This is the list of directadmin.conf values, as of November 16, 2009. The format of this document will be the name and default value. Note that if the value does not exist in the directadmin.conf, it will be the default intenal value within DirectAdmin. Adding a value to the directadmin.conf would override the internal default. You can always see what values are being used on your system by typing:
/usr/local/directadmin/directadmin c
For any newer values, or values not listed here, you can always search the versions system for them.
Variables with default values which are (null) should not be added to the directadmin.conf unless you plan on using them. If you want to remove that variable, then completely remove it from the directadmin.conf.
port=2222
Port Used for DirectAdmin to run on.
ssl_port=0
Allows DirectAdmin to run on 2 ports at the same time, where the port value specified in the ssl_port option will use SSL. Option to run DA with SSL on a 2nd port
ipv6=0
servername=your.hostname.com
The hostname of your system used by DA. It should match the actual hostname of your system. Must comply with these mail system rules.
ns1=ns1.hostname.com ns2=ns2.hostname.com
Values set at Admin Level → Admin Settings → ns1/ns2 How Nameservers work
numservers=5
Number of child processes spawned at DirectAdmin startup. DirectAdmin uses the prefork method for preparing child processes.
timeout=60
Number of seconds a directadmin process is allowed to run before generating a timeout signal and aborting. Note that some more time consuming processes use a multiplier on this value.
session_minutes=60
Number of minutes an inactive DirectAdmin session will remain logged in. After that time, the User must authenticate again. After every page load of DA, the counter resets to 0.
maxfilesize=10485760
The maximum size, in bytes, that a POST can be. This is mainly used for file uploads but applies to all POSTs. Do not set this value to a very small number, as it would block normal POSTs as well (User creation, etc), if it's too small.
log_rotate_size=5
Depreciated value for apache log size before rotation. Logs are rotated each tally because webalizer requires a closed log before processing.
logs_to_keep=5
Number of apache logs to store for Users in /home/user/domains/domain.com/logs
max_username_length=10
Max length a username can be. Max is 14 because of the 16 character mysql database name limit and the username naming prefix. Username length setting
login_history=10
Number of of login attempts to store
disable_ip_check=0
Option to disable the IP check in sessions. Only use if your IP rotates between requests.
allow_foreign_key=0
Allow non-local IP addresses to login using the session key system.
simple_disk_usage=0
For systems where disk access needs to be kept to a minimum, enabling this option relies only on the system quotas. Stats will not be completely correct as a result. simple_disk_usage for tally
hard_quota_multiplier=1.1
Ratio for the soft-limit to hard-limit for quotas. Allow a grace period for Users to go over their quotas up to the hard-limit. After the grace period, they can only delete files until below soft-limit again. Hard quota limit multiplier vs soft quota limit.
usersdir=./data/users
Location of User data. You'll not likely want to be changing this unless you're doing something very creative with your file system.
zip=1
Ability to zip and unzip files in the filemanager.
awstats=0
To enable Awstats for DirectAdmin.
webalizer=1 rotation=1
Webalizer is enabled by default. Rotation will disable the rotation of apache logs before running webalizer. Option to disable webalizer and log rotation
use_syslogd=0
For use with the syslogd logging facility, which allows for more logging options including remote logs. syslogd option added
cluster=0
on/off for Multi Server Setup for dns clustering. Dns Clustering (SKINS)
remote_dns_retries=0
Number of retries by DA if the cluster sync fails.
dovecot=0
If you have dovecot, this will be set to 1. Extra api features for CMD_API_SHOW_USER_DOMAINS
count_pop_usage=1
Ability to shut off email quota reporting on the email accounts page to speed up loading. option to disable quota counting for pop accounts page
pop_disk_usage_cache=1
Alternative to disabling pop usage is to generate a cache instead
purge_spam_days=0
If you have Maildir, this option tells DA to remove all emails in the spambox older than this number of days. Now purges Trash folder too. auto purging of spamboxes (SKINS) Also include the .INBOX.Trash folder for purging
skip_hometargz_in_backups=0
To speed up the backup process, skip the home.tar.gz file, which omits some email data, among other things. Option to exclude home.tar.gz from backups
skip_domains_in_backups=0
To be selective with backup data, this will skip /home/user/domains for all Users. You'd really only use this if you have other means, like rsync, for backing up that data. Handy if you just want to restore the User will all of his settings, but without his web data. option to exclude domains directory from backup
show_db_usage=1
Ability to hide or change the rules for when DA shows the sizes of databases. Allows for DBs with many tables to not have it's usage counted on the display page.
