WHM billing to support VM Pro offically !

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#1 Fri, 01/30/2009 - 18:03
sgrayban

WHM billing to support VM Pro offically !

A business partner and I just received our first testing server module for VM Pro and so far the testing has worked perfectly !

The module will allow you to create a new server on 3 different conditions...

[ol][li]Automatically create the account as soon as an order is placed[/li] [li]Automatically create the account as soon as the first payment is received[/li] [li]Automatically create the account when you manually accept a pending order[/li][/ol]

It can also suspend an account and the website automatically if payment has not been received within time specified you set.

You can also delete the server.

Official release date has not been set but I think it should be within the next 2 weeks.

WHM

Well I tried to attach a couple screenshots but this forum sucks and wouldn't allow it and after editing the image size which you aren't informed of prior to attaching I never got that option again -- FIX THIS POS FORUM.

If you want the 2 png's I took leave comment.<br><br>Post edited by: sgrayban, at: 2009/01/30 18:14

Sat, 01/31/2009 - 02:46
kenlyle

Very cool, Scott!

Sat, 01/31/2009 - 02:53 (Reply to #2)
sgrayban

Indeed !

Sun, 02/01/2009 - 07:41 (Reply to #3)
ronald
ronald's picture

thats funny cause I asked for this last year and asked for a quote on developing this. After a month I asked for the status and Matt told me it wasn't in beta yet. I brought him and Jamie in contact last year to sort this out.

the funny part of it is that you now have the module for testing but I have not..not even on answer on the current status ...

Sun, 02/01/2009 - 11:50 (Reply to #4)
sgrayban

Sorry about that.

Sun, 02/01/2009 - 22:04 (Reply to #5)
Joe
Joe's picture

<div class='quote'>the funny part of it is that you now have the module for testing but I have not..not even on answer on the current status ... </div>

It's coming...don't worry. Jamie is working with Matt. It only <i>just</i> started working--nobody is keeping anything from you out of spite.

Be kind to Matt. This is <i>exciting</i> news, so let's make sure he knows we appreciate him putting for the effort to support Virtualmin, and not pick on him for taking so long to come around to supporting Virtualmin. ;-)

(Also note that we're releasing the full API into Virtualmin GPL in the next revision. I don't think WHMCS will be doing anything with the more advanced parts of the API, yet, but there will be tens of thousands of users to encourage developers to do more interesting stuff in the future.)

In case, you haven't noticed, I'm excited that we have another billing option, and it seems to be one that folks really like and is cost-effective.

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Mon, 02/02/2009 - 11:18 (Reply to #6)
ronald
ronald's picture

sorry if I came across a bit negative. That was <b>not</b> intended whatsoever.
In fact I am very happy since, for me at least, I only had to wait a bit for the development.
After a follow-up email, Matt send the module to me and I am testing it now.

Found some small issues which I reported in a ticket.
Seems WHM found a new customer in me ;) and I bet I won't be the only one after the official release

yohoo. yep, Im excited too!

Next is also to get the namecheap module bugfree which is in WHM

Mon, 02/02/2009 - 11:22 (Reply to #7)
sgrayban

What was the bug ?

Mon, 02/02/2009 - 13:38 (Reply to #8)
ronald
ronald's picture

i have several small issues yet.
no email sent upon creating server (not from VM nor WHM)
terminate/suspend cmd not working: module command error
login username for virtualmin is domain.tld while whm says its just domain (I'd like domain.tld to prevent a clash)

and some other minor stuff

Mon, 02/02/2009 - 21:22 (Reply to #9)
sgrayban

And I don't have any of those issues. Odd

Tue, 02/03/2009 - 04:59 (Reply to #10)
ronald
ronald's picture

Are you running WHM on a different server than the webhost server?
Cause I had a timeout in the browser during creation that is caused by a service restart. It occurs when having the WHM on the same server as the created domains.

Matt confirmed that VM does not send out an email upon creation, but you can have WHM send out one. I wonder yet if all the credentials for the client are in there. How would WHM know about these?

WHM takes the first 8 characters of the domain for a login, this differs much from the login of Virtualmin depending on your configuration. WHM should take over the login from VM, else a client can not login to his panel.

Tue, 02/03/2009 - 05:52 (Reply to #11)
sgrayban

I always have my billing on its own server so I never experienced the apache issues you had.

