I am going to upgrade my server. Right now we are having lots of MYSQL errors. I was thinking of doing an O\S reload to get a newer version of MYSQL and Free BSD. Instead though I am thinking of just upgrading the box but that isn't my point. As I compare prices (it isn't cheap) I was thinking about Plesk. I like having it to add email accounts and new domains (I do that once in a blue moon). I can use PhpMyAdmin for all the database stuff anyhow. Is there a free alternative to Plesk? Something that would allow me to create email accounts, etc but without having to fork over the $15 or so a month that Plesk costs. Any thoughts are appreciated!
Im really not sure, but I think webmin is a control panel for server. You have Might do some reasearch before to confirm this.
Directadmin. I use FreeBSD 6.2 right now and DA is great. It's a one time fee of $299 for lifetime license and unlimited updates plus free installation. It's well worth it. Support on their forums is great and the scripts can save you a ton of configuration headaches. Cpanel is too expensive and Plesk is as well. Webmin isn't full-featured nor is there good support for it. I have looked into other panels but none are sufficient for my needs. $300 might sound like a lot but Cpanel at $15 a month even is over $300 after just 20 months and you still will need to pay the $15 a month forever. The $300 one-time fee is the best control panel deal around. You can change servers and it's no problem. In 5 years your DA license will still be valid..in 10 years..it will still be valid. Cost wise over a 5 year period is only $5 a month! Looks ok enough but no FreeBSD support.
I am second to DirectAdmin idea. We started with cPanel, and since moving to DA, I never go back. We now manage racks of DA servers. Most of them run CentOS without any trouble.
Plesk offer a free option. However, due to the industry standard being cPanel I would recommend you switch to that off a BSD type OS. There are more services, software and addons etc for software such as cPanel compared to things like Plesk.
I've heard a lot of good things about DA, but I've never tried it. About VHCS, there's a Vmware appliance that has it installed, if you would like to check it out. It'll save you some install time anyway. I tried VHCS out, but I wasn't able to get too far, at least not on a dynamic IP. I was testing it on a residential internet.
Thanks everyone. That LXAdmin looks pretty good. Anyone here have experience with it? http://lxlabs.com/