Choosing Your Web Hosting Reseller Software

As a web host reseller, one of your most important business decisions is your choice of web hosting control panel software. The web hosting software you use will save or cost you time, money, and frustration. What reseller control panel features will reduce your workload? What hosting software programs are integrated with the reseller control panel or work with it? What website control panel features will your clients like? In this article, we've compared four quality web hosting reseller software programs:

Alabanza

cPanel

H-Sphere

Plesk

All of these reseller control panels come with control panels for your clients. They all have numerous features - advanced email management, web statistics, pre-installed scripts, multi-language support, and more. They all work on Linux platforms, while H-Sphere and Plesk also work with Windows. According to the cPanel website, a Windows version of cPanel is in development.

Other features that set these control panels apart are their degree of automation, the number of features and ease of use for the end user, and the features and ease of use for you, the reseller.

Alabanza When you become an Alabanza reseller, you don't just have a reseller account - you lease a dedicated server from Alabanza. Alabanza owns the control panel and the server, and you resell directly for Alabanza. If you lease a dedicated Alabanza server, you can create your own reseller accounts. However, only you can set up hosting plans; resellers below you will be limited to hosting plans that you create.

Alabanza offers resellers a high degree of automation with its Domain System Manager (DSM), which can significantly reduce overhead and time spent on routine tasks:

- Account creation

- Billing and invoice management

- Credit card processing

- Domain registration

- Email notifications

- Ordering fraud protection

Even novices can sell hosting with this level of automation.

DSM also integrates with bulkregister.com for domain name registration. It does not easily integrate with other domain registrars, though.

A key Alabanza feature that resellers can offer their clients is the Xpress Product Suite, which provides web development and email management tools. The Xpress Product Suite includes SiteXpress, a website-building program that features over 300 templates and requires no web design skills.

cPanel For resellers and end users, cPanel is known for its ease of use and range of features. cPanel's collection of over 50 pre-installed scripts and Fantastico auto installer help clients set up their sites with little web development knowledge.

A basic cPanel reseller account comes with two separate programs for resellers to manage their business:

WHM (Web Host Manager) is used to create accounts and packages, add and suspend sites, modify passwords, view bandwidth usage, park domains, install SSL certificates, and perform other administrative functions.

From the reseller's cPanel control panel, a drop-down menu takes the reseller to the control panels for each of the sites on the reseller account, including the reseller's site.

With the addition of an optional program, WHM AutoPilot, you can automate account creation and suspension, email notifications, and other tasks. WHM AutoPilot also integrates with common payment gateways and has a helpdesk, an invoice module, and other tools.

H-Sphere H-Sphere is designed for both Linux and Windows platforms. Moreover, resellers can set up plans for both Linux and Windows and administer sites on different servers from the same control panel. The control panel, actually a separate server, also provides administrative access to the integrated helpdesk.

The H-Sphere control panel server automates account configuration, credit card processing, domain registration, and email notifications. It also includes a built-in billing module and supports over 20 payment gateways.

From the reseller's point of view, H-Sphere has a higher learning curve than most other control panels because of its numerous features. For example, when setting up a new plan, the administrator has two pages of features to choose from, including setup and monthly pricing for optional services.

Beginning webmasters may find H-Sphere too complicated for their needs. More advanced users, however, appreciate the features and control that H-Sphere offers the end user. A key feature is the ability to have control over separate domains with multi-domain hosting.

H-Sphere comes with the website builder Site Studio, which guides users through a variety of style choices and stores content separately from the layout. No HTML or FTP knowledge is required.

Plesk Plesk is known for its stability and security. Resellers and end users like its simple navigation, its clean interface, and its professional appearance. It comes in versions for both Linux and Windows platforms.

With Plesk, all users use the same control panel but with different levels of control:

- Server administrator

- Client / reseller

- Domain owner

- Mail user

Each level of the control panel gives the user control of that level and the level(s) below it. Email users, for example, can log into their mail user control panel to change their password, add autoresponders, and change other personal settings without having access to the domain owner control panel.

Plesk handles SpamAssassin at the mailbox level rather than at the domain level.

