Hello all,
I was wondering which control panel most resellers prefer.
Which control panel is easiest for a new user to use. I will be running CentOS
on the linux boxes. I am currently running CentOS 4.3 on Ensim Pro 4.1 only.
I am looking to run a few win2k3 boxes as well, but not sure if its worth it.
Do you as resellers like win2k3 boxes? If you do, what CP do you prefer?
Id like to offer both linux and windows box, but I just dont want to have the win2k3 boxes not getting sold.

Thank you in advanced,
Calvin

I would suggest cpanel for linux and helm control panel for windows.

Where these control panel's are easy to manage/administer at the both the user and the admin level.

Greetings Calvin:

If you are going to be providing shared and reseller hosting on Unix and Windows whereby you want to manage the physical machines involved as a cluster, please consider H-Sphere from http://www.psoft.net/

H-Sphere provides complete hosting automation which includes a control panel for the hosting provider, the reseller, and the end user customers of both.

H-Sphere allows for multi-domain hosting across one to many servers which can be running various operating systems -- CentOS, FreeBSD, RedHat Enterprise, Trustix, Windows 200x -- and located at various locations. Yes, your cluster can be spread apart in various data centers around the world (though mysql servers should be in the same network segment as the web servers to keep latency low).

H-Sphere allows for instant sign ups with fraud prevention through signup guard; and there are add on's to help with fraud prevention from http://www.hspheretemplates.com/

H-Sphere licenses recycle automatically so as accounts are deleting, the licenses are automatically freed up to be re-assigned automatically later.

While H-Sphere has an extreme learning curve compared to systems which are just another control panel, once you get past the learning curve hump, the rest is down hill (where as most just another control panel systems there is no easy ride after a hump, it is the same pace for years).

Positive Software’s documentation team does very good work. Just a few weeks ago, we had an opportunity to work with cpanel. The documentation comparison is completely day and night.

Where as Positive Software organizes documentation for H-Sphere by category – system administration, administration, reseller, end user – there was no such organization for cpanel.

While Positive Software organizes documentation within each category where information from one document supports information from another document, not only was there no such organization for the cpanel documentation, but there were often end user contributed documentation, not all of which was in complete agreement with the other documentation.

The Positive Software support team has a good response time compared to others in the industry. While they do have areas to grow in terms of providing more detailed responses than “we fixed it,” they react promptly in comparison to others.

We moved to H-Sphere for our own hosting division several years ago. The move immediately saved us the annual cost of two employees – one in accounting, and one in support; and later on a lot more.

Thank you.

I would suggest DiectAdmin for linux

Is it possible to delete your existing control panel from your site and install whichever one you wish?>
Thanks

I dont have much experience with Linux boxes but for Windows 2003 boxes Hosting Controller is the best choice. The interface is quite user friendly and the features it has are great. It has three levels 1. host 2. reseller 3. end user. Plus an inbuilt billing system which to me is an added advantage.

H-Sphere :)

H-Sphere is great...id recommend that :)

Yet another thread on the same old subject here in this forum.... :)

For linux, don't use any control panel but cPanel and for windows, its always comes down to Hosting Controller or Helm.


Blessed.

For linux, don't use any but DirectAdmin ;)

For new users, I think DA is best - especially as it has the site-helper.com site with tutorials on how to use it. It offers reseller access, but I understand a lot of people prefer cpanel simply because they've heard its 'the' control panel.

Ultimately, its up to you - everyone will say this panel's better than that, and we're all right if they work.

if i were you, i would use VHCS for the CentOS (as it is free, and the community offers good free support for newcomers) and i would use H-Sphere for windows

our resellers stats - for linux:

cPanel - 70%
Plesk - 20%
others - 10% ;)

Hi,
Thanks everyone.
cPanel sure is popular. Who leases these control panels?
Thanks,
Calvin

if i were you, i would use VHCS for the CentOS (as it is free, and the community offers good free support for newcomers) and i would use H-Sphere for windows


Hsphere requires that the Control Panel be installed on a linux machine. After that, you can add windows boxes for web and DB servers.

