Sad State Of Domain Management And Blesta

[eXtremeSHOK]

And its 2016, blesta still cant handle domain management.

 

WHMCS continues to kill blesta, but without domain management blesta will remain the laughing stock of billing systems

[Michael]

And its 2016, blesta still cant handle domain management.

 

WHMCS continues to kill blesta, but without domain management blesta will remain the laughing stock of billing systems

 

And again you still come here and moan it's coming in 4.1 you can't make it come any faster, they are working on 4.0 and it will be in beta, if you think it's easy as pie make it or a billing system yourself, it's not a big team like crapsolutions and if you like it stop coming here and moaning... people have better things to do.

[eXtremeSHOK]

My point is simple, because there is no domain management, the product is defective for the majority of hosting providers.

 

Even the large domain resellers are now focusing on WHMCS and have given up on blesta, until we have some form of domain management this will only get worse.

 

Since you are a blesta reseller, you have an extreme bias towards it.

 

I have lifetime owned licenses for WHMCS/Blesta/Clientexec/AWBS. 

 

Besides the domain management, blesta is a fantastic product.

 

As of right now the best WHMCS alternative is clientexec, which is sad.

 

If blesta lacks the resources, they need to hire more developers and expand, and/or offer bounties.

[Tyson]

What would we offer bounties for exactly?

[evolvewh]

Tyson - Is there a specific thread that we should provide feedback for this feature revamp or do you guys already have it all mapped out?

[Michael]

My point is simple, because there is no domain management, the product is defective for the majority of hosting providers.

 

Even the large domain resellers are now focusing on WHMCS and have given up on blesta, until we have some form of domain management this will only get worse.

 

Since you are a blesta reseller, you have an extreme bias towards it.

 

I have lifetime owned licenses for WHMCS/Blesta/Clientexec/AWBS. 

 

Besides the domain management, blesta is a fantastic product.

 

As of right now the best WHMCS alternative is clientexec, which is sad.

 

If blesta lacks the resources, they need to hire more developers and expand, and/or offer bounties.

 

How the hell am I bias, I even recommend ClientExec as a option for others if they want to compare, they are much better than a pile of crap you compare Blesta too. Their 3 vuns fixed today proves it, even my list here proves that WHMCS is the worse in the industry. Oh wait I'm bias, oh no I'm not they are based on how many security posts and I'm going to list the links to them on the bottom soon so you can see.

My mates / clients EvolveWebhost, RebornWebs and SwanseaHost use Blesta to sell Domains so you can't use that lame excuse with me that it's not suitable for web hosts. You just want a bloody table to split the prices so you can set one for register, transfer or renew, I get it. Blesta knows it, and again if they can sell domains you can't use that excuse at all. There's plenty of hosts not sure if the bigger one sells domains but for confidential reasons I can't name them.  

[PauloV]

Hello to all

Im still alive eheh

Yes, I know, Domain managment is still in progress, but lets give some more time to Paul/Tyson/Cody to work without pressure

Keep it calm, its not 2016, we are still in the beginning of 2016 and celebrating the New Year eheh

Im a big,big,big... supporter of the New Domain Managment.

@Licensecart: he is "moaning" because he loves blesta like we all and we fill a litle frustaded not seeing any movment, maybe a simples mokup, or screenshots of the new module/plugin it will calm down everyone

Regards,

PV

[Tyson]

Tyson - Is there a specific thread that we should provide feedback for this feature revamp or do you guys already have it all mapped out?

 

There is no specific thread per se, but there are at least a few threads discussing domain management on the forums. You're welcome to add feedback to any of those or create another thread with a complete overview of what you think it should contain (similar to naja7host). We have a pretty good idea what will need to be done for it, but any expectations you have that haven't already been mentioned are helpful in fine tuning its development.

 

 

@Licensecart: he is "moaning" because he loves blesta like we all and we fill a litle frustaded not seeing any movment, maybe a simples mokup, or screenshots of the new module/plugin it will calm down everyone

 

I can understand the frustration. Since domain management won't arrive until 4.1, our time has not been focused on laying out any UI designs for it. Once 4.0 is out, the focus on domain management will pick up.

[PauloV]

There is no specific thread per se, but there are at least a few threads discussing domain management on the forums. You're welcome to add feedback to any of those or create another thread with a complete overview of what you think it should contain (similar to naja7host). We have a pretty good idea what will need to be done for it, but any expectations you have that haven't already been mentioned are helpful in fine tuning its development.

 

 

 

I can understand the frustration. Since domain management won't arrive until 4.1, our time has not been focused on laying out any UI designs for it. Once 4.0 is out, the focus on domain management will pick up.

