Fifth Generation ISPsystem Preview

As some may already have noticed, our company recently introduced a new version of the IPmanager and its IPmanager management tool, which is based on the new COREmanager software platform .

We want to tell you now what it is and what is useful to expect from it in the future.

What is COREmanager?

In a general sense, COREmanager is a framework for building automation tools and control panels. He is entrusted with the duties of processing such common moments for all panels as:

• cross platform web server
• framework for building graphical interfaces, reports
• work with the database
• event and planning system
• installation and configuration of the remaining panels (all panels can now be installed using the graphical interface - just a couple of mouse clicks)
• a set of libraries for interacting with panels from the outside (advanced API)

The rest of the panels will act as complementary modules for COREmanager , which carry only the business logic necessary for solving their tasks.

This will allow to concentrate the efforts of developers of individual panels solely on improving the immediate functionality of these panels, without being distracted by the support of the “serving” functionality.

What's new with the switch to COREmanager?

New extended API. The new interaction structure of our products was invented not only with a view to more correctly dividing the labor of our developers, but also in order to give our customers the opportunity to independently develop control panels based on COREmanager. Now, if, for example, you do not need all the functionality of ISPmanager, but only some of it, or if you want to use it in another way, you can implement it all yourself in your own control panel, built on the basis of COREmanager.

Affordable platform.COREmanager will be free and freely available for everyone, for customers and developers. Solutions based on third-party COREmanager can be formed as separate products and distributed both on a free and a paid basis.

New licensing policy. In the 5th generation of ISPsystem products, a new licensing scheme will be applied. Now you can activate a product license in two different ways:

• Automatic - does not require user intervention, but imposes a number of restrictions on the server configuration. It must have a static external IP address. The panel should be accessible at this address from the Internet. This scheme is suitable for most users.
• Manually - this method of licensing will be useful for those who want to use ISPsystem products in the corporate network when the server with the panel is not accessible from the Internet. When activated in this way, the user will need to obtain a special activation key from the license seller and use it to activate the installed panel.

Cross platform. Yes, COREmanager, and therefore other products, will work not only on Linux and FreeBSD, but also on Windows Server. It will also allow to remove part of the load, not related to immediate functionality, from the developers of control panels.

Graphic installer. The fifth generation ISPsystem control panels can be installed via the web interface with a couple of clicks. In this case, all installation instructions will be described in your own language. The end user will no longer need to execute commands incomprehensible to him in the console in order to install, in addition to ISPmanager, for example, IPmanager.

Informational content.We completely rewrote the system of error messages that are reported to users in the process. Now they are more informative and always contain instructions on further actions. This will avoid delays in solving some problems when using the product without interacting with technical support.

Multithreading. Among other things, now you do not have to wait until the actions of another user are completed. COREmanager allows you to perform various operations at the same time. But, as you know, “Great power imposes great responsibility” - it will be necessary to use the opportunities that have been opened very carefully so as not to cause harmful collisions when working with data.

Performance.We also thoroughly worked on the performance of our products. All operations will now be performed in much less time while reducing the amount of resources used.

In the dry residue

In connection with global changes, we are preparing an updated line of products, where we redefined and adapted products to current trends. In general, we can say that work on the fifth generation of our panels is primarily aimed at unification, modularity and portability. Developers of end products such as ISPmanager, BILLmanager, and others will no longer have to spend time on maintaining the “maintenance” functionality and they will be able to concentrate exclusively on working on the functionality of the control panels themselves. This will improve the quality of products, reduce the time spent on adding new features and increase the frequency of release of fresh versions.

Also, we will finally solve the problem that did not allow the use of our products in various internal networks that do not have Internet access or are located behind NAT.

I hope you will appreciate all the innovations, and they will make your work on managing various servers and services even more convenient and enjoyable!