Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Hosting Software and Control Panels : How To Setup Reseller Account Through WHM?

[ndxb]

Hello,

Was searchin through the forums but couldnt find any post about a detailed explanation for setting up a reseller account in WHM.

Can anyone help me out please? Would also need to know how to assign my resellers their own ded IP? Will their primary IP be the dedicated one and secondary the shared server IP?

Thanks a lot!

[reanncw]

I suppose you are on a reseller account right now. Contact your host to provide you with a anonymous reseller account(if they provide it) so that you can sell them to your downlines.

[NexDog]

These are the steps I usually take to setup a reseller account in WHM:

1) Free up IP under "Show/Edit Reserved IPs".

All IPs are checked off by default. When we fist set up a reseller, we uncheck the IP that the reseller's main site will be on and enter in ns2.resellersdomain.com against the second IP they'll be using just to keep track. The ns2 IP is left checked and is used for the reseller to host accounts.

2) Create a New Account

We have packages already set up so when we enter the domain, user and pass, we just select the package the domain will go on. The IP that you just freed up will be available in the drop down menu so select that.

3) Reseller Center > Add Reseller Privileges

Find the account you just created and add the reseller privileges.

4) Reseller Center > Edit Reseller Privileges/Nameservers

This is where you set the account limits and load the client package that you should have already set. That gives the account permissions to do whatever.

5) Reseller Center > Manage Reseller Main Shared/IPless Ip

Choose the second IP that you left check and that is also used for ns2. This means all the domains that your client sets up in their WHM account will share the IP that you've chosen.

6) Change Ownership of an account

Default owner is the root account so select the domain you just setup and make the reseller the owner of his domain otherwise it won't show up in his WHM.

7) Edit a DNS Zone

This is probably the most tricky. Select the domain you just setup. The dns zone will have the root account's nameservers by default so change the ns (ns1) and ns2 to the reseller's domain. You should also enter the resellers primary ns at the very top middle (next to "SOA"). Don't forget the . at the end of the line. Lastly, where it says "Add New Entries Below this Line", put ns1 on the left and the IP on the right and repeat for ns2.

That's about it. If anyone does anything differently, I'd be very interested but that's how we do it and it works flawlessly.

[ndxb]

Hi,

Well I tried your procedure and everything seems to be ok, except for one issue:

Whenever the reseller creates new accounts, when I look at the DNS (Edit DNS), the FTP address is ours instead! How do we set it up so that the reseller's shows up instead.

For example, the reseller has the following IPS:

IP1: 1.1.1.1 (ns1.reseller.com)
IP2: 1.1.1.2 (ns2.reseller.com)

For the reseller's main account, the FTP setting should be 1.1.1.1 but for all accounts that he creates it should be 1.1.1.2 correct? However, the accounts get setup with our secondary IP!

Also, another issue is that when the reseller sets up an account, he cannot view it using http://1.1.1.2/~username. Any suggestions on that? Sometimes with another reseller, when they try to preview their site, it defualts to http://ourservername/~username (this mite be linked to the FTP problem mentioned above)

Any ideas would be appreciated!

[ndxb]

Another thing - should the FTP address in the DNS records for the accounts that the reseller sets up be 1.1.1.1 or 1.1.1.2 given that the acconts that he sets up will share the secondary IP?

[NexDog]

I wouldn't worry about teh FTP A record being that of the main server IP. I don't know why it picks it up but it does. On Plesk, FTP is a CNAME so whatever works.

On your other point about viewing the site on the IP, cPanel now has this off by default. To turn it on, go to "Tweak Security" > "mod_userdir Tweak" and uncheck "DefaultHost (nobody)" and update it (I think).

[Website Rob]

That's a nice starting list, NexDog. As you also mentioned about feedback on it, let me add the following. Note that all WHM references are for use with the Edge version.


1) Free up IP under: IP Functions > Show/Edit Reserved IPs
Shows all IPs "unchecked" for me? Never thought of doing it that way actually as editing the /etc/nameserverips file directly seems to work best in our case.

2) Create a New Account
WHM now has an added feature when creating a new account within the 'root' WHM. Bottom of the setup Form allows for checking off if a Reseller account. This saves on a few steps including your #3 & #6.

