GIVEAWAY by AdminBolt & RackNerd! 100x FREE VPS FOR A YEAR + 20x LIFETIME LICENSES. LET'S TALK!

farsighter · 10:43AM

🔥 A ＬＭＯＳＴ２００ＫＶＩＥＷＳ 🔥

‏It's time for a new draw 😍

Frme · 10:51AM

Hey everyone, new here (Frme). I'm a software developer and spend way too much of my free time self-hosting things: a handful of personal projects plus a couple of open-source ones that need a home. Mostly interested in networking, deployment, and figuring out which VPS providers actually hold up under real use.

Been lurking LET for a while and finally made an account. Looking forward to learning from you all, and I'll share what I learn as I go. Also curious to give AdminBolt a proper spin. A modern panel that isn't cPanel bolted onto more cPanel sounds great.

Good luck to everyone in the next round!

Inless · 11:06AM

@BasToTheMax said:

@Inless said:

@Inless said:
RACKNERD CTRL + ADMINBOLT - ONE CLICK TO GET THE PARTY STARTED!seven

Emmmm, how to delete my comment? It seems that this turn has ended

You can't delete comments on this site

Thanks a lot , I am new

Chris_AdminBolt · 11:15AM

@tansel said:

@dustinc I’d like to report two issues:
1. After installing AdminBolt, I can no longer log in to my server via SSH，If even the server owner cannot access the server via SSH, I don’t see the point of installing AdminBolt.
2. I was able to log in to the AdminBolt panel initially, but now I can’t access it. It keeps showing the error: “These credentials do not match our records.”

Sorry about that, neither should happen. Let's get you back in.

Panel: the admin login is https://<server-ip>:8443/admin. The bare https://<server-ip>:8443 opens the client login, and admin credentials always fail there with exactly that message. If /admin rejects them too, open the HTML5 console for your VPS in RackNerd's ctrl panel, log in as root and run:

bolt-cli admin-sso-generate

It prints a one-time login link and the admin username it logs in as, which is no longer admin if you picked a username during onboarding. Once you're in, set a new password under My Profile.

SSH: in the panel, check:

Settings > Security > Fail2Ban > Bans: if your IP is there, unban it, then add it under Whitelists. Six failed SSH logins in 10 minutes ban an address for 24 hours.
Settings > Security > SSH Access: Permit Root Login should be on, and Allowed IP Addresses empty or containing your IP.

taer009 · 11:22AM

ADMINBOLT - 现代化的网站托管控制面板！

hhs2275 · 11:30AM

ADMINBOLT - THE MODERN WEB HOSTING CONTROL PANEL!

Chris_AdminBolt · 11:30AM

@eziosyanse said:
Couple of small visual things I noticed after more clicking around:

In tables (e.g. Accounts), the thick line under the header row looks a bit off.

The dashboard skeleton loaders don't match the real card layouts (Server load / Needs attention / AI Usage), so the page jumps when the data comes in.

The focus border on inputs looks like it has some black mixed into the orange, a bit muddy.

In the sidebar, when a sub-item is active (e.g. Health > Overview) the parent isn't highlighted, so once the group is collapsed there's no hint where you are.

Minor stuff, panel feels nice otherwise.

Thanks for taking the time to write these up, that's really useful. We'll add them to our backlog and try to address them in future releases. Glad the panel feels nice otherwise!

sunnyzhang · 11:35AM

ADMINBOLT - THE MODERN WEB HOSTING CONTROL PANEL!

Chris_AdminBolt · 11:43AM

@dustinc said:

@rumpum said:

Stack out of the box: Apache + ModSecurity, Postfix/Dovecot/Rspamd for mail, Fail2Ban. LiteSpeed/OpenLiteSpeed, Softaculous, Imunify360 and JetBackup are one-click installs.

Overall a very solid modern alternative to cPanel. Thanks @dustinc, RackNerd and AdminBolt!

Can we change web server to nginx? I heard someone say it does not work with Adminbolt.

Hi @rumpum -- Tagging @Chris_AdminBolt to better comment on nginx support

I do know AdminBolt supports both OpenLiteSpeed and LiteSpeed Enterprise, which is a plus -- cPanel/WHM doesn't support OpenLiteSpeed. One thing I particularly like about AdminBolt's implementation of OpenLitespeed is the choice of how .htaccess changes are handled, including a per-request module for rewrite rules, which doesn't require web server restarts.

