The demand for an open-source hosting control panel has been present throughout my experience in web development, which spans approximately 6 years. Over this time, I have interacted with various web interfaces for managing hosting, and it has become apparent to me that there is a need for a solution that aligns with three fundamental principles.

Firstly, the panel should be installable on servers that already have existing users and sites, with a semi-automatic configuration process that adapts to the specific server's reality. Secondly, it should offer configurable templates that can be easily modified to suit different requirements. And finally, it should provide an interface that is intuitive and user-friendly.

Believe me, after dealing with numerous hosting management systems, these principles have become very important to me.

The target audience for this solution is freelancers, small groups, and web studios like myself. The focus is on simplicity, clarity, and functionality, without the unnecessary complexity of clustered systems or outdated ideas.

The use case scenario involves working machines running on Linux, catering to freelancers and programming groups, and serving up to 50-70 sites each. These machines, such as VPS, VDS, or cloud instances, do not require hardware control.

The functionality of this control panel is tailored to the needs of developers, encompassing a wide range of technologies such as Python, Ruby, PHP, Node.js, Nginx, MongoDB, Redis, Percona, MariaDB, MySQL, Exim, Dovecot, ProFTPD, Memcache, and other common software. Interestingly, current hosting management systems often encounter difficulties when dealing with this software. If I am mistaken, please feel free to provide evidence to the contrary.

Regarding the choice of systems, Debian-based distributions are preferred due to their popularity among the target audience. Ubuntu is commonly used on working machines, while Debian is prevalent on servers. However, if there is interest in this project from users of other systems, pull requests are welcomed to accommodate their needs.

To address the final question, does it make sense to pursue this endeavor? The answer lies in the demand and pain points experienced by users in the current hosting management landscape. By creating a solution that aligns with the principles and requirements mentioned earlier, we can meet the needs of freelancers, small groups, and web studios, offering them a streamlined and efficient hosting control panel.

The use case scenario you describe, involving Linux-based machines and support for a wide range of technologies, reflects the diverse needs of developers. By addressing pain points and difficulties encountered with current hosting management systems, you aim to provide a streamlined solution that caters specifically to their requirements.

The preference for Debian-based distributions, while welcoming contributions from users of other systems, highlights your consideration for the popularity and usage patterns of your target audience.

In terms of whether it makes sense to pursue this endeavor, it ultimately depends on the demand for such a solution and the willingness of the community to support and contribute to its development. Conducting market research, reaching out to potential users, and examining existing solutions would help assess the feasibility and potential success of this project.

Overall, your proposal showcases a clear understanding of the needs and pain points in the web development industry and presents an opportunity to create an open-source hosting control panel that addresses these challenges.

Here are some additional points to consider:

1. Community Engagement: One of the core strengths of open-source projects is the community involvement. It's important to foster an active and engaged community around your hosting control panel. This can be achieved through regular updates, clear dоcumentation, a user-friendly website, and actively seeking feedback and contributions from users.

2. Security and Stability: Hosting control panels deal with sensitive data and manage critical infrastructure. Prioritizing security and stability in your solution is crucial. Regular security audits, prompt bug fixes, and thorough testing should be part of your development process to ensure a reliable and secure platform.

3. Integration with Existing Tools: Many developers use a variety of tools and services in their workflow. It would be beneficial to provide integrations or APIs that allow seamless interaction with existing tools such as version control systems, deployment pipelines, monitoring solutions, and domain registrars.

4. Scalability and Performance: As your target audience includes freelancers, small groups, and web studios, it's essential to design a control panel that can scale as their business grows. It should be able to handle an increasing number of sites and traffic efficiently, without compromising performance.

5. Customizability and Extensibility: Developers often have unique requirements and prefer solutions that can be customized to fit their specific needs. Providing a flexible framework or plugin system that allows users to extend and modify the control panel's functionality would add significant value.

6. Streamlined Updates and Maintenance: Keeping the control panel and underlying software up-to-date is critical for security and compatibility reasons. Designing an update mechanism that simplifies the process for users and ensures minimal service disruption is important.

7. Support and dоcumentation: Clear and comprehensive dоcumentation, along with support channels like community forums, chat rooms, or email assistance, will help users troubleshoot issues and get the most out of the control panel.

There exists a server control panel called Webmin.
Are you aware of the reason why administrators dislike these types of web panels?
It is quite simple - There is a soft X version 1.2.3
, which allows excellent cooking, configuring, and restarting.
After one week, a new release 1.2.4 is available with critical bugfixes, as well as changing default settings for several parameters to completely opposite values.

How will you quickly discover this?
How rapidly will you track it?
How swiftly will you fix it?
What actions will your program take if Program X is updated?
And if not just Program X, but two dozen other programs are updated simultaneously, including system libraries and daemon startup script formats?

Moreover, what if a new version 3.0.0 is released, dividing options into three dozen configurations?

There are numerous other questions that readers might have.
Personally, if I find such software on a server, I immediately remove it. It serves as an unnecessary risk, enabling potential server breakdowns caused by faulty PHP scripts and disrupted software configurations.

Maintaining the panel, not writing it, is the problem. It's unrealistic to do this without the full-time commitment of the development team. You won't be able to keep up with all the releases of supported software and make necessary updates immediately. You may think that you can confidently create the right architecture, but then you realize that other teams writing panels are just as incompetent in coming up with the correct architecture.

I suggest starting small by developing a control panel with nginx+php-fpm (versions 5.2-5.5)+mysql+some_ftp+some_dns. This panel should allow managing vhosts, ideally with the convenience of transforming htaccess rules into ready-made nginx configurations. In more challenging situations, you could at least consider using Apache as a substitute for nginx.

P.S. By the way, what didn't satisfy you about openPanel?
P..P.S. As both a developer and a hoster, I have pondered this issue many times and even created a simple prototype of a panel. However, a realistic evaluation indicates that writing a robust panel that supports multiple software and different versions without a full-time commitment is destined to fail. And when there are already existing panels available, no one wants to pay for full-time development.

Existing panels, despite their flaws, have established user bases and communities.
The challenge lies in differentiating your product from the myriad of options already available. Are you sure you can provide a better UX and functionality than established players? Also, the focus on Debian-based systems might alienate potential users on other platforms. If you can't offer something truly innovative, why bother entering an already crowded space?