pySM

In light of a school project, we (me, Tim and Michel) decided to undertake a python project called the Python Server Managment.

The pySM goal

In pySM we aim to achieve a robust, easy-to-use and easy-to-deploy server management application. Our goals are nicely summed up as:

• Easy to maintain
• Modular
• Free and Open Source
• At least similar functionality as plesk (And better!)
• File based configuration (vs the database way)

We also intend to give the community (that’s all you guys out there) full support and modules interfaces. We want to unleash the true potential of online server management. To keep things fowing.

Why?

Why we would want to do that will take us back some time. When a lot of annoyances started building up in another (commercial) server management software called plesk.

1. In plesk, the actual server admin does not have the rights to add services on their own, and try to get plesk support for it. This is something we intend to break!
2. In the same plesk issues, when changing configuration of any plesk-supported service, without going through plesk, will nullify that change. Which is rediculous at best! We will use a file configuration system, instead of the database system plesk uses.
3. Needless to say, the fact that plesk is (in our eyes) limited. We intend to get our system the true unlimited key to this world. We intend to make the core, and module API so that people won’t need too much skills to configure basic to intermediate services. For that, we would love your help! :)

So, as you all might’ve noticed, plesk will be our measurement of success. If we come near plesk in the field of technical capabilities, we’re already happy. We’re not trying to break records though… Needless to say, we’ll attempt to test our efforts using plesk, and we _will_ run the software ourselves when we’ve got decent binaries. Thereby we’re telling you we want to give a good product, not only because we have to for school, but because we intend to use it ourselves.

Now, I have jabbled enough, I’m going to code some, I hope to announce more soon! :)