Knowledgebase

Subject

Admin / Monitoring the Reseller Account.

Description

Monitoring and Administrating your reseller account is required on regular basis for smooth functioning of websites hosted in your reseller account. 95 % of the problems can be solved by just regular monitoring. Your control panel is fully automated and does not warrant high technical skills to maintain your customer accounts.

But a well informed reseller can sell a better and apt hosting solution for his than suggesting a wrong one and suffering for next one year.

So what you should do to ensure that your customers website function normally ?

[1] Recommend the right hosting package:


70 % of your support time for your customers can be saved by recommending the right hosting solution for your clients. The following are few of the thumb rules that can be applied for recommending the right hosting package;
If it is a static website with basic html pages or flash animation, better host it in Linux Server. It is cheaper, maintenance free. Even if your client have a feedback form or simple form mail in asp, recommend Linux Server. You can always download FREE FORM MAIL coding from our download area and customize it according to your clients requirements.
Thumb Rule 1 : Recommend Linux hosting for static and small websites with feedback form.

If the customer is more worried about email functioning than the website or if the email usage is predominant, then recommend Linux Server. Linux has a rugged EXIM mail server. It has advanced features such as bouncing back un known mails, spam assassin and is less vulnerable to virus attack. The web mail in Linux is very sophisticated and appealing. Linux Servers are cheaper.
Thumb Rule 2 : Recommend Linux hosting for customers who wish to have a more reliable email solutions and static and small websites with feedback form.

If the customer has developed the whole website in asp or .net. If the site is small and does not have heavy usage or hits. If the email usage is negligible, then recommend Windows Server.
Thumb Rule 3 : Recommend Windows hosting for customers who wish to have a small website in asp or .net without much mail usage.

What if the customer has developed a website in asp or .net and also needs a reliable mail solution like a corporate. The answer is dual hosting. Host the mails, dns in Linux Server and Website alone in Windows Server. By this, you harness the power of Linux and ease of Windows. You need not have 2 domains for this. With single domain, you can host in Linux as well as Windows Servers.
Thumb Rule 4 : Recommend Dual Hosting for corporate like hosting with high mail usage as well website in asp or .net with reasonable hits.

Thumb Rule 5 : For extreme or heavy usage of website or mails, recommend dedicated server.

[2] Explain the limitations:


More than limitations, it is just a cautioning. All servers run smooth until the server is abused. In 99 % of the time, it is shear innocence or lack of knowledge on how to use leads to abuse of the server. Explain what your client can do and cannot do. Lets discuss few of the do not s. Detailed terms of use is available at www.wpshub.com.net/company/terms.html

The web server cannot be used as a file server. (i.e) your customer cannot use the space for file sharing or software downloads. File sharing uses more server resources and this reducing the performance for other websites. Moreover it consumes more bandwidth.

Mass Mailing, Relaying, Spamming, heavy mail usage - These are strictly prohibited. Mass mailing or email campaigns, unsolicited mailing [ sending / receiving ] puts the mail server under severe pressure. Moreover, most of the ISPs block spammers and their website from viewing. It also consumes more bandwidth. But if your mail usage is genuine and requires high server resources, please contact Silicon House sales to choose the right package.

No adult content, terrorist, terror related or any activity that is against the rule of the law.

Always ask you client to maintain back up of all their contents. All the emails must be downloaded regularly.

[3] Setting Up Domains:


Setting up domains or hosting should be systematic. You should always create standard hosting plans and ask your customer to choose one among them than selling on individual basis. Create domain templates or packages such as 25 mb plan, 50 mb plan etc. While adding the domain, allot these plans.

[4] Monitor Bandwidth Usage:


This is the most crucial part of your reseller account administration. Click here to view the procedure for viewing bandwidth usage in your reseller account. Now red colour indicates that the site is exceeding the allotted bandwidth. You should upgrade those accounts to higher bandwidth.
If the client is using more than 50 % of your total reseller accounts bandwidth, better buy a separate hosting account from Silicon House directly and sell to them. Few points to be noted in analyzing the bandwidth report.

If FTP bandwidth is more - It is likely that the client is using the space for file sharing

If SMTP/POP usage is abnormally high, it is likely that the domain is mass mailing or sending / receiving spam

If HTTP is high, then the site receives more hits.

[5] Disk Usage:


Similar bandwidth usage, disk usage also important in identifying the excess usage domains. Click here to view the procedure for viewing disk usage usage in your reseller account. Now red colour indicates that the site is exceeding the allotted disk space. You should upgrade those accounts to higher disk quota. If the client is using more than 50 % of your total reseller accounts disk space, better buy a separate hosting account from Silicon House directly and sell to them.

[6] Notification From WPSHUB:


Silicon House - Rapid Action Force sends regular mails on domains that exceed or abuse server resources. A strict adherence to the instructions from Silicon House will ensure smooth functioning of all your websites. Failing to act might finally jeopardize the total reseller account