show_pointers_in_list=1
Options shows domain pointers on the “List Users” and “Show All Users” page. Difficult password enforcement option
check_subdomain_owner=0
Option to prevent a User from creating a subdomain of a domain belonging to some other User.
use_uid_counting=1
To prevent ever reusing the same uid/gid again. uid counter for new users
process_list_debug=0
Debug option to be used with the dataskq to list processes from the '/bin/ps aux' output if a program isn't seen to be running by the dataskq (and likely gets restarted repeatedly).
logdir=/var/log/directadmin
Log directory used by DirectAdmin.
logger=/usr/local/directadmin/logger
Depreciated. “logger” was the program used to split up log entries into different logs, used by apache in realtime.. which bogged down the system with thousands of logger programs (for each VH) hence it was dropped.
loghostname=0
Option used to do reverse IP lookups in logs. Slows things down quite a bit.
admindir=./data/admin
Path for admin data related to the serverpath. You're not likely going to want to change this.
serverpath=/usr/local/directadmin
Main path for all DirectAdmin data. Don't change unless you know what you're doing (you'd need a very good reason to do so)
ticketsdir=/usr/local/directadmin/data/tickets
Location where the tickets and messages for the internal messaging system live.
license=/usr/local/directadmin/conf/license.key
Location on disk where the directadmin license file lives.
templates=/usr/local/directadmin/data/templates
Location on disk for all templates.
sessions_dir=/usr/local/directadmin/data/sessions
Location on disk for DA login sessions.
block_token_chars=$[]<>:#
Values that are not permitted to be passed between pages via GET for the tokens. There is a newline character in there as well, in the internal values. Can't add newline if you override it due to configfile limitations..
docsroot=./data/skins/enhanced
Path of the default skin to be used. Used for CMD_SKINS?reset=yes resets if your custom skin has gone bad.
demodocsroot=./data/skins/enhanced
skinsdir=./data/skins
Location where the skins are to be found.
internal_lang=/usr/local/directadmin/data/skins/enhanced/lang
Location for the fallback internal language files if other skins don't have them. internal text lang files not using other skins
language=en
Default language for the system, also for the demos.
SSL=0 cacert=/usr/local/directadmin/conf/cacert.pem cakey=/usr/local/directadmin/conf/cakey.pem
Turn on/off ssl for DA ('./directadmin c' output for this is lowercase 'ssl=0' FYI)
ssl_cipher=(null)
cipher for DA over ssl forcing which ssl protocol to use. The (null) default value can only exist if the ssl_cipher value is not in the directadmin.conf, which means that if do not want any ssl ciphers, you must completely remove the ssl_cipher value from your directadmin.conf, or else an empty string of ciphers will be used which wouldn't work. ssl_cipher option to force SSLv3
carootcert=(null)
The caroot is for the ca root certificate used to prevent the ssl popup on your purchased ssl certificates. See the SSL=0 setting above for more info. The (null) value operates in the way way the ssl_cipher does, so don't add this variable unless you're going to use it.
taskqueue=/usr/local/directadmin/data/task.queue
Location of the task.queue file used for background tasks run by the dataskq. You'll probably never change this.
taskqueueda=/usr/local/directadmin/data/task.queue.da
Similar to the task.queue file, but for data added to it by the “diradmin” user when root access can't be obtained (cronjobs mainly)
quota_partition=/home
The value of the partition you want DA to use for user quotas.
ext_quota_partitions=(null)
If you have another partition you want DA to count, specify that partition here. Quotas on a 2nd /home partition to be checked
extra_backup_option=
If you want to insert extra commands for tar to use when creating user backups. New backup option not available on all OSs
ethernet_dev=eth0
The network device name that holds the licensed IP. Other common values: eth1, eth0:0, venet0:0, etc.
