Navigating Through WHM: A Beginner’s Guide
For hosting resellers, Web Host Manager (WHM) is a powerful tool that creates an opportunity to provide clients with their hosting solutions while maintaining management control. While WHM’s comprehensive feature set is invaluable, it can be overwhelming for newcomers.
This guide aims to demystify the process, offering a clear path through the interface. Accompanied by screenshots, we’ll highlight crucial sections and functionalities that resellers often use.
This article is tailored to the standard functionalities accessible to resellers. Specific features may vary depending on the hosting provider’s policies or the reseller privileges assigned within WHM.
Accessing WHM:
To start, you need to access the WHM panel. This is usually done by entering your IP address followed by ‘/whm‘ in your browser’s address bar (e.g., https://192.168.0.1/whm). You’ll then be prompted to enter your username and password.
The WHM Dashboard:
Upon first login, you’re greeted with the WHM dashboard. Here, you’ll find a summary of your server status, including server load, memory usage, and running services.
Account Functions:
For resellers, the ‘Account Functions‘ section is central to managing client accounts effectively and securely. This area is instrumental in overseeing various aspects of customer accounts, from initial setup to routine management and, if necessary, suspension or termination. Below we delve into the specific functionalities available to resellers:
- Create a New Account: This is the starting point for your reseller business, allowing you to set up hosting accounts for new clients. Here, you can input client information and configure account settings, including the domain, username, and package assignment.
- Force Password Change: Security is paramount, and this function contributes to that by enabling you to require a password change upon the next login. This feature is vital if you suspect security risks or as a routine security measure.
- Manage Account Suspension: Whether due to non-payment, abuse, or other violations, you might need to suspend an account. This option allows you to temporarily disable access while keeping the account data intact. You can also provide a reason for suspension, visible to the client attempting to access their suspended account.
- Password Modification: If a client loses their password or needs it changed for security reasons, you can modify account passwords here, ensuring continuous secure access.
- Skeleton Directory: This feature allows you to create a standardized directory structure and default files that will be used for all new accounts. It’s perfect for branding, creating a consistent, professional impression for your clients upon their initial login.
- Terminate Accounts: When necessary, you can completely remove accounts using this function. It’s a permanent action, deleting all account data, and should be used with caution.
- Upgrade/Downgrade an Account: This tool provides the flexibility to change the hosting package for an account, allowing you to manage resources for your clients effectively. It’s used when clients want to scale their plans according to their evolving needs.
- Web Template Editor: If an account is suspended or encounters a misconfiguration, you can use this function to modify the default page that their visitors will see, allowing for custom branding even in downtime scenarios.
These functionalities give resellers nuanced control over client accounts, ensuring they can manage, secure, and scale the services offered to their customers effectively. Each feature serves a specific need, contributing to comprehensive account management and facilitating excellent service provision.
Account Information:
The ‘Account Information‘ section is a hub of insights for resellers, offering a clear view of the accounts they manage. It provides an organized snapshot of the various aspects of hosting accounts, ensuring resellers have the necessary data at their fingertips. Here’s what you can access:
- List Accounts: This is the primary overview of all the accounts you manage. Here, you can see key details like domain names, IP addresses, and account status. It’s your go-to spot for a quick scan of all client accounts.
- Parked Domains: Parked domains are secondary domains that redirect to the primary domain of an account. This section lists all parked domains across your accounts, allowing you to manage them effectively.
- List Subdomains: Subdomains are extensions of the main domain, often used for specific purposes like blogs or e-commerce sections. Here, you can view all subdomains associated with your accounts, ensuring clarity in website structure.
- Suspended Accounts: Accounts may be suspended for various reasons, from payment issues to terms of service violations. This segment provides a clear list of all suspended accounts, helping you address and resolve issues promptly.
- View Bandwidth Usage: Bandwidth refers to the amount of data transferred to and from a website. It’s crucial for performance and costs. This tool offers an overview of bandwidth consumption for each account, ensuring you can monitor usage and address potential overages.
By frequently checking the ‘Account Information‘ section, resellers can stay abreast of the status and configurations of the accounts they manage. Each of these tools offers specific insights, collectively ensuring resellers can maintain top-notch services and support for their clients.
Packages:
The ‘Packages‘ section in WHM is crucial for resellers aiming to offer standardized hosting solutions to their clients. It allows them to define specific configurations and resources that can be quickly assigned to new or existing accounts. This ensures consistent service delivery and simplifies the account creation process. Here are the specific functionalities available:
- Add a Package: This is where you can create a new hosting package, specifying the resources (like disk space, bandwidth, number of domains, etc.) that come with it. By creating diverse packages, resellers can cater to different needs, from basic blogs to e-commerce giants.
- Delete a Package: Over time, certain packages may become obsolete or redundant. This function ensures you can declutter your offerings by removing any unnecessary packages, ensuring only relevant and competitive packages remain available.
- Edit a Package: Markets evolve, and so do client needs. If you find that a package needs tweaking, whether it’s increasing disk space or adding more databases, this tool ensures you can make adjustments without creating a new package from scratch.
- Feature Manager: This function dives deeper into the specifics of a package, allowing you to define the features and capabilities that are included. This could range from cPanel tools to specific software availability, granting you granular control over what your clients can access.
