Good afternoon (well it is here):D

Anyways, as the topic stated.. I would like professional opinions from the views of all those running a web hosting business.

Let me state a few things before I start posting questions so you all will get a better idea at where I stand at:
Lack of Hosting Knowledge
I got no knowledge on how this works. This is why I signed up for a reseller package to learn it all.
I already checked out a lot of tutorials that was posted on a few topics here. Also I checked and read the documents on WHM and Cpanel. While I did read it all, my lack of understanding completely varies depending on the subject and factor.
Website Knowledge
My website is generally on video games and gameplay videos (via torrent). I basically use HTML/XHTML/JS/CSS to create my templates and webpages.
I am currently self-teaching myself on the usage of PHP although it is not fairly gotten anywhere much. I really don't see any true benefit of using it on my personal webpage currently compared to a more public website that uses databases (which PHP would be more useful).
I have two message boards, one for discussion while the other is specifically modded for bittorrent server usage for my own personal gameplay videos (legal). Both uses PHPBB which I included my own personal modified PHP mods (from learning php heh).
Overview of my goals
The main goal of ordering a reseller package is because:
So I don't have to depend on my ISP webpage if I ever move around. Having a near-static website location is always less pain (assuming the host is reliable).
I can learn how WHM, Cpanel works.. plus learn how to do what all web hosting business does (creating accounts, setting packages, support, etc).
All-in-one learning experience.. great deal!
Business Standpoint
Two companies have hired me to create their webpages.
Basically an informant type webpage for common info and contact information (very easy stuff for me).
No SSL ordering or anything needed currently but in the future (months from now) they would like one.
As they are new to the technology as I am knew to this type of experience, we both understand this will be a learning process for myself (as the admin of my clients).
Luckily they are VERY close friends so they understand that this is all a learning experience while gaining the knowledge to create a suitable AND official business webhosting relationship.
Finally.. reseller account information
Here is what I have for my reseller account
06 gig of webspace
75 gig of bandwidth
unlimited email/ftp
unlimited domains (parked/addon/sub)
unlimited MySQL Database Currently for my own account, there is no set limit for me. :D
I already blew 35MB of bandwidth in two days because I was messing around with database and such for my pbpBB forum (creating, deleting, editing, understand how it works).

For my two clients.. I pretty much used WHM to create a package:
1 gig of webspace
10 gig of bandwidthSo with 2 clients.. that's 2 gig of webspace and 20 gig of bandwidth reserved for them (meaning I have 4gig of webspace and 55gig of bandwidth left for myself).

There is NO charge since I am currently under their employment as their IT and this is all a learning experience as well as testing the host I signed up with. I was planning to charge probably $5 later once I understood the whole business (not including SSL which would be an extra $2.. since that is what my host stated if I need that).

Like I said, this is just the planning phase but testing the abilites of the host.. so the package will change later on as well as the pricing since it is not set in stone.


Let's get on with the questions shall we? :)
WHM questions01) On the package I created, I left the options "Unlimited" for Max FTP Accounts, Max Email Accounts, Max Email Lists, Max Databases, Max Sub Domains.

Is that a good idea or should I adjust it? I don't know if it affects bandwidth but considering my package when I ordered from the host is "unlimited", I figured I should leave it like that for my clients too.

02) Max Parked Domains & Max Addon Domains is set on "0". Any opinions on this?

03) Dedicated IP is "NOT Checked", CGI Access is "Checked", Frontpage Extensions is "NOT Checked" (since I am the one creating their webpage via notepad). Any opinions on this?

Obviously Quota is 1000 MB and Bandwidth is 10000 MB.
Structure questions04) How is the heirarchy structure like? Is it like my username (which I gotten when I signed up my host) is my [ROOT], and my own domain is a [DIR] of the root while my clients will have a [DIR] under my [ROOT]?

Looking like:

[ROOT - "pers1xyj3" (LL's username account when signed up with host)]
|
----- [DIR - "themasterll.net" my video game website]
| |
| -------- [SUB DIR - "messageboard.themasterll.net" my msgboard phpbb2]
| |
| -------- [SUB DIR - "bittorrent.themasterll.net" my torrent tracker]
|
|
|
----- [DIR - Client #1 account "company.com" main website index]
| |
| -------- [SUB DIR - "forum.company.com" message board]
|
|
|
----- [DIR - Client #2 account "zzz.com" main website index]
|
-------- [SUB DIR - something]


could someone clairify how it is structured?

I believe my WHM is the [ROOT] access where I can create package/accounts, while my CPANEL is my [DIR] for my own domain (themasterll.net) which is it's own directory of my account.

Please correct me if I'm right or wrong.
Access questions05) For the clients.. I know they have CPANEL access since it is their website and such. But is there a limit on what they can use compared to myself? I'm sure they do not have their own WHM.

06) I'm sure you noticed based on the structure I've shown as my plan.. I do not have a website to offer my service as a host (even though I'm using a reseller package).. this is because as stated, it is a learning experience on how it works AND figure out my business strageties (after the learning) before I will make a webspage for that.

