# Yet Another SolusVM Alternative: VPSM



## KuJoe (Jun 20, 2013)

I know, I know. Everybody and their sister is putting out a SolusVM alternative so what make VPSM (VPS Manager) different? It's 100% FOSS (Free Open Source Software). No one-time fees. No monthly bills. No encoded files.

I've been working with a developer (John AKA DimeCadmium) and we're still working out the pricing right now but myself and a handful of providers (currently 15 interested with a few definite) are pooling our resources together to finance a completely free open source solution to free us from the monthly invoices and customization limitations.

We're still finalizing the financials and the timeline but we're confident enough to get the ball rolling with this (he's started coding and we've put together a website for easier collaboration with providers/users).

John was the only developer I contacted willing to step up and work on a solution to our problems and I'm glad he was because we run some of his code in our production environment already so I am both impress and satisfied with his coding abilities. He's setup a GitHub so others can contribute also so if you have some talent and creativity you can be a part of the solution. 

Here is what we definitely know right now:


It will have a SolusVM import script.
It will work with WHMCS out of the box with basic automation.
It will be compatible with OpenVZ, Xen, and KVM.
It will be 100% Open Source (MIT license).
It will be 100% free once it is finished.
Here is what we do not know right now:


What the GUI will look like. At this time we do not have anybody to work on the graphics so it will be a very basic interface and utilizing WHMCS's plugin system to generate an interface based on the WHMCS template.
On the plus side, backend code takes precedent over pretty colors and CSS magic. Our philosophy is Core coding first, we can add a pretty bow later (it'll be open source so anybody can design their own unique interface or just drop the code right into their billing system).

Interested? I've got a forum setup here to get things rolling: http://vpsm.net

Would you be willing to spend 3 months worth of SolusVM fees to rid yourself of a monthly license? That's what we've been aiming for so if you are please contact me. We're not asking for any money right now so no commitment is required, we're just gathering names of providers who will help once the project is further along.

If you know of a reliable software auditor please contact me also. If funds permit, I would like to get an external audit of the stable release.

Any feedback is appreciated, no matter how negative it might be. This whole project was put together prior to all of the new panels popping up so if this panel ends up being redundant let me know (I didn't see any other FOSS options out there but I didn't look very hard).


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## rds100 (Jun 20, 2013)

Excellent news. I'm willing to contribute some personal money and maybe also time and other resources if i could be of any help.

The VPS control panel alternatives are shaping up. What we really need now is a good billing panel alternative. I don't trust WHMCS to write quality code at all. They can't even do proper version numbering...


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## kaniini (Jun 20, 2013)

If you guys are interested, we will do an audit of the codebase for free as a service to the FOSS hosting community.


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## MannDude (Jun 20, 2013)

Sounds great!

Love seeing everyone work on some new stuff. I don't think the GUI has to be anything all that fancy, so long as everything works and works well. 

Keep us updated.

BTW: Should get DimeCadium over here, though I don't think he's too fond of vpsBoard.


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## acd (Jun 20, 2013)

Lofty goals, especially with an MIT license. Unfortunately no code or architecture documents, just an expected feature list. Not sure what to think of it yet....


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## KuJoe (Jun 20, 2013)

acd said:


> Lofty goals, especially with an MIT license. Unfortunately no code or architecture documents, just an expected feature list. Not sure what to think of it yet....


The project is only a few hours old and we still don't have the contract signed so this is all preliminary.


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## kaniini (Jun 20, 2013)

The critical thing security-wise is that your middleware running on the hypervisor nodes should have a strict API definition and that should restrict itself to execv() and such things, never anything which invokes a shell like system() or Perl's backtick operator.

Also, your middleware *should not be written in PHP or anything like that*.  The middleware should be extremely simple and not require any webserver etc -- it should be a simple daemon which responds to well-formed API calls.

If you can realize this design, you will have better security than all of the paid products presently out on the market.


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## peterw (Jun 20, 2013)

Opensource and business funding it. A good combination. You should think about using a well established API as a pattern for your own API. What language should be used for the coding the middleware?


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## kaniini (Jun 20, 2013)

peterw said:


> Opensource and business funding it. A good combination. You should think about using a well established API as a pattern for your own API. What language should be used for the coding the middleware?


The main thing here is that you want something lightweight and generally already available.

This is why we implemented the node management agents in Cloudware using Python.  It's already there on most systems, and it provides a safe execv() through the subprocess library (which is part of Python 2.4 and newer).  Perl or C would also work well here, but C of course has a higher risk of memory leaks and errors if the developer does not know what they are doing.


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## KuJoe (Jun 20, 2013)

John considered coding his own daemon but it looks like he's going strictly SSH with auth-keys last I spoke with him since it gives him some flexibility and have a proven security track record. But nothing is set in stone right now so it can change anytime between now and the final release.


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## kaniini (Jun 20, 2013)

Well, you need a daemon to track the QEMU processes on KVM.  Unless you cop out and use libvirt there instead.  But, really, that's cheating.


