RE: BillMax questions -- CPanel integration

[Chris Snyder <casnyder@pennswoods.net>]

I'd love to share some advice/tips/code samples on integrating billmax
with cpanel.  Unfortunately it seems rare for anyone to want information
on any of the customizations I have been involved in.

Truthfully, the crew at Billmax.com have been exceptionally helpful, and
if you've got the cash, you won't go wrong buying some support directly
from them.

Do yourself a favor and run a command like:
ls /PATH/TO/BILLMAX/local/*hook

And investigate the files you see there.  Remember that the billmax
library is not re-entrant, so occasionally the solution to a problem is
to simply log certain bits, and then act on them later outside of the
hook file (cron perhaps?).  

I seem to have: runhook, account_hook, bmuid_createcust_hook,
payhist_hook, service_hook, tax_hook.  Adding code to some of these
(payhist_hook) will slow down the processing though.  We seem to only
notice if I am trying to batch import a large number of new customers.

In fact, there are a whole bunch of fun things to play with in that
directory, provided you have a reasonable tolerance to self-inflicted
baldness.  The LoopBack.ccpost.conf and related default cc processing
was interesting to look at.

You can also do interesting things with replacing the lpr and sendmail
in billmax's config interface with scripts.  I manage to store
statements (postal and email both) in a database so that our techs can
tell the customer when their last bill was sent, for how much, etc.
Don't forget to actually forward it to the printer / MTS after you store
it.

A quick google search indicates that there is a (3rd party?) cPanel api.
I also found this:
http://mail.cpanel.net/mailman/listinfo/api_cpanel.net

It wouldn't surprise me at all if there was (relatively simple) a way to
tie calls to the cPanel api into the service_hook to
create/enable/disable access to the cPanel based on
creation/payment/suspension in billmax.  

In cases where the local billmax machine needs to control a remote
machine, I find the perl's LWP module works nicely to operate http(s)
calls.  If you don't control the wire, you likely want to make sure that
the machine being called out to runs an ssl-enabled web server (https),
and you probably want to use some sort of user/pass and restrict by ip
as well.  Alternatively you might prefer ssh-keyed bash scripts.

Just for the record, I am not looking for, and do not accept,
consultation / contract work.  Contact billmax.com if you feel the need
for that.  The number of such requests I get after posting to this list
may be part of the reason why people are not quicker to offer assistance
on this list, Ted.

Chris

On Wed, 2007-09-19 at 20:18 -0700, Ted Mittelstaedt wrote:
> Most of the advanced customizations that have been done with
> Billmax have not been made publically available.  The ones
> that have been done by the company aren't available for obvious
> reasons - Billmax makes money customizing them, so to get them
> you have to contact them and get on a support agreement.  This
> is all in agreement with the principles of open source software
> (Billmax was after all developed on an open source operating
> system, and uses mysql, and OSS database program) which states
> that developers of OSS projects can make a moral living customizing
> their packages for people.
> 
>   But, I am always mystified why posters on the public mailing
> list here do not post details of their own customizations.  It
> sure isn't in accord with most of the principles of open source
> software.
> 
>   Good luck in your quest.  I don't think you will get much 
> help from the community on this mailing list, however, based on
> past experience.  I certainly don't use cpanel and
> so cannot help you.
> 
> Ted Mittelstaedt
> Internet Partners Inc.
> 
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: owner-questions@billmax.com [mailto:owner-questions@billmax.com]On
> >Behalf Of Craig Thompson
> >Sent: Wednesday, September 19, 2007 3:38 PM
> >To: questions@billmax.com
> >Subject: BillMax questions -- CPanel integration
> >
> >
> >I'm interested in using Billmax with CPanel to add/suspend/remove 
> >accounts, plans, etc.  The website says that this has been done.
> >
> >Does anyone have any hooks / scripts / documentation on this?  I 
> >couldn't find anything in the archives.
> >
> >Any help at all would be appreciated.
> >
> >Thanks!
> >
> >CT
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