Direct Admin Technical Thread
Thought it worthwhile to start a new Direct Admin thread for those that use it, given they do everything from Personal licences I am sure people have views on it. So any useful hints, tips, bugs, requests and anything else, post them here and get some discussion going around it.
Tagged:
Comments
In fact, as a starter, how are people finding DA for those that use it from a customer perspective? What are the main gripes you have as the end-user?
Paging @SmallWeb @MikePT as the most active DA users I am aware of.
https://inceptionhosting.com
Please do not use the PM system here for Inception Hosting support issues.
Not so much as a customer but as a "personal" user, my brain has been completely rewired after 6+ years of using the other panel.
I honestly find most things a lot simpler and in the last 2 months alone a lot of issues have been addressed in terms of "getting used to it".
Michael from DragonWebHost & OnePoundEmail
Yeah the DA guys have been very receptive to changes.
I'd still love to see a whmapi1 type command line interface to make scripting easier.
I think getting some sort of differential backups system in place (that or jetapps give more feedback) has to be higher.
Francisco
That would be awesome, as well as the backups.
I have not looked into it, does the new Linux Jetbackup service work with DirectAdmin? I guess it probably does in that it provides a more integrated experience but without the provision of end-user interaction?
According to @MikePT
JetBackup isn’t compatible with DirectAdmin yet
I have one of the older DA owned lifetime licenses and will probably install it on the server that I purchased on Black Friday. I haven't used DA intensively yet, but remember some things that I really did not like about it.
I am very much looking forward how it will work out for me this time and will most probably be present in this thread quite often in the next weeks while getting used to DA's very own issues.
Amitz, a very stable genius (it's true!) and Grand Rectumfier of the official LESLOS® (LES League of Shitposters).
Certified braindead since 1974 and still perfectly happy.
The linux version must work, just not on a user level, it is based on no control panel so I guess you just backup whatever you want when you want but if a user wants to recover data you would provide it.
Will have a look later today.
edit: feck, forgot it only works with centOS, I may re-install DA using centOS and try it. Offers better back-ups than the current built-in.
You can sign up with a DA based host subdomain.yourdomain.com as main account domain if that is what you wish to use instead of having to use yourdomain.com in cPanel
Recommend: SmallWeb|BuyVM|Linode|RamNode
Even better than that you can completely remove and replace any domain without causing hell and keeping the account.
Michael from DragonWebHost & OnePoundEmail
If you want to play with DA install from clients perspective, feel free to signup for my free service.
Nexus Bytes Ryzen Powered NVMe VPS | NYC|Miami|LA|London|Netherlands| Singapore|Tokyo
Storage VPS | LiteSpeed Powered Web Hosting + SSH access | Switcher Special |
Although not a perfect solution if you are a host, JetBackups for Linux is actually really good.
Took me about 30 minutes to install, configure and start running an incremental hourly backup job on files and similar for databases.
The interface is very intuitive, there are no limits to what jobs or schedules you can create, back up some or all files, same for databases.
Restoring one file, some files, one directory or all files is super easy, same for databases.
I like what they have done, I am transferring to S3, but they have very clear docs on how to setup Google Drive, DropBox and others as well as your usual FTP, SSH and the like.
Of course, it would be better if they had per-user access to let clients do it themselves but I am a fan of having good, reliable backups that are easy to restore and if that means the user has to request it for now then better than nothing and far better than what DA has built-in, but at least the user can still go down that route to retain their own.
@Lee thanks for the info with JetBackups for Linux. I have been waiting for JB to release the DA plugin but might just go with JetBackups for Linux and not be reliant on a specific panel based plugin.
Certainly, if you do not need end-user access it is a great option, just don't do what some providers have done by creating end-user accounts to access the panel. That is not going to work.
According to JetApps, they are now working on a DA panel, which I expect is simply JetBackups for Linux with a panel specific plugin to provide end-user access. They have tweeted that development for DA is expected to take 4-6 months, that was from October so not long to wait.
Right now it's JetBackup for CentOS though. Meh
Support for Debian/Ubuntu is yet to be added.
Ympker's VPN LTD Comparison, Uptime.is, Ympker's GitHub.
centOS is the cornerstone for their products so no surprise. I am sure Debian support won't be far away. Aside from that, DA needs to prune their supported OS list, app providers are not going to be as flexible in supporting them all.
I've taken you up on the offer.
