I have lots of questions and I can see there are about 2,000,000,000,000,000 posts so I am sure all my questions have been asked. The problem is I am not sure what the correct terminology is to search for. Like a needle in a haystack.

Anyway for 5 years or more I have hosted about 30 active domains some small and a couple that are big and require a lot of traffic. This is now getting too much for my basement especially after some clown dug up a cable somewhere and knocked my Internet out for 3 days. So with that in mind I am going to get a shared hosting plan as a reseller and 2 dedicated servers in 2 different locations by 2 different providers. I have my reasons for doing this and I know it is not the most cost effective but the business was/is growing until that clown with the digger stuff it up. So I have the following questions

1. Cpanel – can WHM handle 2 dedicated servers with 2 different companies as if they were both my own? I want to use WHMCS and WHM to automatically create everything. A Big change from doing it manually like I am today.
2. “Fully Managed” – seems like I have misinterpreted that terminology. Some places that means that your server is kept uptodate with patches. Other places that also includes monitoring and restarting processes if someone kills it with a script. This time around I think I want a fully managed one where someone else monitors my ports and processes. Any recommendations?
3. 1st Line Support – l don't get that many support questions because all my clients are established. I only get them when they start up like where is abc or how does def work. But if I am to expand I cant really be around to do all this 24 hours a day as it is only me. So do I go for a ticket package or a monthly fee for first line support?

Any tips on the whole lot? I have been doing it all solo and am now looking at being able to sleep and go on holidays. I am just after some new thoughts and new angle on looking at the whole lot.

Cheers

Mat

1. It depends on it's use but generally it can help make things more simply. However, you will still need to do things manually in order to ensure security, stability, etc...

2. Don’t really have any recommendations; however, as recommended, read the TOS of any server company to ensure what “fully managed” actually entitles.

3. Just need a bit more clarification on this question? Do you mean you wish to outsource your support of your clients?

hey thanks for the reply.
1. Ok there is a bit for me to learn because I have not used any automated tools. I dont want it automated due to fraud etc but I want it automated in that I press a button and the account is created on which ever server without me having to do SSH stuff. Is that possible?
2. Thanks. fint print kills... thats why I asked here but I am sure I can search for that.
3. Yes I am throwing around the idea of outsouricng my support. either the whole lot so I can focus on business development or certain times. It is just until I can get big enough to take it back in house. Comments on this theory? Being a 1 man army I cant support 24/7. My wife requested this feature!

1. With WHMCS + WHM/cPanel this can be easily configured and setup.

3. I'm sure you can find some pretty reputable outsourcing companies in the offers section.

Zachary

1. Thanks. this was really the question I was struggling to find an answer for.
3. I just looked in there. OMG it will take years to get through it all but thanks for pointing it out.

1. Cpanel – can WHM handle 2 dedicated servers with 2 different companies as if they were both my own? I don't know if I read your question right, but you will need a license for each of your servers.

So do I go for a ticket package or a monthly fee for first line support?

Your choice really, depending on the number of tickets you get etc. The pricing can vary, and which arrangement makes more sense for you is hard to judge from the outside. Just make sure you go for quality, as outsourced support has the potential to make that bridge over to the size when you can go all in house, or break you way before that. :)

Dan,

Thanks.
1. Yes I am aware of the licence requirements. Have not looked at costs yet :(
3.

Just make sure you go for quality

Thats the million dollar question and I would love to have some help on that but I guess most hosts who read this forum are not going to own up to this or recommend any - fine...

But how would I make sure they are quality? Try them and put dummy requests in - even if it costs? thats about the only way I can think of doing it. the cost of doing that is small in comparison to ruining a business. I am sure I could ask some tough questions and try and see what it takes before they tell me to "#¤%"#¤%"#¤% etc.

Greetings:

If you are going to be adding servers here and there, wanting to be able to manage them whether they are in the same data center or in various geographic locations, then while Parallels can be a very questionable company from which to buy, H-Sphere might fit your needs.

Thank you.

a few reseller accounts spread over various providers should be fine, then get WHMCS and add each as a server in it.

Dan,

Thanks.
1. Yes I am aware of the licence requirements. Have not looked at costs yet :(
3.



Thats the million dollar question and I would love to have some help on that but I guess most hosts who read this forum are not going to own up to this or recommend any - fine...

But how would I make sure they are quality? Try them and put dummy requests in - even if it costs? thats about the only way I can think of doing it. the cost of doing that is small in comparison to ruining a business. I am sure I could ask some tough questions and try and see what it takes before they tell me to "#¤%"#¤%"#¤% etc.

Research independent reviews, call their sales and support lines, see if they answer your questions to your satisfaction, get references and speak with their current clients, there are lots of good ways to go about it.

Firstly thanks everybody for your input. I have some good ideas now.

@dynamicnet - I have only had experience (limited) with Cpanel but as I see it is so popular I think I will be forced to by customer demand. H-Sphere - googling that it showed it was also a Parallels company. Are they taking over the world?

@SingleHopChris - Getting references and going down the path you said is also a good idea----but sales guys tell you what you want to hear. References are often biased.

Am I a sceptic today? Probably but I dont want my business ruined :)

But how would I make sure they are quality?

Try to ensure you go for a reliable configuration, RAID should be something you want and offserver/site backups. In my experience I've had two hard drives go thankfully I had a backup drive in both but as I didn't have a mirrored drive meant the servers needed to be setup from scratch and caused a few hours downtime in both instances.

Greetings:

No matter what you pick, in the past 14 years, I've yet to have a single customer demand a given panel. They mainly want the ability that most panel's provide.

We've had customers who asked about cpanel, and when we point to similar functionality here or there, they say thank you and stay a customer.

Thank you.

ok interesting. I thought the difference between panels was as big as the difference between a PC and MAC in terms of what people will deal with.
thats interesting to know -> just makes the selection process tougher.

I am just in the middle of reading or rather trying to map the differences in "fully managed" between the list of suppliers I have. There are so many differences in price and service..... ARGHHHHHHHH

Greetings:

When it comes to the differences, it is best to get on the phone with the company, call references, etc.

Thank you.

when i moved from my garage i went to a data center

and what features did you go for that time? dedicated, fully managed, external backups, external support?

"This time around I think I want a fully managed one where someone else monitors my ports and processes. Any recommendations?"

Matt.

We have customers like yourself who host servers that host sites/email/databases. We monitor basic processes such as port 80, port 21 and port 25, but we also do advanced monitoring and watch for specific words on pages. If the word does not appear the monitor is triggered and our noc staff will remote into the server and restart the services. This is important because a lot of places monitor http but if the page is dynamic and SQL fails http will still be running and alarm will not trigger, so looking for a word on the page is important. We also let you know it happened via email or a call. We also answer the phone quickly 24x7x365 which is important. You do not want to have a problem and be forced to send an email or open a ticket. Look for a quality host with redundancy in their network and infrastructure. We have datacenters in Denver, Irvine California, San Fransisco and Louisville KY. They are all high quality facilities, you get what you pay for so please be careful when choosing your new home.