4) Reseller Center > Edit Reseller Privileges/Nameservers
Bottom of the Form allows for entering the Nameservers of the Reseller. This must be filled out or the Reseller sub-accounts will not use the Reseller Nameservers, will instead use the Nameservers of the Server itself. Although you can add IP address of the Nameservers at that time as well, I prefer the same method you suggest in #7.


I would also mention about using: Reseller Center > Manage Ip Delegation.
Wanting to eliminate ambiguity whenever possible, I have found that by checking off the IPs available to that particular Reseller will prevent possible problems of IPs showing up in their WHM; ones they should not be using that is.


You are correct on the: Tweak Security > mod_userdir Tweak -- I think?
Seems to be a lot more complicated though, then just turning it off completely for over-all security reasons. I do turn it on for specific situations and only for a limited time, through the httpd.conf file. Might be something worth checking into further, for specific Reseller accounts. Never having used it though, means more learning for me.

[NexDog]

Originally posted by Website Rob
1) Free up IP under: IP Functions > Show/Edit Reserved IPs
Shows all IPs "unchecked" for me? Never thought of doing it that way actually as editing the /etc/nameserverips file directly seems to work best in our case.

Doing as much as possible via WHM is what's makes it so user-friendly. Unchecking the main IP for a reseller as you go just ensures that no IPs will ever get used illegally so to speak.

2) Create a New Account
WHM now has an added feature when creating a new account within the 'root' WHM. Bottom of the setup Form allows for checking off if a Reseller account. This saves on a few steps including your #3 & #6.

Yep, my post was written before these were added to WHM. The other step you referred to being making the reseller the owner of the domain.

4) Reseller Center > Edit Reseller Privileges/Nameservers
Bottom of the Form allows for entering the Nameservers of the Reseller. This must be filled out or the Reseller sub-accounts will not use the Reseller Nameservers, will instead use the Nameservers of the Server itself. Although you can add IP address of the Nameservers at that time as well, I prefer the same method you suggest in #7.

Just reread my post and indeed you are right. I forgot to add that this is where you add the reseller's nameservers - important point and thanks for bringing that up.

I would never assign the IP there as there's no telling what IP WHM is going to assign sometime. I like to keep record under the "Show/Edit Reserved IPs" section of what IPs are assigned to what nameservers and manually add the A records under Edit a DNS record.

I would also mention about using: Reseller Center > Manage Ip Delegation.
Wanting to eliminate ambiguity whenever possible, I have found that by checking off the IPs available to that particular Reseller will prevent possible problems of IPs showing up in their WHM; ones they should not be using that is.

Yah, WHM is versatile on certain things. I find that checking all unused IPs under that Show/Edit Reserved IPs section does the same job. Never really used Manage Ip Delegation but I may do in the future.

[Website Rob]

"Doing as much as possible via WHM is what's makes it so user-friendly."

Statements like that can come back to haunt you. What with all the people out there that think they can properly manage a Server just through a Control Panel.

Control Panels for a Server are a dual edged sword. Although us Server Admins have nicks from both sides of it, many people seriously hurt themselves -- and others -- from improper use of one side or the other. Forums like WHT can be gold mine for people looking to educate themselves, due to lack of documentation with most of them. Posts like the one you made above, NexDog, are bound to help out a lot of people.

[NexDog]

Well, there is so much that WHM can do on the admin side that requires SSH tinkering in Plesk which is why I made that statement. For me, WHM is a toy compared to Plesk - not in a bad or unprofessional sense. It's just great to be able to see all sorts of processes and install RPMs and perl modules etc in a GUI rather than on the commandline which gives it the feel of a toy in some respects, lol. Plesk is purer on the admin side as far as I'm concerned but I am enjoying cPanel more and more - especially since the launch of ResellerNexus.

[eazyjimmy23]

Hi, I read the above post, and wanted to ask you all if you could kind of explain that in a little detail better for this newbee. I have a dedicated server, and didnt know how to setup reseller accounts. I followed the detailed instructions that you mentioned above, but then was a little confused as to putting the whole dns zone entrys. If you do not mind, can you all give me another detailed instruction as to how to setup a reseller account in whm? It would be greatly appreciated.
JAmes