bind_address=(null)
If you want DA to only listen on one IP address. Note it *only* listens on the IP you specify.. doesn't include 127.0.0.1 if you specify a public IP. Ability to bind DA to only 1 IP address.
ssl_redirect_host=(null)
Ability to specify where to redirect a User who is connecting to https over http. option to specify the redirect host value when http is used on an https protocol
force_hostname=(null)
Force a browser to use a specific value when connecting.
apache_ver=1.3
Specified the apache version used for httpd.conf writing. The only 2 valid values are 1.3 and 2.0. If you're using apache 2.2, you'd still use 2.0.
apachelogdir=/var/log/httpd/domains
Location where the domains logs and bytes logs are stored.
apacheconf=/etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf
Location of the main httpd.conf where DA will add the User httpd.conf “Include” lines. With custombuild, this will be /etc/httpd/conf/extra/directadmin-vhosts.conf
apache_pid=/var/run/httpd.pid
Location of the apache pid file. Used to send an HUP right after rotation the apache logs to reopen them.
apachemimetypes=/etc/mime.types
Mime.types file used to look up file extention types to include in http header replies.
apacheips=/etc/httpd/conf/ips.conf
Location of the ips.conf used by DA for adding baseline apache VirtualHosts for shared IPs.
apachecert=/etc/httpd/conf/ssl.crt/server.crt apachekey=/etc/httpd/conf/ssl.key/server.key
The shared server certificate and key. Used for the server IP and shared IPs https connections.
secure_access_group=(null)
A security permissions state where the group ownership of a home directory is set to this value, allowing only that group visible access to the folder, thus blocking other users. secure_access_group option for higher user security
apache_public_html=0
If set to 1, sets the public_html to chmod 750, chown to username:apache. This is a primitive version of the secure_access_group and is considered outdated. Option to set the owership of public_html for new domains
graceful_restarts=0
Allows for cleaner, quicker, smoother apache restarts(but is in testing)
safemode=OFF open_basedir=ON
Default values for safemode and open_basedir. Admin Level → Php Safemode Config Safemode control for Admins (SKINS) open_basedir option (SKINS) (TEMPLATES)
fm_owners=|USER|:|GROUP| fm_file_permissions=644 fm_dir_permissons=755
Ability to change the default permissions and ownership of filemanager created files. Ability to get the filemanager to set the ownership
owsadm=/usr/local/frontpage/version5.0/bin/owsadm.exe
Path to frontpage binary. Don't change this unless you know what you're doing.
sshdconfig=/etc/ssh/sshd_config
Path to the sshd_config. Will rarely be changed. Once case where you might change it is to set a plecibo file for DA.
ftpconfig=/etc/proftpd.conf
Path to the proftpd.conf. I actually don't think that DA ever uses this…
ftpvhosts=/etc/proftpd.vhosts.conf
Path to the proftpd.vhosts.conf, used for extra IP virtualhosts. (eg: owned IPs)
ftppasswd=/etc/proftpd.passwd
Main proftpd password list.
ftpsep=@
The character used after usernames and before the domain name. ability to change the ftp username separator character from @
namedconfig=/etc/named.conf
Path to the named.conf (default varies per OS)
nameddir=/var/named
Path to the named db directory (default varies per OS)
ip_blacklist=/usr/local/directadmin/data/admin/ip_blacklist ip_whitelist=/usr/local/directadmin/data/admin/ip_whitelist bruteforce=0 brutecount=10 exempt_local_block=0 brute_force_time_limit=120 clear_blacklist_ip_time=0
The settings for the brute force login detection system. IP blacklist file for exsessive login attempts (SKINS) Whitelist Automated removal
backup_nice=19
Default nice value for User bacukps. lower priority scheduling for user backups
reseller_backup_bandwidth=1
Include Reseller backup bandwidth in their usage.
quota_update_interval=10
Frequency a User is allowed to update his disk usage via the button.
hide_outlook=0
Ability to hide the MS Outlook column.
