Hi All,

Forgive me if I have this wrong, but say as an example, if I use WHMCS, Plesk and Kayako as all my software packages for my web hosting. Will my customer need to login to WHMCS for Billing, Plesk for server management and Kayako for support? It seems like such an unprofessional way to do it... But unless I build a custom package is it the only way?

I know that for WHMCS there is an addon to share logins with Kayako. We don't use it, but I assume your customers wouldn't need to log in separately for those two.

You can find that mod here:
http://www.whmcsmods.org/browse_products.php

Some of the skins for Cpanel/WHM have customizable links that you can use to link to your billing or support sites. V4 of Modernbill can link with Kayako using Loginshare to make things a little cleaner.

For the most part there is limited integration between the major back-end hosting software providers and you have no choice but to use multiple logins.

Hsphere does it all, and customers only have to login once.

unless I build a custom package is it the only way?
Short answer: yes.
Long(er) answer: there are solutions that integrate this, and this is what I've always found unprofessional about webhosting. Having to login separately for billing, control panel and support? Ugh.

What you could do is make your own unified login php/cgi that sets cookies compatiable with all those systems and also puts entries in all the systems sessions SQL table.. That would be pritty neat.. I've done it before for a forum and CMS, but I don't know WHMCS, Plesk and Kayako.

WHMCS has an inbuilt support desk. 2 Logins is a lot less then 3, trust me. ;)

WHMCS has an inbuilt support desk. 2 Logins is a lot less then 3, trust me. ;)
I'm not sure I agree with a built in helpdesk. That's like ATi's All in Wonder line of video cards. Not only is it a video card, but a tv tuner as well. Your other choice would have been to buy the video card and a seperate TV Tuner used in a PCI slot.

Why? If you ever want to upgrade the video card for games or something, the TV tuner doesn't have to be changed. This saves time, money, and effort.

The same concept can be applied to this - what if 2 years from now, you wanted to move away from this setup? If Kayako, Cerberus, etc. have tools to move you from the built in helpdesk to their own respective products, then sure, no issue. But if they don't, you'll have to hope that the Modernbill/WHMAP/etc. billing options will handle that well... if they don't, you're at the SOL and will need to have a custom solution made.

I personally don't agree with this and would recommend that an effort be made to allow for things to be more independent. One more thing this brings up - if this 1 script is down or having issues, then it's very likely that both sets of functionality in this script will have issues as well.

That's kind of like getting an all in one scanner/printer/copier/fax - sure, it's cost effective initially, saves space and convenient, but if it has an issue, then you have just now lost access to 4 of these important tools.

I'm not saying it can't work, but this is one train of thought I wanted to point out. If anything, it just makes you think about the choices available a bit more closely :)

Back to the OP - check around like others posted for modules allowing this. If there isn't one, suggest that one be made or ask for a price quote from those that will do this. Talk to the developers as well, maybe they'd be happy to develop something?