That's a useful step toward addressing one of the usual OpenLiteSpeed limitations, and it's encouraging to see the team putting thought into those details!

@rumpum unfortunately nginx isn't an option for hosted sites. The web server can be Apache, LiteSpeed Enterprise or OpenLiteSpeed, and you switch between them from the Web Server page in the admin panel. The nginx you'll see on the server only runs the panel itself on port 8443.

Thanks @dustinc for the kind words about the OpenLiteSpeed setup!

Chris_AdminBolt · 11:47AM

@dustinc said:

@Andru said:
Hmm.. adminbolt have support for cloudlinux but the installer is not cloudlinux ready. You have to do some minor changes in the install script in order to make it work.
As for now is looking good, you can feel the AI slop .

Hi @Andru -- Glad it's looking good so far! According to AdminBolt's documentation, the documented path is to install AdminBolt on AlmaLinux 9 or Rocky Linux 9, then convert to CloudLinux afterwards via the panel at the "/admin/cloudlinux-installer" path:

https://docs.adminbolt.com/1.7/user-guide/integrations/cloudlinux

Did you try installing directly on a fresh CloudLinux OS server, or did you start on AlmaLinux 9 and run into issues during the conversion? If you started directly on CloudLinux, that may explain the installer changes you needed.

Either way, I'm sure that @Chris_AdminBolt can better advise on direct installation support and the intended process. Appreciate you sharing your experience!

@Andru, sorry for late response.
The installer runs only on AlmaLinux 9 and Rocky Linux 9, so on a fresh CloudLinux server it stops at the OS check. The supported path is the one @dustinc described: install on AlmaLinux 9 or Rocky Linux 9, then open Modules > CloudLinux in the admin panel and convert the server from there with your CloudLinux activation key.

Chris_AdminBolt · 11:48AM

@dustinc said:

@giang said:
I won a giveaway for very long time 🥂😁
Thank you RackNerd @dustinc for this!
For the AdminBolt, the UI is very simple and it's ok for a user like me, I mostly won't use the UI much, setup the panel, add a website and I will just visit sometime for update.
There are also some good things about the panel:

It got Passkey login.

I'm able to switch to ZeroSSL, Let's Encrypt is great, but they got very strict limits.

Not good:

No nginx web server but the Panel itself is built on nginx?

The UI is lagging.

Hi @giang! Congrats on the win, and you're very welcome 👊 Appreciate you trying AdminBolt and sharing both what you liked and where it could improve. Great to hear the straightforward setup, passkey login, and certificate options fit your needs.

@Chris_AdminBolt -- perhaps you can clarify the nginx question?

Thanks again for the feedback!

@giang congrats on the win, and thanks for the feedback! Right, nginx only runs the panel itself on port 8443. Your sites can run on Apache, LiteSpeed Enterprise or OpenLiteSpeed, and you switch between them on the Web Server page in the admin panel.

On the lag: which pages feel slow? We'll add it to our backlog and look into it.

muyujieze · 12:07PM

ADMINBOLT - THE MODERN WEB HOSTING CONTROL PANEL!

Chris_AdminBolt · 12:14PM

@dustinc said:

@ashish168527 said:
Deployment of #ADMINBOLT took around 5 minutes with #RackNerd ctrl

Onboarding into panel was smooth, including updating email etc, panel is feature rich with backups to multiple destinations, plus it's mobile friendly, i like the modules feature which lets me install modules in one click

Few things i noticed should be fixed

while onboarding it takes email address updates it for admin account successfully, but later when trying to login by admin email address it fails to let me login unless I login by using username "admin"

In my personal opinion I don't like the color scheme for some reason can be better

In panel web servers option "nginx" is missing

Modules section could also include things like WordPress etc for one click installation

Apart from these everything looks promising i guess

Thanks #RackNerd & #ADMINBOLT for making this Giveaway happen

Woot woot! @ashish168527 -- Thank You for giving AdminBolt a try and sharing such specific feedback! Great to hear deployment through RackNerd ctrl was quick and onboarding went smoothly

Sounds like you've already explored quite a bit -- I'll leave it to @adminbolt / @Chris_AdminBolt to better comment on your observations and suggestions. Appreciate you sharing both the positives and the areas you'd like to see improved!