filemanager_du=1
Do recursive folder disk usage counting in file manager
hide_ip_user_numbers=0
If you're sharing an IP among many Resellers, hide the number of Users on that IP.
user_can_select_skin=0
Give the User the ability to pick whatever skin he/she wants.
check_partitions=2 partition_usage_threshold=90
How often to check the partitions for high usage.
disk_usage_suspend=0
Option to suspend based on disk usage.
send_usage_message=1
Used if you wish to block usage warning emails
addip=/usr/local/directadmin/scripts/addip removeip=/usr/local/directadmin/scripts/removeip
Scripts called by DA to add/remove IPs to/from the nework device.
emailvirtual=/etc/virtual
Path to the email data (account names)
emailspoolvirtual=/var/spool/virtual
Path to the email data for when mbox used (actual emails)
count_email_usage=0
Ability to override DA's manual email counting vs using system qutoas (really only applies to mbox)
maildir_with_new=1
This was for a template change. It's not recommend you go back. filter option to not use /new/ for Maildir paths
hide_webmail_links=0 webmail_link=webmail
Ability to hide or change the webmail links and webmail button.
user_helper=www.site-helper.com reseller_helper=reseller.site-helper.com admin_helper=admin.site-helper.com
Ability to change URLs for the help button.
mysqlconf=/usr/local/directadmin/conf/mysql.conf
Path to the user/pass that DA will use for the connection to mysql.
damycnf=/usr/local/directadmin/conf/my.cnf
Path used for cnf file which is given to the mysqldump script to hide user/passwords from the ps output. CMD_DB to save da_admin password to my.cnf file
msg_sys=Message System
If you want to name your hosting company in the message system emails, this lets you specify the “name” part of the “From” header. Ability to customize the "Message System" name
sysbk_conf=/usr/local/sysbk/conf.sysbk
Config file fo the “sysbk” script (Admin Level → System Backup) Full system backup via Admin Panel (SKINS) - *Must Run script*
mq_exim_bin=/usr/sbin/exim
Where exim lives for the mail spool query calls in Admin Level → Mail Queue Admin
incremental_ftp=1
When uploading backups, file will be uploaded between backup creation to lower total disk usage. Incremental ftp backups
allow_user_exec=0
To give your Users ability to use the API to run scripts (potentially dangerous, use at your own risk) API command for running abitrary shell commands as the user - CMD_API_EXEC
allow_numeric_username=0
Ability to override checks to allow a username that starts with a number. Not recommended for most OSs. ability to allow numbered usernames
tokenizer_debug=0
Ability to generate skin/template debug output.
lost_password=0
Feature to let users reset their passwords without bugging the Admin. Lost password feature (SKINS)
htm_all_scripts=0
Lets you run all_pre.sh and all_post.sh script on HTM files. Handy for creating your own scripted areas in DA that are not plugins.
old_public_html_link=1
Ability to change ~username to be ~username/domain.com, thus allowing use of all domains before they resolve. Feature was disabled by default due to mass confusion and complaints, but can still be enabled if you want it. ~username/domain.com as default changing the default ~username public_html link back to old default
frontpage_on=1
Ability to shut off frontpage in the interface. It's disabled by default with custombuild. admin config option to disable the frontpage interface (SKINS)
reseller_warning_thresh=75 user_warning_thresh=80
Limit percentages for email warnings. See “send_usage_message” (above) to disable these messages completely. Ability to set threshold for usage email
tally_after_restore=1
If you wish to not run the tally after you restore data, set to this to 0. This will lower your cpu time, but make your usage stats out of sync until the next tally. Option to not run the tally after a Reseller/Admin Level restore
restart_apache_after_tally=1
After a tally is run, apache is restarted. Set this to 0 if you don't want it to restart. option not to restart apache after tally
background_delete_size=10240
Push Account deletion to the background for large account sizes to prevent timeout in browser (megabytes). Delete Users in the background for large account sizes
tmpdir=/home/tmp
Location for temporary data.
backup_tmpdir=/home/tmp
Location for backup data assembly. Ability to change the tmp backup paths during ftp backups