Well in my search of everything free on the net for hosting business i found quite a few valuable tools for the reseller whos on a budget. By all means if you can afford it buy these items instead of going for the free ones. I'll post two of them cause right now I an really tired.

Billin maneger

What is it?

whmManager is a program written in PHP (with MySQL) that provides webhosts with an easy to use interface with which to manage and bill their clients. It can be used by any host, with or without CPanel.

What do I need to run it?

You need PHP 4.0 or higher, MySQL, and mhash/mcrypt (compiled with php). In order to take advantage of the billing module's autoinvoice scripts, you must have PHP 4.0 or higher (still with mhash/mcrypt) compiled as a cgi binary.

How much does it cost?

It's free. Go on, take it.
more info
http://nixt.org

Support Services Manager

SSM is your complete support desk, knowledge base management, and customer relations management solution!

Support Services Manager ("SSM") is a powerful Support Desk and Knowledge Base application. It includes many powerful features to allow you to easily add a full-featured Knowledge Base along with a robust support request or "trouble ticket" management system to your existing support services. Through SSM, you will be able to easily manage these effective systems and reduce the time and effort required in providing award-winning technical support. In addition, certain versions of SSM allow you to integrate your Knowledge Base, Support Desk, and Web Community into one single sign-on environment, creating an easy, beneficial system to your users. This level of integration is only possible with SSM or expensive custom development work, making SSM very cost-effective. We hope that you find SSM to be a worthwhile addition to your online network.

more info
http://scripts.sheddtech.com/ssm/

WOW I like the support services manager...

I was looking at PerlDesk before..but I like this one bit better for the looks.....

thanx:)

Thanks alot too!

Leec,

good to see you're sticking with it :)

Thanks for sharing your findings with us, the support service manager looks good.

Another good affordable reseller with free registration and one months free hosting is http://BrilNet.com
Try it out you'll be amazed at all the functionality and freedom this system provides...

Heres a domain affiliate thats rather cheap, and no upfront costs

http://www.domainofmyown.com/

YES

FreeSSL (http://www.freessl.com/)

Info:
FreeSSL Adds Real-Time, Two-Factor Authentication Via Telephony

FreeSSL is now offering two-factor authentication via a standard web browser and telephone line during the ordering processes for both FreeSSL and ChainedSSL. Continuing in the tradition of secure and rapid provisioning of server certificates, FreeSSL will now make real-time outbound telephone calls at the time of order placement. This new process will add additional auditing capabilities without significantly changing the provisioning times for FreeSSL and ChainedSSL.
:D

Thanks leec..
Just what I was looking for.

thanks for FreeSSL
that'll be good for me :)

Great find.

Thanks.

I have located what looks like another good billing manager. I have uploaded a zip with 4 or 5 screen shots in it. I do have this installed and will be putting up a link so you can demo it. It's as though thsi started out for DUN providers and has emerged into a webhost billing manager. It's really feature rich. The only fallback is it doesnt integrate into WHM

Info from site:
Purpose: gcdb is an aesthetically pleasing MySQL/PHP billing database. It supports Customer, Payment, Invoice, Account, and Trouble Ticket entries.
Audience: Meant for ISP, hosting, or general billing


GCDB (http://gcdb.sourceforge.net/)

and another

and one more

Originally posted by leec
Heres a domain affiliate thats rather cheap, and no upfront costs

http://www.domainofmyown.com/

Just $12.99 per year is not cheap!!! I pay about half that!!! :stickout:

Originally posted by jhcashman
Just $12.99 per year is not cheap!!! I pay about half that!!! :stickout:


Notice it says No Upfront Costs :D

thanks for all the helpful links guys . Im just wondering , is freessl good enough to allow transactions to take place on your server ? Ive been wondering about this , because if thats the case , ill install one today ... any help on this subject is welcomed

Let me know if anyone has any one of these billing manager's up and running...
I've tried but.. had a few problems that are not solved yet.

thanks for the free soft.

Originally posted by case
thanks for all the helpful links guys . Im just wondering , is freessl good enough to allow transactions to take place on your server ? Ive been wondering about this , because if thats the case , ill install one today ... any help on this subject is welcomed

I have it installed on my server

https://www.pyxishost.com <<<< not advertisement

I have no problem with it you can check it out

Originally posted by leec
Notice it says No Upfront Costs :D

Name cheap has NO UPFRONT COST and its only $8.88 a domain!!! i am sure there are tons of enom reseller who will give you a even better price on a retail account for NO UPFRONT COST!!!!

Originally posted by Toeki
Let me know if anyone has any one of these billing manager's up and running...
I've tried but.. had a few problems that are not solved yet.

I tried with the nixt one and its not very easy to setup

the other one is easy to set up but I wouldnt be sure about the security of it

leec,

Thanks for the info.
All of your hard work is coming together with your business.

