHM and you can see Softaculous. WHM is only used for creating/managing cP accounts/sub-users and make/edit packages/plan as per your choice.
Hi @epaslv -- nothing has been removed here, and I can confirm that no features have been taken away.
As @JasonM correctly mentioned, Softaculous is accessed from within each individual cPanel account created under your reseller WHM account. This has always been the case with cPanel/WHM reseller environments, regardless of the hosting provider, and is simply how Softaculous integrates with cPanel.
So in short, nothing to worry about -- everything remains business as usual, and our typical software stack included with our shared/reseller hosting environments remains unchanged. Simply log into the desired cPanel account through WHM, and you'll be able to access Softaculous from there
Hi Dustin,
Thanks for your reply. When a reseller logs into WHM, they see a Softaculous Instant Installs section in the left sidebar. Inside this panel, this would normally provide access to certain features useful for resellers:
One feature we like to use is "Search Installations". Resellers can search and view script installations on cPanel accounts owned by their reseller package.
This is particularly useful to find out which users have outdated WordPress installations, and we can email the users to update their installation. This is much better than having to log in to each cPanel account, I am sure you would agree.
Please see screenshot below https://www.pasteboard.co/-kDyKpA5kgIk.png , which is taken from another WHM Reseller account we have with Racknerd.
Someone in your organisation believed this is a good feature, which is why it was/is enabled on all our WHM accounts and we have been using it for years. It doesn't work for one of our reseller accounts, but it does for others, and I am told this is by design.
What is the explanation here?,
Can we get it enabled?
Softaculous allows you to manage user installations via the reseller panel. They are active by default.
Hi @epaslv! Thank you for clarifying, and for providing the additional context.
Since it sounds like you have multiple reseller accounts with us (across different servers I’m assuming), I’d like to look into the specific account where it isn’t working. To my knowledge, we typically do not deviate from the default Softaculous recommended configurations, but I’ll verify this with our team, review your account/situation, and determine exactly what is different here along with what can be done.
Feel free to send me a DM here, or email me at [email protected] with the reseller account in question along with your email address on file with us, and I’ll personally investigate this matter further and help oversee a resolution that you’d be happy with here
FYI,
I got an update to my ticket and the solution is "We have now updated the reseller permissions and disabled Softaculous admin access" . So its fully disabled now on all our reseller accounts.
I cant say I am too happy with this solution.
Hi @epaslv -- it looks like the specific reply you are referring to was sent by one of our staff members, not me (just for clarity). Based on the ticket history, that response was sent roughly ~6 hours before my reply in your DM, so there may simply be some timezone confusion here.
I am still actively looking into this on my end, and as mentioned in my DM, I do need a little more time to properly review everything internally.
What I can confirm for now is that our current default is for Softaculous access within WHM to be disabled, but available within cPanel. As others have mentioned, WHM is primarily only used for creating/managing cPanel accounts, packages, and things of that nature. So technically, the staff response was correct. Full Softaculous access does remain available within each individual cPanel account, and resellers can log into their sub-accounts to access it as needed.
As for why the WHM Softaculous functionality may have been available on one of your reseller accounts previously, along with things like which staff member enabled it, and the reasoning behind that, etc, I am still investigating.
Separately, and to your main point, I am also reviewing with the team whether it would be feasible for us to support this reseller-wide in the future, while making sure it does not conflict with any of our custom scripts, security controls, privileges, or ACL configurations.
That said, I am still reviewing this internally and will update you through our ongoing DM conversation once I have more information, or if we are able to revisit our current position.
Yeah looks like most providers leave this enabled by default. Been using Softaculous for decades, I am not aware of any risk in leaving this enabled and it provides useful features.