Web Hosting Support Guides
This reseller guide it here to help you understand your new business.Reseller Guide for Getting around WHM
How to create accounts and administer your Web Host Manager.NOTE: DO NOT CREATE AN ACCOUNT FOR THE DOMAIN YOU SIGNED UP WITH. WE HAVE ALREADY DONE SO AND YOU WILL SEE IT UNDER YOUR ACCOUNTS LIST IN YOUR WHM.
Remember that your website account takes up part of your reseller resources. This is important to keep in mind so you don't oversell your space and run out too quickly. If you use more than you've paid for your account with either be billed for the extra usage or it will be automatically suspended. If your account is getting close to full usage, please contact sales for an upgrade which can be completed fairly quickly.
1) About WHM
A lot of the features in the WHM will be used daily and some may not ever be
used at all. This section will explain the first few menu options on the left
as soon as you login to your WHM.
The web host manager (WHM) is your gateway to the server for installation
and managing of your reseller accounts. We have broken down the WHM in
sections below, with explanations of each feature and what it is good for.
The Golden Rule of WHM
DON'T click on anything if you are not sure what it does. WHM is extremely powerful and can help you make or break your business is not handled with care. Please do not try to alter the WHM Theme from the selection box - fatal errors will occur.
How to Log into WHM
Your Shared IP with :2086 or /whm at the end.
An example would be http://72.29.84.103:2086 if that was your shared IP.
Username: Username assigned to the account when it was created
Password: Password assigned to the account when it was created
NEVER SHARE YOUR LOGIN INFORMATION WITH ANYONE OTHER THAN OUR STAFF.
2) Account Functions
Create Packages
The first thing you need to do is scroll down on the left and click on 'Add Package' so that you can create your own hosting packages. You cannot install a domain (create a new hosting account ) under your reseller account without creating packages first. This is what tells the server how much disk space and bandwidth to give your customers. You can make different sized accounts too... just think about how many customers you would like to divide your account into and work around those numbers.
When creating your packages do not set bandwidth nor space to unlimited because this will cause issues on the server since you do not have unlimited resources.
List Accounts
This shows all of your client domains, Server IP, Username, Install Date, and Space used. This feature will not show you your clients QUOTA since you will be modifying this (if needed) from the 'Quota Modification' section discussed later.
To Create a New Account:
This one is pretty much self explanatory but there are some items that need to be looked out for while installing clients onto the server.
1 - There cannot be any spaces before or after the domain name. All that is needed is this block is just the domain name (no www. or http://)
2 - The username cannot start with a number or have any spaces or dashes in it. If the username defaults to a name with a dash, remove the dash or errors will occur when the user attempts to install scripts included in the cPanel.
Bad usernames: 123domai or 123-doma or domain-
Good Usernames: domainco or domainxx or domainqt
Try to keep the username all lower case, as well as the password when you create it.
To install a new account, follow these steps:
1 - Input the client domain into the domain box - this will automatically create a username after you press the TAB key when done. If the username has a - in it or starts with a number, please modify the username to be a clean, acceptable username.
2 - Create password for the user. This can be whatever you wish to have as the password or the user can request a specific password when signing up for services. A good rule of thumb is to not use an everyday word or, if you use an everyday word like 'tree', modify it with a few numbers - 'tree78787'.
3 - Select your default package (there will only be one package in your dropdown unless you've made multiple packages) and press the create button at the top.
Your default package may only install the account on 10 megs of space. If you need to modify this space, use the 'Quota Modification' feature explained later.
*GOOD RULE OF THUMB*
After you press the create button, a confirmation page will come up showing
the domain installed, the IP, the username and password. Right click on
this page and select the print option. Keep this in your file for this user
since this will be your only record of the users original password.
Skeleton Directory
This directory is where you would install a basic index.html page that would be installed on all new domains after you have installed them - automatically. If you want to use this feature, you must first click on this link to create the cpanel3-skel directory on your reseller domain.
1 - Create a simple index.html page - Hosted by __________________ or something a little more feature rich. If you are using images, host the images somewhere else and use full url links to the images IMG SRC="http://yourdomain.com/images/welcome.gif".
2 - FTP into your main domain and open the /cpanel3-skel folder. Then open the /public_html folder.