Great finds

And more billing managers. I have'nt tried yet but I will

ispbs (http://ispbs.hostplus.net/)

freeside (http://www.sisd.com/freeside/)

Heres a free live support software (http://www.iaxx.com/LSscript.asp). Here are the features


Easy to implement script
Secure admin login
View visitors IP address
Talk to visitors remotly
Admin control pannel can be accessed from infinate locations accross the world simultaneously
Visitors can request chats with you
Set chat status to online/offline by the click of your button which will change on all your pages
Input protection from malicious user input
And much more!


This script is free to use on the condition no links are removed. Legal action will be taken on companies and other sites which remove the link.

I havent been able to get it running yet as I dont know jack about ASP

Thanks so much for informations

This is great for someone just starting up!

Does anyone have any more links? Especially to client managers.

Originally posted by EvoniC
This is great for someone just starting up!

Does anyone have any more links? Especially to client managers.

http://www.eniki.net

They just posted screenshots of the newest version in the forum. Should be out anyday now. There has been a long delay on the new version and the old version was taken down because of secuity problems, but the new version looks like it will rock.

almost forgot, http://www.phpcoin.com is another free client manager, although I head its good I have not looked into it too much.

phpcoin was developed by one of our clients (middleground on our forum). Many HN forum members beta tested it and the outcome is one great piece of software. The first release candidate is just out and the price is right. ;)

Bad sites always have someone jumping up in the air...or fake people smiling in some office environment...maybe it's just me but I look at it and generally close it :/

Nixt whmManager looks good but SSM isn't working right now - I'll try another time. Thanx :)

so... what has everyone gone and stick w/ in terms of a billing manager, and a support-desk tool?

just curious... thanks in advance.

ps. it seems that SSM website is down... anyone know where i can get it from another of their mirrors?

Originally posted by stech4u
so... what has everyone gone and stick w/ in terms of a billing manager, and a support-desk tool?

just curious... thanks in advance.

ps. it seems that SSM website is down... anyone know where i can get it from another of their mirrors?

In the end I was going to go with nixt for a billing manager, but I went ahead and bought phpmanager for 50 bucks :rolleyes:

I will see if i can find the link for the SSM and post it

Found a new live help proggy

Helpzilla (http://sourceforge.net/projects/helpzilla/)

Helpzilla is a interactive business to customer help system similar to other commercial systems such as PHPLive! and PHPLiveChat. Helpzilla can serve multipule websites and supports multipule operators with audio and visual alerts and much more.
This is in ALPHA Version!

hey leec,

did you ever get to try NiXT and run it?

http://phpcoin.com is quite nice for billing etc

is that what you are using bonnmac?

I will also endorse phpCOIN, as it is simply beyond billing & customer care.

Originally posted by stech4u
hey leec,

did you ever get to try NiXT and run it?

I got it to run but I could never get it to add plans to whm:confused:

Great links, just what ive been looking for, Thanks :)

PHPcoin is just great.

Thanks for the links, leec.

hhm... Leec and all the rest.. Thank you for all the link. I found out few of the link especially the one that Leec gave earlier for the support script is very useful. I will used it with my site :)

btw.. any link for the best and free live support? Currently i am using ******, but i prefer to do some research.. Who knows.. there might be others that better that them...

Originally posted by leec
Found a new live help proggy

Helpzilla (http://sourceforge.net/projects/helpzilla/)

Helpzilla is a interactive business to customer help system similar to other commercial systems such as PHPLive! and PHPLiveChat. Helpzilla can serve multipule websites and supports multipule operators with audio and visual alerts and much more.
This is in ALPHA Version!

has anyone tried this or attempted to set this up? I tried today, there isnt much documentation so i was unsuccessful ... but i was checking things out and it seems this script will be full featured once it gets out of alpha stages. Anyways, if anyone has set this up or knows how to do so...shoot me a pm or something

I was goin to try it but I seen where you had to email the guy that did it to get better instructions. I never have as I took my live help option out for a little while

yeah, i emailed him to see whats up... hopefully i get a response. Like i said, the program looks promising

ok i got the instructions on how to setup helpzilla...

Hello. First I have to warn you that Helpzilla is still a work in
progress. I would have gotten more of it finished but I have been ill
for
the past week... sucks.

So once you have installed the schema, you need to insert records for at
least one site and at least one operator. As it says in the readme I
will
eventuall provide tools todo this, but it is low on my priorities at the
moment (currently going through a reorg of the core bits).

The easiest way to do this is to use phpMyAdmin, but I will explain the
raw SQL here:

o Insert a site record:

INSERT INTO hz_site (id,name,url,created)
VALUES (1,'My Site', 'http://some/url', NOW());

o Update pseudo sequence:

UPDATE hz_site_id SET id=1;

* * *

If you want to create more than one site be sure to increment
hz_site.id value (starting at 1) and then to update the pseudo sequence
to the last value used. It actually does not matter that you update
the sequence until I create tools to manage this fluff, but for
consistency I would suggest it.

