First round using whmcs went very smoothly. Each portal user had all backup accounts itemized by backup account name in a single invoice. whmcs supports credit card, so this could be a billing solution if chosen.

There is now officially enough money invested into this code that I'm stepping back and evaluating implementing a real licensing model where tracking and enforcement of hosted code is automated. Coupled with the need to go through one more billing cycle to ensure this release is quality, I'm moving the release date to mid October.

Release 7 is driving AhsayPro.com. We've been running for two weeks, and will go through the first run of whmcs billing soon. If the billing issues are minimal to none, PeakAPI is a month away from releasing. The upgrade path is more difficult than the previous, so documentation could slow the release. Anyway, it's coded and coming soon.

Had some other major projects in Peak Backup that caused development to slow (well stop for a couple weeks). 10 minutes ago, I ran the first billing query and insert into WHMCS. Now that the function is there, the next couple of weeks is admin invoicing interface cleanup. So, lots of development has occurred since the last post, but the slew of e-mails asking about the progress reminded me of the news neglect.

Anyway, I want to be realistic and relay a 4-6 week delivery for Release 7. Release 6 will be rolled into 7. So, really no Release 6. Straight to 7.

Everything on the Release 6 is tested as of 4/24/09. Found two regressions. Both are related to moving away from file_get_contents. Another week of coding + another week of testing. Release 6 should be within two weeks of this posting!

whmcs by the way has a ton of programming against it and is running in parallel to Release 6. AhsayPro.com will see it first. Then, it will be available soon after. The effort is so big in fact, there could be an upgrade fee for it.

This turns out to be a fairly large effort. whmcs had to move to release 7. Release 6 has many stability and feature enhancements. To many to list here. See: http://www.peakapi.com/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=3