Web based server administration

[evinrude]

Never thought I'd end up asking this, but....

I now need to find some application or scripts that will allow us to set up a web-based server administration application for users. We've looked (briefly) at Webmin, as well as the scripts that came on a Cobalt RaQ server.

The goal is, of course, to allow a client to administrate their portion of a web server (create email, domain, sub-domain, quotas, mailing lists, etc...) while isolating them as much as possible from other users. Or to allow a reseller to sell the space they've purchased, and administrate those lower down the line.

The application would need to be able to tailor screens according to access level, from the Administrators/Staff (us), to the Client (the person dealing with us), to the Clients customers and their users.

As someone who's always held tightly onto the config files of my web servers this all makes me rather nervous. But there seems to be a bazillion web hosting companies out there doing this stuff everyday, so they must be usin' something! Are they building these apps in house, or using commercial products? Or sticking with a prepackaged GUI on their system (ala Cobalt?)

I'm up for building it in house, but the timeline given makes that a bit of a no-go.

Edited to add.... I really dig the interface at Pair.com...anyone know if they built that themselves or purchased something?

[Brett_Tabke]

That is actually a difficult proposition. I looked into a series of packages two years ago, and all I could find was expensive and more expensive. Once you get into the server admin section, the choices (as you are aware) are actually pretty limited. Most of the hosting companies that provide access to server features, write perl scripts themselves. all the major hosts I've been on, are all using perl solutions.

[Drastic]

I *think* ColdFusion could be configured to do most/all of what you want. This route may not be suitable, but could be worth a look.

We took a hard look at CF a while back at my local PC user's group - couple of CF developers really showed us the stuff - pretty impressive.

[agerhart]

If you are going to go down the ColdFusion road, the why not give ASP a shot. We use it here and are pretty happy with it.

ASP definitely has the capability to do what you are looking for.

[toolman]

Web Shell [psoft.net] might be worth a look.

[evinrude]

Cool, thank ya much for the info!

While most of the work I've done thus far has been in ASP, it is unlikely to be used for this purpose, as our boss is (finally) making agressive moves towards open source solutions.

If we write in house, Perl or PHP would be the most likely methods. I'm just skeptical of coming up with a good (secure) package in our given time frame.

Cool, though, to know most are probably writing in house.