Comments

• vvvv Member

  October 19 edited October 19

  a
• vvvv Member

  October 19

  
• dustinc Patron Provider, Top Host, Veteran

  October 19

  @cbbg said:
  I've had a few days to play around with adminbolt. Overall, it is better than I expected. The initial install was very quick, and adding a domain, issuing SSL, etc. was equally quick and painless. I love how you can easily assign a specific version of PHP to individual domains. The lack of Debian support is really disappointing to me personally, but that's just a matter of personal preference. RAM usage is unfortunately a bit heavy (1.2 GB on a fresh install) for the low end of lowend, but it's still quite usable with at least a couple gigs.

  Overall first impression: Adminbolt seems like a solid option, especially for someone running a reseller/hosting business. (Customizable panel branding and appearance is a nice touch by the way!)

  One issue I ran into: I installed the Softaculous module, but trying to access it returns 500 Internal Server Error. Maybe I broke something while poking around. I'll look into it more later.

  Big thanks to @dustinc and the adminbolt team for running this giveaway. It has been fun trying out what appears to be a solid cpanel alternative.

  Hi @cbbg -- Glad AdminBolt exceeded your expectations, and Thank You for coming back after a few days with your feedback! The hosting/reseller side is what excites me most personally too.

  Tagging @Chris_AdminBolt for the Softaculous 500 error, along with your other observations and another vote for Debian support. Worth checking before assuming you've broken something!
• leev Member

  October 19

  Let's GOOOOO!
• toumi111 Veteran

  October 19

  Thank you @dustinc for the giveaway!

  I've been trying AdminBolt for a few days. I'm mostly a CLI guy, but I've also tried a few control panels, with aaPanel being the one I've used the most.

  I'd love to see an app store and Docker management added to AdminBolt. I also think the UI could use some improvements and branding for reseller custom CSS.

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

  October 19

  @LeoNeo said:
  Big thanks to @dustinc for the giveaway! I've been trying out AdminBolt on my new LA VPS, here's my feedback.

  What I liked:
  - Installing from One Click Apps in RackNerd ctrl was quick and painless, the panel was up within minutes and the login details were clearly laid out.
  - The UI is clean, modern and responsive, and it's nice that the admin and client areas are separated clearly.
  - A lot is ready out of the box: SSL, firewall and fail2ban are already configured, so a fresh server isn't left exposed.
  - The built-in password generator and strength meter are a thoughtful touch.
  - It feels lightweight compared to cPanel, leaving more resources for the actual sites.

  Suggestions:
  1. Database engine choice: MariaDB is used by default. It would be great to be able to choose another engine (e.g. MySQL or PostgreSQL) when setting up or creating a database.
  2. Password change UX: In the client area, when the new password is too weak, the "Change Password" button still looks fully clickable. The "password not strong enough" message only appears as a tooltip when you hover over the button. It would be clearer to disable the button and show the warning inline under the strength bar, so users know right away what's wrong.

  Overall a really promising cPanel alternative, looking forward to seeing how it evolves. Thanks again!

  Hi @LeoNeo -- Appreciate you spending some time with it and letting us know how it went!

  Good to hear it's been a positive experience overall. I'll leave your suggestions with @Chris_AdminBolt, curious to see what you think once you've had a few sites running on it. Enjoy!
• dustinc Patron Provider, Top Host, Veteran

  October 19

  @cjwolff said:
  Thank you @dustinc for bringing this product to market.

  I've used cpanel for hundreds of sites. Yesterday, I decided that a new site project would go on AdminBolt. This was a big change for me!

  Adminbolt install went smoothly with Racknerd VPS. The interface is clear and understandable. I had to step away for a bit and told claude to finish up - there were no issues. I will put a few more sites under adminbolt as I think this is a winner.

  Sincerely,
  Christopher

  Hi @cjwolff -- coming from someone who's managed hundreds of sites with cPanel, choosing AdminBolt for a new project says a lot Glad the experience was smooth for you.

  The MCP support is one of the things we're excited about too, being able to work with AdminBolt accounts via Claude fits nicely into how people are building and managing sites today. Love hearing that you stepped away and came back to the job done!

  We're happy to help get it into more people's hands. Thanks again for sharing your experience!
• dustinc Patron Provider, Top Host, Veteran

  October 19

  @MuntedBlub said:
  Woot woot! Big thanks to @dustinc for the giveaway!
  I've been trying out AdminBolt on my new VPS, here's my feedback.

  What appeals to me is having the usual hosting tools together in one panel. Managing websites, databases, email, DNS and SSL without jumping between separate tools is a big part of why I'd use something like this.

  The areas I'd like to see prioritised are clearer onboarding and better diagnostics. Making the admin/client login distinction obvious, showing when background setup is still running, and explaining exactly what the DNS health checks cover would help avoid unnecessary troubleshooting.

  For smaller VPS users, resource usage and licensing also matter. An unlimited-account licence makes sense for hosting providers, but the value is different when you're only running a couple of personal sites.

  Docker/Compose support and more complete WordPress management would be welcome additions too, particularly staging, caching controls and easier maintenance.

  Overall, I like the direction AdminBolt is taking. My preference would be to keep improving the everyday workflows alongside adding features. It's good to see @Chris_AdminBolt responding to specific issues here, and I hope those reports translate into improvements in upcoming releases.

  Hi @MuntedBlub -- I like your point about improving the everyday workflows alongside adding features, making the things people use regularly easier goes a long way.