I'm really curious to see DA from the end-user's perspective. Never did get around to using the free DA license I had.
Let's hope so
Ympker's VPN LTD Comparison, Uptime.is, Ympker's GitHub.
Enjoy sir. My Free DA plan includes almost everything you would get with usual DA hosting including CL, softaculous etc. So it should give you an easy idea.
Evolution theme should be a bit more faster. That will be me current complaint to the DA team.
@Francisco any chance we can get Mark here?
Nexus Bytes Ryzen Powered NVMe VPS | NYC|Miami|LA|London|Netherlands| Singapore|Tokyo
Storage VPS | LiteSpeed Powered Web Hosting + SSH access | Switcher Special |
Looking for an easy way to migrate an existing DA instance to another one, unless @AnthonySmith can pull off a @QuantumCore surprise i.e. switch the 'deal' on the existing server.
In stasis until the shitposting stops/abates.
Than=compare;then=sequence:brought=bring;bought=buy:staffs=pile of sticks:informations/infos=no plural.
It wisnae me! A big boy done it and ran away. || NVMe2G for life! until death (the end is nigh).
boot both in recovery mode (sysrescue cd), dd 1 disk to the other over ssh, done.
https://inceptionhosting.com
Please do not use the PM system here for Inception Hosting support issues.
(At a local level, I usually use Clonezilla.)
You're a bloody hero. In all the years, I haven't tried that and was super easy. Muchos Grassyass.
In stasis until the shitposting stops/abates.
Than=compare;then=sequence:brought=bring;bought=buy:staffs=pile of sticks:informations/infos=no plural.
It wisnae me! A big boy done it and ran away. || NVMe2G for life! until death (the end is nigh).
Guys, I'm going nuts here..
SolusVM
Centos 7
Directadmin
Server IP has been changed, along with the DA license and DA's ipswap.sh
"Client" IPs have been moved to the new shared IP
/etc/sysconfig/ifcfg-eth0 has the new IP.
Both ip a and ip r display the old and new IP/routes.
Tell me there's a hidden SolusVM config file someplace?
In stasis until the shitposting stops/abates.
Than=compare;then=sequence:brought=bring;bought=buy:staffs=pile of sticks:informations/infos=no plural.
It wisnae me! A big boy done it and ran away. || NVMe2G for life! until death (the end is nigh).
Michael from DragonWebHost & OnePoundEmail
^ Hell, yeah!
Actually, I'll do it in Solus, to be sure.
In stasis until the shitposting stops/abates.
Than=compare;then=sequence:brought=bring;bought=buy:staffs=pile of sticks:informations/infos=no plural.
It wisnae me! A big boy done it and ran away. || NVMe2G for life! until death (the end is nigh).
Yeah, sorry, not a Solus guy but my only experience of the ghost of old IPs was fixed by off/on, not necessarily the whole box
Michael from DragonWebHost & OnePoundEmail
Now it's me having a question:
All I wanted to to is change some global PHP settings...
So I did a
/usr/local/bin/php --ini | grep 'Loaded Configuration File'and learned that the php.ini location is in
/usr/local/php72/lib/php.iniI changed the values and restarted Apache.
Still the changes are not applied. What does Directadmin expect me to do? Their documentation is a mess when searching via Google.You never know whether it is outdated information, or nor. That sucks a bit...
Amitz, a very stable genius (it's true!) and Grand Rectumfier of the official LESLOS® (LES League of Shitposters).
Certified braindead since 1974 and still perfectly happy.
Did you restart php72?
Michael from DragonWebHost & OnePoundEmail
Looks as though it needed a hard boot in Solus, after the dregs of the old IP were removed in the VM. Go figure.
In stasis until the shitposting stops/abates.
Than=compare;then=sequence:brought=bring;bought=buy:staffs=pile of sticks:informations/infos=no plural.
It wisnae me! A big boy done it and ran away. || NVMe2G for life! until death (the end is nigh).
I seem to recall saying the same thing.
In stasis until the shitposting stops/abates.
Than=compare;then=sequence:brought=bring;bought=buy:staffs=pile of sticks:informations/infos=no plural.
It wisnae me! A big boy done it and ran away. || NVMe2G for life! until death (the end is nigh).
Sorry, should have mentioned that. Yes.
Amitz, a very stable genius (it's true!) and Grand Rectumfier of the official LESLOS® (LES League of Shitposters).
