AdminBolt 1.8.1: Migrations That Settle Up Front and Plans That Tell the Truth

1.8.0 was a big release. 1.8.1 is the one that settles it. A migration now decides the awkward things before a run starts, not in the middle of one. A hosting plan stops offering a customer something their server cannot give them.

A migration that answers the questions first

A migration has three ways to go wrong late. A plan lands without the limits its accounts had. A site turns up on a PHP version this server does not have. The source is simply bigger than the space here.

All three are settled before the run starts now. A plan created by the import keeps the resource limits its accounts ran under on the old server. The customer's site behaves the same the day after the move as the day before it. The import report tells you whether those limits were applied. A plan you mapped a package onto yourself stays as you set it. (CloudLinux Only.)

For PHP, the wizard asks you. Every version the old server used and this one does not have needs a target you choose. Nothing is imported until you answer each one. A site that had to move version keeps a warning on its PHP settings, so the change stays visible to whoever picks the site up next.

The run page also weighs the incoming accounts against the free space here. A migration that would not fit does not start. One that would fit with little to spare warns you first. The same check runs on the accounts you confirm in the start dialog. You find out before the run, not at ninety percent of it.

Two smaller things join them. A run you cancel ends up cancelled and gives back what it was using, even when it stops responding. And a migration uses the newest version available instead of waiting for a panel update to bring it. The wizard shows which version is in use and how old it is.

Filesystem Backups has a page

The per-domain file archives used to live in a tab inside the domain's edit form. That is the right place when you already know which domain you want. It is the wrong one when you do not. They now have a page of their own under Files, with a picker at the top. You choose the domain from inside the feature instead of finding your way to it first.

The tab is still there. What is new beside it is a Filesystem Backups shortcut on the domain list. It opens the page on that domain. Whichever end you start from, you land on the same screen.

Plans stop promising what the server cannot do

A hosting plan feature list is a promise to a customer. On a server that cannot run an application, ticking Applications is a promise the machine cannot keep. The customer is the one who finds that out.

The feature list now follows the server. Applications appears only where an application can be served. X-Ray, AccelerateWP, PostgreSQL Databases and Remote PostgreSQL appear only where the server has them. A plan that already grants one of these keeps its setting, so nothing you sold changes under you.

Three more screens joined the feature list at the same time: Email Catch All, API Keys and SSL Certificates. Untick one and the menu entry goes. The address stops answering. The customer sees the change without signing in again.

One stray alias no longer costs you the certificate

A certificate for a domain also covers the optional names around it: the www form, parked domains, mail names. Any one of those can point somewhere else entirely. At an old host. At a service the customer forgot about.

The certificate now covers the names that work. The ones pointing elsewhere are left out and listed with the issuance. You can fix them later. The site gets its certificate today.

Updating looks like updating

A panel that is updating itself cannot answer requests for a minute or two. It now says so. The server shows a maintenance page for the length of the window. The update screen follows the progress and tells you it is done before it reloads.

System Updates also covers all of AdminBolt on the server, not just the panel and the agent. It lists every part and counts in the headline how many are behind. The progress screen stays with the update to the end.

Smaller things you may notice

On OpenLiteSpeed, Restart brings a stopped web server back up. It still reloads one that is running. It reports success once sites are served again. A new certificate on the panel hostname leaves the web server running. Accounts read their own access and bandwidth logs and keep that access after a restart. A domain using Remi PHP under OpenLiteSpeed serves its pages, in the panel and in the client API alike.

Domains and plans offer the PHP versions you enabled in the PHP Selector. A version you switch off there disappears from the panel too. LVE Manager, X-Ray, Resource Usage and AccelerateWP stay usable in a narrow window. (CloudLinux Only.)

The Git deploy key field accepts only SSH keys. A key the panel cannot use is refused the moment you paste it. The reason is shown right away. Sidebar icons tell screen readers where they lead. An administrator who arrives over single sign-on works in their own session.

A row of other things simply work where they should. Customer cron jobs run on servers using SecureBox (AlmaLinux Only). Client actions work while an administrator views a customer's panel. The panel's own mailbox keeps its mail after a hostname change. A server configuration restore runs to the end. Signing out of one panel leaves the other panels in the same browser alone.

Upgrading

Upgrades run from the panel. Open System, then System Updates in the admin UI, check for updates and start 1.8.1 from there. The server shows a maintenance page while it works, so a brief interruption is expected. New installs are a single command:

curl -sSL https://get.adminbolt.com/install.sh | bash

Tell us how it goes

That is 1.8.1: a migration that settles up front, a page of its own for Filesystem Backups and plans that offer only what the server has. Tell us how it lands on Discord, the community forum or through the contact form.