By understanding and optimizing the ‘Packages‘ section, resellers can streamline their service offerings and respond swiftly to market trends and client demands. Creating tailored, competitive packages is key to attracting and retaining clients in the competitive hosting landscape.
DNS Functions:
Domain Name System (DNS) is the backbone of the internet, translating human-friendly domain names into IP addresses. For resellers, effective DNS management is crucial to ensure clients’ websites are accessible and run smoothly. WHM offers a suite of DNS functions tailored for in-depth control and management. Here’s what you can access:
- Add a DNS Zone: If you need to set up a new domain or subdomain, this is where you start. By adding a DNS zone, you specify the domain’s details and its corresponding IP address, preparing it for further configuration and website setup.
- Delete a DNS Zone: Over time, certain domains or subdomains might no longer be in use. This tool ensures you can remove their DNS configurations, decluttering the server and ensuring only active zones are in place.
- DNS Zone Manager: A comprehensive tool, the DNS Zone Manager lets you view and modify existing DNS zones. It’s perfect for making adjustments to domain configurations or rectifying any errors.
- Edit Zone Templates: Templates make it easier to apply standard DNS configurations across multiple domains. This feature allows you to create, modify, or remove DNS templates, ensuring consistent configurations across similar domains.
- Email Routing Configuration: Email communication relies on DNS for proper routing. This section lets you define how emails are handled for specific domains, ensuring emails reach their intended recipients without hitches.
- Park a Domain: Sometimes, clients may have secondary domains that need to redirect to their primary website. By parking a domain, you can set up these redirects, ensuring visitors reach the correct site.
- Set Zone TTL (Time to Live): TTL defines how long DNS information is cached by systems. Adjusting the TTL can influence site accessibility and performance. This tool lets you set the optimal TTL for each domain or subdomain.
The ‘DNS Functions‘ tab is pivotal for resellers, ensuring domains are correctly set up and maintained. A solid grasp of these tools ensures website reliability, faster load times, and optimized email delivery for all client accounts.
Email:
In the realm of email management, WHM equips resellers with specific tools that allow for detailed oversight and troubleshooting. Within the ‘Email‘ section, resellers won’t find broad configuration options due to their limited access; however, they have critical functionalities to ensure smooth email operations for their clients. Here are the features available:
- Mail Delivery Reports: This tool is indispensable when you need to investigate email delivery issues. By simply entering the email address or tracking information, you can pull up reports that detail the status of email transmissions, helping you identify whether an email was successfully delivered, deferred, or bounced.
- Mail Troubleshooter: This function allows you to trace the route an email takes to its destination. It’s particularly useful for diagnosing delivery problems and pinpointing where issues may be occurring. By understanding the email’s journey, you can provide precise support to your clients.
- View Relayers: This feature offers insight into accounts that are actively sending emails. It’s essential for monitoring and identifying potential spam issues, as it helps resellers spot unusual sending patterns that could indicate compromised accounts.
- View Sent Summary: Here, you can review summary reports of sent emails. This overview is crucial for tracking email activity, providing you with information like the number of sent emails, failures, deferrals, and more, offering insights into your email system’s health and performance.
These targeted tools collectively enable resellers to maintain high standards of email communication reliability for their clients, addressing issues proactively, and ensuring seamless email delivery and security.
SSL/TLS:
In today’s digital landscape, securing websites is paramount. Secure Socket Layer (SSL) and its successor, Transport Layer Security (TLS), play a central role in encrypting data between a user’s browser and the server, thereby ensuring safe and secure online transactions. WHM provides a range of SSL/TLS management tools that resellers can utilize to bolster site security. Here’s a breakdown:
- Generate an SSL Certificate and Signing Request: Before purchasing or deploying an SSL certificate, you’ll need a Certificate Signing Request (CSR). This feature allows you to generate both a CSR and a private key, the first steps in securing a domain.
- Install an SSL Certificate on a Domain: Once you have an SSL certificate, this tool facilitates its installation on a specified domain, ensuring the website can establish secure connections.
- Manage SSL Hosts: As you accumulate SSL certificates for various domains, this feature provides a centralized space to view, verify, and manage all active SSL configurations across different hosted accounts.
- Purchase and Install an SSL Certificate: Streamlining the SSL process, this function allows resellers to directly purchase SSL certificates from trusted providers and then seamlessly install them, all from within WHM.
- SSL Storage Manager: SSL certificates and their associated files can consume server space. The SSL Storage Manager offers insights into the storage used by SSL files, helping resellers ensure efficient resource management.
Mastering the ‘SSL/TLS‘ tools in WHM ensures that resellers can provide robust security measures to their clients. Given the critical importance of online security in today’s web landscape, offering reliable SSL management services can be a significant value proposition for hosting resellers.
Conclusion:
Mastering WHM navigation is an invaluable skill for any hosting reseller, ensuring efficient management of client accounts and hosting settings. By understanding these key sections within WHM, you can confidently utilise the tools and features to provide reliable and secure hosting services.
As WHM continues to evolve, keeping abreast of new features and updates will further enhance your reselling endeavours.
