[thelist] Best way to resell hosting?

[Ray Hill]

> I generally have small clients who I do small database
> driven sites for.
> <snip>
> 
> 1. Sell space on your own DB and web accounts.
> 2. Re-sell accounts.
>
> <snip>
> So are there any providers that offer mySQL/php web
> hosting service at a reasonable cost? I am looking
> for a reliable, simple to manage host that provides
> good support.


Option two is definitely the way to go, I'd say.  If you go to the right places, hosting can be super-cheap and stll feature-rich these days, and the ~$100/year is certainly worth it in time/efort saved.

As Robin pointed out, ReadyHosting.com is one good option.  The problem with them is that they're a Windows shop (so they're less PHP/MySQL friendly), and their account control panel is somewhat limited.

Both have very good web-based email clients that allow limited POP3 accounts, unlimited email redirects, and are very easy for users to maintain their own accounts.  And both provide site statistics: ReadyHosting using the MediaHouse stats server (which rocks) and JTLNet using a collection of open source stats apps (which are pretty good).

With ReadyHosting, though, all you can do with the account's control panel is manage your email, add DSNs, add a shopping cart, and secure a folder.  With JTLNet's control panel, you can do all that plus create unlimited distribution lists (much like our evolt list), edit you files/directories/file permissions through a web-based editor, manage your FTP accounts, create custom error pages (404, 500, etc), password protect folders, SSL/Telnet (applet), access raw logs and automated weekly site backups, maintain a mySQL database through the web-based phpMyAdmin interface, set up cron jobs, do some wacky stuff with mime types & apache handlers, automatically generate a chat room, install several canned CGI apps (counters, clocks, gues books, etc), do a whois or traceroute, and auto-submit to 13 search engines.

Also, to get to JTLNet's control panel, you go to yourdomain.com/controlpanel.  But to get to ReadyHosting's control panel, you have to go to http://controlpanel.readyhosting.com which, if you're reselling it to clients, might A) make the URL hard for them to remember and B) make the fact that you *are* reselling a bit more transparent than you might like.

That being said, JTLNet only offers disconts on the $15/month and up plans, while ReadyHosting has a more friendly reseller policy.  But since the client would be paying for the difference anyhow (and it's only a matter of a few bucks), the difference is minimal.

Ultimately, I'd say if you're doing ASP or ColdFusion work, go with ReadyHosting; if you're doing PHP/MySQL work, go with JTLNet.

I, personally, have one account with each, so that my bases are covered.  I've been generally happy with both, but have been more impressed with JTLNet's support staff.  I also dig the fact that their control panel lets you automatically set up unlimited whatever.yourdomain.com sub-domains on their $40/month plan.  :)


--ray