Hi. I am wondering where to install applications like roundcube and phpmyadmin on my multiserver setup. I have roundcube already installed on the primary mailserver, but in a guide that i've checked they installed them both on the webserver. What is the technical intended, "correct" way to approach this? It feels a bit weird to run these applications on the main mailserver and the db server. Setup: panel web01 web02 db01 ns01 ns02 - mirror mail01 mail02 - mirror
There is not 'that one correct way' There are basically 3 options which all have their pros and cons: a) Put webmail on the mail server and phpmyadmin on the db server. pro: direct connection to the service they are used for. Con, must run a web server and open web server port to these nodes. b) Put them on one of the web servers. pro: web services are run there anyway. con: not directly connected to their 'base' service, might be a bit slower. c) Put them on the control panel server. pro: bundling web-based 'control panel like' services for customers to one machine. con: security, I would say it's more secure to not run other services on ISPConfig master when a setup is large enough to have a dedicated master. So in the end, it's probably a decision between a and b
I have a separate server just for webmail, but for many clients I set up the webmail on the panel server. phpMyAdmin runs on the webservers themself usually. For some big use cases I have one centralized phpMyAdmin setup, but for most uses this is not necessary.
Well i guess i will use option a then; is there anything to look out for running a Webserver on DB/Mail?
No, not really. E.g. in regard to PHP modules, it should pretty much match what ISPConfig requires anyway. You just have to decide if you want to install older versions via Debian/Ubuntu packages or the latest versions from source.
I used to be a fan of installing from Debian packages, but for more and more software it's clear to me that it's better to install it from source and keep it up to date yourself (e.g. with a self build script). Roundcube and phpMyAdmin are both better to install from source.
Same here. I believe website software is better installed from its source rather than getting it from apt repository.
i'd consider using the ondrej (sury for debian) repo for apache. definitely for php i've tried using the mariadb repo, although i have had issues before with version mismatches, causing mysql to uninstall itself, and refuse to re-install, so would stick with the default repo. for roundcube and phpmyadmin, i'd initially install them from the default repo, just to be absolutely sure all files/directories are in the locations ispconfig expects them to be. after that, i'd update them from source.
I use ondrej's PHP repo on all servers. It is pretty well maintained and fast with patches. On my debian 11 systems i use roundcube from the official repos as the version there is 1.4.X and current stable is 1.6, so i consider that new enough for my usecase. Checking phpmyadmin today and see which path i'll go.
