DirectAdmin Extended For WHMCS

About DirectAdmin Extended For WHMCS

DirectAdmin Extended For WHMCS will bring the automation into the provisioning and management of web hosting accounts in your WHMCS. The module will allow your clients to remotely handle FTP accounts, create backups, install SSL certificates as well as set up various applications with the inbuilt installers.

• Admin Area Features:

✔ Create/Suspend/Unsuspend/Terminate Account

✔ Change Package And Account Password

✔ Log In To Each DirectAdmin Account On Click

✔ Log In As Admin To DirectAdmin Panel On Click

✔ Automatically Suspend Client Account Upon Reaching Bandwidth Limit

✔ Configure Client Area Features Per Product

✔ Configure Resource Limits Per Product

✔ Define FTP Backups Endpoints Per Product

✔ Define Backup Directory Paths Per Product

✔ Enable And Configure Application Auto Installer To Use Per Product - Softaculous Or Installatron

✔ View All DirectAdmin Extended Products And Servers In One Place

• Client Area Features:

✔ Remote Access And Management Of:

✔ Addon Domains And Their PHP Versions

✔ Applications And Their Backups

✔ Backups, Remote FTP Backups And Admin Backups

✔ Databases

✔ File Manager

✔ Backups

✔ File Manager

✔ FTP Accounts

✔ Perl Modules

✔ Site Summary

✔ Subdomains

✔ Autoresponders

✔ Email Accounts

✔ Email Forwarders

✔ Mailing Lists

✔ SPAM Filters

✔ SpamAssassin Setup

✔ Vacation Messages

✔ Apache Handlers

✔ Cron Jobs

✔ Custom Error Pages

✔ Domain Pointers

✔ Site Redirections

✔ SSL Certificates

✔ One Click Login To:

✔ DirectAdmin

✔ phpMyAdmin

✔ Webmail

✔ View Account Resource Usage

✔ Change Account Password

• Application Auto Installer Features:

✔ Ordering Process:

✔ Auto Install Chosen Application After Account Creation

✔ Auto Install Application Chosen By Client During Order - With Configurable Options

✔ Allow Custom Settings Of Auto Installed Application - With Custom Fields

✔ Client Area:

✔ Install New Applications With Softaculous And Installatron

✔ View And Manage Installed Applications

✔ Backup Installed Applications

✔ View And Manage Created Backups

✔ Restore Applications From Backups

✔ Delete Applications Along With Their Backups

• General Info:

✔ Integrated With Advanced Billing For WHMCS - Actual Server Resource Usage Billing (read more)

✔ Integrated With Server Allocator For WHMCS - Automatic Assignment Of Specified Servers To Products (read more)

✔ Multi-Language Support

✔ Supports PHP 5.4 Up To PHP 7.3

✔ Supports WHMCS Template Six

✔ Supports WHMCS V7.4 And Later

✔ Easy Module Upgrade To Open Source Version

Installation and Configuration

This tutorial will focus on how to successfully install and manage DirectAdmin Extended For WHMCS. We will guide you step by step through the whole installation process.

Installation

1. Log in to our client area and download the module.

2. In the downloaded file you will find two packages that support different PHP versions. As presented on the screen below, the first one is dedicated to PHP 5.6 up to PHP 7.0, while the second one is aimed at PHP 7.1 up to PHP 7.3. It does not apply to open source versions. Note: You can check the current PHP version in your WHMCS. To do so, proceed to 'Utilities' → 'System' → 'PHP Info'.

3. Extract the downloaded file and choose the one with the right PHP version. Upload and extract the PHP file into the main WHMCS directory. The content of PHP version files should look like this.

4. When you install DirectAdmin Extended For WHMCS for the first time you have to rename 'license_RENAME.php' file. File is located in 'modules/servers/directadminExtended/license_RENAME.php'. Rename it from 'license_RENAME.php' to 'license.php'.

5. In order to configure your license key you have to edit a previously renamed 'license.php' file. Enter your license key between quotation marks as presented on the following screen. You can find your license key in our client area → 'My Products'.

6. In the next step, set up the 'storage' folder as recursively writable. This folder is available at 'yourWHMCS/modules/addons/DirectAdminExtended/storage'.