As for the email I edited my welcome email to let them know I would be sending out another email to access there website control panel.

Tue, 02/03/2009 - 06:59 (Reply to #12)
ronald
ronald's picture

that is an idea of course but would be missing the whole point of automation imo
also it is possible to change the login name to the correct one in WHM during acceptance of the order. It needs manual interference.

I would like the system to create domains after payment and the client to be able to log in to webmin while I am not online. Let's see if Matt and Jamie can work this out...

It might also be possible to let the client log in to the VM panel through the WHM client area as soon as that 'login button' is hooked into the api as well.

Wed, 02/11/2009 - 10:58 (Reply to #13)
ronald
ronald's picture

I have bought WHMCS today as I believe the Version 1 of the virtualmin module is very workable.
I had to switch to CGI for the domain Im running whmcs on as I keep it on the same server. Now it is running flawless.

To anyone using virtualmin and looking for a good billing/support and automated provisioning application, whmcs is very affordable and professional.

Ill keep in touch with Matt from whmcs to add more features to the version 2 of the module (see my previous posts)

Wed, 02/11/2009 - 11:54 (Reply to #14)
sgrayban

I really suggest not running the billing on the same hosting server if possible. To many things to go wrong doing that.

Wed, 02/11/2009 - 13:03 (Reply to #15)
Joe
Joe's picture

It'd be possible to run it on the same physical server, but with a separate Apache (or other web server) instance for the billing system.

The issue that comes up is that sometimes Virtualmin has to restart Apache during virtual server creation (mainly when enabling new IPs and enabling SSL), and if the billing system is running under the same web server Virtualmin is resetting, it might lose state during the transaction. Virtualmin, by default, does a graceful reload of configuration files, which should allow things to continue under almost every circumstance.

So, it's perfectly safe to run the billing system on the same machine...but you need a separate web server instance to be completely certain it'll never confuse the billing app. We probably ought to add some sort of mechanism to set up such a creature easily. It's not all that difficult to run multiple Apache instances, but it can be confusing to folks who aren't familiar with the process (it requires separate config files, PID, and log files, and a separate init script). That might be a useful addition to the documentation.

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Wed, 02/11/2009 - 14:19 (Reply to #16)
sgrayban

Maybe VM Pro could do this as a addon then ?

As for me I have a cheap server that just runs the billing system so it works out fine for me.

Wed, 02/11/2009 - 13:46 (Reply to #17)
ronald
ronald's picture

After thorough testing we found out it is actually much easier than this, when running whm on the same server (and I have to as I have only 1 production server).

You need to run the whmcs-domain in CGI, wether you do a graceful restart or not. That's all there is to it. Since I switched that domain to cgi, it creates/suspends/unsuspends/terminates the virtual servers in virtualmin flawlessly.
(my /etc/webmin/apache/config = apply_cmd=/etc/rc.d/init.d/httpd graceful)

Also I created a webmin user with only access to 'Virtualmin Virtual Servers' as I don't want whmcs to log in as root.

note
I had a ticket running in the bugtracker:
Comment by Jamie Cameron (JamieCameron) - Monday, 09 February 2009, 19:33 GMT

That looks good to me. Also, make sure you switch the domain to CGI mode for PHP scripts .. it turns out that a graceful restart kills PHP run via fcgid.

Also I had tickets running with Matt from whmcs who has been very supportive.

Thu, 02/12/2009 - 05:25 (Reply to #18)
ronald
ronald's picture

you could have the WHMCS trial version in the install scripts, including the vm module with a warning that the domain needs to be put in cgi ;)

Sun, 02/22/2009 - 09:20 (Reply to #19)
ronald
ronald's picture

Joe is this module being promoted somewhere on your sites?
The more users, the more development might be done to get it from great to perfect.

Sun, 02/22/2009 - 16:29 (Reply to #20)
Joe
Joe's picture

I've added WHMCS to the billing app question in the FAQ. I'll make sure there's more/better coverage on the new website.

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Mon, 02/23/2009 - 02:16 (Reply to #21)
placebo

Actually a week ago I asked in a TT at WHMCS and they said that the Virtualmin Integration will be available in WHMCS in some months later.

Do you think this can be something of the next release?