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## necs (Jun 20, 2013)

Sounds great. I will keep an eye! We are looking in to migrate an alternative to SolusVM


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## KuJoe (Jun 20, 2013)

kaniini said:


> Well, you need a daemon to track the QEMU processes on KVM.  Unless you cop out and use libvirt there instead.  But, really, that's cheating.


We did talk about using libvirt for Xen/KVM and using SSH for OpenVZ.


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## kaniini (Jun 20, 2013)

Yeah that's probably what I would do, but on the Xen front, libvirt has problems with the XL toolstack shipped in Xen 4.2 still.  Hopefully the newest version of libvirt will get that sorted.


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## Coastercraze (Jun 20, 2013)

Sounds good to me. I'll fire off a PM your way.


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## titanicsaled (Jun 20, 2013)

You could probably make some use of some of the stuff from joepie's CVM repository. 

It would be great to see this get off the ground. If there's anyone that's can do it right it's you *@**KuJoe*.


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## KuJoe (Jun 20, 2013)

Wow, I woke up this morning to some really nice PMs on WHT from some larger VPS providers that are interested in this project. I'm very happy with the direction this is taking and hopefully by tomorrow I can provide some updates on the site in regards to a schedule and budget.


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## titanicsaled (Jun 20, 2013)

Great, maybe should should add an option for users to sponsor the development for a smaller amount of cash as well?


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## DimeCadmium (Jun 20, 2013)

'kaniini said:


> Also, your middleware should not be written in PHP or anything like that.  The middleware should be extremely simple and not require any webserver etc -- it should be a simple daemon which responds to well-formed API calls.





'KuJoe said:


> John considered coding his own daemon but it looks like he's going strictly SSH with auth-keys


My current idea is, as KuJoe said, just doing SSH with a custom shell (that hands over to a setuid, sudo, whatever executable - not finalized yet etc). That way I'm using a time-tested authentication/encryption system, but if something gets hold of the private keys the worst they can do is whatever the panel can do (which is bad, but not as bad as rm -rf /*)

That said, I'd love any suggestions you have kaniini (or anyone else).



'titanicsaled said:


> maybe should should add an option for users to sponsor the development for a smaller amount of cash as well


Like I said to KuJoe the other day when we were discussing it initially: <DimeCadmium> id like to do it just because it needs to be done, i just cant justify the time it would take for free at the moment

I'm not in this for the money, I'm in this for the product. I'm all for donations of course but the only reason I'm looking for payment at all is that I'm fat and I need to eat.


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## kaniini (Jun 20, 2013)

DimeCadmium said:


> My current idea is, as KuJoe said, just doing SSH with a custom shell (that hands over to a setuid, sudo, whatever executable - not finalized yet etc). That way I'm using a time-tested authentication/encryption system, but if something gets hold of the private keys the worst they can do is whatever the panel can do (which is bad, but not as bad as rm -rf /*)
> 
> That said, I'd love any suggestions you have kaniini (or anyone else).


If you intend to do it this way, you can put them in a special shell to force them to use your API.  See git-shell and other such things.


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## DimeCadmium (Jun 20, 2013)

That was the idea. The only issue for me is whether Linux'll allow the login shell to be setuid


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## KuJoe (Jun 20, 2013)

I was hoping the SSH keys would be locked down by IP (from="" in authorized_keys) so even with the SSH key you can't access the nodes or run commands. Just my 2 cents and something that can be done manually later.


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## DimeCadmium (Jun 20, 2013)

KuJoe said:


> from="" in authorized_keys


 
Okay, how did I not know about this one 

Yep, that'd be good. I've also been thinking, even if the user's shell can't be setuid, I suspect the authorized_keys command="" can be. I'll have to test that all before I know though


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## kaniini (Jun 20, 2013)

DimeCadmium said:


> That was the idea. The only issue for me is whether Linux'll allow the login shell to be setuid


Yes, it is possible, but you shouldn't do it this way.  Instead use a setuid-helper binary for things which absolutely need setuid.

That way you have a reduced attack surface.


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## DimeCadmium (Jun 20, 2013)

kaniini said:


> Yes, it is possible, but you shouldn't do it this way.  Instead use a setuid-helper binary for things which absolutely need setuid.



Normally I'd agree, but the idea is that essentially anything it tries to do will require root: vzctl, "console"s, etc. On the other hand I'll get to it when I get to it!

Just to let everyone know the plans I'm finalizing a timeline with KuJoe right now that's looking at a August 1 completion (at least for the features he requires).


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## DimeCadmium (Jun 20, 2013)

acd said:


> Lofty goals, especially with an MIT license. Unfortunately no code or architecture documents, just an expected feature list. Not sure what to think of it yet....


What does the license have to do with the "loftiness" of the goals? I'd say the license would make it more likely to meet those goals because anyone can make it meet the goals even if I were to {quit,die,disappear}.

Edit: oh, and this is a serious question - I'm curious what your reasoning is for this, because I've heard similar things before.


