Launching the new year with an update on what we've been working on during 2018. While most of the work has been done in the backend, improving our API with increased loading an processing speeds, increased security and more features. Work has been done on a new control panel with the goal to perfectly integrate with our API. Above is a picture on the server creation page to demonstrate how it might look.
What's new
Here are some of the news and goals with the new panel
- Built around the API, all API functions will be available in this GUI
- Built with JQuery, CSS3 and HTML5 for a faster and more enjoyable experience
- Form validation and simplified management is now standard (this hasn't been working well in the old panel)
- Less timeouts by taking advantage of the API and only load a minimal amount of data while caching the panel itself.
How to access the new panel?
Once released, you will be automatically redirected to the new panel.
Why replacing the old panel?
The old panel has a poor design making it really hard to maintain and extend with new features, it's also slow due to it's server oriented design which makes no sense today when everything is managed through the API.
Is the old panel a security risk?
No, the old panel is using a server side wrapper to access the API. It's slow and could timeout on large requests but is just as secure as communicating directly with the API.
How do I use the API, the documentation is terrible?
New API documentation with relevant information and extended examples is generated at this moment using Redoc, and will be published in a few days You'll find it here: https://api.99stack.com/docs. OpenAPI v3 specifications will be published in JSON format as well and can be imported into your favorite rest API client.
How will payments work in the new control panel?
Similar to before there will be a payment page under billing (i.e easier to find) where you can choose your favorite payment provider. The backend for payments is already running on the new system and will work from day one.
What happens to my servers after the upgrade?
Nothing, all your work is already in the new system, the main difference will be a less frustrating UI to view and manage your servers.
How do I login to the new panel?
For most users the experience will look and feel similar to the old panel, only faster and less frustrating. However, the new panel will use the API for authentication which means increased security by utilizing the more resource hungry hash algorithm bcrypt instead of the old sha512 which where used a few years ago. Most accounts already use bcrypt, i.e everyone who logged in at least once during 2017-2018. Those who haven't logged in since 2016 are still using the sha512 hash and won't be able to login to the new panel. This can be solved by a password reset tho and then change the password.
