We're finally ramping up work towards Cortex2 again and have some really cool ideas on what to put in there. But hey, I'm sure we're missing a feature or two that you guys have been pining for. So we want to hear about it! We'll be holding a chat session in #cortex2 on irc.gamesurge.net for you guys to tell us what you want to see. The sky's the limit here, so please show up and speak up. I can't promise we'll implement everything, but we can get a much better idea of what you guys are looking for. We look forward to hearing from you guys! Here's the when's and where's:

#cortex2 on irc.gamesurge.net
Friday, January 26 2:00PM CST (GMT-6)

See ya there!

how about some way thats easier to edit the background and picture for the look of cortex?

Why not hold discussion in regular #insomnia365 channel?

Why not hold them in the #cortex2 channel?

This sounds like fun!

Now the only problem is that this is happening on my sisters birthday and I don't see myself anywhere else other than with the family on that day.

Will there be a log of the chat here afterwards?

Yup!

If you can't make it then go ahead and post your thoughts and I'll address them at the chat.

I may not make it--

1. Ability to manage my servers no matter what DCC they are located in.
2. Ability to add my custom engines
3. Don't zend encode every single file just because you can. Some of us would like to add xyz functions and it's a pain in the butt to decrypt your files .
4. Do a software type lease like Modernbill/Kayako/ etc. So that way I can install it where I want.
5. Get rid of those ugly Icons and Ugly green colors.
6. Make it more admin / owner friendly eg templates , colors etc etc.
7. let the owner of the server decide when and if they want your updates just like up2date/yum
8 Document your schema, Document Your schema, Document Your SCHEMA

I'm sure I'll have more--

1. For us who have ranked 2142/bf2 servers, a way to upload and manage games not supported by Cortex. maybe Remote desktop.

9. Ability to edit usernames , groups
10. Ability to edit the instance location / IP's without having to jump into the database to make the changes
11. Ability for clans to add Jr. Admins with limited permission set
12. Fix the status pages on Linux

Both are already there.

Not to argue or anything, but they are not. (or I have missed that whole entire feature)-
If I go to instance, there's no feature to rename it, or change the path etc. (i can change the IP/port). The only way to change the path is to jump into
the database and change it there. Or delte the instance and recreate it with the new path.

I run custom aao2.6, aao2.7 and aao 2.8 engines installed in cortex, so they are all able to be managed via the CP. (no other engines installed on these boxes)
These are not clan servers, they are game hosting servers. There's 1 main admin (me the owner of the server(s)) with instances installed that xyz clan owns.
The instance owner does not have the ability to add clan members as Jr. admins.


I create user, add instance to said users.
edit group access so that xyz user only get's rights to abc instance.
He get's start/stop / config / map / status / file browser.. (FTP is handled via 3rd party due to the current POS ftp built into cortex does not have any limits or controls)

So I guess I'm missing where this new user would be able to assign rights to some user that he created. Much less, how's the new user going to create a new user and give him limited access to only eg map restarts. Even if you give new user rights to create a user, then he can see the other users that are installed on the box.
So as I mentioned, there's no feature for an instance owner to create sub-users for his owned instance without going through some convulted steps, which is me having to create some bogus user and group for some clan. Then editing the group rights so that this so-called clan's jr admin can only change maps on the instance that xyz clan owns.


You are correct (if a clan owns the box, then they pretty much can do what they need to do for jr. admins) but in my case, clan's do not own the box.) I own the box, and lease/rent instances so the clan only has rights to that one instance of say 20 instances installed. And that's the only instance they see when abc clan logs into the CP.

I could be mistaken or have overlooked how to do it, but seeing how I run my own custom database(s) and not the one from cortex, I don't think i have missed those features

That is defintaly a good one.

Also how about the ability to rename an instance. That has come up a few times and it cannot be done without deleting and making an entire news instance.

Create a new group. Go into the groups permissions and you can assign them to only change maps, only have start/stop priviledges, etc. There is a million check boxes in the group permissions panel and you select which one you want the group to have.

In your first post you mentioned you wanted to change IPs and I thought that is what you meant. Did not know you wanted to change the entire directory.

sorry, should have clarified this better

Should have been edit the path or dir.. Or put better, manage any thing to do with xyz installed instance.


Yea, I know i can do it that way.
Still though, the owner of the instance can not create users to put in this group.
Guess maybe I'm not being clear

Instance owner should be able to create a sub-user for his instance. Then the instance owner can then decide what access this sub-user has rights to.
Example if he wants to create 1 user with all rights to his instance. And 1 user with just map restarts etc.

If I have 20 clients per box times 15 boxes I don't have the time to be creating 100's of groups or fake user accounts just so some clan's jr-admins can manage their instances.
Let the Instance owner decide what access he grants his users..