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## KuJoe (Jun 20, 2013)

Please keep in mind that even though this software is open source (MIT license), it is still a paid project that will receive a paid external audit upon completion. I know some people associate FOSS with lesser quality or hobby work so I wanted to dispel that association with VPSM.


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## acd (Jun 21, 2013)

The goals are lofty in that you're giving the feature set away for free. MIT & BSD licensed code usually end up getting ripped off and having the smallest feature set because their license is so permissive, resulting in a reduced userbase except for projects that are effectively the "killer app" of their category. My experience has been that a lot of these projects, without proper funding, management, and/or dedication, get abandoned, which I hypothesize is because of a lack of positive reinforcement for the developer, either through "people use my product and credit me, that's awesome" or monetary feedback through licensing for bugfixes and commissions for feature additions. Long term maintenance of a software project is a commitment that requires significant effort; it's not a one-and-done deal, especially with technology that is in flux like VPSes and on top of software stacks like PHP. If the developer isn't getting SOME kind of return on investment, he's not going to continue sinking time into it.

 

Additionally, it's unlikely for someone else to pick up the mantle for your software projects regardless of open source license. Most developers with the enthusiasm to do so will boldly try to restart their own instead of using yours, many (arrogantly, I've been guilty of this too) believing they can do it better than their predecessors "because they're better". Hell, on this board alone, I count SEVEN different vps manager projects in various states of development. Your best chance of finding a developer to continue the project is having a user who wants to keep using it after you've dropped who takes up support, which I haven't seen very often in the open source community.

 

This is obviously my personal opinion, and there are many counterexamples to it. But KuJoe announced a project with no development plan--especially no timeline, no formal requirements, no architecture plan (api/rpc style/backend software if only a language/front end software/access control model/middleware used/etc), and source code repository smaller than this post with only an expected feature set. Sound familiar? Anyone remember Diaspora?

 

Maybe you guys are much better at project management than I credit you with at first glance, but I see a lot of initial red flags. As far as I know, only you (DimeCadmium) is listed as a developer so far, on a project that'll be at least 2k LOC, if done quick and dirty. Your github account has not been used enough to credit your skill level as capable of taking on such a project; your longest commitment to a project was 7 commits over 4 days. Granted, I know github is not a good reflection of skill or dedication, but that's all I have to base my judgement on.

 

As much as I would like to see this project succeed, _I simply don't have enough information to judge if that is likely_.

 

best regards and best of luck,

-tw


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## DimeCadmium (Jun 21, 2013)

acd said:


> MIT & BSD licensed code usually end up getting ripped off and having the smallest feature set because their license is so permissive



Yes, that is why I chose it. However license violations are rampant anyways, so whether it's GPL or proprietary or MIT or WTFPL it doesn't really matter... However I fail to see how a permissive license translates to a small feature set. (see also next point)



acd said:


> My experience has been that a lot of these projects, without proper funding, management, and/or dedication, get abandoned, which I hypothesize is because of a lack of positive reinforcement for the developer, either through "people use my product and credit me, that's awesome" or monetary feedback through licensing for bugfixes and commissions for feature additions.  If the developer isn't getting SOME kind of return on investment, he's not going to continue sinking time into it.


MIT license requires attribution just like GPL. That is in fact why I chose MIT instead of WTFPL/"public domain" - attribution. "I wouldn't rip someone's software without credit, I don't want you to."

And frankly, if nobody is using my software because others have forked it and made better ones, great! I'll let them continue to make better ones. No, I won't continue to develop software X when there are better options that everyone uses (most likely, I would choose to work on the fork instead).



acd said:


> KuJoe announced a project with no development plan--especially no timeline, no formal requirements, no architecture plan (api/rpc style/backend software if only a language/front end software/access control model/middleware used/etc), and source code repository smaller than this post with only an expected feature set.


No, he announced a project with an (at the time) private and in-flux development plan, formal requirements, and architecture plan. Yes, source code is generall quite small when you haven't written any real code yet. I don't plan to write any code by tomorrow, either. I'd rather do my job (i.e. design program flow -> code program flow -> test program flow) than spew out low-quality code.

Essentially everything is available now on the site


Timeline: http://vpsm.net/thread-3.html (No, I'm not *sure* I can get it done that fast. Yes, I think I can. This is my job for the next month, basically.)
Requirements: in that link, and in the GitHub, more or less. They're spelled out a bit more perhaps in the contract (no, it is not and will never be "public" info).
"Architecture plan": As stated several times before, that's what being decided now. (See also not going to spew out low-quality code.) Most of the info that's anywhere near decided is available in this very thread.





acd said:


> Your github account has not been used enough to credit your skill level as capable of taking on such a project; your longest commitment to a project was 7 commits over 4 days.



That's nowhere near true. Streak != longest commitment. (You might note that that streak was really 20 days, broken by Saturday, Wednesday, Thursday, Sunday, Tuesday, Friday. Presumably I had stuff to do so I could make money to... y'know... eat?)