Certified braindead since 1974 and still perfectly happy.
What is it you are trying to change? I mean, 7.2 may be the DA loaded config file but if the change is expected at user level, has the user account go 7.2 selected?
Kinda assuming it's all regarding native PHP, but if it is per-domain then https://help.directadmin.com/item.php?id=622 might be of some help.
Michael from DragonWebHost & OnePoundEmail
Never assume, ass U me and all that
Thank you guys, but something seems utterly f*cked up with my install... Will re-install and see!
Amitz, a very stable genius (it's true!) and Grand Rectumfier of the official LESLOS® (LES League of Shitposters).
Certified braindead since 1974 and still perfectly happy.
Yup, that sounds like DirectAdmin
. It can be very temperamental.
@SmallWeb @Francisco
Is it possible with DirectAdmin to throttle outgoing email for example allowing a 100 emails per hour on per user or per domain basis?
Recommend: SmallWeb|BuyVM|Linode|RamNode
No, but yes.
Can you do this via the panel? No.
Can you modify it manually? Yes.
Another one of those must-haves that is in a Queue to be added to the panel, no ETA.
There's this in the admin UI but for daily
Michael from DragonWebHost & OnePoundEmail
Yup, daily has always been there, hourly is to be added just no ETA.
I thought I saw that hourly email limits had been added or was being added for the next release of DA.
Honestly,
As I am reevaluating my shared hosting plans, I am super inclined to offer whm/CPanel, simply because DA doesn’t have a single point of add/remove feature options (even if it is via editing config files) and gets super frustrating when I am deploying new boxes. Too many check lists.
I love DA, been a DA host before DA became cool. But from an admin perspective, DA feels like a budget hosting panel and not premium enough. Yes it’s cheap. But it lacks simple config options for quick and easy deployment.
Nexus Bytes Ryzen Powered NVMe VPS | NYC|Miami|LA|London|Netherlands| Singapore|Tokyo
Storage VPS | LiteSpeed Powered Web Hosting + SSH access | Switcher Special |
Indeed, this is where my opinion on cPanel seems to grate with many others in that $45 each month for 100 users and $0.20 per additional user each month is really not that bad when you compare it side by side with DA. It is perceived as bad by those trying to offer unlimited services for $2 per month.
All I have been thinking in the last couple of days is just stop with DA, you know you want cPanel
Ditto and I might run with that for my upcoming premium offering. I will still be a DA host and happy DA guy with budget DA offering, but Cpanel continues to be more "shared hosting" business-friendly. It is expensive and a recurring expense. But if I am charing top $$, I should offer top value.
Nexus Bytes Ryzen Powered NVMe VPS | NYC|Miami|LA|London|Netherlands| Singapore|Tokyo
Storage VPS | LiteSpeed Powered Web Hosting + SSH access | Switcher Special |
They should definitely do a DA DNS only also just like cPanel
https://help.directadmin.com/item.php?id=138
Whenever I search for features similar to cPanel in DA I find you either need extra $$ or more admin hours.
Recommend: SmallWeb|BuyVM|Linode|RamNode
They do have this, it is just another DA install in a different location. There is an option in the panel to two installs to speak with each other. Just not free like cPanel although DNS Only for Cpanel is unlikely to be free long given they are licencing each install of that as well now.
Why not license it per domain served ??
“Technology is best when it brings people together.” – Matt Mullenweg
That may be the plan, I guess we will find out in time.
Right now cPanel continues to offer a free DNS Only and you would need to pay for a DA licence to set up clustering. Not sure whether a $2 personal licence would do or you need a licence equivalent to the number of users. But in any case, a small VPS from a provider that bundles licences free will cover it.
This seems to suggest they are gathering data to establish whether charging would be viable, .i.e. enough are using it to make it more hassle to do anything but pay.
https://blog.cpanel.com/coming-very-soon-dnsonly-server-licenses/
There's paid licenses for it, I just can't find a copy of it.
From what I remember the paid addon was like $15 and it was if you wanted to offer a managed DNS offering without shared hosting.
Francisco
That's correct, they're still working on it, shall be in beta in two months IIRC - I need to poke them again.
JetBackups for Linux does the job, although there's no panel for the end-user and it won't really integrate. It's still a solution for now as you can restore the account as an Admin. I'll rather wait for the DA version to allow our clients to perform self-restores.