  Appreciate the feedback and the perspective from someone hosting a few personal sites. @Chris_AdminBolt, some useful input here for the team. Thank You for joining in and giving AdminBolt a try!
• dustinc Patron Provider, Top Host, Veteran

  October 19

  @MuntedBlub said:
  Hey @dustinc I've been using AdminBolt so far and really liking it but feels like I'm a bit constrained to test out the rest of its features because of the 4gb ram on the free vps...

  Just running adminbolt alone already takes up 1-2gb of ram, so only 2gb of ram to work with is too little

  Hi @MuntedBlub -- Heard! RAM usage has come up a few times, and it'll be interesting to see how much further AdminBolt can optimize the default setup, especially for smaller VPSes

  Part of that footprint comes from the full hosting stack running alongside the panel -- web, databases, email, DNS, and security services. cPanel/WHM has similar considerations and recommends 4 GB RAM too, though that doesn't mean there isn't room to improve AdminBolt's defaults.

  Depending on your workload, there may be savings from tuning PHP workers, adjusting MariaDB's my.cnf, or trying a different web server such as OpenLiteSpeed. The results will depend on the configuration, so I'll leave it to @Chris_AdminBolt to suggest the best starting points. The team has been receptive to this feedback, and I'd certainly welcome further optimizations!
• dustinc Patron Provider, Top Host, Veteran

  October 19

  @leev said:

  @dustinc said:

  @leev said:
  By the way, RackNerd's brand new ctrl panel is really awesome! Considering the growing VPS management needs these days, do you guys have any plans to make a mobile-friendly ctrl panel app? @dustinc

  Hi @leev -- Thank You! Glad you're enjoying ctrl. The feedback on it from our customers has been great, and I'm extremely proud of the team making it such a smooth transition! A mobile app isn't on our roadmap at the moment to be transparent, but it's certainly not off the table. If the ask for it is there, we'd be happy to explore it further. In the meantime, the interface is still fairly easy to work with, even via a mobile browser.

  Okay, I think the main thing is that we can indeed do some quicker actions and quickly check statuses on the mobile app. Also, is there any plan for our new ctrl panel to support more languages? Right now it should only support English.

  That makes sense, thanks for that feedback @leev! Appreciate the language support suggestion too. I'll share both with the team for consideration as we continue developing ctrl.
• dustinc Patron Provider, Top Host, Veteran

  October 19

  @toumi111 said:
  Thank you @dustinc for the giveaway!

  I've been trying AdminBolt for a few days. I'm mostly a CLI guy, but I've also tried a few control panels, with aaPanel being the one I've used the most.

  I'd love to see an app store and Docker management added to AdminBolt. I also think the UI could use some improvements and branding for reseller custom CSS.

  Hi @toumi111 -- Appreciate you giving it a few days Your experience with aaPanel brings another useful perspective to the discussion. Thank You for sharing!

  Thanked by 1toumi111
• dustinc Patron Provider, Top Host, Veteran

  October 19

  We have 5 more VPS's to give away, and I want to give that away tonight to 5 lucky winners! Who's in?

  Let's hear it:

  #WHO'S SLEEPING? NOT ME, BABY! ITS GIVEAWAY TIME!
• Kyleyang Member

  October 19

  WHO'S SLEEPING? NOT ME, BABY! ITS GIVEAWAY TIME!
• itzsenu Member

  October 19

  WHO'S SLEEPING? NOT ME, BABY! ITS GIVEAWAY TIME!
• Alier Member

  October 19

  WHO'S SLEEPING? NOT ME, BABY! ITS GIVEAWAY TIME!
• shiyi99 Member

  October 19

  WHO'S SLEEPING? NOT ME, BABY! ITS GIVEAWAY TIME!
• raremaydaydeputy Member

  October 19

  WHO'S SLEEPING? NOT ME, BABY! ITS GIVEAWAY TIME!
• vvvv Member

  October 19

  WHO'S SLEEPING? NOT ME, BABY! ITS GIVEAWAY TIME!
• leev Member

  October 19

  WHO'S SLEEPING? NOT ME, BABY! ITS GIVEAWAY TIME!
• merry Member

  October 19

  WHO'S SLEEPING? NOT ME, BABY! ITS GIVEAWAY TIME!
• Valerian Member

  October 19

  WHO'S SLEEPING? NOT ME, BABY! ITS GIVEAWAY TIME!
• borales Member

  October 19

  WHO'S SLEEPING? NOT ME, BABY! ITS GIVEAWAY TIME!
• Alier Member

  October 19

  WHO'S SLEEPING? NOT ME, BABY! ITS GIVEAWAY TIME!
• pipibear Member

  October 19

  WHO'S SLEEPING? NOT ME, BABY! ITS GIVEAWAY TIME!
• VGL Member

  October 19

  WHO'S SLEEPING? NOT ME, BABY! ITS GIVEAWAY TIME!
• llgoder Member

  October 19

  WHO'S SLEEPING? NOT ME, BABY! ITS GIVEAWAY TIME!
• lukepang Member

  October 19

  WHO'S SLEEPING? NOT ME, BABY! ITS GIVEAWAY TIME!
• sanchuan Member

  October 19

  WHO'S SLEEPING? NOT ME, BABY! ITS GIVEAWAY TIME!
• panzer5617 Member

  October 19

  WHO'S SLEEPING? NOT ME, BABY! ITS GIVEAWAY TIME!
• yhzaat Member

  October 19

  WHO'S SLEEPING? NOT ME, BABY! ITS GIVEAWAY TIME!