Most of the stuff I have on Github is stuff that either got superseded by something else, or just hasn't gotten done because I have other priorities. KronOS (mustis/kronos) was originally supposed to be a team project (I only worked on it at all because the other coders convinced me to) and is now a... no one project. scrd was superseded by statsend; (aka: _if someone finds a bug they should use software that isn't deprecated)_. statsend has, to my knowledge, no bugs; and no one wants any features of it (aka: _if someone finds a bug they should report it on GitHub, not LET. Or at least somewhere I check, not LET_). Etc etc etc.

So tl;dr if there's better software out there and no users of my software, no, I'm not going to maintain it, there's absolutely no reason to do so. If I am not aware of problems, no, I can't maintain it.

(Oh and by the way I don't get to eat if I don't finish because I don't get paid if I don't finish. That's more than enough motivation for me, I've already had my month of only-ramen for this year)


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## DimeCadmium (Jun 21, 2013)

Now that the wall-of-text is done:

If you have any comments, suggestions, requests, etc: http://vpsm.net/forum-3.html

If you want to discuss something with me: Freenode #jfr

Please, please, *please* do not comment on {the code,how I should do things,how the way I am doing things is bad,how the way I am planning to do things is bad} on IRC. Or anywhere else. Suggestions go on the forums. They do not go in #lowendbox, and they *certainly* do not go in unsolicited PM's to me. If you give me criticism without any reasoning or supporting evidence, said criticism will be moved directly to /dev/null. I have had about five issues with this in the past twelve hours.


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## Raymii (Jun 22, 2013)

KuJoe said:


> I was hoping the SSH keys would be locked down by IP (from="" in authorized_keys) so even with the SSH key you can't access the nodes or run commands. Just my 2 cents and something that can be done manually later.


 

*@**KuJoe*,  you can use something like this: https://github.com/RaymiiOrg/restrict_ssh to even furhter lock down SSH, or just to log incoming stuff.



KuJoe said:


> Please keep in mind that even though this software is open source (MIT license), it is still a paid project that will receive a paid external audit upon completion. I know some people associate FOSS with lesser quality or hobby work so I wanted to dispel that association with VPSM.


I really like the F/OSS part but beware that you might get ripped of, sadly.



DimeCadmium said:


> Your github account has not been used enough to credit your skill level as capable of taking on such a project; your longest commitment to a project was 7 commits over 4 days.


Not everybody has all their stuff in github...


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## KuJoe (Jun 22, 2013)

Raymii said:


> I really like the F/OSS part but beware that you might get ripped of, sadly.


How could I get ripped off? We are making payments as portions are completed so if he disappears, he won't get paid and we'll hire somebody else. 


Raymii said:


> Not everybody has all their stuff in github...


I think you quoted the wrong person.


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## Marc M. (Jun 22, 2013)

Could this be called maybe YASA? :lol:


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## KuJoe (Jun 22, 2013)

marcm said:


> Could this be called maybe YASA? :lol:


I did think of that when I typed up this thread but we already had the name picked.


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## Coastercraze (Jun 22, 2013)

Yasa is easier to pronounce than VPSM. lol


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## KuJoe (Jun 22, 2013)

Coastercraze said:


> Yasa is easier to pronounce than VPSM. lol


Blame Cisco. I've been using way too much UCSM lately.  :wacko:


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## DimeCadmium (Jun 22, 2013)

Raymii said:


> I really like the F/OSS part but beware that you might get ripped of, sadly.


 

Getting ripped off happens whether it's open-source GPL, open-source MIT, public domain/WTFPL, closed-source, etc. The only question is how easy it is to be ripped off.

However, since it's MIT, you could technically say I'm explicitly allowing it to be ripped off.


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## ErrantWeb-Travis (Jun 22, 2013)

Sounds awesome this would really change the market if it all works out.


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## joepie91 (Jun 22, 2013)

marcm said:


> Could this be called maybe YASA? :lol:


Be aware that, unless you invent some other kind of meaning for the term, this will probably become trademark hell


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## H4G (Jun 23, 2013)

If you need some basic graphics and/or UI work, count me in


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## DimeCadmium (Jun 29, 2013)

Just wanted to let everyone know, the timeline has had to be pushed back a little bit due to some issues on my end, but it still should be pretty close.

*@**H4G*, if you haven't already, put a post on the forums (or shoot a message to KuJoe) would you?

Thanks all.


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## H4G (Jun 29, 2013)

DimeCadmium said:


> Just wanted to let everyone know, the timeline has had to be pushed back a little bit due to some issues on my end, but it still should be pretty close.
> 
> *@H4G*, if you haven't already, put a post on the forums (or shoot a message to KuJoe) would you?
> 
> Thanks all.


Done.


