Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!


New on LowEndTalk? Please Register and read our Community Rules.

All new Registrations are manually reviewed and approved, so a short delay after registration may occur before your account becomes active.

RackNerd Launches ctrl, a Proprietary Platform Built for AI VPS

dustincdustinc Patron Provider, Top Host, Veteran


RackNerd introduces ctrl

We've been busy behind the scenes, and I'm excited to share a major milestone with the LET community -- RackNerd has moved away from SolusVM, and today officially launched ctrl, our proprietary VPS management platform! To provide some additional background and transparency regarding the transition, ctrl has been about a year in the making. Recently and unrelated to the development of ctrl, our team has also been actively identifying and responsibly reporting security issues in the software we've relied on.

Most recently, this included CVE-2026-68491, which our team discovered and responsibly disclosed to SolusVM/WebPros. Earlier, we also reported the vulnerability in SolusVM's WHMCS integration module, along with other issues along the way: https://docs.solusvm.com/en/solusvm1/release-notes/mainline-branch/v1.30/ -- by the way, there was no impact to any of our infrastructure from any of these vulnerabilities (they were internally discovered and responsibly reported)

SolusVM and the WebPros team have been great to work with. To their credit, they addressed our reports quickly, particularly considering the coordination involved in a software vendor's release process. We appreciate their responsiveness and the role their software has played in RackNerd's journey.

These experiences reinforced the value of the direction we were already taking with ctrl. We expedited development and committed additional resources to completing the project, recognizing that our team's experience could directly shape a platform built specifically for our infrastructure and customers.

At this point in RackNerd's growth, owning that platform was the right next step. With ctrl, we're now in full control (no pun intended!) of our platform's development and product roadmap. There's real value in setting our own priorities and timelines, acting directly on your feedback, and building around our customers' needs from the ground up, rather than continually bolting things on.

That ownership also brings responsibility, and we're committed to the ongoing development and maintenance that come with it. We're excited to keep improving ctrl and putting more features and capabilities into your hands :)

And there are already quite a few new things to explore:

  • ctrl Network Firewall -- An optional firewall that filters inbound traffic on our network before it reaches your VPS, complementing your operating system's firewall.
  • One-Click Apps -- Deploy applications including AdminBolt, AnythingLLM, n8n, Ollama, LibreChat, OpenClaw, Hermes Agent, Coolify, and more!
  • More OS templates -- More options for your next project or deployment.
  • A modernized interface -- Manage your RackNerd VPS instances from one unified platform.
  • Reference notes -- Keep useful notes alongside your services.
  • Improved 2FA & Login History -- Stronger two-factor authentication with recovery codes, plus a clearer login history so you can review recent sign-ins from one place.

That's alongside power controls, HTML5 console access, OS reinstalls, root password resets, network reconfiguration, resource monitoring, and more.

All included with your RackNerd VPS services at no additional cost! For existing customers, the transition is simple -- log into ctrl using the same credentials as before, and your VPS instances will be ready to manage. There's no need to migrate or rebuild your VPS.

New customers will be provisioned directly on ctrl from day one. SolusVM has been completely retired from our environment as of today, with both existing and new customers now using ctrl :)

We'll continue enhancing ctrl, expanding the One-Click Apps catalog, adding features, and refining the experience. Open to hearing any and all feedback from the community.

Explore ctrl and try the interactive demo here: https://racknerd.com/ctrl-control-panel.php

Explore RackNerd ctrl One-Click Apps here: https://racknerd.com/ai-vps.php

Thank You sincerely for everyone's continued business and support! As I always like to say, we're just getting started! I couldn't be more excited about what's ahead for RackNerd and we look forward to contributing more towards the community as well. 👊

Comments

  • beanman109beanman109 Member, Host Rep, Megathread Squad

    nice1 dustin

    Thanked by 2oloke dustinc
  • seikanseikan Member

    Wow!

    Thanked by 1dustinc
  • a lot of shiny buzzwords. it's all sexy and cool, and then you see WHMCS when you try to order.

