Free Control Panel software for VPS

[bobsta63]

Hi guys,

Just thought I'd post about my open-source project of which I am the head developer and project leader on, ZPanel which is written in PHP and supported on Windows, Linux and UNIX is an opensource alternative to the likes of cPanel and various other control panels.

The latest version 6.1.1 is fully tested on Ubuntu 10.04, CentOS 5.2 and FreeBSD 8.2 as well as all versions of Microsoft Windows.

Maybe this may be of some help to some people out there that are thinking about purchasing a VPS for running their VA on but don't have that much experience with Linux or FreeBSD or simply don't have the money to rent a Windows VPS.

I'm not spamming the forums to try and get users, the project already has a mass amount of users - I just thought that this may help some people

The website is: http://www.zpanelcp.com/ - Loads of modules and other useful information can be found on the site and forums

A demo installation of the Control Panel can be accessed here (so you can see what it looks like and how it works etc.):-

http://demo.zpanelcp.com/

Cheers,

Bobby

[joeri]

moving this to the correct place

[tutmeister]

Bobby, what's the average memory footprint? cPanel can be a pig at times, so although it's very nice, to save money I more often than not skulk back to boring command line administration which I'm not the biggest fan of. So a GUI that isn't memory-intensive, yet still can do the main things required in server administration would be great.

[bobsta63]

Hi tutmeister,

Well ZPanel runs on pretty much the same software stack that cPanel does... Apache, PHP, MySQL also uses Postfix and Dovecot for mail services and ProFTPd for FTP. - Therefore generally the same I'd say a clean 'minimal' install of CentOS running ZPanel and all the services that it installs would use approx 100MB of RAM

I definitely say that ZPanel runs much faster than cPanel as we haven't bloated it up or anything - If you wanted you could even remove Postfix, Dovecot and ProFTP after installation (probably want to remove the modules for Mail and FTP too from ZPanel) to reduce the resource footprint and surface attack area further then just use SSH to login and transfer files etc.... then you'll have a speedy GUI control panel that already comes with phpMyAdmin and a super simple way to setup Cron jobs, create MySQL databases, create additional sub-domains, configure backups and even manage DNS enties all via the control panel.

Cheers,

Bobby

[ukmil]

I tried this yesterday, and it installed ok, but when I make a new domain account, and test it, it just gives me the Zpanel login page, and not the index page in the folder. I checked, and it creates the folder ok in the hostdata, but it will not redirect the domain to it?

[bobsta63]

Hi UKMil,

Was the domain (VHOST) showing as 'live' or 'pending' in the 'Domain' nmodule? - If it was showing as 'pending' it means that the deamon.php cron task hasn't yet run which reloads the Apache configuration so that the domain becomes live. - This takes a maximum of an hour, this can be run manually too but ZPanel is designed to be run by ISP's which is why the default is at 1 hour.

Hope this helps,

Bobby

[ukmil]

ok thanks, yes it was pending, and now it works! great thanks

[ukmil]

one other thing, I have my sites stored on another drive, Drive D: I installed Zpanel on C: as defualt, and have changed the settings for the userdata, but it does not point correctly to my site?

[bobsta63]

Glad its all working ok for you now UKMil

Regarding data on another drive, this has been answered numerous times on our support forums buddy, probably best to check them out to save me typing and also to not clutter up the phpVMS forums. (http://forums.zpanelcp.com/) - basically though, the change will only apply to new domains you add, you can either delete and re-create your current domain (vhost) to make the change take effect OR you can manually edit the httpd-vhosts.conf file and ammend the file path (new domains and sub-domains will have the correct path in future though, its just becuase your domain was created prior to the hostdata path change in the CP.).

