Creating and Editing Plans
This document explains how to create and edit plan settings using plan creation and edit wizards.
Note that Plan Wizards display only those resources that are enabled globally in the system.Read about Global Resources for more info.
- Include: check the box to have the resource available for users subscribing for the plan. If you leave this box unchecked, users of this plan will be unable to take advantage of this resource. Checking Include alone doesn't activate this resource by default; in newly created accounts it will be off.
- Activated determines whether the resource should be enabled immediately at signup(checked) or activated later by the user (unchecked). If a pay resource has Activated unchecked, it won't be included in the signup bill, but users will be able to turn it onwhen necessary and will be charged for it at the moment of activation.But if a pay resource has Activated checked, it will be included in the signup bill,and will be charged for when users enable it in their control panel. If the activated resource has some pay child resources also activated in the plan wizard, they will be included in the signup bill and user will be charged for them at the moment of activating the parent resource.
Some of the plan's resources are integral to the system and cannot be excluded from the plan. They are not available on this page.
Note: If you exclude resources that are in use by some users, they'll remain functional but become inaccessible from the user control panel.
Step 1 has several sections:
Allow or disallow your customers to create the above mail resources:
- Starting Plan Creation Wizards
- Starting Plan Edit Wizards
-
A Typical Plan Wizard
- Step 1: Selecting Resources and Configuring Plan Settings
- Subsequent steps: Settings Prices
- In Unix based plans changed shared IP tag immediately shows up in the system control panel interface, however it actually takes effect only when the changes to the server configuration are applied.
- Unix RealServer Plan Wizard
- MySQL Plan Wizard
- Windows Plan Wizard
- Windows RealMedia Plan Wizard
- E-mail Plan Wizard
- Administrator Plan Wizard
- VPS Plan Wizard
-
Hosted Exchange Plan Wizard (
in 2.5 RC 2)
Starting Plan Creation Wizards
In H-Sphere, plans are created with Plan Creation Wizards.To start a plan creation wizard:- Select Plan Creation Wizards in the Info menu:
-
On the page that appears, choose the type of the plan.
Windows plans are created similarly to Unix plans (see - Go through the wizard following the instructions below.
- Newly created plans are disabled by default.Toggling the ON/OFF button in the Signup column next to the hosting plan,you allow or prohibit signups under this plan.
Starting Plan Edit Wizards
Plans are edited with Plan Edit Wizards. To start a plan edit wizard:- Select Plans in the Info menu.
- In the list of plans that appears, click the name of the plan you would like to edit.
- Go through the wizard following the instructions below.
A Typical Plan Wizard
Most plan wizards follow the same pattern and guide you through two or more steps:-
step 1:
- including or excluding particular resources;
- making them active by default;
, such as -
subsequent steps:
- setting custom prices for domain registration services in this specific plan;
- setting free amounts and prices for each resource type for the default (1 month) and actual billing periods.
* The number of subsequent steps depends on the actual billing periods for this plan.
Step 1: Selecting Resources and Configuring Plan Settings
On the first step, select which resources will be available and active in the plan.Note that Plan Wizards display only those resources that are enabled globally in the system.Read about Global Resources for more info.
- Include: check the box to have the resource available for users subscribing for the plan. If you leave this box unchecked, users of this plan will be unable to take advantage of this resource. Checking Include alone doesn't activate this resource by default; in newly created accounts it will be off.
- Activated determines whether the resource should be enabled immediately at signup(checked) or activated later by the user (unchecked). If a pay resource has Activated unchecked, it won't be included in the signup bill, but users will be able to turn it onwhen necessary and will be charged for it at the moment of activation.But if a pay resource has Activated checked, it will be included in the signup bill,and will be charged for when users enable it in their control panel. If the activated resource has some pay child resources also activated in the plan wizard, they will be included in the signup bill and user will be charged for them at the moment of activating the parent resource.
Some of the plan's resources are integral to the system and cannot be excluded from the plan. They are not available on this page.
Note: If you exclude resources that are in use by some users, they'll remain functional but become inaccessible from the user control panel.
Step 1 has several sections:
- Enter Plan name for the plan you are creating.Later you can change the plan name in the Plan Settings.
- Summary Disk Usage (version 2.3 and higher): unchecking this box will stop the system from billing end users for disk usage. More on disk usage.
- Domain: check this box to allow domain transfer and domain registration from the user control panel.
-
Domain registration: allow users to create new standard domains through OpenSRS: and Enom.
