Reseller hosting: what can you do with it and how do you expand it?

With reseller hosting you manage your own clients' websites in one package. You give each client or each domain their own account in DirectAdmin. In this article you'll read which reseller packages are available, how to create accounts, and how to expand your package. If your existing package has just been converted to a reseller package, you'll find at the bottom how to move a domain to its own account.

The reseller packages

• WEBRESEL: 1 CPU core and 1 GB RAM per account, including 7.5 GB storage, 50 users and 100 domains.
• Power Reseller: 4 CPU cores and 4 GB RAM per account, including 7.5 GB storage, 5 users and 10 domains, with SSH and the Terminal.

With both you get a whitelabel DirectAdmin control panel: you set your own logo, colours and menu, so your clients log in to your environment. You'll find the current prices and how far you can expand on the Reseller hosting page.

User level and reseller level

When you log in to DirectAdmin, you'll see two levels:

• User level: your own hosting account, with your own domains, website and email.
• Reseller level (also called Reseller Level in DirectAdmin): here you create hosting packages and accounts for your clients.

The big advantage of a separate account per client or domain: each account has its own processing power, memory and processes. If one site is busy or hacked, the other accounts won't notice. If all domains are in your own user account, they share everything and one domain can slow down the rest.

Creating an account for your client

1. In DirectAdmin, go to the reseller level.
2. First create your own hosting package with the limits you want to give your client, such as storage, domains, mailboxes and databases. You do this under Manage User Packages with Add Package.
3. Then create a new account with Add New User. Choose the domain and the package, and give the client the login details. You'll find all your accounts under Show Users.

Your client logs in to DirectAdmin with that account themselves and only sees their own domains. If you order a domain from WebOké for your reseller package, you choose in the order which user it should belong to, or you have a new user created.

Want to create accounts automatically from your own system? You can do this with DirectAdmin's API. Read Using the DirectAdmin API: managing your package with scripts.

You can also manage your client accounts and hosting packages in My WebOké: open My Control Panel and select the My Clients tab.

Expanding your package

You can adjust storage, users and domains yourself in My WebOké:

1. Go to My Products and click Manage next to your reseller package.
2. Under Configurable options, choose the new amount of storage, users or domains. The cost is shown next to each option.
3. Click Save Options, check the amount and pay.

You only pay extra for the rest of your current period. After that, the expansion is included in your renewal price. More storage takes effect immediately after payment. If your reseller package is full of users, you can only create a new user once you've increased the limit. Also read How do I change or upgrade my hosting package? and Ordering more storage/disk space.

Your package has been converted to a reseller package

Your existing domains are still at user level, in your own account. Here's how to move a domain to its own account:

1. Make a backup of the domain at user level. If you want to set everything up again from scratch, this isn't necessary.
2. Delete the domain at user level.
3. Create a new account for that domain at reseller level.
4. Log in with that account and restore the backup, or set up the website and email again.