I've had reseller hosting accounts for a couple years and developed this theory...everything is great when servers are new, but inevitably slow down and get screwed up as sites are piled on.

Is my theory is off base?

No, your theory is, unfortunately, very true.

That is the difference between a host that oversells to the extreme, and one that is reasonable. The latter group does not have the problem of servers that slow down.

These guys who oversell offer all that space and transfer, and of course its wonderful at first and they get great reviews. They make a quick buck, and then everything falls apart when their customers begin to actually USE the space the host promised them.

Now the host doesn't have as much cash coming in and can't afford to upgrade servers or add new ones.

If you are tired of this routine, then find a host that offers reasonable packages at a fair price. Its that simple.

It also comes down to hosts that have sys admins that actually care and login to their servers daily as well as monitor the servers 24/7 for load spikes and actually investigate them, if theres a given customers site violating TOS that needs to be shutdown then it should in fact be done. We have a 0 tolerance policy at OTSH for those who use excessive resources on our servers.

Good point, onthespot. Its a given that a host who neglects to properly manage their servers will have server trouble, regardless of how many sites are on the server.

Usage on a server where resellers are being hosted will gradually increase after the moment the server is market as filled by the reseller hosting provider, as resellers grow their businesses and continually add more end user accounts to the server. The provider must provide enough room for growth and/or move some resellers once the server starts to overload.

However, this becomes impossible if the reseller hosting provider has priced the accounts so low that it cannot afford the extra servers that are needed. The result then is chronic server overloading. Of course, this may happen even if the host can afford extra servers, but refuses to make this expense.

The same goes on shared hosting, but the usage growth will be considerably more limited.

Idcdc,
This is not the case in all control panels. Hsphere, for example, allows you to continue adding servers and letting resellers grow across several servers. So as long as your cluster admins continue to add servers the resellers can add as many domains/customers as they can sell and nothing slows down.

A business model is the same whether it is applied to a server or a cluster. It may take longer to catch up in a clustered environment, but clustering can not compensate for a poor business model.

Good theory, but not applicable to hosts who do not oversell, i.e. you get exactly what you pay for.

A business model is the same whether it is applied to a server or a cluster. It may take longer to catch up in a clustered environment, but clustering can not compensate for a poor business model.

I would somewhat agree with this to some extent. A bad business model is a bad business model. Having said this, it is almost impossible to do reseller hosting properly on single server environments - and yes, before all of the cpanel providers jump down my throat - there are some who have done this and have maintained integrity for a prolonged period of time - but, those that I know personally, who are honest about this - all tell me the same thing - they wish they had never offered reseller hosting on cpanel - as its just not scalable - and as resellers grow - the amount of effort spent in monitoring servers, moving accounts, etc - just isnt worth it. H-Sphere, plesk and helm providers can just turn off servers when we do not want to add more accounts to them, and accounts get allocated on new servers. Plus, NOT offering unlimited accounts really helps as well :)

I've had reseller hosting with Jodohost for a couple years and Vortech for one year. Both use Hsphere. Vortech started out wonderfully fast but has become slower than a turtle in mud. Ecommerce sites are timing out and customers are angry.

As I'm writing this, I cannot get on any of the sites in my Vortech account. Even the Hsphere control panel won't come up. Firefox just says "loading" endlessly.

Jodohost, on the other hand, is running fine at the moment.

To use reseller hosting or not to use reseller hosting? That is the question.

As has been indicated, a control panel alone will not make a company a good company or a bad company - I am not commenting on any company in particular - just making a general statement.

Cartika - I have an ecommerce customer that's going to be on the CNBC television show The Big Idea With Donny Deutsch later this month. The show producer has warned my customer they will get a lot of hits. I must have reliable hosting setup by then. I'll call your company tomorrow to see if you can help. Hopefully, I won't get an answering machine. By the way, I looked at the other hosts that have posted on this thread but I'm familiar with Hsphere.

gbcactus, I am sorry to hear of your problems with Vortech.

If your CNBC website is hosted with us, all you need to do is put in a ticket telling us of the upcoming traffic surge, and we can make arrangements for you.

...A bad business model is a bad business model. Having said this, it is almost impossible to do reseller hosting properly on single server environments - and yes, before all of the cpanel providers jump down my throat - there are some who have done this and have maintained integrity for a prolonged period of time - but, those that I know personally, who are honest about this - all tell me the same thing - they wish they had never offered reseller hosting on cpanel - as its just not scalable - and as resellers grow - the amount of effort spent in monitoring servers, moving accounts, etc - just isnt worth it.

Cartika, I'm not going to jump down your throat. In fact, I mostly agree with you. Also, I know that you provide a great service, and I feel like you are one of the few hosts on this forum truly deserving respect for going beyond the norm to provide a somewhat unique, quality product. I also agree with you on cPanel. I have tried other control panels, and I use cPanel because it is the most user-friendly and, in spite of all its bugs, seems to get the best reviews from customers. I do not use it for its reliability or scalability, as it is slightly lacking in that regard. It works great for me because I stay on top of what is happening and I keep a fair amount of unused resources available to handle any spikes.

In theory, clustering does offer some advantages. In your case, its an advantage, because you properly manage everything. In practice, I think a lot of other clustered hosts are guilty of poor management, same as cPanel hosts.

In the end, every type of environment has limitations. There is no limitless solution. Any provider who's business model causes them to exceed those limits is going to have problems. A clustered environment isn't going to be able to save them. IMO, its more about having a realistic business model and offering realistic plans than about the type of environment.