Mon, 02/23/2009 - 04:42 (Reply to #22)
andreychek

Some of the folks that have this mentioned that it's a beta version at the moment -- they had to contact the company to get a copy.

If you're interested in it, that might be the best route, to just contact the company and ask.
-Eric

Mon, 02/23/2009 - 06:29 (Reply to #23)
Joe
Joe's picture

Please do contact them (politely). We want them to know they've made a great choice in supporting Virtualmin. ;-)

They want your business, and they're great folks, so I suspect they'll be happy to hear from you.

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Mon, 02/23/2009 - 12:33 (Reply to #24)
ronald
ronald's picture

The best way is to contact Matt of WHMCS. For instance through sales[at]whmcs.com

I could attach the module here but that would go beyond the point of letting the WHMCS guys know about interested parties.

The module works fine.
But to go stable you'll need to go through a period of testing time. The module is in production on my server and I believe on SGrayban's server as well.

There is a version2 of the module but that one isn't near finished. For now the existing version works.

Mon, 02/23/2009 - 12:41 (Reply to #25)
sgrayban

It's being tested on one other server so that's 3 so far.

Mon, 02/23/2009 - 14:57 (Reply to #26)
placebo

I contacted Matt and I got the module from him.
I will start testing tomorrow on a VirtualMin GPL. :)

Sat, 02/21/2009 - 14:10
MeanStudios

Greetings,

Just wondering if this module is going to work for the free version of Virtualmin?

Best Regards,
cody

Sat, 02/21/2009 - 15:34 (Reply to #28)
sgrayban

As far as I know no it won't. But I guess you can try but if it breaks don't blame me and please don't ask for support.

Email me at sgrayban[at]gmail.com and I'll send you a copy.

Sat, 02/21/2009 - 17:20 (Reply to #29)
Joe
Joe's picture

It should. The full API is available in Virtualmin GPL as of 3.66. So, only the features unique to Virtualmin Professional are different in the APIs...it'd be almost impossible to make a tool that used the API without it being compatible with both GPL and Professional.

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Mon, 02/23/2009 - 02:09
kenlyle

I found the link at http://www.virtualmin.com/faq/cat/virtualmin/68/#faq59 to WHMCS.

What version of WHMCS does or will ship with Vmin support?
WHMCS.com doesn't list Vmin on the front page yet.
Is there a URL where we can download this billing module?

Thanks,
K

Mon, 02/23/2009 - 07:12
kenlyle

What's the best vehicle for doing that, Joe?

If either the Vmin team or the WHMCS team can create an email list of interested parties, that would be really cool.

If you put a little survey with the signup, we could maybe show the WHMCS team something about the Vmin market.

One survey question might be whether we users are looking to Beta test or are looking for a Stable release. Personally, I am looking for Stable.

Or maybe a survey on the Forum here...just so Matt doesn't have dozens of individual emails to respond to.

Thanks for facilitating this relationship. More Billing system integration is better.

K

Wed, 04/29/2009 - 12:27
mindrok

I've just requested whmcs send me the beta module for virtualmin integration.

Sat, 06/13/2009 - 23:49
dandlion

Hello, We are very interested in using whmcs, and we would like to integrate it into our site seamlessly, has anyone had any luck with this, and if so any pointers would be much appreciated. We have created an account with whmcs and got a demo lic, but would rather deploy and get moving if workable.

Thanks in advance for your time on this!

Dlion

Mon, 06/15/2009 - 09:48
ronald
ronald's picture

the version 4 of whmcs has the new virtualmin module installed by default. Also a module for namecheap (domain registration)

to integrate it into your site. whmcs works with smarty template (.tpl) so you can change/replace the header/footer section and shouldn't be all too hard to integrate it. there are other examples in whmcs forum, some even integrated it with a joomla! install

Mon, 06/15/2009 - 11:56 (Reply to #35)
dandlion

Where might I find this module to configure after successful install of version 4? I see so mention of VM Pro in the list of CPs to configure. Is there something else I need to do?

Sun, 07/05/2009 - 20:07
kenlyle

@dandlion: If you set up your Server as Virtualmin, and then create products which are Virtualmin, it should work, as long as you take care to set which event you want to trigger the Virtual Server creation - the order, the payment, or your acceptance of the order.

It's just a little confusing, but once you get it- looking back, it's not that bad.

K

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