 

 

No worries (for me anyway), still love all your (Paul/Tyson/Cody) work on blesta

[Michael]

Hello to all

Im still alive eheh

Yes, I know, Domain managment is still in progress, but lets give some more time to Paul/Tyson/Cody to work without pressure

Keep it calm, its not 2016, we are still in the beginning of 2016 and celebrating the New Year eheh

Im a big,big,big... supporter of the New Domain Managment.

@Licensecart: he is "moaning" because he loves blesta like we all and we fill a litle frustaded not seeing any movment, maybe a simples mokup, or screenshots of the new module/plugin it will calm down everyone

Regards,

PV

 

I agree with you, but I can only handle positive moaning not moaning and comparing, etc... it makes my blood boil and if he was near me I would have ended up in jail overnight for assault (aka punch) because they can only work so fast in the 7-8 hours working day. And 4.0 is to upgrade the php, framework and UI to make it better, and the small fixes and mass mailer everyone apparently needs to migrate. And then they can focus 100% on 4.1 which is (as far as I know) just revamping the domain management for people like him who "apparently" can't use the domain features. It will be a massive job which will make lives easier as it allows tables for pricing to change per module. But again as my dad says (and some others) "Patience is a virtue" and "Rome wasn't built in a day". 

 

[evolvewh]

I hope there is more to it than 'just pricing tables'.

 

On the admin side, when a domain is pending transfer from another registrar, Blesta is trying to provision the service every 5 minutes (or whatever the persons cron time interval is) and I hope this can be dealt with. There's also no place to enter an EPP code if an admin creates the order on the admin side for the customer.  I think the 'Basic Options' section of 'add a new service' needs to have the options 'Transfer or Register' and if Transfer is selected, a field for an EPP code (optional) should appear.

 

As far as the pricing tables, I think a simple setup of 3 tabs in the pricing section of packages -->> browse that say 'Register', 'Transfer' and 'Renew' would work just fine. I don't know if these 3 tabs would be triggered from the 'Account' and 'Type' under Module options. That way it only shows if the type is 'Domain Registration'.

 

The other features that would be nice to have are 'Privacy Protection' and 'DNS Management' built right in. This may be a Logicboxes specific request though. Right now, if someone orders Privacy Protection, we have to login separately and activate this features vs. the system automating it.

 

I forgot to add one thing. Domains should be separated in the admin and client area. Not grouped together with the other services. We (and I'm sure many other companies as well) have clients with 20+ domains and it's not so easy for them to sort out and manage them.

 

Yes, the domain system is useable right now but it requires a bit of manual work from the employee / admin side. For the companies with hundreds and thousands of domains to manage, this causes a lot of extra work and automation and productivity is lost.

 

There are other features such as 'Resend verification email', 'Child Name Servers', etc that I would imagine are going to be handled by developers creating an 'extended' version of each registrar module.

 

Just my 2 cents.

[interfasys]

Domain management in Blesta works if your customers have one domain they've bought at the same time as their hosting or if they've transferred the few they own and don't care about maintaining them (leaving that ICANN responsibility to you). It fails when you have a dozen+, spread across different registrars and if you're selling more exotic domain names (with the registration restrictions).

The biggest problem though is the lack of self-service option on the client side. It should be as good as what Enom or Logicboxes has to offer. Customers should be in control of their domains (contacts, DNSSEC, EPP, privacy protection, trustee service, etc.). Blesta should just sit one level above registrars, offering the huge benefit for customers of having only one system to use to manage all their domains.

[Alex Vojacek]

I left blesta because I couldn't handle domain management, at all, and the current state it is now it's almost ilegal to manage domains through blesta since it wont comply with ICANN,  so... how is this feature that all the major billing systems already has, something like: 

 

"They can't make it any faster as 4.0 isn't out and they have over 30+ tasks to do on that before they can waste a whole version on modifying and changing the way domains work. "

 

I stopped reading that phrase..  and I will re-phrase it.  The developers CAN'T waste any more time on other features that are not as important as this one.

The sole fact that your clients are asking for this feature and you take it so lightly saying it's a WASTE doing such a task speaks volumes on what you'll get with the hosting market.

 

You definely made a billing system that is NOT hosting friendly at all and you don't recognize this.. no, it's even worse, you wont accept what your clients are asking for.

 

This attitude is not good.  Clients ask for important stuff and developers should follow through and this is not an non-important feature... this is something all the other major billing systems already have and this is a feature that,  as it is now it's not ICANN approved, turning all your hosting clients into an almost ilegal sellers of domains...  

 

Developers should VERY concerned about this situation.   When I left blesta, the only new feature I had was "Mass Cancelation" but I didn't have (and still isn't available)  MASS EMAIL,  a featured that is soo much more important than Mass Cancelation.

