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  1. #1

    How do your customers deal with these Cpanel issues..?

    We have been using plesk for a while, but we do want to change over to CPanel.

    The main problems I am facing are:

    1) Only one main domain per account, rest are addon-domains but share the same limits

    2) DNS can only be changed via WHM which means granting reseller/WHM access to the customer

    3) Only one IP per account, so if someone purchases an SSL certificate for an addon domain, they will have to move it to a new account?

    4) Customers have to re-login per account (especially if they want to change database related stuff).


    We are used to a lovely hierarchy where a customer can have multiple domains under one login, multiple IPs, multiple SSL etc. CPanel seems to do it in a very fragmented way.

    My main questions are.. do your customers complain about this at all? How do you overcome (if you need to at all) these shortcomings?

    Any information will be greatly appreciated.

  2. #2
    From what your saying your customers may be better suited to being resellers where they can have and control multiple accounts and assign ips and ssl's etc.
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  3. #3
    I love plesk but the only thing I don't like is my reseller can't create user account under their main reseller account. All they are allowed to create is domains and login is possible with domain login only. One of my reseller's clients has two domains and has to login to each domain everytime to make any change.

    Plesk is thinking much more about central / global server management ( Virtuozzo ) but has never think about central / global user and domain management.

    --
    Faiyaz

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    New Jersey
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    23
    Hi,

    Why don't you consider H-SPHERE too ? I do think it is better than CPanel as CPanel only serves as partial Control Panel while H-SPHERE is more complete and enables you to have different platforms inside the Control Panel...

  5. #5
    Join Date
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    It's amazing how badly designed some commercial panels are on some areas. Ever thought about going on the other side of the force?

    Thomas
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  6. #6
    Both have advantages and disadvantages. Plesk uses less memory, which was a reason for its popularity. But the newer version of Cpanel is doing well and also it is more suitable for reseller accounts.
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  7. #7
    Join Date
    Sep 2003
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    UK - Scotland
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    576
    Quote Originally Posted by Alcedema View Post

    1) Only one main domain per account, rest are addon-domains but share the same limits

    2) DNS can only be changed via WHM which means granting reseller/WHM access to the customer

    3) Only one IP per account, so if someone purchases an SSL certificate for an addon domain, they will have to move it to a new account?

    4) Customers have to re-login per account (especially if they want to change database related stuff).
    1. create your clients reseller accounts instead. Then you can have multpiple accounts, packages and limits
    2. solved by doing 1
    3. solved by doing 1 - only need to move the domain to new ip in whm
    4. from whm they can click the cpanel link for each domain which logs them in as the reseller

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Posts
    250
    Quote Originally Posted by GWS-Natal1a View Post
    Hi,

    Why don't you consider H-SPHERE too ? I do think it is better than CPanel as CPanel only serves as partial Control Panel while H-SPHERE is more complete and enables you to have different platforms inside the Control Panel...
    H-Sphere is a excellent option. More flexible and complete.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    Philippines, Manila
    Posts
    69
    Its hard to compare both , Cpanel is much better for average user since its really easy to use and get along with, where as Plesk is really confusing and needs a little more time to get along with.

    PS. I have experience on both.

  10. #10
    Thanks for all of your ideas and messages.

    With cpanel, do any of you actually get many support requests relating to my points in my original post? I.e. do many people need to change IP address when they realise they want an SSL cert, or want to change an addon-domain to another account?

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    Philippines, Manila
    Posts
    69
    For me , nope i dont get any requests for those stuffs, since i dont sell SSL cert

  12. #12
    It depends on what kind of clients you have. Basically normal ( static or dyanmic ) site uses the main ( shared ) IP address of your server. You might hardly get such client who requests you to change the IP... May be once in a full moon.....
    Faiyaz

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
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    Quote Originally Posted by Alcedema View Post
    With cpanel, do any of you actually get many support requests relating to my points in my original post? I.e. do many people need to change IP address when they realise they want an SSL cert, or want to change an addon-domain to another account?
    In my opinion, this boils down to being a matter of perception. The functionality that you describe is different between the two panels, but that is not to say that one is right and the other is wrong, one is easier while the other is harder, or one is good while the other is bad. The way I try to approach it is that it's not a matter of positive/negative value, just that it's different.

    Can cPanel do all the things you describe? Yes. How cPanel accomplishes those things though, is different than Plesk. Not better or worse, just different.

    • do many people need to change IP address when they realise they want an SSL cert

    Yes, most accounts will need to be changed to a different IP address in order to install an SSL cert, because their account was set up on a shared IP to begin with. This is an incredibly efficient way of preserving IP space and making sure dedicated IPs aren't being used for technically unnecessary things.

    The way I've always handled it, is the IP change is part of the SSL installation. I don't expect the customer to have any expertise about IPs and SSL certs (most people don't have a clue, after all) so they just open a ticket about their need to get an SSL certificate, and we take care of it from there ... including changing the IP, acquiring and installing the SSL cert, and instructing the customer on how to use the cert. Final step is billing.

    • or want to change an addon-domain to another account?

    In my experience, this is very rare. Most people are just fine having an add-on domain be an add-on domain. Rarely do they need the functionality that comes with having the domain on a separate account. And if they do need it, well, then we set it up for them. *shrug*



    In my experience, there are other issues which suck up support resources far more than the things you mentioned above. New set-ups, "how do I do such-and-such," "why am I getting this error on xyz script" etc. are all much bigger draws on support staff than the occasional IP or domain issue.

    Bailey
    Let's Connect on Twitter! @thatsmsgeek2u || Fighting mediocrity one thread at a time.

  14. #14
    Brilliant, that helps a lot.

    One last thing though, DNS.. do you give normal people reseller status so they can change the DNS zone in WHM or do you get them to email you the chnages and leave WHM to the real resellers?

    Thanks.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Location
    Canada
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    3,785
    Quote Originally Posted by Alcedema View Post
    Brilliant, that helps a lot.

    One last thing though, DNS.. do you give normal people reseller status so they can change the DNS zone in WHM or do you get them to email you the chnages and leave WHM to the real resellers?

    Thanks.
    For us anyways shared hosting accounts we just have the users email us DNS changes. They are very rare so it's not worth giving each user WHM to edit their sites dns zones. It probably increase our support costs with users asking what in the world can they do with the feature.

    Most shared users their DNS changes are CNAME entries for various services for example google apps. MX entries can be changed within cPanel so some users using google apps may not request the CNAME changes at all.
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  16. #16
    That really does help us a lot, thank you all very much.

    Regarding H-Sphere, we have been looking into that and it's a very nice panel, although I think too overly complicated for the average user. I would love to use it as an adminstrator, but alas I feel it would eventually increase our costs.

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