This feature enables users to whitelist or blacklist email for each email address, allowing each email user to have individual settings.

SWsoft, the company behind Plesk, also offers Site Builder, a five-step website builder using pre-built templates. SiteBuilder has over 300 templates in different categories to choose from, and users can publish their sites without any HTML or FTP knowledge.

If your Plesk reseller account is with a web host that offers HSPcomplete, you will have some automation available with your account, such as credit card charges and email notification.

About the author: Technical Executive Writer for Website Source, Inc. whose writing skills coupled with experience in the website hosting industry have provided internet professionals with marketing, product and service ideas for many years. Lois continues to do extensive research in the e-commerce industry. For more information, contact http://www.websitesource.com

---

The 14 Point Web Hosting Checklist

How To Select A Web Hosting CompanyWhen starting out, it... Read More

How to Choose a Quality Webhost

If you are anything like me, you'd probably like to... Read More

What is a Web Host Reseller Account?

A web host reseller account is a web hosting account... Read More

Finding a Home for Your Internet Enterprise - A Point by Point List

After much Net surfing and looking at all the offers... Read More

4 Critical Things To Look Out For In A Web Hosting Service

1. The reputation of the web hosting company.Most web hosting... Read More

Choosing a Right Hosting Solution

You must have done all the hard works for developing... Read More

Setting up Your Personal Server

There are many things to consider when setting up your... Read More

A Simple Guide to Web Hosting

Personal Computers, Servers Or ISP?You need a server to host... Read More

Web Hosting Bandwidth -- How Much Bandwidth Is Enough?

Bandwidth in its simplest terms refers to the amount of... Read More

How Multiple Server Hosting impacts your websites uptime

This article describes the technology behind multiple server hosting and... Read More

Free Or Not Free -- Its Your Choice

The internet is one of the world's top sources of... Read More

Transferring Your Existing Website to a New Hosting Provider

You've already got a website, but your current hosting provider... Read More

Web Hosting: Shared or Dedicated - Which Should You Choose?

Before you begin your search for a web host you... Read More

Cheap Web Hosting ? Choose The Right Company

You have carried out the hard part and that's creating... Read More

The 2 Sides of Reseller Web Hosting

In the first case the customer is really looking for... Read More

How to Find Good Web Hosting for Your Site!

When building your first site the main things that you... Read More

Configuring DynDNS.org in Linux via DDClient

Most Internet service providers do not give you static IP... Read More

Server Uptimes Revealed: The Hidden Cost of Cheap Hosting

We often see server uptime statistics when looking for hosting... Read More

Tips on Finding a Hosting Service for Your Business Website

There are so many hosting companies offering to host your... Read More

How to Choose a Hosting Web Package Cheap

If you're looking for a hosting web package cheap there... Read More

Web Site Design and Hosting

If you're looking for a professionally designed web site at... Read More

The Problem With Web Hosting Today

When it comes to web hosting, the quality of the... Read More

Webhosting Explained

Web hosts are service companies that provide space on their... Read More

Personal Web Hosting ? Free Or Cheap?

After you have spent some time and creativity on designing... Read More

Monitor Your Web Site for Downtime

For those in the Internet business the availability of their... Read More

Top 6 Ways to Promote Your Web Hosting Business Part 2

Here are the following three methods that can help you... Read More

Dont Get Fooled by the Web Hosting Wolves in Sheeps Clothing!

Are you looking for web hosting? If you want to... Read More

Finding a Reliable Host

Finding reliable hosting for your business opportunity is no small... Read More

Windows Hosting versus Linux Hosting

The matter of choosing between the operating system (OS) running... Read More

Fun with DNS: Three Useful Commands

The DNS is a distributed, hierarchical database where authority flows... Read More

Top 5 Mistakes that May Drive Your Visitors Away in Less Than 2 Minutes

You took the leap. You set up a website to... Read More

How To Find The Best Web Hosting For You

Deciding on the best web hosting company for a web... Read More

Confessions and Tips from a Top Web Hosting Salesman

Have you ever gone car shopping with a former car... Read More