Installatron 5.1 released (converter, free edition, and beta windows support)

[l0rdphi1]

We've just released Installatron 5.1, the auto-installer/auto-upgrader plugin for Plesk. Website here:

http://www.installatron.com

The big new feature in this release is a converter for installs originally created by Application Vault and CPSkins PSA-Installer. It just requires that the original auto-installer's data files still exist, and the converter can create a list of convertible installs and let you import the ones you want to use in Installatron.

The other big announcement is that a free single-domain edition of Installatron is now available. It's free to use for as long as you like, with the only restriction that it will only work on the first domain it installs to. And can be upgraded to the unlimited-domains version at any time by simply purchasing and assigning a license.

The free version takes about a minute to install, and can be run alongside any other auto-installers already on the system.

Another announcement; we've begun testing of our Plesk Windows version of Installatron! If you would like to give our beta Windows version a test run, download and installation instructions are available here: http://installatron.com/install_pleskwindows

If you haven't heard about Installatron, it's a web script auto-installer and auto-upgrader plugin for Plesk, and various other control panels. It was launched in 2004, and is the only true multi-platform auto-installer system.

Phil
Installatron.com

 

[Amin Taheri]

how is this different from the psa 9.0 version of the app vault that allows for installation and upgrading of installed applications?

 

[l0rdphi1]

Hi,

Sorry for the delay in our response. I didn't receive a reply notification.

Plesk 9 beta allows application packages to be browsed and enabled directly from the Plesk administration screen. After the admin makes a selection, the application packages are downloaded and made available. This is a huge improvement over Plesk 8's method of requiring the admin to manually upload application packages to the server. Plesk 9 beta also allows the application packages to be restricted on a per-user basis.

With Installatron we streamline this process by automatically downloading our premier collection of application packages while the Installatron client software is being installed. We've also long-supported the ability to limit application packages on a per-user basis; limits can be created for any Reseller, Client, Domain or group thereof.

One of the most important things to look at in an auto-installer is frequency of application updates. We're regularly updating Installatron's application packages as new versions are released, with preference given to critical security releases and the most popular applications. Updated Installatron application packages are automatically downloaded each night by a crontab process. By comparison, Application Vault's frequency of updates is a little disappointing and far from straightforward. For example, the current version of phpBB is "3.0.0." That version of phpBB was released in December of 2007.

This leads into installed application upgrading. Installatron's frequency of updates ensures the latest security patches and new versions are available to be deployed to existing installs in a timely fashion. I wasn't able to test upgrading in Application Vault because "not available" shows up for all my test cases. However, even assuming upgrading is available for the majority of Application Vault applications, the frequency of Application Vault updates needs to considered.

Some other features Installatron has that we couldn't find in Application Vault:

- Users can create and restore snapshots/backups of installed applications at any time.

- Installatron will offer to create a backup prior to upgrading an installed application so that the upgrade can be reverted if something doesn't work out.

- Users can import existing manual installs into the Installatron system for easy backups and upgrading.

- Supports root-directory and password-protected-directory installs.

- Helps keep installs secure and up-to-date by allowing the admin to mass-upgrade user installs.

- Completely brandable UI and other Theming/Localization options.

- Costs much less than Application Vault.

Plus we're constantly working on improving Installatron. If there's something you'd like to see us do, we'd be happy to listen.

Our full features list is here:

http://installatron.com/features

Cheers,
Phil.