When that time comes, I'll just create another account (with a different domain name) for that since "themasterll.net" is my own private website and not commerical.

That is all I can think for now... I have more such as SSL forms but I saw Fantasico can install some nice "order forms" and even "support with chat/tickets/etc" which is pretty sweet (but not necessary currently).


Thank you for your time and my apologies for the long post.. but it is better to understand my situation and knowledge to better answer my questions right? ;)

Any suggestions, comments plus answering all my questions is greatly appreciated.

In the meanwhile, back to messing around with WHM and Cpanel again!

- LL

Wow... that's a lot of questions. You may not get a lot of replies because of how many quetions you've asked.... but I'll try to share with you what I know ;)

A good rule of thumb with WHM is to not set your limits to "unlimited". Even if your provider has given you unlimited resources, that's rarely the case. I've said this before... if anyone can show me an unlimited-storage hard drive, I'll show you how to get very wealthy ;)

Do not set the MySQL databases to unlimited. It's a good idea to limit this number. Force your customers to ask you for more if they need more. Typically no one will use more than 5 or 10 anyway (if they use any at all).

Max Parked Domains and Add-on Domains. If you set these to unlimited, you may be missing out on upgrade opportunities. Try creating different account plans to sell. Perhaps your entry level account doesn't allow any addon or parked domains, and your customers have to pay more for that feature? Just some thoughts.

Dedicated IP is typically not needed unless customer wants their own SSL certificate.

Checking CGI bin can't hurt anything

No need to check FrontPage unless you're using FrontPage to create the website.

I can't help you with the structure questions.... perhaps someone else can...

Every account you create in WHM will have it's own CPanel access. Their limits will be dependent on what you assign to those accounts when you create them.

Even your own account has CPanel access, and it's limits are defined as well. Even though your provider gave you "unlimited resources" for your reseller plan, that doesn't mean your main CPanel account was setup that way..... and it shouldn't be. You should only setup accounts based on the resources you'll need, plus a little extra for comfort. If you need more, you can always make changes through WHM.

I hope this helps with some of your questions. Best of luck :)

Regards,

Rob.

Personally, I'm really glad to see you asking all of these questions! If there were more new people on these forums that are taking things as seriously as you are, the industry would be a much better place to be a part of! There wouldn't be as many fly-by-nights that no nothing.

Anyways, let me get around to answering you're questions! If I skip over one, I apologize. I've slightly edited your questions just so their a bit more understandable from your point!

Q: Is is a good idea to offer unlimited account resources?
A: Personally, I see nothing wrong with offering unlimited e-mail accounts, FTP accounts and sub-domains. However when it comes to disk space and bandwidth, please do not allot unlimited to those resources! It simply does not exist, and this would be known as overselling (this is looked down upon). Overselling is pretty self explanatory: you are selling over what you have!

Since you are on a reseller account, be sure your plans don't exceed what your account is actually alloted! This is also known as overselling and as I mentioned, this is looked down upon.

Q: Is what I have checked fine (CGI, Frontpage, etc.)?
A: Definetly. There really isn't any need for a website to need a dedicated IP address(es) unless they will need an SSL certificate or private DNS (since these require their own IP address). Even if you don't plan on using Frontpage Extensions, its not going to hurt anything checking them.

Q: Is the structure I have displayed correct?
A: I can definetly tell you put some time into making that look pretty! From what I can see, yes, that is absolutely correct. You have you're reseller account (WHM) and all of your websites and clients fall under that, having it be their own cPanel (as an answer to your other question, your clients receive cPanel access as you know as well as webmail access. They do not receive WHM access).

Once you actually get started with your own company, my advice would be to shy away from the systems within Fantastico. Even though they are decent and open-source (the live chat and ticketing systems are fine), the billing system itself should be purchased from a service provider offering just that (such as ModernBill (http://modernbill.com), Ubersmith (http://ubersmith.com), etc.). Even though these do require a bit more technical knowledge to install, once they are installed its pretty easy to setup.

If you continue at the rate you are going at the present time (asking questions and doing this much research), when you finally do open you will do wonderful! As I mentioned above, if there were more "new-comers" like you, the industry would not be as over-loaded with fly-by-night operations as it is!

Good luck learning and getting things started up! If you have any other questions, feel free to contact me directly or just make a post!

Thank you very much for the answers demowolf and Trophimus!
I am aware that this huge first post with so much words would kind of push many away people from answering due to the size of it.

But in my mind, if I don't explain everything clearly.. answers from you all won't be clear in a sense of what I needed to know.

Again, I appreciated that you all took your time to read and answer it. :)

I took both of your responses to edit that package... it is now:
Max FTP Accounts = unlimited
Max Email Accounts = unlimited
Max Email Lists = 3
Max Database = 3
Max Subdomain = 3
Max Parked Domains = 0
Max Addon Domains = 0
Dedicated IP = no
Shell Access = no
CGI Access = yes
Frontpage Extensions = no
Max Quota 1000 MB (1 gig)
Max Bandwidth 10000 MB (10 gig)That should look more respectable now based on your suggestions.