@ashish168527 thanks for the detailed write-up!

Email login: you're right. Onboarding keeps your email for the account and certificates, but doesn't put it on the admin login itself, so signing in with it fails. Until we fix that, open https://<your-server>:8443/admin/edit-profile, fill in Email and save, and email login will work.
nginx: sites run on Apache, LiteSpeed Enterprise or OpenLiteSpeed. nginx only serves the panel itself.
WordPress: clients can already install it in one click from their panel under WordPress Management > Install WordPress, and Softaculous in Modules adds other apps.

We'll add the email login fix and your colour scheme feedback to our backlog.

bustersg · 12:17PM

ADMINBOLT - THE SLOP HOSTING CONTROL PANEL

Antidaze · 12:20PM

ADMINBOLT - THE MODERN WEB HOSTING CONTROL PANEL!

Chris_AdminBolt · 12:28PM

@dustinc said:

@pwned said:
Thanks for the free VPS!

Installed adminbolt (took a while...maybe 15-20 minutes? Longer than I expected)

Confirmation email included plain text link--that's very handy when you're tailing a spool

I'd strongly prefer uploading an ssh key rather than setting a root password--especially considering the 446 and counting failed root logins in the journal

Opening the file manager the first time it flashed an error (something about backend error?)

Created an email account and roundcube gave a "invalid server name" error, but I was trying to use a username instead of an email address during the login

Emails sent ok, which surprised me (I expected port 25 to be blocked by default)

Outgoing emails fail DKIM check due to a misconfiguration--the DKIM domain is set to the parent, not the subdomain (myboltip.com vs. hunter2.192-255-XXX-XX.myboltip.com)

I don't see any VPN options in the panel (wireguard, wg-easy, etc.)

No OIDC options, such as Authelia

UI seems a bit slow; I'm normally waiting 2-4 seconds for the page to render

Strongly prefer debian (I assume it's already on the todo list)

Man, that's a lot of entries in the zone file! (Pretty cool that it's got the email server autodiscover stuff, but I didn't check to see if it's correct.)

nginx and httpd? I'm sure there's a reason, but seems redundant

It installed fail2ban (nice), but no integration in the panel?

That's just my notes after a quick run through. It's probably obvious from this list that I'm not a CP dude (I strongly prefer configuring things through the CLI), so you'll want to discount a lot of these comments as old man yelling at clouds?

Hi @pwned -- Thank You for the detailed notes! There's some overlap between RackNerd and AdminBolt feedback here, but I appreciate all of it -- the overall experience matters

On the infrastructure side, correct: RackNerd does not block port 25 by default. AdminBolt is primarily a web hosting control panel, so VPN tools are a separate use case. You can deploy WireGuard/wg-easy through the One Click Apps section in RackNerd ctrl. More on the available apps here: https://racknerd.com/ai-vps

AdminBolt is one of many apps we offer through One Click Apps for convenience. Your VPS includes full root access, so as someone who prefers the CLI, you're free to install your preferred stack or run multiple applications as resources allow 😎

Regarding SSH keys, the one-click setup displays the root password and panel login details for convenience. Those displayed credentials are removed from our side once you click the Dismiss button. You have full root SSH access to configure key authentication and your preferred SSH settings. You can also start with a fresh OS and install AdminBolt manually over SSH if you'd prefer -- this video walks through that:

I'll leave the AdminBolt-specific observations to @Chris_AdminBolt to better address. No need to discount your feedback as “old man yelling at clouds” hehehe, a CLI perspective is useful too! Appreciate you taking it for a spin

@pwned thanks for the thorough notes, CLI perspective very welcome.

DKIM: good catch. Mail from a subdomain gets signed with the parent domain (myboltip.com), while the key is published on your subdomain, so the check fails. We'll fix that in a future release.
Fail2Ban is in the panel under Settings > Security > Fail2Ban: jails, bans and whitelists. Bans shows which addresses the SSH jail has blocked, with an unban button.
nginx + httpd: nginx only serves the panel on port 8443. Your sites run on Apache, or on LiteSpeed/OpenLiteSpeed if you switch on the Web Server page.
Debian: the installer runs on AlmaLinux 9 and Rocky Linux 9 today.
VPN and OIDC aren't part of the panel.

