Well this is my first tutorial so please bare with me here...


If you are new at this then you would definetly need a reseller from a reputable company, i have used and been satisfied with Cpanel/WHM so ill be explaining that.

First go to your domain and go to the NAMESERVERS REGISTRATION form/panel and get ready to begin == Now tell your Reseller provider to setup your nameserver ips for your reseller ** Remember UNIQUE nameservers are very very profitable ** Get the IPs for the two nameservers and register them.
( If you have your own server then you would know how to do this )

For example:

I have a domain: domain.com

setup:

ns1.domain.com
ns2.domain.com

Then i go to my WHM Root Panel and add those ns and assigned them IPs, THEN i ADD an 'A' Entry for the assigned ip, now the ns is available for registration and it can be added via the DOMAIN PANEL at your Domain Registrar.


Now do remember you will need a dedicated ip to put all the shared customers on, its better because by doing this no one can look up sites on your server (on main server ip).

Now setup a subdomain for your billing software, as subdomains are much easier to access and give a little bit of that pro look.

And now for the billing software, DO NOT BUY any software at your first try, go for a TRIAL for 30 days and if not satisfied just get anything else , i learned that the hard way...buying a billing system on your first run si not a good choice no matter how much research you do working with the software is totally different.

Ive used ModernBill 30 day FREE Trial and have been learning it alot, and after you have the billing software ready you can work on the template.

Now the reason i save the template for the main site for last is because im not sure what the billing page will be like and now that i know i have a clear vision of what i want..


** Some pointers if you are getting a reseller from a company**


Always get a reseller WITH FANTASTICO + RVSKins
Always get unique nameservers
Only on Dual or Quad processor servers
Check for server load
Look them up for any bad records
Look for blacklisted servers
ALWAYS DOUBLE CHECK
Check their TOS for restrictions on content
Also check TOS for server RESOURCE USAGE
Go with established companies only
BUT new comers have empty servers so keep an open mind :).

Hope that helped.

Regards

Thanks Dluzion, Nice Guide : Not bad for a first one ;)

Is there a part 2 coming ? :D

Not to shabby for the first one. Im learning alot from all the input from everyone.

RobinLD yes there will be a part 2, this tutorial was just to test the waters and see if i get any warnings on what i can and cannot say here.

Ive learned alot in a year alotta goods and bads.

Thanks. Some good pointers on there. Can forward alot of the ppl on the other boards to this thread

Thanks Jonaid!
I left out some points on there because i wasnt sure if they can be discussed here.
Next tutorial will be much better!

Only on Dual or Quad processor servers

Why do you say that should be a requirement? I don't think that's a necessity even if it is a common trait among certain groups of hosts. I think that the kind of hardware can say something about a company, but as long as the loads are kept under control, why does it matter?

Only on Dual or Quad processor servers

Why do you say that should be a requirement? I don't think that's a necessity even if it is a common trait among certain groups of hosts. I think that the kind of hardware can say something about a company, but as long as the loads are kept under control, why does it matter?
Exactly. It's not the hardware used but rather the performance on the hardware. A quad processor / dual proc dual core system will be bogged down if thousands of dynamic sites are placed on it. In that case, a Celeron with 20 dynamic sites will perform better.

I agree. Although the more server grunt the better, imo, but it's not a prerequisate to maintaining low load and responsive servers. Like layer0 said, that can be achieved with Celeron servers, although the cost efficiencies of such (extra colo space, more licensing etc) might be a tad tight.

Agreed, that's why I mentioned it can say something about the company :)

Good job on your first guide, nice read. I liked Part 2 as well.

Dluzion, quily tutorial mate

Excellent well-written guide. Had a very easy flow to it.

Hi Eric... What is the billing software for exactly? If you have a merchant account with your bank do you still need it? Can you use Plesk for everything?

Hey tomy, I have no experience with plesk but i have heard some good things about it, and billing systems are a compliation of files that make account creation and payment handling much easier, standard hosts use clientexec modernbill...etc

The better your billing software the more attractive you are to your clients, it shows that you are committed to your business.