BTW if anyone else wants to try out our demo server: http://demo.zpanelcp.com/

[ukmil]

ok thanks, I tried creating a new domain, but it did not create the folder in the new drive. Also, it was showing pending, so I tried the manual Daemon.php via the start menu, but that did not make it active. I then re-booted the server, but the new domain is still pending, and no folder has been created on my D: drive. I will take my concerns over to your forum, to stop hogging this thread

[bobsta63]

Ok buddy, Looking at the issue I would assume its file permissions not allowing it to create the folder on the D: drive (are you trying to write to a file in the root of the D: drive?) but yeah, take it over to our forums... lets try and keep the phpVMS forums clean

[ukmil]

figured it out, the base drive needed a ZADMIN folder created. I simply tried to point to D:/websites/, but it needed to be D:/websites/zadmin/

[Kyle]

This looks interesting! I'll give her a try tonight!

Thanks for sharing it here!

[tutmeister]

Thanks for the reply, Bobby, I'll be looking into this on my next project then.

Incidentally, after checking your website I realized that you're in Suffolk and you have a team member in Oklahoma. Random off-topic fact: I've lived in both places (flew Apache at Wattisham for a couple years then emigrated).

[bobsta63]

figured it out, the base drive needed a ZADMIN folder created. I simply tried to point to D:/websites/, but it needed to be D:/websites/zadmin/

Ok excellent, glad you got it all working in the end

This looks interesting! I'll give her a try tonight!

Thanks for sharing it here!

No problem Vansers, Hope you enjoy using it and find it useful

Thanks for the reply, Bobby, I'll be looking into this on my next project then.

Incidentally, after checking your website I realized that you're in Suffolk and you have a team member in Oklahoma. Random off-topic fact: I've lived in both places (flew Apache at Wattisham for a couple years then emigrated).

Hey tutmeister,

Wow - that is strange lol :-) - I live in Ipswich so Wattisham is literally like 15 mins from my house lol - I assume you lived in Ipswich too when you was based at Wattisham or somewhere like Stowmarket etc?

Well I'm glad you've all found the link useful

Cheers guys,

Bobby

[Nabeel]

Looks interesting; I use all command-line now, but if I run into clients who want a panel, I'll suggest thing.

cPanel is rather heavy. And also your name - zPanel - err, if cPanel catches wind, I'm sure they'll have a problem...

[bobsta63]

Cheers Nabeel :-) Personally I too use the CUI, I'm a hardcore FreeBSD fan but also run a number of CentOS and Ubuntu Servers too..

It isn't supposed to be pronounced 'zee-panel' but actually 'zed-panel' - I'm English - This is a common misunderstanding - The idea being that we are the other end of the alphabet so you have the paid panels eg. DirectAdmin, cPanel etc. etc. and then at the other end of the spectrum you have ZPanel (open-source)

The project has been running for many years and I would have thought that if cPanel had a problem before now they would have contacted us - If they do have a problem we don't mind changing the name although admittedly it would be annoying and a mass amount of work to change domain names etc. etc. - The project is open-source so I assume that cPanel don't see it as a threat

Cheers,

Bobby

[tutmeister]

Yeah, enjoyed Ipswich for many years, I moved around the local outlying towns quite a bit actually during my time there. Very much enjoyed it, Oklahoma isn't anywhere near as beautiful, nature-wise. Also way too many things that can kill you for my liking LMAO!

[ukmil]

sorry to bring this up on here, but I am unable to register on your forum as it refuses to send an activation email to my hotmail. My question is simple, I have set everything up, and it is working so far. BUT, how do users get to their control panel? when you enter the domain, it just goes to the parking page, and tells the user to log into zpanel and upload files, but how? what is the url to the control panel?

[Nabeel]

sorry to bring this up on here, but I am unable to register on your forum as it refuses to send an activation email to my hotmail. My question is simple, I have set everything up, and it is working so far. BUT, how do users get to their control panel? when you enter the domain, it just goes to the parking page, and tells the user to log into zpanel and upload files, but how? what is the url to the control panel?

Whose forum?

[ukmil]

the Zpanel forum, I cannot register. I have tried two different email addresses to register, and never receieved an activation email to either

[twelka3]

Going to try this now praying it works