Services and servers

A service is one product a client has bought: a hosting account, a reseller account, a licence, a plain subscription. It is created by an order, billed by invoices, and, when the product has a provisioning module, built on your server by a module call: create, suspend, unsuspend, terminate, change password, change package. This chapter covers the service page, the servers the modules talk to, and the five shipped modules. Products and their module settings are in Products; orders in Orders.

The life of a service

A product's Automatic Setup choice (Module Settings tab) decides when create runs: as soon as the order is placed, as soon as the first payment is received (the default), when you accept a pending order by hand, or never. The cron suspends a service whose renewal invoice stays unpaid for the Suspend Days (General Settings → Invoices, with Automatic Suspension), terminates it after the Terminate Days if you switched Automatic Termination on, and unsuspends it when the invoice is paid (Unsuspend on Payment). See Automation.

The service page

Open a client, choose the Products/Services tab and click Manage. The same list, with filters for product, status, server and a search box, is a page of its own. The page has these cards.

Service Details - Order #, Product/Service, Server, Domain, Username, Password (stored encrypted), Dedicated IP, Assigned IPs, Quantity, Registration Date, Termination Date, First Payment Amount, Recurring Amount, Setup Fee, Billing Cycle, Next Due Date, Next Invoice Date, Payment Method, Subscription ID, Promotion Code, Tax, Status, Override Auto-Suspend (a tick plus an optional date) and Admin Notes. Below them the product's Configurable Options and Custom Fields. Save Changes writes your database only. If the client has asked to cancel, a yellow notice with the reason sits at the top.

Module Commands - the name of the module in use. Without a module the buttons only change the status.

The result of each command appears at the top of the page. A failed create, suspend or unsuspend e-mails the administrators (Automatic Setup Failed, Service Suspension Failed, Service Unsuspension Failed), and the Module Log has the server's own answer. When the module offers it, a Login to Control Panel button signs you in as that account with one click.

Addons - the product addons on this service, with Add Addon and Edit/Delete: Addon (or a custom one), Name, Setup, Recurring, Cycle, Quantity, Tax, Status, dates, Payment Method and notes. Usage shows disk and bandwidth bars with the time of the last update. Delete this Service removes the record and its addons; it does not touch the server.

Servers

Setup → Servers lists your servers, grouped, with Name, Hostname, IP Address, Module, Accounts and Status. Add opens the form.

Test Connection calls the server with the typed values and shows the answer, before you save. Server Groups hold several servers and carry a Fill Type: Add to the least full server or Fill an active server until full, then the next. A product points at a group, or, with no group, at the first active server of its module. A group still used by a product cannot be deleted.

The modules

All five are free and appear under Setup → Addon Modules. A product chooses one on its Module Settings tab. Each module has its own chapter with the server fields, the product fields, what every command does on the server, a test routine and troubleshooting.

What the four server modules share:

• The server row is made on Setup → Servers; Test Connection checks the credentials before you save. Passwords and keys are stored encrypted.
• Every module offers Login to Control Panel for the admin and the client, and reads usage (disk and bandwidth) from the server once a day through the cron.
• Type the package or plan name exactly as it is on the server.
• The module does not check the server's certificate, because control panels often run on one they made themselves. Only use it with servers you trust.
• Each call is written to Utilities → Module Log with passwords hidden. When a command fails, read the log first; a failed create, suspend or unsuspend also e-mails the administrators.
• Your billing server's IP address may have to be allowed on the control panel's side (an API token's address list, a firewall, CSF).

Automatic Release is the odd one out: it needs no server. It is for licences and digital goods and makes a licence key when the order is accepted.

Usage

The cron job usage runs daily and asks each active server with a module for the disk and bandwidth of every account, then stores them on the services. The service page and the client's own page show the bars. An account the server does not list keeps its old numbers. See The client area.