Large scale hosts have custom billing softwares made for them for better look.

Hope that helps :)

Ahhhh ok thanks Eric that does help... So I'd need two types of software then, Billing Software and Control Panel Software? And woukld they work independently of each other... meaning that 'client_a' would sit in my billing software db and also in my control panel db?

Yep you will need 2 softwares, keep in mind control panels are necassart in any situation.

And if yes both dbs work together all clients that sign up for hosting via your billing software will be entered in your billing db as well as cpanel db.

Example:

ClientExec + Cpanel

With integration for auto account creation, all accounts are made via the clientexec's control panel and entries are entered in both places.


Billing system si the best way to manage your business, its an easy way to handle chaos ;)

If you get a dedicated server or a VPS you can step up to Hsphere, that does billing, account creation, everything all in one!

Thanks for the tutorial. When is part II?

Its already out along with part 3

Part 2

http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=547427


Part 3

http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=557801

cx.eric you are the best man keep up the good work

Nice tutorials

Thanks for the tutorial. I used it during the development of my new hosting company (coming soon), with a few small changes.

why we take 2 IPS...?

@mudassirjaved, I think you're referring to the nameservers (ns1.yourcompany.com / ns2.yourcompany.com).. with every host you should be getting at least 2, if not 4. Do some reading on how nameservers work, that will help a lot.

Thanxs a lot

Thanks, this is really useful for me :)

Thanks, this is really useful for me :)
I agree a very useful topic. 2 AND 3 is also avalible which are useful too.

Thanks for this would be better if it had some more information, would be good for the in experienced people!

I think WHMCS is a great piece of billing software and is definitely a very good option for anyone who wants to use an automated decent system. Also it's price is not too bad considering the hastle it will save you and the efficency it offers customers.

Modernbill i have never tried so maybe i am a bit biased but so far so good with WHMCS! :)

I think WHMCS is a great piece of billing software and is definitely a very good option for anyone who wants to use an automated decent system. Also it's price is not too bad considering the hastle it will save you and the efficency it offers customers.

Modernbill i have never tried so maybe i am a bit biased but so far so good with WHMCS! :)
WHMCS is top notch. Matt and the team over at WHMCS provides outstanding support and there are a ton of mods to customise it. It beats the pants of ModernBill. Definatly a Thumbs Up :)

To tell the truth so far i havn't had any problems that i couldn't work out how to fix just by getting PHP to display errors in the configuration.php file. Usually to my own editing where i have missed something hehe.

So far very good. :)

why we take 2 IPS...?

As someone said before, you must make the 2 name servers. I would even suggest having more than 2 IPs, 4 would be more desirable. Why 4? Because:
1. you will use 2 IPs for the nameservers
2. you will use 1 IP for your website and the websites of your clients.
3. most probably, nobody is going to order from you unless your billing software uses SSL, so you need an additional IP for that subdomain.
4. I would even add 1 more IP so I can host my website on 1 and my clients on the other one. It doesn't look nice if someone is checking the IP of your website and the IP of some of your customer sites and finds out it is the same.

Very nice guide, covering some starter points (y)

Very Good information for me

yeah, good job. I am looking forward to the next tutorial I've been having trouble finding a good billing system.

Nice tutorial. It will certainly be useful for anyone that may want to start a new hosting business.

Thanks, very informative for me who is just starting out =).

Thank for this tutorial. :agree:
Can you post the link to the Part2 (or subsequent parts) if they have been already released?
Thank you. :wht:

These tutorials are very helpful for starting a hosting industry

nice tutorial I will keep this in mind as I have already started a hosting provider

incredible article...

I need a merchant and credit car processing company for my FILEHOSTING website.

For billing I would recommend WHMCS, but is lil expensive. But its usability is amazing. ClientExec is another solution. It is a cheaper solution as well. For server providers awbs will be a good choice, since it does have a lot of options.

Nice tutorial

Just wonderful ! Very nice tutorial !

thank you... i m starting my hosting business... would be good for me.

Thank you!

This is a great tutorial and help me to solve some issues I was facing,

Great tutorial. Thank you very much!