Are there any other integrated solutions and control panels that will also work with W2k servers?

What's the point of getting a solution that will only work with *nix and then you decide you want to offer w2k as well (never say never!!) - but have to get another control panel for it and then have to make it work with your paid for integrated pricing and charging solution.

Well, there is alsom ensim, but serverXchange is pretty expensive, certainly more so than H-Sphere.

There is also sphera, but I don't know anything about them.

Keep in mind that H-sphere needs at least one linux server.

Peter

Thanks Peter,

I relise the h-sphere runs on *nix, I'll actually only have one windows server to start with, but obviously need a control panel for it.

I have requested details and pricing from sphera, lets hope it not too much!!

Cheers

Oh, forgot to mention, there also hostingcontroller.com, but I heard its buggy.

Ensim also has a standalone windows version of its control panel, if I am not mistaken. Which is probably less expensive.

Peter

Anyone know how much does sphera cost??

I know about HostingContoller, don't like it very much but it does seem to be the only w2k stand alone solution that doesn't cost a fortune.

I like the full package that h-sphere provides - although some of the features on the w2k cp are missing, like protected folders and custom errors.

I also like the look of this HostGui - but no support for windows, but they say they will consider this later in the year - which is no good for me as I need something now!!

Maybe I'll end up writing my own solution - the only way I can get everything I want!!

When I get details on sphera I'll post them here.

Thanks

Just so you know, if you do decide to write your own, microsoft has a free adminscript on their site. You can customize and enhance that instead of starting from stratch.

Please consider releasing the script if you do develop it, for free or for profit.

Peter

Originally posted by ckpeter
Just so you know, if you do decide to write your own, microsoft has a free adminscript on their site.

You don't even have to go so far. Look under your inetpub directory, there should be a adminscripts dir there. At least a start with scripts to create a virtual WWW/FTP site, start/stop sites etc.

I have started coding a cp starting from these myself, but I have less and less time to do these things, family ( keeps growing :) ) and my regular business comes first you know.

I don't think I'll be going with Sphera just yet!!!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2 SERVER Implementation

2 x HostingDirector Licence 3.22 [available Linux/Solaris]

1 x On-site day of training

1 x year of support (basic / 10 SPR's)

1 x year of mtce [updates for 3.22]


The cost of above is; $4960



5 SERVER Implementation

2 x HostingDirector Licence 3.22 [available Linux/Solaris]

1 x On-site day of training

1 x year of support (basic / 10 SPR's)

1 x year of mtce [updates for 3.22]


The cost of above is; $9600

After that we have a per license cost of approx. $280 per physical Server per month - we currently changing the pricing and I will be able to give you better details shortly. So in the meanwhile you could start either with the 2 or 5 server Intro/Pilot Pack.
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The whole thing does look good - but - bloody hell - who can afford this!!? (except the obvious)

Oh, my...

Never actually seen the prices, but this was unbelievable.

Just the $280 per physical Server per month would be too much if you ask me.

We had a deal we worked out with sphera to offer them exclusive, but when their own techs couldnt install their software on 3 different servers, i was like ummm no...

well I've done the research, costed in some problems that arise.

Ensim, H-shpere, and sphere are all good products.

Now, in my views, it depends on where you are at in the revenue stream and accounts to deciede where you want to play and how many resources (defined as labor ) you are willing to unload.

I'm under a non-disclosure agreement with Ensim, and Sphera. I can disclose the following because it's on there web sites and some people might not know.

based on spending $ 13,000

1) certain products require 1U or 2U within your rack.
this is another cost related item that must be looked at. this adds an expense of atleast 40 per month and or the lost income of web sites = 2000+

Trade off is the exact knowing of bandwidth. every drop is a billable.


2) certain products will require thier own stand alone server.
again the loss of a location of earning, central point of failure

trade off, ease of backup and most likely centralized reporting and management services. ( therefore a labor cost reduction )

3) some do not have open forums.

Well this is the most important to me. If I can't ask for help in the open forum then I got to pay (use) a help ticket.