I realize it takes the cortex team thinking outside of their BF2 / Clan mentality, but if you're going to promote this as a GSP tool then create a GSP tool and not some clan app/ single server app. I don't know a single GSP that has all their servers in 1 location either.
Most of the GSP have their servers located all over the country + overseas. Unless I can manage my servers using your CP no matter where my servers are located, then I would not classify this as a "Game Service Providers" tool/app.

It would be like Modernbill saying their tool is a billing/ partitioning app yet limiting it to only partitioning only servers installed where the MB app is installed on same server.
Unless the tool can manage, partition multi- regional or global servers then it's just proprietary data center centric tool and not a GSP tool.
So unless you're stepping out of the data center centric mindset, cortex will remain what it is today, just a proprietary clan server manager app that does not help any true "GSP" with an expansion path to regional / global servers using this.

I'm pretty sure if I can afford to pay the 7k license fees to these guys http://www.aahonor.com/partners/namerica.php to sell AAO honor ,
then I'd be more then happy to pay some license fee to use you're app to manage all my regional servers. be it serverbeach/softlayer etc etc..
Heck, I'd pay a license fee right now if it manage my other servers that I have scattered around.

Only reason I have not moved over to TCadmin is I hate IIS(windows). But at the rate i have been canceling servers with ev1/tp due to this merger junk / pricing scam I may be forced to use Tcadmin or find me a coder to create me own app.

I have unconformed field reports that IIS will NOT steal your soul, eat your children or slit your throat in the middle of the night. I know they are unconformed but they keep coming in. Seriously, IIS is no better or worse then apache.



It's never been a GSP tool, it was designed for clannies, some wannabe GSPs found out they could host servers with it and it went from there. Maybe Cortex 2 will be GSP grade software. Sorry Sales lied to you but they are sales, they do that alot.

Good answer Rabbit !!!

But as a side note,
that IIS junk stole my wife and kids when I demo'd that tcadmin for a month.
I don't mind windows, long as it runs apache/mysql/php
that filezilla ftp server seems to work good, just does not have the granularity I am used to. --

But back on track, you are 100% correct it's not a GSP tool ---
as a wise man once said--

you may fool some GSP's some of the time, but don't piss on my head and tell me it's raining

TCadmin doesn't use Filezilla FTP. It uses built in FTP engine which is pretty good.

2 hour warning, guys. Hope to see ya'll there. I like the discussion going on here.

I know that,
I was talking about cortex, i disable the built-in cortex ftp on windows and use filezilla, on linux I use proftpd.
The way I can set the limits, alais, etc etc..

So what was discussed and did we get any teasers?

Ya i didnt get a chance to jump in either, any great new ideas come up?

I really like the free beer option that will be available in Cortex 2!!!

Let me guess......only available for those who attended the irc chat.

http://75.126.14.176/cortex2log/

Thanks!

Here's a list of what we covered. FWIW I'm happy that what I think you guys were looking for was a 90% match with what you guys say you're looking for.

• Add your own games - I've got a system in the works where you can host your own update server with games unsupported by Cortex. This should at least give rudimentary control of games that Cortex flat-out doesn't work with, older versions of games, or betas.
• Decouple Cortex from it's Insomnia365 requirements - That's an interesting suggestion, and I certainly see the merit. I can't commit to anything on this front, but will let you know when I see more.
• Make Cortex able to schedule instance functions - I plan on making a scheduler in Cortex with cron-type functionality to do things to instances at various given points in time. It's in the works.
• Manually update games ourselves - Maybe I can put in some kind of hook to run a command on an instance (HLDSUpdateTool for instance). That'll get you tided over until the official patch is released in Cortex.
• Easier map rotation - I'd like to try making some kind of handly AJAX-ish way to manage rotations. Also in the works is a way to delete an uploaded map from the insance.
• Change instance owners/Change instance names/Make it easier to mod hlds and srcds servers - I plan on doing away with the 'fs action' kung fu that Cortex does when it makes an instance. That'll make it a wole lot easier to do things like renaming instance names, reassigning them, and doing custom modding.
• Fix clustering OMG - Cortex2 is based on PHP5 which has let us do a large number of code optimizations. This extends to clustering, which is much smarter and faster now.
• Backing up, restoring, and resetting - I'll see if I can make a way for Cortex to be able to backup, restore, and reset itself alnong with specific instances. Another thing for 'the list'!
• Skinning is too hard - Cortex2 has a far wasier to manage skinning system. Instead of having to be a HTML/code whiz to do it, all you need to do is fill out a form with colors, sizes, and the like and Cortex will do the rest. The new interface will be much easier to generate on the server end and easier to render by the browser, making life easier on all sides.

