Webmin/Virtualmin/Cloudmin/...

Help! (Home for newbies)
1

I just can’t wrap my head around how Cloudmin fits into the bare server/data center/virtualization/VPS picture. In the ideal world, I would like to put “something” on top of a Debian Proxmox installation. Debian because it is the only distro Proxmox works on “out of the box”, and Proxmox because it is a very stable integration of OpenVZ for container virutalization and KVM for paravirtualized servers.

The “something” would allow me to:

  1. Manage the “base” server:
    Email, ftp, etc. basic services…this is probably a pretty straight-forward Webmin install

  2. Create OpenVZ and KVM Virtual Private Servers:
    Does Webmin/Virtualmin/Cloudmin allow for this? Ignoring, for the moment, the fact that I can create these within Proxmox…

  3. Create a corresponding “control” user for the VPS created in #2:
    For instance, create a user who can reboot/OS reinstall/etc. a single VPS to which he has been granted access/ownership. Proxmox DOESN’T do this currently.

  4. Allow integrated control of some VPS servers:
    Be able to have one user control (as in #3) two or more VPS’

  5. Allow exterior control of a VPS’s from the base server:
    Specifically, create a user who can open a VNC console connection into a VPS from the “base” server…This user only has access to that VPS and can’t see/control the other VPS (unless that control is granted to him)

  6. Allow a “clustered” control of a VPS on this base server AND a VPS on a completely separate server located in a different data center

All of these things with the possible exception of #6 can be done by various VPS control panel integrations (HyperVM and Klaxo), SolusVM, etc., but none of them can sit on top of a Proxmox installation, as far as I can tell.

Has Cloudmin joined the ranks of these types of control panels, or is it something different?

Am I asking for too much?!

Thanks,

  • Acorp

www.acorp.net

2

First up, I don’t know anything about Proxmox.

1) Manage the “base” server: Email, ftp, etc. basic services…this is probably a pretty straight-forward Webmin install

Yes, Webmin, or perhaps Virtualmin, if you’re managing virtually hosted websites, as well.

2) Create OpenVZ and KVM Virtual Private Servers: Does Webmin/Virtualmin/Cloudmin allow for this?

Cloudmin manages OpenVZ and KVM. The Open Source version currently supports Xen or KVM, but not OpenVZ (that may change eventually, though LXC support is definitely going into GPL).

3) Create a corresponding “control” user for the VPS created in #2: For instance, create a user who can reboot/OS reinstall/etc. a single VPS to which he has been granted access/ownership.

This is exactly what Cloudmin is for. Delegation is the primary feature of Cloudmin that sets it apart from nearly everything else in the virtualization area.

4) Allow integrated control of some VPS servers: Be able to have one user control (as in #3) two or more VPS’

I don’t know what “integrated control” means in this context. But, users can manage their own VMs, and they can manage multiple VMs.

5) Allow exterior control of a VPS’s from the base server: Specifically, create a user who can open a VNC console connection into a VPS from the “base” server…This user only has access to that VPS and can’t see/control the other VPS (unless that control is granted to him)

I don’t think I understand what you’re asking here, or how VNC is related to the question I think you’re asking.

Users in Cloudmin can control their own VMs. They cannot control other people’s VMs. It wouldn’t make sense for Cloudmin to even exist if it didn’t do that. (That’s its reason for existing: To allow hosting providers to delegate management of their VMs to their customers. It also works for other contexts where you need to delegate management of VMs, but hosting is where we make our money.) :wink:

6) Allow a “clustered” control of a VPS on this base server AND a VPS on a completely separate server located in a different data center

Be careful using the word “clustered”. It’s too wishy washy to mean anything we can usefully talk about without defining a lot of specific details.

Cloudmin Professional can manage VMs spread across any number of physical machines, and it doesn’t matter where they are located. However, if you don’t have a fast network between the Cloudmin system, and all of its host systems, you will be hating life. A lot of data can be moved around during Cloudmin operations (as would be expected when dealing with GB+ images of operating system installs).

Has Cloudmin joined the ranks of these types of control panels, or is it something different?

Cloudmin hasn’t just joined the ranks. It’s been around for a couple of years now, and those are all features that were shipped in the first release. They are the core functionality of Cloudmin.

But, again, I have no idea how Proxmox fits into this equation, as I have never used it or even read about it. Cloudmin Professional can support multiple virtualization types in a single install, and many users have OpenVZ and Xen deployments spread across many machines.