Here's 2 more questions I have:
Q1) What is "Max Parked Domains" and "Max Addon Domains" best used for?

I'm taking a wild guess that it is good for the situation I have. One of the company has about 5 domain names. I am waiting for their reply to see which of those 5 will be the "main domain" to sign up for the account. Am I correct to assume that the "Max Addon Domains" or "Max Parked Domains" would be for those other 4 domain names they have to direct to their main domain name they choose when signing up the account?

Basically they registered all 5 domain names .. and all 5 will point to the URL of what the main domain name will be to.


I would test it.. but I afraid that I might mess up the DNS redirect or worse if I played around. Meaning?

I create an account and just choose one of their domain names, check out how it is.. and later delete that account when they officially decide on the package + main domain name.

I'm afraid of that test because deleting would screw up the location where their domain name is suppose to go to (hence a 404 or something)... which I don't want to mess up on.


Q2) Once the quota for my client is met.. they can't over-add anymore correct?
Meaning, if I set them a limit on quota (which I assume would include EVERYTHING from their webpage to email to database), I should be safe from being over-quota for my account.

So if they hit the 1gig limit, they won't be able to do anything until I increase their limit or delete something.

Am I right on this?

-------------

As for the Structure remark... yes, I decided to "draw" that diagram because it is simpler to look and understand than saying [ROOT], [SUBDIR], etc lol.

Thanks for answering it.. because I wanted to be organized and hence make sure I understood how the structure is. After all, I don't want to find out my client's folders and such would end up in my own "directory" (which would make my organization messy).

--------------

I must admit Fantastico looks persuasive in using... I realized that all they do is like a 3rd party installer for bunch of free-licensed software. That could be a problem considering when one is not updated.

Honestly, I'm just using Fantastico to look at what is avaliable.. then I click on to that "software" official website to read more and stuff (rather than letting Fantastico install it). This puts less risks in being out-of-date or something goes wrong in the installation from a 3rd party software.

While I don't need those nifty "Support/Ticket" program and "Billing System" since my clients can directly call me or meet me at work... I know I will need to have it in the future.

Luckily I don't have to worry about right now as I got more important matters to understand first before offering my services to the public (doing all the stuff that was discussed in this topic).

----------------------------

I must admit this will take me a long while to learn.. but this is a great experience since I love working with hardware, softwares and programming... basically anything on computers and I'm interested :stickout:

Thank you all again, if you have any more suggests/corrections/info, please feel free to post!

PS- I should've said "experienced opinions" instead of "profssional opinions" on my topic title... sadly I can't edit it now.


- LL

Max Parked Domains:
A parked domain is when you want a second (or 3rd, or 4th) domain name resolving to the main website. SO if your main domain is mydomain.com, and you want myotherdomain.com to also show the exact same website, then you set it up as a parked domain. There's no problem allowing lots of parked domains in an account. Most people would only use a few anyways.

Max Addon Domains:
Addon domains are used when you allow a customer to have a second (or 3rd or 4th) domain name that points to a sub-directory with the main account. It allows customers to essentially have multiple websites with their own domain names, all within one hosting account. The only difference, is that addon domains don't have their own cPanel login. I personally never liked giving away too many addon domains, since it takes away from the possibility of selling more hosting accounts to people who need more. But these days, it seems everyone is giving away lots of things like this ;)

Quotas:
Yes, quotas include everything from webspace to email storage, etc. Once a cPanel account's quota is met, then they will no longer be able to upload any more files. Worse still, if their quota is full, they won't receive any more emails either.... until either they remove files to free some space, or until their quota is increased.

Fantastico is very popular. Keep in mind that if you are offering Fantastico, most programs within Fantastico require 1 MySQL database when setting up. So if someone wants to use 5 Fantastico programs, then they'll need 5 free MySQL database connections.

I hope that helps :)

Regards,

Rob.

doesn't your host have a tech department? sheesh

doesn't your host have a tech department? sheesh



support-LESS

Thanks demowolf, I'll keep in mind about Fantasico.. although I'll probably won't even recommend it being used for my two clients.


doesn't your host have a tech department? sheesh
You see... there is a huge difference between asking my host's tech department and a forum with many many people with different experiences who can voice their own opinions on any subjects, which allows a more broad range in learning and understanding in business.

questions are part of what makes a forum a forum.

remember those whom complain about it and avoid their services, apparently you won't get good support from them as they have objections to questions.

doesn't your host have a tech department? sheesh
His questions are not support related, but business related, so very suited to a forum such as this. :)

2 years ago I was almost exactly where you are now MasterLL!

I reckoned that "the only way to do something is to - DO IT!" (after my own basic research first)

So waded in boots and all - knowing very little - I know a helluva lot now, just by doing - logically and carefully. Running 56 client accounts at the moment and growing slow but steady.

The fact that you are doing your research correctly tells me that you cannot fail with this.

The web itself has all the information you need when you get stuck - and great forums (fora?) like this one, of course are a tremendous asset.

Hope you enjoy great success!