That's what you guys brought up. Here's the other stuff on my list:

• A configuration wizard - Make an easy to use wizard to get you set up the first time you log in.
• Instance install modes - Make it so you can set up an instnace install template so you can bring up new custom servers easily (eg, a match server or a pub server)
• New instance config modes - Give advanced config mode a lot more control over command lines. Add a new 'expert' config mode where you set your own config and command line completely manually. Use at your own risk of course.

Thats about what we covered. I'm excited and really looking forward to this. Huge thanks to those that attended!

I did not see
1, Access to instances eg give instance owner the tools to create his Jr Admins (not talking about the server owner).
2, FTP access limits etc

Maybe we can make he users and groups system a little easier to use, as you can already make jr admins if you want.

Oh yeah, we're redoing the FTP server too.

Thanks for the overview Kevin, though I think you typed that out rather hastily and need to correct some spelling errors. What is Cotex...? lol

I definatly like hearing that clustering runs better because my instances page can take a while to load.

Ability to add new or older games is great. Kevin you already know what I want to run via Cortex but currently cannot, so I would definatly like to see this option come into being.

Skinning, ya I never touched that stuff because it just didn't seem to be worth my time or effort. An easier skinning system would be awesome.

Changing instance names and owners is also something that would be awesome, lets see to it that it happens!

Other Issues:

-ahh FTP rebuilt..thats good because if I login as the admin I should actually be able to see everything, not just "instanes" of which none exist. Sure makes for a real pain in the arse when you need to check a clients folder via FTP but can't.

-ntburchf wants it so that users can create their own jr-admins. e.g. Server Owner> Client with 2 Instances> Client able to setup jr admins for each instance>Jr Admin> Basic User. If that captures what you are trying to say ntburchf then please say so otherwise correct me as needed.

-The news page...Are there are any plans to make that load faster? because is it awfully slow and I have to wait the longest for just that to come up.

Thanks for pointing out the typos. I swear that I'm slowly losing my ability to type.

The new clustering and rendering code make the news load much faster. There's gerneral performance improvements all over the place.

Correct, currently the instance owner DOES NOT have the ability to create Jr. Admin.
I can create 100's of admins and groups.

The instance owner needs to be able to do this, without seeing all the other groups, users that are on the server. As it is now, if I give the instance owner rights to create users / groups then he can see all the other users groups that are on the server, and those other users groups are none of his business.

(look at it this way, see how there seems to be some confussion here) --
I create a website owner, that website owner has all the access he needs to run his website (ensim) - he can create users, email account etc etc and FTP accounts.
I don't have to ever do jack-squat to the website owners site except create it for him and give him access to do XYZ. Website owner can then do what he needs to do with his users.. (and he can not see what other clients are installed or how many of xyz is running)

With me so far?

Same deal with cortex. I create Instance, assign owner of instance. Instance owner should be able to create his own users, and grant said users to whatever
access he wants his jr admins to have.
This does not exist in cortex now.. The part that does, allows them to see way to much other stuff as mentioned.

If you want to logon to my servers kevin and show me how it's done, then feel free

Also, if it's still tied to your data center only, then it still does nothing for a GSP. I'm not going to install all my servers in 1 location no matter how good
the Control Panel is-- I may want 10 servers here, 10 there, 10 over-seas etc etc. If cortex can not manage them, then you need to get rid of the part in your advert that says "A GSP's tool". Until it can manage 100% of a GSP's servers then it's still a data center value add and not a global/regional tool.


Also, say I have 10 or 20 servers running each with x amount of instances. I don't see the point of having each one of those game servers having mysql server running on them. Should be a way to move the sql server to a central database server. (takes thinking out of the box so to speak). Instead of wasting memory having to have mysql server running on a game server that load could be moved elsewhere. It frees up memory on the game box.
Yea, I can do that now but it's a hack/work-around that should be there anyway for larger server owners.
Not a big deal for your clan owners that have 2 users messing around on the box, but add 20 clients or so to that server messing around in their instances and it becomes a big overhead. Just having mysql server running on the box is overhead I really don't need or want.

And why I've never been a fan of the cortex cp.

I am sorry I missed out on the chat. I haven't returned here much since we have been running so smoothly now.

Once feature I would like to see implemented is a FTP server start and stop button. That thing hangs and crashes occasionally and requires a server reboot to get it going again.

Also, on the Cortex logon page, make the submitt button a real button so the software for my fingerprint scanner can recognize it

Skinning WOULD BE COOL IF YOU HAVE A COD INSTANCE THAT YOUR CONTROL PANEL SHOULD LOOK LIKE A COD CONTROL PANEL

SAME GOES FOR ALL GAMES AND INSTANCES SUPPORTED BY CORTEX

SO LETS SAY YOU RESELL SERVERS SOME ONE ORDERS A BF2 RANKED SERVER BAM THERE CONTROL PANEL MATCHES THERE INSTANCE

THE COOL THING IF IT HAD A PULL DOWN MENU TO CHOOSE YOUR CONTROL PANEL FOR EACH CLIENT OR INSTANCE.