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## Nikki (Jul 5, 2013)

libvirt has a ton of library implementations in PHP etc, you can even use it for OpenVZ, so I don't see why if you're starting from the ground up you wouldn't want to just make OpenVZ run off it


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## serverian (Jul 5, 2013)

Nikki said:


> libvirt has a ton of library implementations in PHP etc, you can even use it for OpenVZ, so I don't see why if you're starting from the ground up you wouldn't want to just make OpenVZ run off it


I heard libvirt + openvz = problem


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## joepie91 (Jul 5, 2013)

serverian said:


> I heard libvirt + openvz = problem


More like libvirt + openvz = your shit will break randomly and refuse to work for no discernible reason. I'm not the only one with this issue, I've heard quite a few other people confirm that they had the same issue. Not something you want to make a production panel rely on.


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## KuJoe (Jul 5, 2013)

I heard the most common thing is to build something custom for OpenVZ and then use libvirt for everything else. I don't think I've ever read of an instance where using libvirt for OpenVZ worked properly but I've read plenty of "WTH libvirt?" threads/articles in regards to OpenVZ.


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## KS_Phillip (Jul 7, 2013)

KuJoe said:


> I heard the most common thing is to build something custom for OpenVZ and then use libvirt for everything else. I don't think I've ever read of an instance where using libvirt for OpenVZ worked properly but I've read plenty of "WTH libvirt?" threads/articles in regards to OpenVZ.


That's pretty much our experience.  libvirt-php works pretty reliably for kvm, especially after they accepted our patches (to implement libvirt functionality that was missing from libvirt-php).


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## KuJoe (Aug 6, 2013)

If anybody is still in communication with DimeCadmium, please ask him to contact me. He seems to have disappeared once we made our first payment to him.


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## Ivan (Aug 6, 2013)

KuJoe said:


> If anybody is still in communication with DimeCadmium, please ask him to contact me. He seems to have disappeared once we made our first payment to him.


@KuJoe, eh, looks like he was last seen playing some CS: Source today.... and also has been gaming for 42 hours total, for the past two weeks.

http://steamcommunity.com/id/dimecadmium

And.. you can find his Facebook there, yup, he sure is active.

Good luck!


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## KuJoe (Aug 6, 2013)

He won't respond to my messages or e-mails so I guess he's spent the money already.


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## Reece-DM (Aug 6, 2013)

KuJoe said:


> If anybody is still in communication with DimeCadmium, please ask him to contact me. He seems to have disappeared once we made our first payment to him.


That is a shame! I was only thinking to myself earlier about these "New" VPS control panels being made 

Hopefully you get more progress, or your money back.


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## clarity (Aug 6, 2013)

@KuJoe that sucks. I always thought that DimeCadmium was a good guy. He lives pretty close to me from what I remember. Hopefully, he will come back to you soon. I hope that he wouldn't take the money and run.


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## Aldryic C'boas (Aug 6, 2013)

> If anybody is still in communication with DimeCadmium, please ask him to contact me. He seems to have disappeared once we made our first payment to him.


I _really_ want to say something here... but I'll be nice. Sorry KuJoe, instinct told me to warn you against working with him (and another person).. but figured he might do better on a second chance. Ended up being a bust =\


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## bzImage (Aug 6, 2013)

KuJoe said:


> If anybody is still in communication with DimeCadmium, please ask him to contact me. He seems to have disappeared once we made our first payment to him.


This has sleeping with the fishes written all over it.


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## KuJoe (Aug 6, 2013)

Luckily the first payment wasn't a whole lot (under $200) so it could have been a lot worse. The silver lining to this whole situation is that I've decided to code the VPSM panel myself and I'm more than 50% done with it (I've got it running on a test server and it's already integrated into WHMCS so that's a really good sign). Unfortunately, because of this whole situation (and my horrible coding skills) VPSM won't be released publicly. 

Oh well, can't say I didn't try.


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## Francisco (Aug 6, 2013)

Dimebag is one of the laziest motherfuckers I know.

You can also ask his past employer, @KS_Phillip, about how his performance was when he worked there. He complained about not getting paid much but he never *did* any work.

I've warned people about doing business with him because he has a terrible track record.

I'm sorry Joe, I didn't say anything because you said you were only paying on delivery. Given all 30 lines he's shoved in the github I was hoping he was simply commiting code to a private repos first.

Francisco


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## KS_Phillip (Aug 6, 2013)

Francisco said:


> Dimebag is one of the laziest motherfuckers I know.
> 
> 
> You can also ask his past employer, @KS_Phillip, about how his performance was when he worked there. He complained about not getting paid much but he never *did* any work.
> ...


Pretty much our experience with him... Sorry @KuJoe, that sucks!  Let me know if you run into any trouble on VPSM, we've done quite a bit in that general area


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## Bernard T. (Aug 9, 2013)

It's really a shame to read that a good idea of crowd-funding has failed with ripoff...