Idcdc,
This is not the case in all control panels. Hsphere, for example, allows you to continue adding servers and letting resellers grow across several servers. So as long as your cluster admins continue to add servers the resellers can add as many domains/customers as they can sell and nothing slows down.Well pointed vantage255. As can be inferred from several posts said above though, clustering will make management easier further down the line, but that's about it. It won't pay for the new servers. With enough financial power, even a single server environment host has very valid (even if somewhat labor intensive) solutions at hand.

In the end, I guess this once again puts into question the cost efficiency of single server environment, compared to clustering; the immediate returns/savings over the long term benefits.

Hello everity,

I 100% agree with everything you have said - and I will repeat what I said earlier - clustering alone does not and cannot guarantee quality service. Heck, if you are selling reseller plans with 1TB of transfer - well, there isnt any technology available that can help you.

In theory, clustering does offer some advantages. In your case, its an advantage, because you properly manage everything. In practice, I think a lot of other clustered hosts are guilty of poor management, same as cPanel hosts.

Again, especially agree with this comment - there are good and bad hosts - clustered or not - my only real point is that reseller hosting makes ALOT more sense in a clustered environment - and if you compare a "good" cpanel type of host with a "good" clustered host - everything else being equal - the "good" clustered hosting will be more stable, more scalable, more secure have better performance, etc... With that same train of, I would certainly choose a good cpanel host over a poor clustered host - no questions asked...

Well pointed vantage255. As can be inferred from several posts said above though, clustering will make management easier further down the line, but that's about it. It won't pay for the new servers. With enough financial power, even a single server environment host has very valid (even if somewhat labor intensive) solutions at hand.


Hi Dan,

Actually - it will pay for new servers, new infrastructure, etc. Operating and Managing 1 control panel install for 100 shared servers saves us at least 1-2 admin human resources (over a company with 100 cpanel servers managing 100 cpanel installs). Additionally, the integrated and automated billing has save as at least 1 full time billing staff member (and maybe more). Not having to constantly move reseller accounts around as well as decreased support from less problems, etc saves us a few support representatives we would otherwise have had to hire. All in all, we are speaking a significant savings - probably in the $150k-$200k range per year - and yes, that does buy alot of servers as well as allows a company to re-invest and improve their offerings, keep their support in house, hire seasoned, L2 or L3 support staff only, etc... all of which positively contribute to the quality and sustainability of a service.

In the end, I guess this once again puts into question the cost efficiency of single server environment, compared to clustering; the immediate returns/savings over the long term benefits.

This is very very accurate Dan. I think the single server model works for startups - but, I think startups utilizing platforms that are incapable of scaling past a single server are a little short sighted. Must also add that an incredible amount of companies with 1-10 cpanel servers are biting the bullet and switching to clustered environments - the trend has been explosive to say the least. Once you are over that 10 and maybe 20 server limit - it becomes a little more difficult. We still see some companies making that switch, even at that level - but, alot of them choose to simply start a new cluster for new clients and have a 2-3 year migration strategy for their legacy clients.

Basicaly, A bad business model will kill you. That the truth of the matter.
Being inflexible can also kill you.

With flexibility and a decent business model, a well built cluster can be infinitely scalable. It requires being planed properly, but a proper plan would handle that design.

Cartika - I have an ecommerce customer that's going to be on the CNBC television show The Big Idea With Donny Deutsch later this month. The show producer has warned my customer they will get a lot of hits. I must have reliable hosting setup by then. I'll call your company tomorrow to see if you can help. Hopefully, I won't get an answering machine. By the way, I looked at the other hosts that have posted on this thread but I'm familiar with Hsphere.

Here's a follow up on contacting Cartika - I called today at 2:20 PST. The automated phone system placed me on hold for five minutes and eventually told me to leave a message, which I did. Much to my surprise, Jonathan called back in about two minutes. He was extremely knowledgeable about Hsphere, reseller plans and all the technical stuff. I think he may have invented the internet instead of Al Gore.

By the way, while I was on hold, I clicked Cartika's Live Chat button but didn't have success. Live chat launched and Steven from Sales & Support came on but apparently he couldn't see my messages. So that went nowhere. Maybe it doesn't work with Firefox?

Here's a follow up on contacting Cartika - I called today at 2:20 PST. The automated phone system placed me on hold for five minutes and eventually told me to leave a message, which I did. Much to my surprise, Jonathan called back in about two minutes. He was extremely knowledgeable about Hsphere, reseller plans and all the technical stuff. I think he may have invented the internet instead of Al Gore.

Hi gbcactus,

I am rather amused to hear you are shocked you got a call back. That is a company policy. We do not leave customers on hold forever. If someone cannot pick up your call within a x mins, you get dropped into voicemail. The voicemails then get emailed to the respective representatives and as soon as they wrap up the call they are on, the customer gets a call back. Love hearing that this worked as it was supposed to.

By the way, while I was on hold, I clicked Cartika's Live Chat button but didn't have success. Live chat launched and Steven from Sales & Support came on but apparently he couldn't see my messages. So that went nowhere. Maybe it doesn't work with Firefox?

We all use firefox. looks like live chat just dropped the chat.

From what I can see - you called into our company, waited for 5 or so mins and left a message. Got a call back within a few mins.

Clicked on live support and a rep "picked" up within a few minutes (granted, the chat dropped you).

All in all - I am pretty happy with the teams performance.

Thanks for taking the time to post this.


EDIT - PS - I am certain Jonathan very much appreciates your kind comments.

Live Chat launched and Steven's message popped up right away. I tried sending a couple messages but he apparently couldn't see them. That aside, I'll give your service a try.