Between the cPanel conference, releasing cPanel & WHM Version 68 and building version 70, we’ve done a whole lot since our last Development Update! We’ve had a ton of blog posts covering a lot of the new and exciting things that came with version 68 already. Let’s talk about version 70, and some of the other stuff coming down the pipeline.
v70
If you’ve started to take a look at version 70, you’ll likely notice that there’s a significant lack of new features. That’s because this version our entire development department focused on improving, finishing, and refactoring existing features. We have made the base of cPanel & WHM faster, less complex, and more easily managed. All of this work will help make it easier for us to add new features in future versions. If you haven’t yet, definitely set up an EDGE server and take a look!
As a reminder, as the first version that we release in 2018, version 70 will be the LTS version for next year. Versions 64 and 66 have already reached End of Life, version 68 and will be End of Life as soon as version 70 hits STABLE. If you aren’t sure what I’m talking about, take a look at the blog post from last year cPanel’s Tiered Update System, and Plans for the LTS Tier.
Amazon AMI
After a whole lot of work by one of our development teams, we have finally been able to get our AWS AMI updated on Amazon. If you haven’t already been using it, or have tried before and had a bad experience, we’d love for you to take a look! Build a server at AWS and send me your feedback on the experience. If you think of things we can adjust or add to the product that will make it easier, feel free to submit them to the cPanel & WHM Feature Request site.
Coming in 2018…
There are a lot of things coming in 2018, both in the product and outside of the product. Let’s outline some of them.
Roadmap
We receive a variety of questions from different members of the cPanel community that are best summarized as “What is the cPanel & WHM roadmap?” People want to know where the product is going, what the goals and strategies are, and what cPanel, Inc. is up to. We aim to improve this early in 2018 by sharing a simplified roadmap detailing the goals and vision for cPanel & WHM.
GDPR
While the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) doesn’t directly impact us, we’ll be helping our customers prepare for the requirements that the GDPR will bring. Look for updates from us during the first quarter of 2018!
DNSOnly licensing
In 2018 we’re going to add licenses for cPanel DNSOnly servers. Currently, DNSOnly servers do not require a license and will continue to work without a license. I know this triggers a lot of questions and concerns, so let’s start with a couple of the ones we’ve already heard:
- Will you begin charging for DNSOnly?
- That is not the plan at this time. Though there is always been a possibility that we would want to release a pay-for DNSOnly product, this is not something we’re doing as the first step toward charging. For us, adding licensing is far more about being able to gather data about use from DNSOnly servers.
- How will you roll this out?
- Step one will be to issue the licenses, on DNSOnly servers, without requiring the license for functionality. This will give us insight into how many servers are misconfigured or have errors, and therefore how many would have problems when upgrading to an environment that required a license.
What other questions and concerns do you have? Feel free to comment below or send me an email: benny@cpanel.net
Have a happy end of your year!
Whether you’re taking a vacation (like me), or taking advantage of everyone else’s vacation, I hope you have a fantastic last week of 2017, and that 2018 gives you everything your heart desires.
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This post entirely composed my favorite self-created 2017 spotify playlist.