Leave registrar prices as they are (version 2.3 and higher): Check this box to skip the second step of the wizard and use the default prices. To enter custom domain registration prices, don't check this box. -
Domain Transfer: allow users to transfer domains from their control panel.
Leave domain transfer prices as they are: Check this box to skip the second step of the wizard and use the default prices. To enter custom domain transfer prices, don't check this box. - SubDomain. Third level domains have the same functionalities as second level domains, i.e. regular domains.
-
Stopgap Domain: allow your customers to use hosting services without a real domain. Stopgap domains don't have DNS zones, and don't allow e-mail service. Still, users can access their sites using their instant domain aliases.
Stopgap domains support web site management and FTP services. Also, IP-only access is possible with a dedicated IP. - Third level domain: allow your customers to create third level domains based on the domain names you offer. E.g. if your domain name is example.com,a user can have a domain like thirdlevel.example.com. Third level domains have the same functionalities as second level domains, i.e. regular domains.
- Domain aliasReferrer (i.e. from which page visitor was directed) stack domain) an extra domain name that points to a 'primary' domain. For example, the owner of the domain name example.com can register another domain name, e.g. example.net and have it point to the location of example.com. This means that every Internet user who goes to example.net will land in example.com.Domain alias can have its own DNS zone, custom DNS records and their own mail service.
- Parked domain: allow your customers to use H-Sphere DNS server for designating IPs to domain names serviced and hosted on other servers (not those of H-Sphere).
- Service DomainChanges to this parameter will apply only to new domains, while the existent domains will retain the 'old' shared IP tag. System plan) to host and manage your corporate web-site. To enable users register third level domains with the second level domain name of your corporate site, register it as a Service Domain. For example, the company offers third level domains at example.com, such as thirdlevel.example.com or userdomain.example.com. Naturally, the site of the hosting company should be available at example.com or www.example.com.
- CGI Resource: allow your customers to map file extensions as CGI executables.
- cgi-bin Resource: allow your customers to create cgi-bin directory,so all the cgi-bin directory's content is treated as cgi executables which the server tries to run.
- Front Page: allow your customers to use FrontPage extensions on their web sites.
- Server Side Include: allow your customers to use interactive real-time features such as echoing current time, conditional execution based on logical comparisons, querying or updating a database, sending an e-mail etc., with no programming or CGI scripts.
- PHP Module: allow your customers to create dynamic web pages with PHP.
- Redirect URL: allow your customers to redirect visitors from one URL to another. When an Internet user tries to connect to a URL that is redirected,he is taken to the address this URL is mapped to.
- Directory Index (version 2.09 and higher): allow your customers to set their custom directory indexes
- Server Side Imagemap (version 2.08 and higher): allow your customers to have files with a specific extension regarded as map files
- Throttle Resource:allow your customers 'throttle' the use of traffic in their accounts by delaying or refusing requests to their sites.
- mnogoSearch: allow your customers to use H-Sphere integrated search engine that searches their sites by keywords.
- php BB: allow your customers to use php BB, H-Sphere integrated,high powered, fully scalable, and highly customizable bulletin board package.
- Error generated by request, if any: allow your customers to configure their own error pages that are shown when the requested pages fail to open.
- Logical Server Group: appropriate resources under this plan will be created on a particular logical server group.
- Referrer Log:check the box to have separate referrer logs written into user directories. Referrer logs contain the URLs from which visitors were referred to your customer's site.
- Agent Log: check the box to have separate agent logs written into user directories. Agent logs contain data about visitors' browsers or any other Internet-based software,and related data.
- Error Log:check the box to have separate error logs written into user directories. Error logs store data about errors generated by the server (e.g. Page Not Found error) or by their cgi scripts.
- Webalizer Resource and Modlogan Resource:Check the boxes to install Webalizer and Modlogan into user directories. These freeware tools parse the transfer log and produce statistics reports in readable HTML format to be viewed through a browser.
- Urchin3 and Urchin4:Make sure to have Urchin installed and configured before enabling it in the plan. Check the sysadmin guide for Urchin installation and configuration.
- AWStats: another free tool that generates advanced graphical web server statistics reports. AWStats is set up on each Unix/Linux and Windows web server with H-Sphere installation or upgrade.
-
Transfer Log: check the boxes to have transfer logs written into user directories. Transfer logs include combined data about every visit to your customer's site, including:
- Remote host IP (i.e. visitor's IP)
- Time of request (i.e. when visitor requested the page)
- First line of request
- Error generated by request, if any
- Size of message sent in response to the request
- Referrer (i.e. from which page visitor was directed)
- Agent ID (i.e. type of browser or another agent and related information, such as user's OS, etc.)