Addon Activation

7. Now, you have to activate the module in your WHMCS system. Log in to your WHMCS admin area. Click 'Setup' then choose 'Addon Modules'. Afterwards, find 'DirectAdmin Extended' and press 'Activate' button.

8. In the next step you need to permit access to this module. To do so, click on 'Configure' button, select required administrator groups and press 'Save Changes'.

9. Well done! You have just successfully installed DirectAdmin Extended For WHMCS! You may access your addon under 'Addons' → 'DirectAdmin Extended'.

Server Configuration

10. Now, we will show you how to configure a new server. To do so, log into your WHMCS and go to 'Setup' → 'Products/Services' → 'Servers'. Once you are there, press 'Add New Server'.

11. Next, enter your server name, IP address, username and password. Choose 'DirectadminExtended' from a dropdown menu and press 'Save Changes'. In this section, you can also provide other server details like nameservers or the maximum number of accounts.

12. After you configure your server correctly, you will see the following screen. At this point, you need to create a new group for your server. For that purpose, press 'Create New Group'.

13. Enter the name, click on your previously created server, press 'Add' and then 'Save Changes'.

Product Configuration

14. In order to create and configure the product, click on 'Setup' → 'Products/Services' → 'Products/Services'. If you do not have a product group, click on 'Create a New Group'. If you do, simply move to the step 15.

15. Enter the product group name and press 'Save Changes'.

16. When you have a product group, you can create your product and assign it to DirectAdmin Extended. If you already have a product, jump to the step 17. To create a product, click on 'Create a New Product'.

17. Afterwards, choose your product type and product group from dropdown menus, enter your product name and press 'Continue'.

18. Then, you need to move to the 'Module Settings' section and choose both 'DirectadminExtended' and your previously created server group from dropdown menus. Choose a preconfigured 'Package' you want to use and 'Reseller IP' if required. If you want to setup your own configuration, move to the next step. You can also activate the feature to automatically suspend accounts when the bandwidth limit is reached. Simply tick 'Suspend at Limit'. Don't forget to press 'Save Changes' in the end.

19. If you would like to setup your own configuration, choose 'Custom' from the 'Package' dropdown. A list of customizable options will appear. Configure them at your own discretion or generate Configurable Options instead. Also, you can generate custom fields if you wish to use the product with Autoinstalled Applications.

Addon Configuration

20. Go to 'Addon Modules' → 'DirectAdmin Extended'. The dashboard is located there containing precise data on available products and servers: see the number of active/suspended/terminated products check the number of active accounts log into panel upgrade your DirectAdmin products press 'Documentation' tab to be moved to this very site!

21. Proceed to the 'Features' section, find the product you are interested in and press the 'Configuration' button next to it.

22. You should see boxes dedicated to 'Features', 'Applications' and 'Other' Begin by selecting the features you would like to activate for your customers.

23. Choose whether to activate 'Install Applications' option. In case you wish to enable this feature, you will have to select 'Auto Installer' from a dropdown menu. After, activate 'Install Button' and 'Backup Button'. You can also choose a desired language of the applications by typing in its two-letter code into the 'Language' field. A complete list of language codes can be found here. If the field is left blank, a default value, which is 'en' (English) will be used. Note: You can also create a configurable option with app to be installed, you can find the relevant instruction here.

24. Finally, select the 'Webmail' button redirection from the 'Other' and choose 'Show Server IP' address. Do not forget to 'Save' changes once the product configuration is ready!

If the 'Show Server IP' address option is on, it will be visible in the client area for customers.

If the 'Show Let's Encrypt Button' feature is toggled on, your customers will see it under the SSL Certificates menu.

25. (Optional) Move to 'Backups' tab where you can define the FTP backup path under 'FTP Backups Endpoints' and 'Backup Directory Path'. This will allow creating backups on external servers defined by their admin, which then will be available for the clients to choose. Find more about Backups here.

Define the FTP backup path under 'FTP Backups End Points'. Simply fill out the form with 'Backup Name', 'Host', 'Port', 'User', 'Password' and 'Path to Files'. Afterwards, save it by pressing the 'Save' button.

Under the Backup Directory Path, enter the backup path which can be found in your DirectAdmin server → 'Admin Backup/Transfer' → 'Local' textbox.

26. If you already have another product configured, you may copy its configuration. Find the 'Copy Configuration' button on the list with products or select multiple items at once. Then choose the product configuration whose settings you wish to copy into the selected products.

