Hello,

I'm currently with webhost.fm (stg.net) as a reseller and I am planning to switch up to my own server soon. My current site is at: http://www.emegaweb.com/hosting. How would you recommend going about doing this? Does it make sense to switch all the customers over or leave them and put the new ones on my own server? If anyone has done this before, please tell me what you decided to do.

Thanks for the advice,
Kevin

Kevin,

You should probably move your current resold customers to your new server. This will allow you to manage their accounts yourself, and reduce your monthly costs as well (as you won't be paying for a server AND resold accounts).

I'm not exactly sure what type of system you're on, but you should definitely contact your current provider to get information on how their system works, and how you would go about moving accounts to a new server. They should be able to provide you with useful information about how to conduct the procedure (especially if you're upgrading to a dedicated server with the same company).

Hope that helps!

Regards,
Matt Lightner
mlightner@site5.com

Hello
When I moved to having my own servers I decided just to leave my resold customers where they were.
This has worked out OK as I didn't have the problems of DNS, scripts etc doing a move.
Quite a few of them have upgraded to plans on the new servers anyway so it has all worked out fine.

Gordon

I would like to move all my customers to my new server, but it might cause a few problems:

1. The person I am reselling for (webhost.fm) is offering unlimited web space. I'm not going to do this when I get my own server. Now, if I switch all my clients over I would be taking the feature away ... how would they react?

2. Right now I make up about 16% of his business. It seems to me that it's just him running it and not some giant company. Therefore, I'm a little worried about how he might react. I don't want him to decide to move all my clients over to other resellers.

3. Webhost.fm offers neither collocation nor dedicated servers. When I get my own server it would definitely have to be with another place -- hence, if I do the switch he would lose quite a few hosting members.

So, would it be easier to leave all those people where they are, or switch them over?

Originally posted by KevlerS
I would like to move all my customers to my new server, but it might cause a few problems:

1. The person I am reselling for (webhost.fm) is offering unlimited web space. I'm not going to do this when I get my own server. Now, if I switch all my clients over I would be taking the feature away ... how would they react?

They should already realize that there's no such thing as "unlimited" space. You should see how much space the largest client is using currently. If you have any customers using over 500 megs, I would be surprised. Just send them a reasonable email ald let them know what's really happening.

2. Right now I make up about 16% of his business. It seems to me that it's just him running it and not some giant company. Therefore, I'm a little worried about how he might react.
Hey... that's business my friend. Companies outgrow their providers all the time. If anything, he should be happy for you!

I don't want him to decide to move all my clients over to other resellers.

I'm not exactly sure of your arrangement with this guy... but I don't think he can do that if they are YOUR customers.

3. Webhost.fm offers neither collocation nor dedicated servers. When I get my own server it would definitely have to be with another place -- hence, if I do the switch he would lose quite a few hosting members.

Do you have telnet on your customers' accounts? If so, you could go in and tar up their files for them. That might make the move easier on them.

So, would it be easier to leave all those people where they are, or switch them over?
It's really up to you. If you're happy with the service that you're getting from your current provider, you may decide that it's not worth the hastle to move them all to a new server. My suggestion is that if you do decide to move them, plan the move well. You may want to get help/advice from a freelance system administrator (Tim Greer?), as move like this can be quite challenging.

Just my $0.02!

Regards,
Matt Lightner
mlightner@site5.com

Hi...I was involved in a batch migration like this when I worked at another web hosting company. The key is PLANNING, PLANNING, PLANNING, then execution. Be sure that issues will crop up in executin but have contingency plans. You may contact me directly and I give you some insight on what we did. All the best!

Y. Bandy
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