3 - Upload your basic index.html page into this folder. THAT'S IT! Everytime you install an account, this index page will be installed onto that domain. Once the domain resolves, your page will be seen. The user can delete or replace them at their own desire.
Terminate An Account
Pretty much self explanatory. Only one word of caution - FILES ARE NOT RECOVERABLE AFTER TERMINATION.
View Bandwidth Usage
Again, pretty much self explanatory. This feature will give you a summary of all your clients bandwidth usage for the current month. You have the ability to preview previous months by clicking on the link at the top of the bandwidth page. If you notice a client with a highlighted listing (yellow or red) - Keep an eye on them for they are using a lot of bandwidth.
Limit Bandwidth Usage
If you want to limit the bandwidth per account, you can do so here. This is counted in MEGS of bandwidth so make sure you use the following method:
For 1 GIG of Bandwidth, use 1024 megs, etc.
Once this account goes over 1 gig in bandwidth, a page will show up on their domain stating bandwidth limit has been reached, contact system admin. This gives you total control over bandwidth so nothing gets out of hand.
Suspend or Unsuspend an account and List Suspended Accounts
Self explanatory area. This will allow you to FREEZE a clients domain which will product a customized (explained later) page on their website stating they have been suspended, please contact system admin.
Modify Suspended Account Page
Clicking this will give you a form field with the HTML code of your 'Account Suspended' page. Create a standard 'account suspended' web page (with full url links to images) in a normal web design program. Cut and paste the source into this box and press save.
Quota Modification
After you install an account, and they have been assigned 10 megs or whichever your default may be on your reseller area - you can click there to alter that space to meet their needs. Pretty much self explanatory once inside. Find the domain, replace the 10 with what they purchases and press the submit button next to the box.
Password Modification
If a user misplaces or forgets their password, you can go here and either reset it to original (pull out copy of printout from account creation) or you can make an entire new password for them.
List Subdomains
If an account has been enabled to use sub-domains (unique IP required) - you will be able to view all the sub-domains by clicking this link for all accounts in your reseller block.
Need More Help?
If you still need further details on working inside of WHM, we recommend reading the WebHost Manager User Manual. This online tutorial will show you how to proceed with all aspects of your WHM account. Visit it as often as you need to.
Accessing a cPanel New Account
After you add an account you will be able to access the account by going to your server's ip address with "/~username/" (remove the quotes) at the end.
An example of this would be for an account hosted on a server with the IP address "72.29.84.103", with the username "joe". The result would be http://72.29.84.103/~joe/. This would give them access to their account while their domain name gets pointed to their new hosting account on your server.
Don't forget to replace the username with what it was assigned when the account was added the server. Make sure the username is all lower case because it is case sensitive.
Uploading to a New cPanel Account Using FTP
You may begin to upload files to any domain you add instantly to the IP address as the Host Address in an FTP client.
Host Address: YOUR SERVERS IP
Username: Username assigned to the account when it was created
Password: Password assigned to the account when it was created
Directory: /public_html/
When you connect via FTP to the server make sure you place all files in the public_html folder and make sure you have your homepage named index.html. You may also use .htm, .shtml, .php as well. ALL LOWER CASE to appear on your domain.
Notice that the host address will never change on any accounts you add. The only difference is the username and pass which is unique to each individual account added to the server.
If you have a hosting client then just give them that info above so they can upload their files instantly before DNS propagates. After DNS propagates they can use ftp.CLIENTDOMAIN.com as the host address when using FTP to upload files to their account.
Control Panel for Added Accounts
After you add an account you will be able to login into the cPanel of that account using the following format:
Your Shared IP with :2082 at the end.
Like the example above it would be http://72.29.84.103:2082
Username: Username assigned to the account when it was created
Password: Password assigned to the account when it was created
The URL is universal for any accounts on the server. The only thing that changes is the login ID of each account.
Good to Know
We offer many different programs for our customers to choose from and use on their websites, however we are only distributors of the software and not the creators. We also do not charge for this software. For these two reasons we do not offer any support for software. We are hired to provide hardware and service to the web, so these are our primary areas of support (including email). If you should have any questions regarding a Fantastico program or other software, we recommend visiting the website of the program designer/creator and contacting their support departments or help desks. Most offer free support for their software, although some charge additional fees for certain levels of support. Verify each individually at their websites. If you have a hosting related question please post a ticket in our help desk.