27. That's all, you have just correctly created and customized a new product, now you can check the results. This is what your customers should see in your client area.

28. From now on, all your clients who will order a previously created product, will be able to manage their DirectAdmin accounts via your WHMCS system. Below you can see the view of the ordered product's summary in the admin area. Available actions: Log In To Control Panel Use the module commands: 'Create', 'Suspend', 'Unsuspend', 'Terminate' the product; 'Change Package' and 'Change Password'

Management

DirectAdmin Extended allows your customers to manage their DirectAdmin accounts directly in your WHMCS client area. This short guide will present you the possibilities of our addon module.

Your Account

In the below sections, you will find basic tools used to manage your DirectAdmin account shown and described. Analyze them carefully to enjoy full and easy management.

Addon Domains

Addon domains allow you add and manage your addon domains. Change the PHP version if applicable.

Press the 'Create Addon Domain' button and enter a new domain name, specify bandwidth and disc space, select options you may need: 'Secure SSL' 'CGI Access' 'PHP Access'

Edit the domain and select a PHP version. Keep in mind that this option is available only if it is enabled and managed on the product's DirectAdmin server. Otherwise, 'There is no PHP Selector Enabled' information will be displayed and option disabled.

Applications

Manage your applications straight from your WHMCS client area. Install new applications, create backups if needed and delete unused apps. A separate section has been dedicated to applications, please move to section Install Applications to learn how to manage applications and their backups.

Backups

This tab, 'User Backups', allows you to backup your DirectAdmin user account. To delete backup, simply press an adequate icon.

You can select what exactly you want to backup. Mark checkboxes next to the setting you would like to make the backup of. Afterwards, press 'Create' button to order it.

You may restore your backups at any time, you can do it by pressing the 'Restore' button next to the backup. Then, toggle options that you want to restore with this action. Note: Only backed up features are available here to choose, all the others are hidden.

At 'Admin Backups' and 'FTP Backups sections you will get a list of backups created by your administrator and FTP Backups, you may view a list of backups of a given server. Note: Please refer to Tips section, point 4, to learn how to manage FTP and Admin backups.

Databases

Owing to the MySQL databases management, you can create and delete databases.

Type in the required information and generate a secure password.

You can also add users to particular databases, use action buttons to delete needless users or change their password.

Remember that you should always use the secure password generator while creating a user.

Once the user has been created, you can edit it to set appropriate privileges then. Toggle privileges you wish to assign to the user and confirm the changes.

File Manager

Manage files and folders of your DirectAdmin account. Upload files and create directories. View the list of files with specific data on them: name, file size, last modification date and given permissions.

You can create a new directory by pressing a corresponding button as well as upload new files by pressing additional actions.

Rename, change permissions, copy or delete a single file or directory.

You can also change permissions and remove single or multiple files or directories.

FTP Accounts

Manage FTP accounts in the easiest possible way. Type in your login, generate a new password and select the directory. Handle the accounts to be able to access your website files through an FTP protocol.

Add and configure FTP Accounts in the easiest way possible. Just type in your login on a selected domain, provide or generate a secure password, select directory: 'Domain', 'FTP', 'User' ' or a custom one.

Perl Modules

Move to the next section, which is 'Perl Modules'. All Perl based modules installed on your server are listed there.

Site Summary

Proceed to the 'Site Summary' section in order to check and analyze precise statistics. Control usage level for each setting here.

Subdomains

Create subdomains for your website sections. All you need to do is choosing the domain from the list of available domains and typing in the subdomain name. Once created, you can modify or remove the subdomain if needed.

Choose the domain for your available subdomain from the list.

Email Management

Email management section includes all tools related to emails. Go through them to learn more.

Autoresponders

In this section you may compose and add extremely useful default messages. They will be automatically sent as a response message when you have no access to your mailbox.

Press 'Add Autoresponder' to create one. Provide the email address and compose the whole message here. You may also add a CC recipient address if you need to send a copy.

Email Accounts

View and edit email accounts that are associated with your domains. Use filter to find required email addresses, preview its selected quota, number of sent messages and manage the account.

Press 'Create Email Account' and select to which domain it shall be added, type or generate password, define limited or unlimited quota and Limit of messages.

