Hey everyone,

If I had a huge block of hard drive space, bandwidth, WHM/Cpanel, etc., how could I automate the account sign-up process? How could I set it up such that when a user fills out a sign-up form, the user's credit card is charged, and if successful, an account is created, and an email is sent to the user, all within a matter of seconds, without any human intervention?

I also have another unrelated question: What is the difference between Cpanel, Plesk, Ensim, and all of those other control panels that are mentioned? Which one is the best?

Thanks
-Brent

I realize you didn't ask for advice on how to run your business, but I would not recommend doing this. This is a great way for people to fraudulently gain accesss to your server. I realize that it is a lot more work doing it manually and manually verifying customer information, but in the long run you will avoid chargebacks and people hijacking your server, and sending thousands of spams before you even know what is going on.

dandanfirema,

What would be the difference between instant and delayed account creation? What benefit would I have if I clicked the Create button as opposed to automation? Wouldn't J. Random Cracker still have access to my server if I approved him (how would I know whether to approve someone or not?). Anyway, doesn't credit-cart processing only work if they entered correct information?

Why would I have more chargebacks, hijackings, etc. if everything was automated?

Thanks
-Brent

Lets say that jdoe from china, uses a credit card from the US to register for an account with a domain name from Brazil. It is quite possible for this to pass through the credit card signup process. However, we and many other hosts that I know of, do reverse lookups of the IP's to compare with the credit card registered address and then compare that with the domain the customer is setting up. Any inconsistences should also be telephoned to verify the request.

However, if all this were automatic...mr hacker would already be on your server either attacking someone else or sending spams, spams spams.....

dandanfirema,

If a hacker was really determined, he could just send in a legitimate user sign-up request (without any discrepencies), wait a few days, and then send spam, couldn't he? I could just deal with him how I would deal with anyone else who violated the user agreement -- delete their account.

Also, how could a person use a web hosting account to attack someone?

Thanks
-Brent

What if the person that signed up put his/her name as Jennifer Lopez?

Are you going to believe that that is actually who they are? Or would you want to do some research first… see if a scam is going on?

It all depends on how good they are with PHP. I think the thread has gone beyond the intent of my reply. I don't want to convince you to take any action or to change any of your plans. I was simply giving an opinion. If you are determined to have automatic signups...as some hosts are, I wish you luck. However, with my name on the line and my customers at risk...I am just not willing to do it. Good luck in your future endevors.

Hey everyone,

I really appreciate your suggestions, but I do want to have instant activation for web hosting accounts. I know of lots of web hosts that have instant activation, and they seem to be doing fine. But I will keep your suggestions in mind.

Back to my original question: How could I enable instant activation?

Thanks
-Brent

I think phpManager has a WHM/Cpanel module for instant account activation.

Are there any other ways to enable instant account activation without phpmanager?

Thanks
-Brent

You could.. write your own system from scratch ;)

Hey,

I know that I could, and I might.

But do any already exist? What are other web hosting companies using for instant account activation?

Thanks
-Brent

Do you have a billing package yet?

Originally posted by dandanfirema
Lets say that jdoe from china, uses a credit card from the US to register for an account with a domain name from Brazil. It is quite possible for this to pass through the credit card signup process. However, we and many other hosts that I know of, do reverse lookups of the IP's to compare with the credit card registered address and then compare that with the domain the customer is setting up. Any inconsistences should also be telephoned to verify the request.

This is useful information, but being new, I haven't researched it yet. Nor did I even know it was necessary. Such are the benefits of lurking around these hallowed (albeit cyber) halls.

At any rate, could you point me somewhere that might have information on how to do this?

How to do the research? http://www.samspade.org is where I do alot of my research. It has a lot of the tools in one place

Hey everyone,

I do NOT have a billing package yet, so I could get a billing system that fits with the automation system.

What are other web hosts using for their instant account activation? I would really appeciate some help with this matter.

Thanks
-Brent

Originally posted by dandanfirema
How to do the research? http://www.samspade.org is where I do alot of my research. It has a lot of the tools in one place

Thanks for the info. Will check it out.

Btw, love your tag line. That's one I try to continuously spread the word about.

Hi Brent,

I'm new to this forum and wanted to post a note to see if you'r interested in beta testing some software. if so please reply in a PM.