OK THAT IS AN INTERESTING SUGGESTION THANK YOU FOR YOUR INPUT WE WILL CONSIDER DOING JUST THAT

You can set the skin for all users in their settings. If you want a particular client to have a certain skin, just set it to that skin.

THAT WAS SO FUNNY I ACTUALLY CONSIDERED REPLYING TO IT....ohh wait I did that

still laughing at that response Kevin, kudos to you

How about a built in server monitor function that would make dynamic .png files for us to use on our websites that show the status of our servers with player lists and such all served up on port 80.

<little voice in the background: "Now thats an idea, this boy is sharp. Hoobaby!">

Just use Game-Monitor for that.

Example - http://www.ClanNN.com

Thanks for the tip Doc, we already use the game-monitor stuff, but those little monitors like you linked to don't render the same in all browsers and have a tendency to screw the alignement on our site and to not render with a transparent background in some browsers. Also, to get the details such as a player list, it opens up an external game-monitor page with ads and crap.

A nice .png graphic would fit the bill nicely. Something similar to what you would see over on servershots.com or what you would get with HLStatsX where the graphic file is rendered with the php gd graphics library. http://www.boutell.com/gd/

It would be a added value that would be worth quite a bit. Servershots charges 7 USD Per ServerShot Per Year. http://www.servershots.com/

And if someone was having problems with the bandwidth hit, they could turn it off. Just an idea that would look pretty good on a list of features on a sales page.

What about http://www.serverspy.net

Example - http://www.clannn.com/modules.php?name=Serverspybf2

Yep, those are pretty nice, but still its a table and stuff, and also, the ad free service is a subscription fee.

Here is what I set up on our site after we ditched little game-monitor block ones: http://damnocracygaming.com/page.php?49

This is an example of what we had which I think looked better, but like I said, they render different with different browsers. http://damnocracygaming.com/page.php?44 They look fine with IE6/6 and I think FireFox, but Opera and Apple Safari renders them wrong.

Anyways, back on topic I guess. I just thought I would throw out an idea that I think actually would get used. The server graphics could have a little Planet or I365 logo on them and the result would be some pretty good advertising. Look at all the crap you see with Hypernia on it around on the net.

Which server graphics?

The ones you are going to make and build into Cortex 2.0

If you are asking what graphics have Hypernia on it refering to my comment with all the Hypernia stuff on the net, the big thing is all those BF sigs they sponsor up.

Suggestion:

On the each user's profile page add an option to select a default page to load after login.

For example: I really don't like how long the news page takes to load, I could go and set my default page after login to be the instances page rather than news. This way I get to the information I need quickly and effciently.

If I need to check the news I can just go when I want to and suffer the horrible load times.

Thats a great idea, sometimes News loads fast, othertimes just goes unavailable.

Here's an idea, for those to have clustered servers.

The ability to only need the web & mysql servers running on 1 box, that can talk to all of the servers within your cluster.

Or if The Planet decides to license out Cortex, say someone that purchases the license for say 10 servers, they could have the web/mysql server running on a completely separate box and have it talk to the 10 game servers. Then the resources that are taken up by apache and mysql can be freed up on the game servers.

& I suggest these 3 ideas every time Cortex 2 is brought up and I'm sure Kevin is sick of me saying them.

1) Server Reservation System: More and more smaller GSPs are selling game servers on an hourly/daily basis for teams that just need the server for a match.

2) The ability to use outside authentication. If a GSP already has a backend whether it be to their billing system or whatever it'd be nice to be able to create 1 account and have it work for say a billing/support system as well as create a cortex account.

3) Updating Cortex across a cluster without having to login to every box.

another thought. see who is actually logged in to cortex. the reason is b/c when I rented one of the slower servers, if someone logged into cortex, everyone on the CoD:UO server knew b/c it lagged the server. and if 2 logged in, it was really bad. so, a feature where an admin can see who is logged in and possible kick that person off of cortex.


so what's the work on Cortex2? any news on when it might be released?

That is an awesome idea.

I always check my Terminal Services to see if anyone else is logged in when I used Remote Desktop so why not similar functionality for Cortex.

This would be useful if added.

Add it to the list Kevin!

Cool idea!

Cortex 2 is progressing slower than I'd like, but i think we're at the point where the major bugs in Cortex1 are fixed. All that we're doing now are game support and updates really. Time to hunker down on the new hotness I guess.