Email Forwarders

In this section you can set up email forwarders and choose from several destination options to adjust mail forwarding perfectly to your needs.

Press the 'Create Forwarder' button, specify the forwarded email and define the destination emails. You may add more than one forwarder name and destination emails, use comma to separate them.

Mailing Lists

Mailing lists allow you to use a single address to send message to multiple email addresses. This feature is very useful when you need to send a newsletter or another update to a group of people. Underneath, you can find a list of your mailing lists. Use action buttons to delete a list, view its details and alter settings.

Create a new mailing list by providing its name.

Modify the mailing list in the 'Settings' section.

When you 'Edit' the list, you will be moved to the section where a list of subscribers is available.

Add subscribers to the list. Select its type: 'digest ' or 'normal'.

SPAM Filter

SPAM Filters give you the possibility to add numerous filters for a selected domain.

Add and configure the filter as desired for the selected mailbox. block email addresses block email domains block emails with a chosen word block emails larger than the specified number of kilobytes

Move to settings and define options per domain: define the action for blocked emails: 'Drop Email' or 'Send To SPAMbox' adult filter - enable/disable

SpamAssassin Setup

On this page, you can configure your SpamAssassin. You can set up: Action performed on spam emails Threshold Define separate actions for spam emails of the above defined threshold Define whether to change the spam email subject or leave it intact Choose how spam should be delivered Specify blacklisted email addresses Specify whitelisted email addresses

Vacation Messages

The goal of Vacation Messages is similar to the one of Autoresponder shown above. The only difference is that the vacation message replies only to the first email received per email address. Note: If there is already an autoresponder set up for the account, it will be impossible to set a vacation message to that account.

Type in the message content, define your vacation start and end time.

Advanced Features

Advanced tools are used to configure sophisticated settings of your account.

Apache Handlers

Under the 'Apache Handlers' page, you can define custom handlers for chosen file extensions or specific files. You can read more about Apache Handlers here.

To add a new handler, type its name and then extensions it will process.

Cron Jobs

Cron Jobs Management allows you to easily add and remove your cron jobs.

Select cron job settings to fully automate commands and scripts on your site.

Custom Error Pages

Defining custom apache error pages is easy with 'Error Pages'.

You can alter or define a new HTML code of error pages displayed during 401, 403, 404 and 500 errors.

Domain Pointers

In the 'Domain Pointers' section you can manage your aliases and pointers. You can have access to the content of one domain from another one!

Enter a source domain, then select type: 'Alias' or 'Pointer'.

Site Redirections

Easy access to site redirections is very advantageous. Within a few seconds, you can redirect the page to another.

For example, if your main domain is mytestdomain.com, you can make such forward: mytestdomain.com/redirect → adomainwithlongname-averylongname.com Choose the type: 'Permanent', 'Temporary' or 'Replaced'.

SSL Certificates

This feature relocates completely the management of your private keys, CSR keys and SSL certificates into your WHMCS client area. Thanks to it, you can conveniently manage all the aspects of your SSL certificates without the necessity to log in to your DirectAdmin account.

If you want to obtain a certificate from a trusted provider, complete the Certificate Signing Request form to generate a CSR, which will then be used to generate the certificate by that provider.

In addition, your customers can benefit from generating free certificates provided by 'Let's Encrypt' . Assuming that this option was previously enabled in the Addon Configuration. Generating a CSR or a certificate with 'Let's Encrypt' will result with automatically added private keys to the list. You may also upload a ready certificate with a private key. Use 'More Actions' to find appropriate buttons.

Install Applications

Install Applications is a very interesting and time-saving feature of DirectAdmin Extended For WHMCS module. In merely seconds, you can install your favorite applications without even accessing DirectAdmin! Firstly, you need to enable one of the two auto-installation managers. To do so, go to 'Addons' → 'DirectAdmin Extended' → 'Features'. Press the 'Configure' button next to the product you are interested in. Then, find the 'Applications ' box. Enable the 'Install Applications' checkbox, select the autoinstaller from a dropdown menu (you can choose 'Installatron' or 'Softaculous' ). You can also choose a desired language of the application by entering value into the 'Language' field. Complete list of language codes can be found here. If the field is left blank, the default value 'en' (English) will be used. Finish the process by enabling 'Install Button' and 'Backup Button'. Do not forget to save the changes.