    What a turn off.

    Can you vibe code a custom client panel as well?

    I want to buy

  • zedzed Veteran

    nice, $10/yr deals in celebration?!

    Thanked by 2dustinc commercial
  • PuDLeZPuDLeZ Member

    Nice! Can't wait to see the enhancements/future updates!

    Hehe, @dustinc , your demo page scared me for a moment because I didn't see anywhere for a custom iso/boot from options! I did log into my account and clicked on one of my services where I know I still have a netinst iso mounted and I still see it and the boot options. I also noticed it's slightly different than the demo page (more options) but I think that's fine as the demo page does give a good overview of it.

    Thanked by 1dustinc
  • dustincdustinc Patron Provider, Top Host, Veteran

    @johndeo983 said:
    a lot of shiny buzzwords. it's all sexy and cool, and then you see WHMCS when you try to order.

    What a turn off.

    Can you vibe code a custom client panel as well?

    I want to buy

    Hi @johndeo983 -- happy to know you find ctrl attractive and the features to be cool. ctrl will continue to evolve, and support RackNerd's growth. What's important to us, is to expand our service offerings in desired locations, and expanding products that our customers demand. As you know, WHMCS is fully customizable when it comes to integration, so if you have any design elements you think we can improve on, we're always open to hearing and making changes :)

  • dustincdustinc Patron Provider, Top Host, Veteran

    @beanman109 said:
    nice1 dustin

    Hi @beanman109 -- Thank You! We've been working on ctrl for quite some time, so it feels great to finally get it into customers' hands. Let's gooo 👊

  • dustincdustinc Patron Provider, Top Host, Veteran

    @seikan said:
    Wow!

    Hi @seikan -- Thank You! We sincerely appreciate your continued support towards RackNerd over the years too by the way. It means a lot to see you here as we launch ctrl, and I'm excited for you to see what we've been working on :)

  • Nice move, congratulations !

    Thanked by 1dustinc
  • dustincdustinc Patron Provider, Top Host, Veteran

    @zed said:
    nice, $10/yr deals in celebration?!

    Howdy, I think you're leaning on the right direction, some new RackNerd promotions :) We do need to run some new promotions, and are in the works of deploying hundreds of new nodes. We have confirmation of 7 pallets of gear incoming, and have sourced the drives, and expect to build late next week. From there, it'll allow us to start planning :) In the mean time check out our new specials page: https://racknerd.com/specials

    Thanked by 1zed
  • dustincdustinc Patron Provider, Top Host, Veteran

    @PuDLeZ said:
    Nice! Can't wait to see the enhancements/future updates!

    Hehe, @dustinc , your demo page scared me for a moment because I didn't see anywhere for a custom iso/boot from options! I did log into my account and clicked on one of my services where I know I still have a netinst iso mounted and I still see it and the boot options. I also noticed it's slightly different than the demo page (more options) but I think that's fine as the demo page does give a good overview of it.

    @PuDLeZ -- Boom! Yes sir, the demo is a recreation meant to give everyone a quick feel for ctrl, so it doesn't show every single option you'll find when managing a VPS within the actual ctrl. Glad you checked your service and found the features and settings right where they should be :)

    You make a good point though. I'll run this by the team and see how we can improve the interactive demo to show more of the smaller/finer details of what's available. Doesn't hurt! We have more enhancements planned for ctrl too, and I'm looking forward to sharing those as they roll out 😎

  • dustincdustinc Patron Provider, Top Host, Veteran

    @commercial said:
    Nice move, congratulations !

    Hi @commercial -- appreciate it! Having our own platform opens up a lot of possibilities for what we can build next. We're excited that our product and development roadmap (not to mention security) is no longer tied to the decisions of a third-party vendor :)

    You already know it, full steam ahead from here!

  • yoursunnyyoursunny Member, IPv6 Advocate

    How much of ctrl is vibed?

Sign In or Register to comment.