@KuJoe ... maybe your coding isn't so good, but that being stated I don't see why not to push your current work to the public and let others to contribute additional code, fixes and improvements?  :huh:

I don't know how many of you are familiar with ISPConfig http://www.ispconfig.org, my favorite FLOSS control panel? I've been using it for years and it's really very well coded, extremely stable and pretty secure. Although not having an eyecandy design, it looks nice and - it has a very stable general OpenVZ management functionally already in tact. So, I'd suggest maybe taking ISPConfig as a proven cornerstone for coding additional code that would widen the VPS capabilities... what do you all think ??  opcorn:


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## ComputerTrophy (Aug 10, 2013)

I'm confused. What happened?



> Just a quick update for those who still visit here. As of now we've yet to receive any communication from DimeCadmium after the initial payment was made. After multiple attempts to contact him via e-mail and waiting for 1 month for a reply/update/sign of life, I think it's safe to say we've been had and our money is long gone.
> I've been working on our own version of VPSM but I don't think this version will ever be released publicly so I apologize for those involved.
> 
> If you do happen to be in contact with DimeCadmium (John), please ask him to contact me as I would like an explanation and a refund.


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## ErrantWeb-Travis (Aug 10, 2013)

Sounds like a great alternative, I'm kind of glad so many more panels are coming out now, gives a lot of choices. 

I'm sad to see that there's been a problem with funding however.


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## mikho (Aug 10, 2013)

ErrantWeb said:


> Sounds like a great alternative, I'm kind of glad so many more panels are coming out now, gives a lot of choices.
> 
> 
> I'm sad to see that there's been a problem with funding however.


Its not a problem with the funding. The developer took off after he got paid some of the money.


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## Francisco (Aug 10, 2013)

ErrantWeb said:


> Sounds like a great alternative, I'm kind of glad so many more panels are coming out now, gives a lot of choices.
> 
> I'm sad to see that there's been a problem with funding however.


Which of the panels is still in development? Feathur is out in private use but that's about it.

Francisco


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## SkylarM (Aug 10, 2013)

Feathur *should* be going beta soon. I'll likely be migrating within a month or so. Really comes down to KVM support, he's still focusing on the OVZ side of things as well as other basics like rDNS and so on.


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## BlueVM (Aug 10, 2013)

@Francisco - Feathur is available for public use and you can contact me to buy a license. Fact remains most people are waiting for KVM support first, then they'll buy a copy and start using it. SkylarM already has a copy of Feathur running on one of her servers so it's out there, just haven't made a big public release yet...


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## Francisco (Aug 10, 2013)

BlueVM said:


> @Francisco - Feathur is available for public use and you can contact me to buy a license. Fact remains most people are waiting for KVM support first, then they'll buy a copy and start using it. SkylarM already has a copy of Feathur running on one of her servers so it's out there, just haven't made a big public release yet...


What I mean is for sale 

I don't need another panel 

Francisco


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## SkylarM (Aug 10, 2013)

BlueVM said:


> @Francisco - Feathur is available for public use and you can contact me to buy a license. Fact remains most people are waiting for KVM support first, then they'll buy a copy and start using it. SkylarM already has a copy of Feathur running on one of her servers so it's out there, just haven't made a big public release yet...


'her' WHAT ;(


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## KuJoe (Aug 10, 2013)

I'll be pushing my code here: https://code.google.com/p/vpsm/


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## Bernard T. (Aug 10, 2013)

KuJoe said:


> I'll be pushing my code here: https://code.google.com/p/vpsm/


That's a great news, thank you ... let's see what we can contribute ...


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## Aldryic C'boas (Aug 10, 2013)

BlueVM said:


> @Francisco - Feathur is available for public use and you can contact me to buy a license.


... did you even look at who you were replying to before trying to make a sales pitch? O_ô


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## BlueVM (Aug 10, 2013)

@Aldryic C'boas - Yes I did, but I wasn't making a sales pitch so much as following up on his comment by stating that it is in fact for sale. You guys have your own panel and if I wanted to make a sales pitch I'd just go PM every verified provider on this board... I'm not developing it to make money, just improve the quality of the control panels on the market...


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## Aldryic C'boas (Aug 10, 2013)

When you address someone by name, and tell them they can contact you to make a purchase... that's a sales pitch.  Fairly arrogant to assume that someone who has already developed and released a complete panel would want to purchase a partial one, no?



> I'm not developing it to make money, just improve the quality of the control panels on the market...


... c'mon now, at least be honest.  Four words.  FOSS.


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## Jade (Aug 10, 2013)

BlueVM said:


> @Francisco - Feathur is available for public use and you can contact me to buy a license. Fact remains most people are waiting for KVM support first, then they'll buy a copy and start using it. SkylarM already has a copy of Feathur running on one of her servers so it's out there, just haven't made a big public release yet...


How much does a license cost?


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## BlueVM (Aug 10, 2013)

Aldryic C said:


> When you address someone by name, and tell them they can contact you to make a purchase... that's a sales pitch.  Fairly arrogant to assume that someone who has already developed and released a complete panel would want to purchase a partial one, no?
> 
> ... c'mon now, at least be honest.  Four words.  FOSS.


