Sub-Server/Alias Level Delegation

Jamie/Joe,

*** REFERENCES: all references to "subdomain" in the below request refers to "sub-servers", where "domain.com" is a "top-level", and "subdomain.domain.com" is a "sub-server".

== THE BACK STORY ==

I've been dabbling with Cloudmin over the past few days, working on a redesign of our global network infrastructure and furthering the development of our in-house client-facing control panel GUI.

As part of my mid-term goals, I'd like to be able to delegate a "sub-domain" to a different machine than the "domain" is delegated.

ex.

domain.com => server #1
subdomain.domain.com => server #2

While most customers will never completely make use of this functionality, within my own eco system I already manually do this for certain tasks, where dividing a domain is critical.

== CURRENT DESIGN ==

From what I can see, Cloudmin currently only supports the creation of "domain.com", and after that you it is implied that "subdomain.domain.com" would be created on the same host. While this is ideal for many situations, adding "subdomain" and "alias" level creation would offer greater flexibility.

== IMPLEMENTATION ==

This feature depending on its implementation could be designed in a "quick-fix" model, or in a "complete" model, where a quick fix might address a portion of the overall tasks.

There are certainly a lot of areas that'd need to be re-engineered to make certain features work, which I suspect cannot be designed over a coffee :-) and as such would not expect this to be implemented in the near future if going the route of a "complete" model design.

I figured I'd open this tracker to start to get the wheels of creativity moving, and welcome your feedback on the topic. Further details will be added over the coming weeks which may hopefully aid in the implementation of this extra functionality as even in writing this message, I realize there are lots of things that'd need to be adjusted for this to completely work properly.

== IMMEDIATE NEEDS (off the top of my head) ==

A) ability to add "sub-domains" to a different node than "domain"

B) ability for at the node level, DNS to be consolidated as records are created for a "domain" or "sub-domain" respectively. (we already have slave dns in place, so a means for the slaves to intelligently add records for each part would be important, and further not allowing "domain" to overwrite "subdomain")

C) aliases would likely end up using a "proxy" model for accessing websites in Apache, given it wouldn't be as simple as adding a record to the Apache configuration file as the current alias feature does.

== IDEAS, IDEAS, IDEAS ==

Hopefully the above has stirred up some ideas on the topic, and perhaps together we can brew this idea into a reality, therefore bringing the feature to market in a much more stable, and flexible manner. Naturally while I have my needs, I understand the importance of meeting the needs of others in the process, so am certainly flexible in the design concept.

*** NOTICE: I KNOW THAT YOU CAN CREATE A "SUBDOMAIN" AS A "TOP-LEVEL" SERVER, AND THIS REQUEST IS NOT MEANT TO REPLACE THIS FUNCTIONALITY, BUT RATHER IS TO COVER A NEW METHOD OF ACCOMPLISHING THE TASK OF HAVING SUB-SERVERS IMPLEMENTED AT THE CLOUDMIN LEVEL ***

-Peter

Status: 
Active

Comments

So is your aim here to have a single login that can be used to manage a top-level and sub-domain, even though they are split across two different machines or VMs?

For the forseeable future, creating the sub-domain as a separate top-level server on a different machine is the only option we are likely to support.

tpnsolutions's picture
Submitted by tpnsolutions on Wed, 01/30/2013 - 16:47

Hi,

After re-looking over the details, I figured out my primary goal is:

A) "domain.com" gets added to "server A"

B) "subdomain.domain.com" gets added to "server B"

In doing so, DNS is managed in a central "zone" file, perhaps on a different machine or one of the above noted servers...

That's my primary bottleneck for the moment, as most other things would be overcome as a "top-level" server is to ensure DNS gets saved at the "slave" server in a "single" zone. (perhaps even at the "master" level too)

-Peter

*** I'll be reviewing my idea a bit, and clarifying what my thought was later, as I'm sure there was a method behind my constant madness, but feel some of the idea was lots in translation ***

Ok, in that case you may want to look into Cloudmin Services, which is our project (currently in beta) that allows centralized DNS hosting for multiple Virtualmin systems.

However, if you create foo.com on one server and bar.foo.com on another, it won't put all their records in the same file - rather it will create two separate DNS zones, although on the same DNS server machine.

tpnsolutions's picture
Submitted by tpnsolutions on Wed, 01/30/2013 - 17:08

Jamie,

In a nutshell, that's the "Monkey in the room" scenario. For the moment, I host all "subdomains" on the same node as the "domain", and when needed manually setup "subdomain" on another server, with DNS disabled, then manage DNS from the "domain" node.

However, if it were ever possible, it would be easier to have the ability to manage "Apache VirtualHosts" on one machine, and automatically talk to a "DNS" server where records would be centralized on a "domain" basis.

Argh, my words are jumbled, but somehow I think you know what I"m talking about... Heh heh

-Peter

*** got 1 of 3 sessions nearly booked for this weekends FREE Virtualmin training, woo!!! ***

Let me know if you'd like a free cloudmin services licence to try this out..

tpnsolutions's picture
Submitted by tpnsolutions on Thu, 01/31/2013 - 00:54

Jamie,

Thanks for the offer, have talked to Eric about this a little while ago. For the moment, I'm going to back burner my need for the requested feature, while I refine the idea a bit more into something that perhaps may be a bit more useful on a general basis and better outlined.

As I'm just starting to work with Cloudmin, I've got my hands tied working on integrating it into my infrastructure, so I'll for the moment decline the offer for a beta release of the Cloudmin Services license though I do appreciate the offer.

Recently I completed the integration of our "sql" cluster with your assistance, and further transitioned our shared hosting environment from the "slavedns" Virtualmin plugin to using the automated "cluster slave" feature.

*** we continue to make use of the "slavedns" plugin for domains which are managed by external servers (ex. servers managed by clients), and the two seem to be getting along nicely. ***

-Peter