First, a sincerely thank you to everyone who has used and contributed to OpenPanel in any way. It's been an incredible journey since our public release in March 2024, and while we've made great things so far, there’s still much more to come.
Over the past months, we’ve focused on spreading the word and growing our user base, and I believe we’ve succeeded in doing so. Along the way, we’ve identified some key areas of improvement, both within our small but dedicated team and in the product itself. Here are some of the challenges that definitely need improvement:
Most common problems with OpenPanel <1.0
Rootful Docker Containers
Currently, our user services depend on rootful Docker containers, meaning they rely on the Docker service of the host OS. This setup saves disk space since the base image is shared, but we see a better path forward where each user runs their own Docker service. While this will increase storage usage per user, it allows for multiple containers to be run by a single user, opening up possibilities like "reseller" accounts.
Image Maintenance
I personally maintain four Docker images (Nginx, Apache, MySQL, MariaDB), and right now, only those can be run.
JavaScript UI Bugs
After switching the default theme for OpenPanel’s UI to "Admini," we’ve received constant reports of UI bugs. In fact, I’ve spent more time fixing these bugs than working on new features or maintaining the product itself. 😅
Storage File Issues
The storage files we use for user limits are slow to create and can’t be easily resized. This has made managing user limits tricky, and we've had to implement workarounds to address this.
SSL and Nginx Errors
Apart from UI issues, SSL generation and renewal, as well as proxy configuration errors in Nginx, have been some of the most frequent problems we’ve encountered.
Update Issues
Various issues with updating, such as Cloudflare blocking IPs, IP checks failing, and GitHub repositories being inaccessible from some IPs, have also slowed us down.
So, What’s Next?
While OpenPanel isn’t perfect yet, we’re already hard at work on improvements. I’ve paused releasing new updates temporarily to focus on rewriting the product and addressing these weaknesses head-on. We’re targeting February for the release of OpenPanel 1.0.0, a complete rewrite that will be not backwards compatible with the current 0.3.X release. This means the two versions will be independent and separate products.
What's Changing?
Rootless Docker Containers
Each user will now run Docker in rootless mode, enabling them to run multiple independent containers without relying on the host OS. This will simplify storage management, as we’ll no longer have separate storage limits. One unified disk usage limit will cover all user files on the server.
LiteSpeed Support
We’re introducing full support for LiteSpeed. We’ve added two new Docker images: OpenLiteSpeed with MySQL and OpenLiteSpeed with MariaDB.
UI Overhaul
The Admini theme will be replaced with a custom Tailwind-based design. The new user interface will be clean, modern, and less cluttered.
Improved Storage Management
We’ll move away from using storage files and instead use Linux quotas. This will make it easier to change both disk usage and inodes for individual users.
Caddy for SSL and Proxying
We’re replacing Certbot and Nginx with Caddy, which will handle both SSL and proxying to user containers automatically, with zero configuration required by administrators. No more waiting for SSL generation or troubleshooting renewals!
OpenAdmin on Virtual Environments
OpenAdmin will now run in a virtual environment (venv), ensuring that the same Python version is used across all OS's. This will improve our testing process and reduce the chances of bugs, as we’ll no longer need to maintain multiple Python versions.
A Bright Future for OpenPanel
In summary, a lot of exciting changes are on the way. As we close out this year, I wanted to take a moment to update you all on our progress. Rest assured, OpenPanel is here to stay, and we’re optimistic that it will become a go-to solution for shared and VPS hosting panels.
Thank you for your continued support! ❤️