SimpleScripts and Softaculous Script Installer Plugins Now Available in InterWorx 4.0

The latest release of InterWorx Hosting Control Panel Version 4.0 now includes plugins for two 3rd party script installer plugins – SimpleScripts, and Softaculous.

These plugins replace the old “ScriptWorx” functionality, for those of you that are familiar with it. However, they do more than just replace the functionality. In addition to just installing scripts like wordpress, magento, etc, these software packages all the end user to also easily upgrade their software when new versions are released.

Are these script installers free?

Yes, and no. It depends on how you want to use them. Both packages have “Free versions” that are either ad-supported or limited in some way. See below for details.

Which script installer should I choose?

You can choose to enable either, or both on your InterWorx servers. You decide based on what makes sense for you and your customers. SimpleScripts is enabled by default.

Why is SimpleScripts enabled by default?

We choose to enable the SimpleScripts plugin by default because we felt that it provided the easiest transition for end users that are used to using ScriptWorx to install scripts.

What are my options if I don’t want myself or my customers to pay anything extra?

Both software packages have free versions, so you don’t have to do anything!

What about my old ScriptWorx installs? Can I import them?

With some scripts, you may be able to import existing script installs into the script installer software packages for management. Check the relevant documentation for details.

How are SimpleScripts and Softaculous different than one another?

As you might expect there are a number of differences. I will cover some of the important differences and similarities here.

• • User interface
    Even though both script installer packages provide similar functionality, they have significantly different user interfaces. See each software package’s website for demonstrations.

• • Available Scripts
    While there is a lot of overlap in script support, there are some differences as well. See the websites linked above for details.

• • Service Design
    SimpleScripts is a “ software as a service” solution – when the end user clicks on the SimpleScripts menu item in SiteWorx, they are sent to the simplescripts.com website. Before they get sent there, simplescripts is granted a special FTP user and API access to their SiteWorx account data, and SimpleScripts uses these tools to perform the script installation. Information about what scripts are installed where is maintained on the SimpleScripts servers. No SimpleScripts software is actually installed on the InterWorx server. The SimpleScripts software is updated on the SimpleScripts servers.

    The Softaculous software is actually installed and run on each InterWorx server. It gets installed automatically the first time the plugin is enabled. The softaculous software itself is installed under /usr/local/softaculous, and the software packages softaculous can install get placed in /var/softaculous. Softaculous also makes use of the InterWorx API to assist the user with the installs. Softaculous will install a cron job periodically check for new script updates.

• Software Administration
  With SimpleScripts, you can customize your customer’s interaction with the software by creating your own SimpleScripts “web host account.” This is not required, but it does allow you extra flexibility in managing SimpleScripts on your servers. Resellers also can have the option of using their own SimpleScripts web host account as well. SimpleScripts provides a “host key” and a “host API key”, both of which can be entered in The SimpleScripts portion of NodeWorx.

  Softaculous has an administration interface built in that is accessible via NodeWorx, that allows you to configure various options.