Automating server and account management.
WHAT THEY PROVIDE
Creating and suspending accounts Managing domains and subdomains Databases and users Email accounts DNS records Backups
WHAT AUTHENTICATION THEY USE
Tokens, ideally scoped, rather than the root password.
WHAT TO PREFER
A token limited to the actions needed.
WHY
A general credential permits everything on the server.
WHAT TO BE CAREFUL WITH
Actions affecting many accounts Anything destructive Rate of calls, which can load the server
WHAT TO CHECK IN RESPONSES
The result structure, which differs between the panel's interfaces.
WHY THAT MATTERS
Several generations of interface exist, with different shapes.
WHAT TO ESTABLISH
Which interface version you are calling.
WHAT TO NEVER DO
Parse the output of interactive commands as an interface.
WHY
It changes without notice.
WHAT TO USE INSTEAD
The documented programmatic interface.
WHAT TO TEST AGAINST
A server that is not serving customers.
WHAT TO LOG
Every action, with the account affected.
WHY
Provisioning faults are diagnosed from that log.
WHAT TO BUILD
Retry and reconciliation, since provisioning fails partway.
WHAT PARTIAL FAILURE LOOKS LIKE
An account created without its database, or a domain without its records.
WHAT TO DO
Detect and complete, rather than recreating.