4) some service agreements are way out of line.

wait till some of you look at the agreements, those that sign the nda's have somethings to look at. Also look at the long term cost of owning such an agreement.

now don't forget some of the greater benifit's like central management and billing. good reports, sometime even source code.

Mike of Adehost

Owner Of Adehost.com

How could it cost $280 per month per server when companies like Dialtone offer it bundled with a server for $395 per month? DT must be getting them very cheap.

Dialtone gets a deal on the licenses for Sphera, but trust me, you don't want to go near Sphera.

Check this out:

http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showt...ighlight=Sphera

and this:

Actual snippets of emails from customers (some ex-customers ) using the CURRENT version of Sphera:


> I am beginning to have VERY serious doubts about the ability of the
> Sphera
> folks to provide anywhere near a decent hosting product. Their package has
> had so many problems that it is beyond me that they even took it to beta
> yet let alone full production.

and

> I still get 'page not found' about half the time when I first try to
> open any of the Sphera domains. Today I got the following email errors.
>
> It is working now, but this is still an issue to me regardless of what the
> Sphera guys say...
>
> At 9:35:07 Mail failed first with; ERR POP Service disabled, then
>
> ERR Sorry, no mailbox here.


and

> I'm sorry, but I start being very disappointed with the service.
>
> This whole systems turns out to be extremely fragile and inoperative.
>
> 1. When a VDS reaches the disk limit, the site goes down. Can you
> imagine the extreme dangers of this situation? It means that all domains
> hosted on the system can be easily shut down by ANYONE on the internet,
> simply by sending a couple of large emails. This is completely
> unacceptable.
>
> 2. Then, when a VDS reaches it's quota limit, from the Control Panel,
> it's impossible to increase it's quota, an error message "User xxxxx
> exceeds disk quota limit" and the site stays down.
>
> 3. Disk quotas should be dynamic. It's completely unacceptable a domain
> goes down because of disk quotas while we don't even use 20% of our real
> 500 Mb. quota. Sometimes, large emails can be received by ANY domain. Of
> course it's impossible to scale all VDS's to take care of that punctual
> and temporal situation.
>
> 4. Last week we were unable to log into the Reseller Control Panel. We
> had to email you to reset the password.
>
> 5. I created the xxxxx.com VDS... and it's still unused, but right
> now I'm unable to send email to xxxxx.net or x***********, just
> because my reply-to address is @xxxxx.com. And now even worse: The
> mails just get lost, I don't even receive the messages returned. This is
> an error of the SPHERA software. This is very annoying and to me,
> another proof of failing software design.
>
> Right now, xxxxxx.net is down, because I tried to install urchin on
> the VDS. It turned out to occupy 5 Mb. The VDS exceeded the quota and
> now the only way to solve the problem is: FTP data out of the VDS,
> increase the quota, and FTP the data back into the VDS. Do you think
> this is acceptable? To me, it's not.

AND

> Well, you can't say that I did not try...
>
> The Sphera service has been nothing but trouble from day one.
> I spend most of my time trying to figure out why things that worked
> one day do not the next. Or why things that should work simply do not.
>
> I ahve had to rig each individual email accounty in my office to get them
> to work. Some will send, but not receive mail. Some can get mail but always
> error on sending. I had to install a personal SMTP server on several user
> machines here just so they could send email...
>
>
> I have been sending tech support snips of my error logs
> that show the server shutting itself down, and refusing to restart...the
> worst
> example was a four day vacation. Then it mysteriously re-appears.
>
> This is not the least expensive hosting solution available...but I am
> willing
> to pay a little more for the quality service we have had from your company
> in
> the past.
>
> Unfortunately, the Sphera solution has fallen way short of my worst
> expectations.

At some point we had to say "Enough is enough" and cut our losses. I just don't want others to make the same mistake we did. Judging from the posts I've seen regarding Jumpline, their customers are not too happy either....

Check out www.webservercp.com -- when it opens up that is ;) -- and no, it's not my web site. It's a good Windows control panel, that's all..