The File Manager error on first open and the page load times go to our backlog.

Chris_AdminBolt · 12:43PM

@dustinc said:

@jianghe said:

@haochengw0503 said:

BRING-IT-ON!

Thanks @dustinc for the welcome and the detailed answers! I'm currently on a shared hosting account with cPanel, running a small WordPress site, so the migration tooling sounds like exactly what I'd need. And thanks @schrauger for sharing your hands-on experience too — 6 clicks for WordPress sounds painless enough. Looking forward to giving AdminBolt a proper try!

Hi @jianghe -- You're very welcome! Just to clarify, the cPanel migration tooling I mentioned is for whole-server moves with root level access.

Since you're on shared hosting currently, @Chris_AdminBolt can better advise on the easiest way to bring your site across but as far as I am aware I believe there is an easy way to restore full cPanel backups onto AdminBolt servers as well. Looking forward to hearing how you get on with AdminBolt!

@jianghe one correction on backups: AdminBolt can't restore a cPanel backup file, and both of our migration tools need root on the cPanel server, so neither works from a shared hosting account. For a single small WordPress site, moving it by hand is quick:

In cPanel, compress your site's folder (usually public_html) to a ZIP in File Manager, and export the WordPress database in phpMyAdmin.
In AdminBolt, create a database and user with the Database Wizard, then import that export in phpMyAdmin.
Upload the ZIP in AdminBolt's File Manager, extract it into your domain's folder, and put the new database name, user and password in wp-config.php.
Point your domain's DNS to the new server.

hanlaomo · 12:46PM

Thanks @RackNerd and @AdminBolt for putting together this giveaway!

I’m looking forward to testing AdminBolt on a RackNerd VPS to manage lightweight containerized staging services, personal API proxies, and automate web hook deployments. Always excited to see modern, clean management panel alternatives.

Best of luck to everyone participating!

hunkx · 12:48PM

66

Chris_AdminBolt · 12:54PM

@dustinc said:

@SodaWithoutSparkles said:
Installed adminbolt and gave it a spin.

Took me a while to wrap my head around all those settings. It's a lot to look at and quite a lot of things to wrap my head around, esp if you are a first-time reseller. There's a few hiccups, but overall the experience feels polished.

One thing that I want to add is to have the system automatically flag insecure settings. For example, password-based ssh on root, self-signed certs, suggest reboot when needed, etc.

Hi @SodaWithoutSparkles -- Thank You for taking AdminBolt for a spin! To be fair, the other alternatives (e.g. cPanel/WHM, DirectAdmin, and Plesk) all have a learning curve too. For many of us here, navigating them has become muscle memory after years of use, so it's easy to forget what that first experience was like!

IMO, AdminBolt is trying to serve both experienced panel users and people getting started with control panels. There's always room to make the interface clearer and easier to navigate, and I believe the team will take the community feedback into consideration.

Your suggestion to flag insecure settings that deserve attention could help with that too. @Chris_AdminBolt can better comment on what's already covered and what could be added. Appreciate you sharing your experience! 💕

@SodaWithoutSparkles thanks for giving it a proper spin. Part of that is already there: Health > Overview (and the Needs attention card on the dashboard) warns when a reboot is due, when OS security updates are pending, and when a domain's certificate is missing, about to expire or expired. Password root SSH and self-signed certs aren't flagged there. For SSH, Settings > Security > SSH Access shows the current root login setting and lets you turn it off.

We've added both to our backlog and will try to address them in a future release.

jianghe · 12:54PM

@Chris_AdminBolt said:

@dustinc said:

@jianghe said:

@haochengw0503 said:

BRING-IT-ON!

Thanks @dustinc for the welcome and the detailed answers! I'm currently on a shared hosting account with cPanel, running a small WordPress site, so the migration tooling sounds like exactly what I'd need. And thanks @schrauger for sharing your hands-on experience too — 6 clicks for WordPress sounds painless enough. Looking forward to giving AdminBolt a proper try!