Feathur is released with open source, but programs require money to be maintained... thus its not free. Either way I wasn't trying to sell him anything.


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## Bernard T. (Aug 11, 2013)

OK guys, sales pitching, one or another ... could we get back ON-topic ?? ... opcorn:


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## Magiobiwan (Aug 13, 2013)

Justin was replying to Fran's



Francisco said:


> Which of the panels is still in development? Feathur is out in private use but that's about it.
> 
> 
> Francisco


post.


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## Francisco (Aug 13, 2013)

Magiobiwan said:


> Justin was replying to Fran's
> 
> post.


What happened to that hosted one that nenolod was ripping some serious ass over? Started with a 'K'...

Francisco


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## Francisco (Aug 13, 2013)

BlueVM said:


> Feathur is released with open source, but programs require money to be maintained... thus its not free. Either way I wasn't trying to sell him anything.


It'd not be opensource then, it'd just be unencrypted 

Not to nitpick but I wouldn't want someone to license your work then start handing it around just because they read it was 'open source'. I'm not sure if you plan to have a license server in place or to use the honour system.

Francisco


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## yolo (Aug 13, 2013)

I can vouch how shitty DimeCadium is of a worker. I hired him. Big mistake. This is all the tickets he did:



And he would then snoop on clients data and PM them and be like I know where you live.


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## VPSCorey (Aug 14, 2013)

Will be interesting to see which solution comes out on top, but you can always make money off it by offering support in the form of installation help, troubleshooting, and features added.


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## VPSCorey (Aug 14, 2013)

Spencer said:


> I can vouch how shitty DimeCadium is of a worker. I hired him. Big mistake. This is all the tickets he did:
> 
> 
> 
> And he would then snoop on clients data and PM them and be like I know where you live.



Is this a necro'd post or what, and probably the first part of the guy's name Dime aka Dimebag should of been a warning maybe.  Probably just funded some guys pot habit lol.


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## KuJoe (Sep 9, 2013)

Just a quick update. It looks like I will be pushing the code to Google Code in the near future after I do some cleaning (and yes, it's very very bad so even after I clean it up most of you will cry). Here's what I've completed so far:

function vpsm_createVPS

function vpsm_pwdChange

function vpsm_osChange

function vpsm_ramChange

function vpsm_ipv4Add

function vpsm_ipv4Remove

function vpsm_ipv6Add

function vpsm_ipv6Remove

function vpsm_restartVPS

function vpsm_startVPS

function vpsm_stopVPS

function vpsm_suspendVPS

function vpsm_unsuspendVPS

function vpsm_destroyVPS

function vpsm_statusVPS

function vpsm_status (<-Node)

function vpsm_getVMs

 

In addition to that, WHMCS is now provisioning all of the VPSs properly but the IP management needs some polishing (right now it only handles /24 blocks for IPv4).

 

It still has a ways to go since it only works for OpenVZ right now, but it'll get there eventually.

 

For the connectivity between WHMCS and the servers I am using phpseclib with RSA keys locked to the WHMCS IP address. It's not as secure as I would like it but it works for now until I have enough functionality working to test it properly.

 

The GUI is nothing fancy but I'll work on that when it's 100% functional.


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## Novacha (Sep 9, 2013)

KuJoe said:


> Just a quick update. It looks like I will be pushing the code to Google Code in the near future after I do some cleaning (and yes, it's very very bad so even after I clean it up most of you will cry). Here's what I've completed so far:
> 
> function vpsm_createVPS
> 
> ...


Any chance you would be able to push this to github (I would be willing to do the svn to git conversion if you needed)? Github is much better for open source collaboration work.


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## KuJoe (Sep 9, 2013)

I've never used GitHub and I already setup a Google Code project. I'll look into it though.


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## Francisco (Sep 9, 2013)

KuJoe said:


> it's very very bad so even after I clean it up most of you will cry


Anyway you cut it, it's better than dimebags work.

Francisco


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## Aldryic C'boas (Sep 9, 2013)

In that it exists in the first place?


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## Bernard T. (Sep 9, 2013)

KuJoe said:


> Just a quick update. It looks like I will be pushing the code to Google Code in the near future after I do some cleaning (and yes, it's very very bad so even after I clean it up most of you will cry).


I am sure it can't be so bad that a good (however small) opensource community cannot fix and polish it to something functional!

Go Go Go !!

I agree to the part to not use GoogleCode in favor of GitHub, or even something better IMO, based on Git (or Mercurial) - https://bitbucket.org/ ... authors of famous JIRA and Confluence give out a free unlimited space accounts for opensource projects. Even more, opensource projects can apply for free JIRA license....


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## KuJoe (Sep 9, 2013)

I deleted the Google Code project and created a new one on GitHub. It'll take me a while until I get time to sit down and figure it all out though.