In Client area section, move to 'Applications' section and then find 'Install New' tab as shown on the following screen. You will see an extensive menu of application categories.

For presentation purposes we will install 'Claroline' located in the 'Educational' section.

Necessary installation fields should be automatically filled in. In case the 'Directory' field is left empty, the application will be installed in the main folder of the selected domain.

If the installation process has been successful your newly installed application will appear on the list of installed ones.

Management of Autoinstalled Applications

To set up DirectAdmin Extended product with the autoinstalled app, follow these steps: In the beginning, go to 'Product/Services', find your product connected with DirectAdmin Extended and enter 'Module Settings' tab. Press 'Generate Custom Fields' to automatically create the required fields.

Select which of the available fields you wish to generate.

You can also create these fields manually by going to 'Custom Fields' tab. You will need to add 8 custom fields. These are: 'Directory', 'Database Name', 'Database Username', 'Database Password', 'Table Prefix', 'Site Name', 'Site Description' and 'Language'. Remember to set the field type as 'Text Box', tick 'Required Field ' and/or 'Show on Order Form' exactly as it is shown on the screen below. Note 1: 'Site Description' is needed only for Softaculous autoinstaller. Note 2: 'Database Name', 'Database Username', 'Database Password' and 'Table Prefix' fields do not need to be filled upon ordering product by a client. If they are not filled, the database will be automatically generated. Note 3: For the Installatron autoinstaller use 'Site Title' in place of 'Site Name'.

Afterwards, go to 'Addons' → 'DirectAdmin Extended' → 'Features' → 'Configuration'. Enable 'Install Applications' in the Applications section. Select the auto installer and application to install from dropdown menus. Confirm by pressing the 'Save' button.

Once you add all the custom fields, they will appear while placing an order. Voila! Now your customers can personalize each application without the necessity of installing it later on.

Configurable Options For Application Auto Install

Let your clients decide which application they would like to install on their new DirectAdmin account. While placing an order, your customer can choose an application which will be installed upon account creation. There is nothing else you need to do. The application will be ready to use instantly! To set up this feature, return to the configuration of your product, find the 'Applications' section, activate 'Install Applications', choose 'Auto Installer' and activate 'Use Configurable Options'.

Go back to the list of products and click on a download icon to view the applications list.

These are the names of values that you can enter in the fields of configurable options. We will configure them in the next step. For example, if you would like to set up 'Drupal' in your applications list, you will need to enter the 'Drupal 7.59' or 'Drupal' value. 1. If you have made a mistake with the application name, the auto installer will not work. 2. If you do not enter the version number, the auto installer will install the latest version of the application. Now that you know what values should be entered in configurable options for particular applications, we can proceed further.

Go to your 'WHMCS' → 'Setup' → 'Products/Services' → 'Configurable Options' and press 'Create a New Group' .

Enter the group name of your choice, select the product to which you want to assign configurable, then press 'Save Changes' .

Now click on 'Add New Configurable Option' .

This moment is very important. As 'Option Name', you have to enter 'Installation App'. Otherwise the entire functionality will not work. Here you can set up as many applications as you want. To do so, enter a value name, e.g. 'WordPress 4.9.8' and press 'Save Changes' . Repeat this as many times as you need and do not forget to set 'Option Type' to 'Dropdown' . Remember that if you do not provide the version number of the application, the latest version will be installed.

As you can see on the following screen, we decided to offer our customers five applications. When you finish adding applications, press 'Save Changes' and 'Close Window'.

You can also create a new configurable option - Auto Backup On Update with the 'Yes/No' type. This option is used to enable the creation of auto update backups for the first chosen application after the initial order in WHMCS. Please note that this option works only with Installatron plugin and Auto Update Backup Enabled By Default On Order setting in the module features has to be disabled to make this configurable option work properly.

Afterwards, come back to 'DirectAdmin Extended Features' → 'Configuration' → 'Applications' , activate 'Use Configurable Options' and choose 'Apps/Configurable Options' from a dropdown menu. Please note that you can have more configurable options groups at your disposal. Press 'Save' . You have just successfully assigned configurable options to the application autoinstall.

Let us find out what your customers are going to see in your client area while placing an order. As you can see, a dropdown menu with the previously configured applications has shown up.

Backups Management For Apps

You can also create a backup of your application. It is very easy! To do so, click 'Create Backup'.

