Web Hosting Support Guides
This reseller guide it here to help you understand your new business.Reseller Guide
How to Start Your Reseller Business1) Private Nameservers
Private nameservers are what someone would see looking up a domain in the whois data base. Often times these look like ns1.domain.com ns2.domain.com. As a reseller we provide you with the ability to have private nameservers to establish a higher level of anonymity as a hosting company. We understand how important it is to keep your customers with your company and to not lose them to another host. So we encourage our resellers to setup private nameservers with their domain name appearing in the record. Want to do this? Keep reading down the page.
2) Setting Up Private Nameservers
In order to setup private nameservers for your account you will need to open a trouble ticket in our help desk. Please include the nameservers you would like to have setup. For example if your domain was dmiwebhosting.com you would request ns1.dmiwebhosting.com and ns2.dmiwebhosting.com.
Next comes the most important step in the process...
You or the registered owner of the domain must go into the control panel of the registrar where your domain was registered and to register nameservers on the domain you have chosen to use for your private nameservers. ***Do not get registering nameservers confused with listing the dns or nameservers on your domain. The difference is that in this case we are actually creating nameservers, whereas most domain owners have to give their domain dns information which would include nameservers, but they are only telling the domain where to point to. If this is a little overwhelming for you we recommend contacting the domain registrar(the company who you registered the domain with) technical support department and asking them to help you set this up. Remember, you are registering nameservers and this is normally a free service. If you find that your registrar is trying to charge you for such services, you may consider our domains partner who does not charge anything for registering nameservers. Click here to learn more.
3) How long should I wait after registering new nameservers?
It is good to allow 4-8 hours for .COM and .NET domains and about 24-48 hours for all other domain extensions for the name servers to be registered.
4) Getting to Know WHM
WHM, or WebHost Manager, is a critical part of your online reseller business. It is where you log in to manage accounts, setup and terminate accounts, view account resources, and monitor the overall health of your hosting business. So we recommend taking plenty of time to familiarize yourself with the WebHost Manager User Manual. Keep in mind that because you do not have a fully dedicated server of your own, you may see some features and controls that do not apply to your account, but you should find it very helpful and a great guide to web hosting with cPanel/WHM.
When you are through reading this document, we highly recommend reading our Resellers WHM guide to getting started in your Web Host Manager.
5) Proceed with Caution and Excitement
Your new hosting is business is very exciting and has endless possibilities as long as you follow a few simply rules.
1) Respect others in your realm of influence(clients, other end-users, us and other people you may interact with in business.
2) You should never give out your username and login unless it is to DMI Web Hosting staff or other members of your team who will help you manage the server and accounts. Be wise and cautious about who you select as partners that gain access to this. If they do not understand the terms by which you have agreed to run your business by, they could create a situation where you account may become suspended (including any and all customers under your account).
3) Don't try to oversell(offering more resources than you really have)... this is only asking for trouble, plus who wants to live in a crowded house? Nobody! Neither do your customers and they certainly don't want a host who is stingy and won't be real with them. Don't blow your chance at a really great business.
4) Please do not click on anything that you are not sure what it does. Please do not try to alter the WHM Theme from the selection box - fatal errors will occur.
5) Be fair in all that you do, including pricing, flexibility, following the rules and being honest.
6) Be happy! Nobody likes a poor attitude and why should you be down? You're in business for yourself and even if you still work a 9-5, be bright and friendly to people -- this business could help you get out of that JOB.
5) WHM vs. cPanel
As we stated in the last paragraph, WHM is the web hosting manager control panel. There is only one per reseller and you must guard it carefully. WHM is the key to your hosting business and without it, you would not be in business.
WebHost Manager: Used by the reseller and allows for account setup, termination, package creation, communication with clients, viewing of active accounts, etc.
cPanel: Used by customers and you too, for your own website, to manage things like email accounts, monitoring how much resources they've used, website statistics and other great site management tools.
6) Why don't I pay for cPanel license?
As a reseller you are not responsible for your own dedicated server and are reselling space on a shared server. Thus we cover the cost of the cPanel license for the entire server and pass on the savings to you. When you decide to upgrade to a dedicated server you will then be responsible for selecting and paying for the fees related to your control panel of choice.
7) How much time should I spend on my reseller business?
This answer to this is, how much do you want your business to grow? If you replied "a lot" than spend a lot of time on it. If you think you don't need to spend a lot of time on it, then don't. We don't really care what you do as long as you follow the rules. Some customers who have reseller packages aren't even in it for the business side, as much as they just wanted more space and the unbeatable price! This one is completely up to you. Just pace yourself and see what works best for you.
8) Reseller Resources Explained
Most of our customers fail to understand exactly what they are getting with a DMI Web Hosting Reseller Account. This article explains the different types of resources bundled with each account.
Reseller Resources
The amount of disk space and bandwidth which is provisioned to your DMI Web Hosting reseller account for use with the sites you are hosting is known as the reseller resources. It is these resources which are guaranteed with the hosting plan you signed up for.
To begin using these resources you must log into the Web Host Manager (WHM) interface for your reseller account, create Packages with various amounts of disk space and bandwidth, and then create new cPanel accounts using these packages. Read the WebHost Manager User Manual for help with this.
9) Getting Around WHM
Click here to visit our next Reseller tutorial for account creation, file upload, etc.
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.
