After Account Creation Kick Start Installation

Customization InterWorx API Discussion
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1

I would like to hire this work to be completed:
We hired this work out in cPanel and now that we are looking to switch over - not sure how to make this work here…

Based upon the package chosen for an account when created in siteworx - I would like to have the sytem kickstart a CMS to be installed.

Most often this would be TYPO3 or WORDPRESS - and perhaps DRUPAL
any thoughts on how to get this done right after the account has been created?

I am looking for automation here - and willing to pay to get this done.
IF PAID however - IT MUST BE OPEN for everyone in the Interworx Community -

I believe in sharing :slight_smile:

2

[QUOTE=cloudhopping;21587]I would like to hire this work to be completed:
We hired this work out in cPanel and now that we are looking to switch over - not sure how to make this work here…

Based upon the package chosen for an account when created in siteworx - I would like to have the sytem kickstart a CMS to be installed.

Most often this would be TYPO3 or WORDPRESS - and perhaps DRUPAL
any thoughts on how to get this done right after the account has been created?

I am looking for automation here - and willing to pay to get this done.
IF PAID however - IT MUST BE OPEN for everyone in the Interworx Community -

I believe in sharing :-)[/QUOTE]

Yes!

This would be a really neat feature!

It would certainly reduce the number of tickets we get from new clients, and there are a number of our resellers that would LOVE this.

Jon

3

needed across the pond …

I am hoping that somebody does bite on this and help the development.
also if you have any ideas please feel free to add them. What often separates a good idea from a great idea is community involvement. Of course if I’m paying I will make sure that my needs are met first as I have the immediate need and requirement however I am NOT allergic to making sure the community needs are met thus the requirements of sharingthe code moving forward

4

Hi

I hope you don’t mind but I’ve thought about this and I’m not sure this would continually work without updates to any code.

This is based on both the app installers having different versions available and no doubt would keep updating versions as they arise.

Also I might be missing something but if a user cannot follow simple steps on either of the app installers, it doesn’t bode well for any user customisation that the user may do when the app is installed.

Lastly, please don’t forget that the user could set their own account with either of the app installers, so I’m not sure if that may break any config set or indeed if your thinking of stopping a user account setup with either or both of the app installers, and ofcourse, you would then have to code for reinstall if it went wrong or was corrupted by the user or do manually.

These are just some of my thoughts and sorry to sound negative as I do understand why your suggesting it.

Many thanks

John

5

John - I understand your point of view:

Here is the simple point. If you are an end user purchasing a managed product - let’s say its a CMS that has some customized code, plugins, additional content etc - when you place an order you DO NOT want to have to install it - you simply put - want it to work. That is why you ordered this product vs. another.

the installation is fairly simple yes.
what we are missing is how to do the hook piece.

We have our own customized TYPO3 install - in fact - we have had it in place now for 5 years in the cpanel world.
When TYPO3 updates - we simply update the installer.

We have done this with thousands of sites - SO - if we are going to migrate those sites over to Interworx - AND - if we plan on continuing to market to this niche market - then we need this capability - and thus the reason I am willing to pay to make it happen.

We also have this for WordPress and Drupal - both being used to serve niche markets.

Let’s pretend your a hair dresser.
You know how to make someone pretty - how to add tint to their hair, how to cut it to make it look like Bieber - etc BUT you have no clue on how to setup your hair salon’s website, how to install a plugin to work for scheduling, etc

and some company can do that all for you - all you need is to enter your credit card…

Would you not take advantage of that offer - ? Especially if you noticed a bunch of others using their service and it worked out of the box ?

What I need is the ability to install specific installers and have them pull from specific databases
TYPO3 can be told to use a specific Database along with some content to name the site, add an address, phone number etc to the “WEC Constants” fields.

WordPress can be told after install to inject a specific XML file to pull in data

Drupal can be told to use a specific KickStart package when installed

SO - keeping the updates “up-to-date” is something we expect to have to do - but getting the project off the ground is where we need help

We, in the cpanel world used http://docs.cpanel.net/twiki/bin/view/AllDocumentation/WHMDocs/ManagecPAddons In short we need the same ability here.

:slight_smile:

6

Without going into an in-depth post and repeating what CloudHopping has already stated, I’d agree.

This industry is all about “added value”.

If you go into hosting and attempt to compete on price, you WILL fail (unless you have a few million pounds of funding to burn). Instead, its easier to compete based on service, and all these little “extras” and “nice touches” are what will help persuade a customer that your plans are actually better value than some other ultra cheap ones hosted through some alpha-master-supreme-ultra-mega reseller account which was purchased with “unlimited” everything (and is in all likelihood hosted from a single oversold dedicated server).

InterWorx has already proven a valuable tool for us in this respect - it just works, and clients love the no-nonsense interface. Feature requests like this will just add to that charisma that InterWorx as a product holds, and help the product gain further weight in the industry - a good thing for everyone (apart from cPanel and Parallels:P).

Jon

7

When we started, we looked at out service, and compared it to other large providers on our local market, and put the price based on that.
This lead to us having hundreds of customers, paying barely enough to keep the server running.

With the investment of new hardware that we did this spring, we looked over our service again, and decided to rethink our strategy. We nearly 10x our prices … and the customers didn’t even blink (the comment I got was ‘that was cheap’) … Because of all the ‘new’ (we hadn’t installed them on the older servers) features that Interworx integrated, together with new security systems, as well as a ‘full service’ support deal (that we previously did for free), we could charge those prices.

Don’t forget, your prices says something about your service. Some customers don’t take you serious if your price is the same as everyone else, some customers only want premium prices.
It’s the cheapass nickle and dime customers that pay the least, and demand the most support.

We specialize in joomla hosting, and while a feature like this have been requested by our customers… we have a simple zip (akeeba backup) file that we can install in minutes on a new account. It this feature existed, we would definetly use it… but right now, I don’t see spending money on it.

I would rather like to see the following:
Idera add database support to the customer inteface. (server backup software - previously R1Soft)
CloudLinux add Iworx support for their php selector interface (right now it only supports cpanel).
A billing and account provisioning system that fully integrates with our joomla site (right now we use WHMCS and Integrator3 from gohigheris.com … too many points of failure).

Could use joomISP, but it lacks integration with Interworx, requires a plugin to create invoices (only supports a german invoice system atm), and support from the developers feels nonexistant.

I think this solution your talking about here, is best built to integrate with softacoulus or simplescript. Let the plugin provision an installation of a predefined app in softacoulus. That way, you can use softacoulus built in update system to update all deployments when a new version is released… you can even automate the upgrade.

8

Hi

I’m sorry my posting seems to have taken this off topic somewhat, which is why I didn’t reply to any comments made by cloud hopping or Hacman.

To clarify, we have been in business since the 90’s, although we only became limited in 2003, 10 years ago… We do not oversell, or promise unlimited anything and we do not undercharge, nor do we only use 1 server. We have many servers, clustered and standalone, we do dedicated and vps and also terminal servers. Our mail servers on average service 500,000 approx emails per day and we only offer our services to commercial users. Our biggest client is listed in the top ten of the top 500 companies in the uk and we have a very strong retention of our clients.

However that said, we do current only have 1 interworx server in use at the moment, whilst we trial it as we need to be positive it will be stable, which it is, and no, it is not oversold, currently doing about .5tb per month of web traffic, and we may start to look at the clustered side very soon.

I appreciate and thank you all for the advice and concur with it and once again, sorry if I have taken it off topic, it was not meant to have.

Many thanks

John