After a few seconds, you should see the 'Success' message as a confirmation of the performed operation. To manage your backups, simply press 'Backups'.

You can quickly view, delete or restore your existing backups.

Log In To DirectAdmin

With a single click on the 'Log In To DirectAdmin' button, you can log in to your DirectAdmin without the necessity to enter login details.

Log In To phpMyAdmin

You can easily log in to your phpMyAdmin by clicking 'phpMyAdmin'. You will be redirected to that site on the run.

Log In To Webmail

In order to enter Webmail, press 'Webmail' button as shown on the following screen. Note: Webmail type login has been defined by the admin and can be either 'Horde', 'Roundcube' or 'Squirellmail'.

Management of Resource Usage

In the product overview tab, you can find your product's current resource usage and limits assigned to the product.

Management of Billing

When you combine DirectAdmin Extended For WHMCS with Advanced Billing For WHMCS, you will be able to set up additional billing options. The module allows you to charge your customers basing on the actual server resource usage.

With Advanced Billing module, you can also show your customers the current usage of server resources and their cost.

Tips

1. Keep in mind that user packages and reseller packages are two different things. When you configure a typical product for your customers in the WHMCS, you would usually need to enter one of your user packages, not the reseller packages.

2. To manage SSL certificates, your customers require the owned IP address. Otherwise, the module will return the following error: 'You can manage SSL certificates when you own the IP you are using. Info for admins: Assign an owned IP'.

To add the owned IP address, log in to your DirectAdmin admin area, go to the 'IP Management' section, add the IP and assign it to the admin.

Afterwards, manage the user for whom you want to add the IP address. Set IP to your previously created IP address, save changes and make sure that this IP will be the current IP address of your customer.

If you add more IP addresses with free status in your DirectAdmin, you can quickly assign those IP addresses to your customers in WHMCS. For this purpose, simply type the IP in the 'Dedicated IP' field, press 'Enter' on your keyboard and update the product package by clicking on the 'Change Package' button.

3. As this module supports templates system, any changes made in the module's template files will be saved after the upgrade process.

4. Backups management in DirectAdmin panel: Admin Backups: Log into Your DirectAdmin Panel and find Admin Backup/Transfer and create a new one. Select your user and define 'When', 'Where' - set to Local and 'What' to backup. Go back to WHMCS → Addons → DirectAdmin Extended → Features (of the backed up product) → Backups. Fill out the 'Backup Directory Paths' with the very same data as in the panel. FTP Backups: Log into Your DirectAdmin Panel and find Admin Backup/Transfer and create a new one. Select your user ('Who') and define 'When', 'Where' - set to FTP and 'What' to backup. Go back to WHMCS → Addons → DirectAdmin Extended → Features (of the backed up product) → Backups. Fill out the ' 'FTP Backup Endpoints' with the very same data as in the panel.

Update Instructions

Essential guidance through the process of updating the module is offered here. Keep in mind there is a quick and easy option in our client area that will let you upgrade the license of your module to an open source version at any time - and at a lower price! To take advantage of it, simply use the License Upgrade button located on the product's page and a discounted invoice will be generated automatically.

When migrating your product from version 2.x to 3.x, you must deactivate your old addon (version prior to 3.x.x) and then activate the new one (v3.x.x) to successfully migrate your current settings. (Please ignore point 8 of our modules update instruction). No other additional steps are required to keep your addon's configuration and products' settings.

Common Problems

1. When you have problems with connection, check whether your SELinux or firewall does not block ports.

2. If you have problems with connection make sure that port 2222 is open.

3. If you run into an ionCube encoder problem (wrong version) after the installation, please open a support ticket. We will provide you with a different version of the module encrypted with the older version of ionCube.

4. You cannot change DirectAdmin port to other than 2222, due to WHMCS DirectAdmin module limitation. DirectAdmin Extended For WHMCS relies on a default WHMCS DirectAdmin module.

5. DirectAdmin Extended For WHMCS module functions only on the administrator account.

6. Change Package option currently does not support the Configurable Options.

7. If you encounter error: 'Unexpected Module Error(Token 'f80e57b1be9752d7d4658434bd55aafa2'). Please Contact Administrator.' displayed in the client area, reissue your license in our client area, if that does not help, please contact our support department.