Hi @jianghe -- You're very welcome! Just to clarify, the cPanel migration tooling I mentioned is for whole-server moves with root level access.

Since you're on shared hosting currently, @Chris_AdminBolt can better advise on the easiest way to bring your site across but as far as I am aware I believe there is an easy way to restore full cPanel backups onto AdminBolt servers as well. Looking forward to hearing how you get on with AdminBolt!

@jianghe one correction on backups: AdminBolt can't restore a cPanel backup file, and both of our migration tools need root on the cPanel server, so neither works from a shared hosting account. For a single small WordPress site, moving it by hand is quick:

In cPanel, compress your site's folder (usually public_html) to a ZIP in File Manager, and export the WordPress database in phpMyAdmin.

In AdminBolt, create a database and user with the Database Wizard, then import that export in phpMyAdmin.

Upload the ZIP in AdminBolt's File Manager, extract it into your domain's folder, and put the new database name, user and password in wp-config.php.

Point your domain's DNS to the new server.

Thanks for clearing that up, Chris! So the migration tool is root-level for full-server migrations, and shared hosting sites would need a manual WordPress move — got it. Hopefully I'll manage to snag one of the giveaway VPS and try AdminBolt hands-on; I'll reach out if I get stuck!

tansel · 1:03PM

@Chris_AdminBolt said:

@tansel said:

@dustinc I’d like to report two issues:
1. After installing AdminBolt, I can no longer log in to my server via SSH，If even the server owner cannot access the server via SSH, I don’t see the point of installing AdminBolt.
2. I was able to log in to the AdminBolt panel initially, but now I can’t access it. It keeps showing the error: “These credentials do not match our records.”

Sorry about that, neither should happen. Let's get you back in.

Panel: the admin login is https://<server-ip>:8443/admin. The bare https://<server-ip>:8443 opens the client login, and admin credentials always fail there with exactly that message. If /admin rejects them too, open the HTML5 console for your VPS in RackNerd's ctrl panel, log in as root and run:
bolt-cli admin-sso-generate
It prints a one-time login link and the admin username it logs in as, which is no longer admin if you picked a username during onboarding. Once you're in, set a new password under My Profile.

SSH: in the panel, check:

Settings > Security > Fail2Ban > Bans: if your IP is there, unban it, then add it under Whitelists. Six failed SSH logins in 10 minutes ban an address for 24 hours.

Settings > Security > SSH Access: Permit Root Login should be on, and Allowed IP Addresses empty or containing your IP.

I was able to log in to AdminBolt by following your instructions（bolt-cli admin-sso-generate） , but I still can’t log in to my server via SSH.

Chris_AdminBolt · 1:09PM

@dustinc said:

@superares said:
Got my RackNerd giveaway VPS (LA, 4GB) and installed AdminBolt from One Click Apps. First impressions after poking around:

Install was painless. Panel came up on :8443 with an account, a ZeroSSL cert and 18 firewall rules already set up.

UI is clean and fast. Every page loaded in 1–3s with no errors.

Stack out of the box: Apache + ModSecurity, Postfix/Dovecot/Rspamd for mail, Fail2Ban. LiteSpeed/OpenLiteSpeed, Softaculous, Imunify360 and JetBackup are one-click installs.

Lightweight: about 1.2GB RAM used on a 4GB box with the panel running.

The migration wizard (cPanel/DirectAdmin over SSH) and the built-in Bolt Agent look promising.

Small nitpicks: DNS, Databases, Firewall and License are buried under a long Settings menu; a fresh install shows several "unknown/not verified" statuses; and the CPU numbers on the Dashboard and Metrics pages don't match.

Overall a very solid modern alternative to cPanel. Thanks @dustinc, RackNerd and AdminBolt!

Hi @superares -- Thanks for this feedback! Glad getting it up and running was easy, and it's great to hear you're liking what you've seen so far. Thanks for pointing out the rough edges too -- I'll leave those to @Chris_AdminBolt to better comment on.