??? You have to install h-sphere on linux and then add windows on top of it? I dont get it.
Calvin

Hsphere allows for multiple servers to be grouped together to form your hosting setup. You can spread all of the services (mail, http, db, windows) on different boxes that are all tied to the Control Panel server. To sum it up, it allows you to sell both linux and windows hosting by adding a windows based server to the cluster.

I was tempted to get H-Sphere Single Server edition for a new server that's coming online this afternoon, but when I tried to buy from the psoft website, there was no way I could actually purchase a licence, I signed up, could see a masterkey, but couldn't actually get to the part where i'd get a download link / payment.
A shame really because I've heard good things of H-Sphere (from here and elsewhere).
I was espeically interested in their 50% off promotion...

Am I missing something really obvious? Or is there indeed something wrong with their online shop?

Thanks

I was tempted to get H-Sphere Single Server edition for a new server that's coming online this afternoon, but when I tried to buy from the psoft website, there was no way I could actually purchase a licence, I signed up, could see a masterkey, but couldn't actually get to the part where i'd get a download link / payment.
A shame really because I've heard good things of H-Sphere (from here and elsewhere).
I was espeically interested in their 50% off promotion...

Am I missing something really obvious? Or is there indeed something wrong with their online shop?

Thanks

Hi

http://www.psoft.net/HSdocumentation/admin/single_server_edition.html#run

The way it works, you use your master key for all your SSE installs, this does a call home wich we use to count your used licenses, at the end of the month you get invoiced for the licenses used the prior month

so just use the Master key it gave you and you are all set :)

what if it doesnt work? (as in the person can't get H-Sphere to work) how do you keep from being billed?

If you cant get Hsphere to work, there are a few options you have. You can pay psoft to install it or you can pay a 3rd party to install it. That being said, if you follow the directions at http://www.psoft.net/HSdocumentation/sysadmin/preparing_servers.html, you shouldnt have to many issues.

so instead of being able to demo it, they just rip everyone off...

We use CPanel on Centos, works really well.

so instead of being able to demo it, they just rip everyone off...

How exacly do you figure that out ?

We provide with both online demo and 30 day trial licenses .. so please inform yourself before making such allegations

then maybe you should put a link to where you can get the 30 day licenses.... and by demo i meant install it on your own server (as of now i know that you can, but not easily, because you have to e-mail them to get the license)

DA For The Win ~~

then maybe you should put a link to where you can get the 30 day licenses.... and by demo i meant install it on your own server (as of now i know that you can, but not easily, because you have to e-mail them to get the license)

It's right on the main page "Free Trial"

wich leads you to info on how to download the software and request the liense

http://www.psoft.net/free_trial.html

yeah this is a tired debate but it doesnt hurt to get multiple feedbacks. I know we done discussed it before and basically the conclusion was admins and resellers dont like cpanel as much but customers do and thats all that matters.

I will say that Im a big DA fan besides the way it runs apache. i try and talk some people into using it, even to the point of converting and restoring their cpanel accounts to work on it. And when they try it they like it. Its simple, fast, and easy.

Cpanel is way cluttered even at the user level for me. And plesk with the all the javascript, page loading frames, and it doesnt like the back button too much - I wouldnt use it. Not very popular with customers either.

I had used plesk before with one of the 30 domain deals and I notice there isnt much you can do server admin wise. Was lacking lots of features on all levels and their prices is outrageous. I emailed their support once asked them how I could upgrade horde during that last rfi found in it and they sent me a link to buy some expensive support

I wish DirectAdmin was mre popular with customers. I guess I need to setup and link my demos from my hosting iste.

For Windows i would suggest to use Plesk. In my opinion this is the most developed and integrated control panel.