Cluster ​
AdminBolt can run in two modes. By default a panel is standalone: it manages a single server and everything its customers host on it. From v1.1.0 a panel can instead act as a hub that orchestrates other AdminBolt panels. Everything to do with that lives under Cluster in the sidebar.
Run this panel as a fleet hub orchestrating other AdminBolt panels via their REST API
Standalone, hub, and nodes ​
- Standalone - the default. One panel, one server. The Cluster entry in the sidebar leads straight to Hub Settings, and nothing else from this area is shown.
- Hub - a panel with Hub Mode enabled. It does not replace the individual servers; instead it adds visibility, installation, and orchestration across all of them, and the Cluster group opens up.
- Node - a regular AdminBolt panel that belongs to a hub. Each node keeps running its own full panel, and customers keep logging into their own server's panel as before.
The panel's own description sums up the relationship:
When enabled, the Cluster section manages a fleet of servers, each running its own full AdminBolt panel. Customers keep logging into their own server's panel - the hub adds fleet-wide visibility, installation and orchestration.
Node roles ​
When a node joins the hub, it is tagged with the functions it fulfils - used for dashboards, filtering, and targeted orchestration:
- WWW, SQL, Mail, DNS - the services the node runs (web, database, mail, DNS).
- Secondary DNS - optionally makes the node a public secondary nameserver for the whole cluster. It is turned on with Act as a public secondary nameserver for the cluster, needs the cluster's primary nameserver (NS1) to be set, and since panel 1.9.2 the hub confirms that the node registered it before the role counts as on (see Secondary DNS role).
What Hub Mode unlocks ​
Enabling Hub Mode reveals the rest of the Cluster group, which is hidden on a standalone panel:
| Page | URL | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Hub Dashboard | /admin/cluster | Resources, inventory, and service status for every server. |
| Nodes | /admin/cluster/nodes | Connect and manage the remote servers in the hub. |
| DNS Cluster | /admin/cluster/dns/settings | Unified nameservers, secondary DNS servers, and external DNS sources. |
| Global DNS Zones | /admin/cluster/dns-zones | Every zone served by the cluster and where it originates. |
| Cluster Accounts | /admin/cluster/accounts | Browse and suspend accounts across the hub, and migrate an account from one server to another. |
| Account Migrations | /admin/cluster/migrations | Track account migrations between servers, and cancel or retry them. |
| Hub Settings | /admin/cluster/settings | Turn Hub Mode on and name the hub. |
Hub Settings is the way in: it is reachable whether or not Hub Mode is on.
Hub migration moves accounts between AdminBolt nodes
Everything the hub calls "migration" happens between AdminBolt nodes that are already connected to the hub. Since panel 1.9.1 it carries the account configuration and, by default, the account's website files, email, and database contents. Bringing a cPanel or DirectAdmin server into AdminBolt is a different job for a different tool - see Migrating to AdminBolt. External cPanel, DirectAdmin, and Plesk servers can also be attached to a hub as DNS sources, but that is a read-only zone mirror and moves no hosting at all.
Getting started ​
- Open Hub Settings and turn on Enable hub mode, give the hub a display name, and save.
- Add servers from Nodes - either pair an existing AdminBolt panel via its API key, or have the hub install a fresh one over SSH.
- Optionally set up the DNS Cluster so every federated domain shares one set of nameservers.