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## KuJoe (Sep 10, 2013)

Just another update, now the following are working successfully in the client area:

 

Start VPS

Stop VPS

Restart VPS

Display VPS status (running or stopped)

Display VPS load (1min/5min/15min)

Display used/total RAM

Display used/total Swap

Display used/total Disk Space

 

The following are working successfully in the admin area:

 

Start VPS

Stop VPS

Restart VPS

Suspend VPS

Unsuspend VPS

Terminate VPS


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## KuJoe (Sep 11, 2013)

Just some screenshots for those interested: http://vpsm.net/thread-14.html

I'm still working on the IP management portion of it since IPv6 is proving to be tricky and I need to get the IP blocks working better.

I'm in the process of learning AJAX to finish up the client area buttons, that's been fun.


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## Reece-DM (Sep 11, 2013)

@Kujoe

That is looking like some brilliant progress you have there.

I can't wait for more contributions from others when it's ready. I'd work on the user interface myself if i can find the time.

Send me a PM I'll see what I can fit in


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## qps (Sep 11, 2013)

@KuJoe Wow, great progress!


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## KuJoe (Sep 11, 2013)

Thanks @Reece and @qps. I hope to have some time to figure out GitHub to get some code pushed this weekend for people to review but I've been spending so much time coding that I haven't had time to figure out how to use GitHub. Maybe somebody with more knowledge in that department can help me out, if you have experience with GitHub feel free to drop me a PM if you can give me a quick "Getting Started" guide or if you want help me get the code pushed.


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## MannDude (Sep 11, 2013)

KuJoe said:


> Just some screenshots for those interested: http://vpsm.net/thread-14.html
> 
> I'm still working on the IP management portion of it since IPv6 is proving to be tricky and I need to get the IP blocks working better.
> 
> I'm in the process of learning AJAX to finish up the client area buttons, that's been fun.


Ohhh nice!

Serious question. When you toggle, for example, TUN/TAP, does the 'light switch' switch to 'On'? If not, it should 

Looking good my friend. Best of luck!


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## vanarp (Sep 11, 2013)

Github Training on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/GitHubGuides


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## KuJoe (Sep 11, 2013)

MannDude said:


> Ohhh nice!
> 
> Serious question. When you toggle, for example, TUN/TAP, does the 'light switch' switch to 'On'? If not, it should
> 
> Looking good my friend. Best of luck!


I'm not sure how it's going to work when it's done but for now it's just static image with no indicator. The GUI is just a temporary thing I threw together and I hope to completely change it when everything else is working. I'm going to play around with WHMCS's template system when I get time.


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## Novacha (Sep 11, 2013)

KuJoe said:


> I'm not sure how it's going to work when it's done but for now it's just static image with no indicator. The GUI is just a temporary thing I threw together and I hope to completely change it when everything else is working. I'm going to play around with WHMCS's template system when I get time.


From what I can see, you could just throw in a CSS 180 rotation


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## Novacha (Sep 11, 2013)

By the way, I would recommend that you create a new Github organisation (free for public repositories) and then create a repository within that.


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## clarity (Sep 11, 2013)

I would be willing to help on the design stuff. It would be nice to have a clear direction though. I see that there are a lot of people willing to help. Without some types of direction, you could end up anywhere.


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## 365Networks (Sep 11, 2013)

I recommend setting a public Github so people can assist with this.


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## Bernard T. (Sep 12, 2013)

Very nice KuJoe!! B)

Best quickstarts for Git :

http://try.github.io/

http://git-scm.com/docs/gittutorial


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## KuJoe (Sep 12, 2013)

Thanks for the feedback/support from everyone. I'm glad I decided to take on the project myself which I should have done from the beginning.


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## raindog308 (Sep 12, 2013)

Yet another VPS management panel...but I think Joe might actually be one to pull it off.  I think others look and say "well, that isn't so hard" and then after they get into the GUI side of it, testing, security, etc. they realize it's more work than they thought.

Wasn't joepie91 doing a panel at some point?  Whatever happened to that guy...


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## KuJoe (Sep 13, 2013)

He was doing a panel but then he had to stop because it wasn't making any money. I offered to pay him to complete it and then he said he didn't want to work on a paid project.


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## Shados (Sep 13, 2013)

KuJoe said:


> He was doing a panel but then he had to stop because it wasn't making any money. I offered to pay him to complete it and then he said he didn't want to work on a paid project.



...non sequitur?


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## KuJoe (Sep 13, 2013)

In his defense, he would consider working on it if I made donations instead of hiring him to do work (i.e. a work order/contract). But donations wouldn't guarantee me anything.


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## mikho (Sep 13, 2013)

and then he was raided or something, haven't seen him online that much since that "incident".


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## KuJoe (Sep 20, 2013)

MannDude said:


> Serious question. When you toggle, for example, TUN/TAP, does the 'light switch' switch to 'On'? If not, it should


I ended up getting rid of the toggles. For now it's either enabled or it's not (I'll add a disable option later).

I did add something that I think clients might like. Now they can add their own IPv6 addresses as they need them (a limit will be able to be set per VPS to prevent somebody from clearing the IP pool).

More pics and progress here: http://vpsm.net/thread-15.html


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