Allow or disallow your customers to create the above mail resources:
- Email Auto Responder: to automatically reply to senders with a uniform response when mail arrives in a mailbox.
- Mail Box Alias: to have an alternative address to an existing mailbox.
- Mail Forward: to automatically forward all incoming mail to a list of remote addresses.
- Mailing List: to send mail to multiple recipients.
- Mail Domain Alias (version 2.4 and higher): to have an alternative domain name to a mail domain.This is an obligatory resource for Email only plans,and therefore it's not listed as an option in their wizards. Important: Mail Domain Alias in the Email Only Plan is the same as Domain alias.
- Mail Relay enable this option to ensure incoming mail is kept on the mail relay server,if your primary mail server goes down.
- AntiSpam to set spam filtering for user mail domains.
- AntiVirus to set virus filtering for user mailboxes.
- Logical Server Group (Mail servers): appropriate mail resources under this plan will be created on the particular logical server group.
- SSL Module: enable your customers to use SSL (Secure Sockets Layer protocol) - a standard for transmitting confidential data such as credit card numbers over the Internet.
- Shared SSL: provide SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) encryption and business authentication to Web business customers.
- Miva Resource: allow your users to create online stores with Miva Merchant.For more information visit www.miva.com/products/merchant/
- osCommerce: allow your users to create online stores using an open source e-commerce solution (osCommerce 2.1 release). For more information visit www.oscommerce.com.
- FTP sub-account: allow or disallow your customer to create additional logins and passwords to his directory so his friends or colleagues can independently use it.
- Virtual FTP Server: allow or disallow your customers to let their friends and colleagues download, upload or view files in the dedicated directories.
- Anonymous FTP Server: allow or disallow your customers to let anybody else download, upload or view files in the dedicated directories.
- Custom DNS Record: allow your customers to create new custom DNS records.
- Shell Access: allow your customers to access and operate their accounts through Shell.
- Crontab: enable your customers to clock and run their own Unix shell scripts automatically.
- Kanoodle: enable your customers to promote their website.
- RLimitCPU: checking the box will restrict the CPU usage by users'cgi scripts.
- RLimitMEM: checking the box will restrict the memory usage by user'cgi scripts.
- RLimitNPROC: checking the box will restrict the number of simultaneous processes per user.
- Site Studio:allow your customers to use a powerful site construction tool enabling them to create a professional-looking site in a matter of minutes.
- MySQL, MS SQL, PGSQL: allow or disallow your customers to create and use their own databases.
Name
Meaning
Recommended Value
Notes
the period in days after pay registration when users can claim back the recurrent fees they have paid if they decide to quit hosting services.The Money Back amount does not include the Setup Fees and is not affected by the refund percentage. The blank field sets it to zero, which disables the feature.
Less than 1 billing period
Immediately takes effect and influences existent accounts.
E-mail Invoice Notification
(version 2.1 and higher)
(version 2.1 and higher)
set the system to send e-mail invoices to users with accounts registered under the plan.
- e-mail invoices are sent to the e-mail address user provides in his billing info or contact info (in the absence of the first)
- the default can be overridden by individual user settings
- toggling the option doesn't affect settings of the existing users
- the default can be overridden by individual user settings
- toggling the option doesn't affect settings of the existing users
Billing Type
Don't switch to without billing.
Trial:
paid plan with trial period available.
Check the box to enable trial registration for this plan. If the box is checked, you will have to fill in the following fields too:
- Duration: enter the duration of the trial period in days. Usually trial period does not exceed one month.
- Credit Limit: maximum amount of credit a trial user can run up acquiring paid resources. If you set Trial Credit Limit to zero, trial users will be able to acquire only free resources. Usually this amount either equals the initial registration payment plus the recurrent fee for one payment period, or exceeds it a bit to enable trial users to buy some extra resources.After this amount has been reached, the user cannot purchase any more resources.When trial users become pay users, they are charged the amount they have run up during the trial period.
Check the box to enable trial registration for this plan. If the box is checked, you will have to fill in the following fields too:
- Duration: enter the duration of the trial period in days. Usually trial period does not exceed one month.
- Credit Limit: maximum amount of credit a trial user can run up acquiring paid resources. If you set Trial Credit Limit to zero, trial users will be able to acquire only free resources. Usually this amount either equals the initial registration payment plus the recurrent fee for one payment period, or exceeds it a bit to enable trial users to buy some extra resources.After this amount has been reached, the user cannot purchase any more resources.When trial users become pay users, they are charged the amount they have run up during the trial period.