Next ya need at least one operator so you can respond to chat requests:

o Insert a operator record:

INSERT INTO hz_operator (id, name, password_hash, created)
VALUES (1,'casey', MD5('changeme'), NOW());

o Update pseudo sequence:

UPDATE hz_operator_id SET id=1;

o Map operator to managed sites:

INSERT INTO hz_site_operators (site_id, operator_id, created)
VALUES (1,1,NOW());

* * *

This will create an operator named 'casey' with a password 'changeme'
and then assign the operator to manage 'My Site' as created above.

Now to test it out... I am gonna assume that you installed Helpzilla
on localhost in a folder right under your docroot called 'helpzilla',
you may need to adjust the URL examples to suite what your install
actually looks like. Also I am assuming that your changed
config.inc.php to reflect the correct database and user settings.

o Operator login:

1) Browse to http://localhost/helpzilla/operator
2) Enter 'casey' and 'changeme' for Name and Password respectivly
and click continue.

If your config settings were valid then you should now see the
'Helpzilla :: Operator :: Console' screen. Not this stuff is all quite
ugly, and with the next major release it will be all cleaned up.

3) Click 'Open Alerter', which will popup a new window.

If you left debug turned on you should see:

DEBUG: All application frames are loaded
DEBUG: Reloader enabled; interval: 8000
DEBUG: Scroller enabled
DEBUG: Initialized

In the output window, and the interface is read to go.

Operators need to log into the console, then open the alerter to begin
monitoring sites. The default is to popup new alerts and play an
annoying sound (looped) so you can minimize these windows.

o Start a chat from a visitor (can be one same machine and same
browser... ie. you can chat with your self):

1) Browse to http://localhost/helpzilla/client/?site_id=1

You should see the 'Helpzilla :: Visitor :: Welcome' page

2) Enter your name, or whatever, just enter something and click
continue.

You should see the 'Helpzilla :: Chat' page and if you have debug on
you will see:

DEBUG: All application frames are loaded
DEBUG: Reloader enabled; interval: 8000
DEBUG: Scroller enabled
Welcome to Helpzilla!

In the output window. You should also hear an phone ring after a few
seconds and see a popup window explaining the alert. The popup does
not seem to work so well on some browsers which try to magically detect
what is a good and bad popup and selectively display them (like Mozilla
Camino), you may have to disable this magical functionality until i can
figure out why it does not like my popups.

Finally to start chatting, you need to go back to the alerter
interface. If you don't have a popup window, then click '[View]' and
then click 'Accept & Chat'. This will popup another 'Helpzilla ::
Chat' window, this one for the operator and now you can chat.

Okay, enough from me for now I have work todo ;-) Need to get working
on finishing the re-org and get the next release out.

Let me know if you have any problems or further questions. Also any
feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

--jason

Case did you make it work?

i have been rather busy and havent had a chance to get it up, im probably try to get it up and going today. This guy works on alot of other notable projects like jboss so i figure if i cant get it now... when he releases his beta or rc version...it'll work fine.

thank you :-)

has anyone been successful in setting up NiXT to work with:

1) paypal, and/or
2) autoinvoice.php using cron?

thanks in advance.

Hey stech4u,

What is this autoinvoice.php where can we have it.

Thanks

it is from NiXT... located at /scripts dir

I have installed Nixt and am playing around with it, I have it creating accounts in WHM from NIixt and customization has taken a little longer than I would have liked.
I will be working on the Billing modules soon!
I am curious how far, if any you have automated this system and if it is doing the job for you.

Originally posted by stech4u
is that what you are using bonnmac?

No I purchased ClientExec before I found it. However I have been testing it and I do like it.

Is it possible to use nixt or any of the other stuff with WHM 6?

Is it possible to use nixt or any of the other stuff with WHM 6?
I am currently playing with Nixt on WHM 6.2.0
Account setup is the easybit but the Billing Module has added a few grey's.
You can use Nixt just as a webhost account database and manually(or automatically although not recommended) approve each account. You can also use an added billing module that will make an account active once funds from your instituion have cleared.

Originally posted by jhcashman
Name cheap has NO UPFRONT COST and its only $8.88 a domain!!! i am sure there are tons of enom reseller who will give you a even better price on a retail account for NO UPFRONT COST!!!!

I could be missing something, but I don't see anything about name cheap providing a totally transparent site-integrating affiliate program. I've never seen any others, through enom or otherwise.

It's actually really sad, I'm starting to wonder if maybe domainofmyown is having some problems, but without up-front costs they're easily the best I've found without having to spend money up front and work with the registrar API...

If anyone has come up with any alternatives that ACTUALLY offer the same thing... I'd definitely like to year about it.

Originally posted by Cygnostik
I could be missing something, but I don't see anything about name cheap providing a totally transparent site-integrating affiliate program. I've never seen any others, through enom or otherwise.

It's actually really sad, I'm starting to wonder if maybe domainofmyown is having some problems, but without up-front costs they're easily the best I've found without having to spend money up front and work with the registrar API...

If anyone has come up with any alternatives that ACTUALLY offer the same thing... I'd definitely like to year about it.
:eek:

You're also missing the fact that this thread died 10 months ago :)

Simon

But you certainly read my post...


=)