 

If I have downtime expected on the datacenter I won't be able to let my customers know about this, but, I would be able to Mass Cancel all of them if they complain !!

 

This is not the way you build a billing system.   If I come here and seems to be complaining is because I felt I was not taking into consideration when I had my tons of problems with Blesta and developers were always doing more important stuff than the things I was asking, hence.. I left for WHMCS,  when I customer goes, it should make you take notice of why it was,   this is a good way of improving your attitude and your product.

 

Nobody asked me why I left, they lost my opinions about it the same way you'll loose the next customer that complains by replying "they can't waste time...".

[Alex Vojacek]

And 4.0 is to upgrade the php, framework and UI to make it better, and the small fixes and mass mailer everyone apparently needs to migrate. And then they can focus 100% on 4.1 which is (as far as I know) just revamping the domain management for people like him who "apparently" can't use the domain features.

 

Everyone "aparently" needs?. Blesta is NOT ICANN approved, period.   And then mass mail that people "aparently" needs?.  

 

Dude, you need to seriously reconsider the words you're using,  this are not stupid request, this are in fact 2 VERY IMPORTANT features that are used almost all the time in the hosting bussiness.   Lower down your tone a little, there are actual customes reading this,  this is not the way to speak to them, at all.

 

If all of this is too complicated to do because you're doing some serious work on a future version you need to reconsider how the developer cycle is working, since you seem to be getting all your priorities wrong.

 

I can't put on hold essential features because I'm hoping a future version will include them and then go and ask for patience.  If a customer don't see a feature he/she needs, I can't ask him/she patience because my billing doesn't support it... the customer will send me flying and get another hosting company that works the way he/she wants,  period.

That's how bussiness works,  re-prioritize the development cycle.

[Alex Vojacek]

Domain management in Blesta works if your customers have one domain they've bought at the same time as their hosting or if they've transferred the few they own and don't care about maintaining them (leaving that ICANN responsibility to you). It fails when you have a dozen+, spread across different registrars and if you're selling more exotic domain names (with the registration restrictions).

The biggest problem though is the lack of self-service option on the client side. It should be as good as what Enom or Logicboxes has to offer. Customers should be in control of their domains (contacts, DNSSEC, EPP, privacy protection, trustee service, etc.). Blesta should just sit one level above registrars, offering the huge benefit for customers of having only one system to use to manage all their domains.

 

It should be friendly to the customer and the admin... you nailed it on all your points.. That's EXACTLY what a billing system, or any system used for humans should be.

[Michael]

Everyone "aparently" needs?. Blesta is NOT ICANN approved, period.   And then mass mail that people "aparently" needs?.  

 

Dude, you need to seriously reconsider the words you're using,  this are not stupid request, this are in fact 2 VERY IMPORTANT features that are used almost all the time in the hosting bussiness.   Lower down your tone a little, there are actual customes reading this,  this is not the way to speak to them, at all.

 

If all of this is too complicated to do because you're doing some serious work on a future version you need to reconsider how the developer cycle is working, since you seem to be getting all your priorities wrong.

 

I can't put on hold essential features because I'm hoping a future version will include them and then go and ask for patience.  If a customer don't see a feature he/she needs, I can't ask him/she patience because my billing doesn't support it... the customer will send me flying and get another hosting company that works the way he/she wants,  period.

That's how bussiness works,  re-prioritize the development cycle.

 

Like another client said to me... Why is a MASS Mailer important for a "hosting company"? So why don't you just keep yourself to yourself.

 

Client: Who the hell voted for that?!?!

Me: voted for?

Client: The mass mailer

Me: most people in the world

Client: You wanted it too?

Me: “I can’t move from WHMCS because there’s no mass mailer”

Me: I will use it, I don’t want it

Me: I would have preferred the affiliate system

Client: Morons!

Client: I understand for marketing but I think we only need a css export and then you could take the list to Mailchimp or somewhere else and send an email.

Client: That's what I'd do.

 

And as a true brit: Hear hear! to the client, people moan over the pettit thing ever, like the domain system yes it's more important because people like to set a renewal price, etc but IT'S USABLE... You can SELL domains, it WORKS! It's not the best but it does the bloody job for christ sake! And as for people reading this, yes they can it's a "open" forum and I can say what I like when I like just like you. Do I care? No. People make choices for themselves if they want to use me, if they agree with me or hate me. I've got clients who I know didn't like me because of my attitude, don't like it don't reply to me or use me.. Simple!

[Paul]

Since this thread has turned into a shouting match, I'm going to close it.

 

We appreciate all of the productive comments, and we take the requests of our customers seriously. As stated, v4.1 is designated for improving domain support. Please feel free to start a new thread if you have specific suggestions related to domains.