I'm with you that it does seem like a very solid, modern alternative to cPanel/WHM already - I also can't wait to see where AdminBolt is a few months from now. Between the pace of development and the feedback coming through from the community within this thread, it's shaping up to be a really solid alternative to the major panels out there. Having a modern framework as its foundation from day one is another reason we're excited -- there's plenty of room to build on that and adapt to how people are hosting websites and applications today.

Appreciate you taking it for a spin and sharing your experience 👊

@superares thanks for the detailed write-up, nitpicks included.

Settings: DNS, Databases, Security (Firewall) and System (License) are sections inside Settings. The "Search in menu..." box at the top of the sidebar takes you straight to any page.
Unknown / not verified: some checks, like the update check and the local mail server test, run hourly, so a fresh panel shows "Update status unknown" and "Not verified" until the first run. If one is still there after an hour, tell me which page.
CPU: the Dashboard shows the latest reading, while Metrics shows the average of every stored reading, and its "Current Usage" line repeats that average instead of the current value. That one's a bug on our side.

a2orknlc · 1:10PM

ADMINBOLT - THE MODERN WEB HOSTING CONTROL PANEL!

Andrey11 · 1:12PM

ADMINBOLT - THE MODERN WEB HOSTING CONTROL PANEL!

Chris_AdminBolt · 1:14PM

@tansel said:
@Chris_AdminBolt said:

@tansel said:

@dustinc I’d like to report two issues:
1. After installing AdminBolt, I can no longer log in to my server via SSH，If even the server owner cannot access the server via SSH, I don’t see the point of installing AdminBolt.
2. I was able to log in to the AdminBolt panel initially, but now I can’t access it. It keeps showing the error: “These credentials do not match our records.”

Sorry about that, neither should happen. Let's get you back in.

Panel: the admin login is https://<server-ip>:8443/admin. The bare https://<server-ip>:8443 opens the client login, and admin credentials always fail there with exactly that message. If /admin rejects them too, open the HTML5 console for your VPS in RackNerd's ctrl panel, log in as root and run:
bolt-cli admin-sso-generate
It prints a one-time login link and the admin username it logs in as, which is no longer admin if you picked a username during onboarding. Once you're in, set a new password under My Profile.

SSH: in the panel, check:

Settings > Security > Fail2Ban > Bans: if your IP is there, unban it, then add it under Whitelists. Six failed SSH logins in 10 minutes ban an address for 24 hours.

Settings > Security > SSH Access: Permit Root Login should be on, and Allowed IP Addresses empty or containing your IP.
I was able to log in to AdminBolt by following your instructions（bolt-cli admin-sso-generate） , but I still can’t log in to my server via SSH.

Glad the panel works again. Your screenshot shows SSH is open to any IP and root login is allowed on the server, so those two settings aren't blocking you. That leaves three things to check:

Port. Settings > Security > SSH Access shows the SSH Port above Access Restrictions. If it isn't 22, connect with ssh -p <port> root@<server-ip>.
Fail2Ban ban. Six failed SSH logins in 10 minutes ban an address for 24 hours. Go to Settings > Security > Fail2Ban > Bans; if your IP is listed, click Unban, then add it under Whitelists so it doesn't happen again.
Root password. If SSH answers "Permission denied", the password is wrong. You can reset the root password for your VPS in RackNerd ctrl.

If none of these helps, paste or DM me the last lines ssh -v root@<server-ip> prints and we'll take it from there.

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GIVEAWAY by AdminBolt & RackNerd! 100x FREE VPS FOR A YEAR + 20x LIFETIME LICENSES. LET'S TALK!

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ADMINBOLT - 现代化的网站托管控制面板！

ADMINBOLT - THE MODERN WEB HOSTING CONTROL PANEL!

BRING-IT-ON!

BRING-IT-ON!

ADMINBOLT - THE MODERN WEB HOSTING CONTROL PANEL!

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GIVEAWAY by AdminBolt & RackNerd! 100x FREE VPS FOR A YEAR + 20x LIFETIME LICENSES. LET'S TALK!

Comments

ADMINBOLT - 现代化的网站托管控制面板！

ADMINBOLT - THE MODERN WEB HOSTING CONTROL PANEL!

BRING-IT-ON!

BRING-IT-ON!

ADMINBOLT - THE MODERN WEB HOSTING CONTROL PANEL!