Checked
Decreasing the trial period affects already signed up trial users so their trial time is 'cut'. Their accounts can be suspended if they have had their accounts more than the trial period is set to.
Without billing:
a totally free plan. Accounts registered without filling in the billing forms.
Don't switch to paid.
Credit Limit
Amount of account's 'expenses' to be accumulated until it is charged.Credit limit serves two purposes:
- cumulative : All setup, recurrent and usage fees are accrued until their cumulative amount reaches or exceeds the credit limit. Only then is this amount charged. This method minimizes referrals to credit card processing centers. This purpose is not applicable to check payments.
- restrictive : This purpose is pertinent to invalid credit, broken or expired cards and check payments. After user's negative balance reaches the credit limit, the user cannot buy any more resources. However, the recurrent and usage fees are still accrued, so the negative balance increases with every new payment interval.
Example: If you set the credit limit to $10, a user with $0 balance purchasing $5 resource won't be charged, although his balance will become -$5. This is also true of invalid credit card or check payment. If he decides to buy some extra $10 resource, he will be charged $15, and his balance will become zero. But in case of invalid credit card or check payment, this user won't be able to buy these extra $10 resource, and his balance will remain -$5. If this is the case, and if his usage fee equals $20, at the end of the payment interval his debt will increase to $25.
- cumulative : All setup, recurrent and usage fees are accrued until their cumulative amount reaches or exceeds the credit limit. Only then is this amount charged. This method minimizes referrals to credit card processing centers. This purpose is not applicable to check payments.
- restrictive : This purpose is pertinent to invalid credit, broken or expired cards and check payments. After user's negative balance reaches the credit limit, the user cannot buy any more resources. However, the recurrent and usage fees are still accrued, so the negative balance increases with every new payment interval.
Example: If you set the credit limit to $10, a user with $0 balance purchasing $5 resource won't be charged, although his balance will become -$5. This is also true of invalid credit card or check payment. If he decides to buy some extra $10 resource, he will be charged $15, and his balance will become zero. But in case of invalid credit card or check payment, this user won't be able to buy these extra $10 resource, and his balance will remain -$5. If this is the case, and if his usage fee equals $20, at the end of the payment interval his debt will increase to $25.
About $10
Changing Credit Limit affects both existent and new accounts.
Default IP type
Define the kind of IP user domains will get at signup (shared or dedicated).Each new user to signup for this plan will be given this kind of IP.
Shared
1. In the case of dedicated IPs, when you run out of dedicated IPs, newcomers won't be able to signup.
2. Changing this parameter doesn't affect existent domains. Only new domains created under reconfigured plan will get the defined IP type. This is done either at signup or in the existent account.
2. Changing this parameter doesn't affect existent domains. Only new domains created under reconfigured plan will get the defined IP type. This is done either at signup or in the existent account.
a digital "mark" that is assigned to all accounts created under this plan.Don't change this value unless instructed to do so by your parent host.
2
Don't change the shared IP tag in Windows based plans if they have live accounts.
In Unix based plans changed shared IP tag immediately shows up in the system control panel interface, however it actually takes effect only when the changes to the server configuration are applied.
In Unix based plans changed shared IP tag immediately shows up in the system control panel interface, however it actually takes effect only when the changes to the server configuration are applied.
Instant alias appearance
for given shared IP tag
for given shared IP tag
Select a template to create user instant aliases. Instant aliases are based on your domain names and allow users to view their sites without using their own domains. The example of an instant alias appearance is username.kNNN.example.com, where kNNN is the name of the logical server, on which user's account is located.
Changes to this parameter will apply only to new domains, while the existent domains will retain the 'old' shared IP tag.
Stopgap domain appearance
for given share IP tag
for given share IP tag
Select a representation for user stopgap domains. Stopgap domains will allow users to maintain their sites and access them using instant domain aliases. Stopgap domain is not a real domain and does not allow the user to have any domain name, DNS zone, and e-mail service. However, stopgap domain users can have IP-only access if they purchase a dedicated IP.
Changes to this parameter will apply only to new domains, while the existent domains will retain the 'old' shared IP tag.
Demo only mode
Allow creating demo end user accounts to demonstrate the capabilities of H-Sphere without having to use real resources. In demo mode, resources and services aren't created or used, but their creation and usage is simulated in the user control panel. For instance, users can create mailboxes, and the control panel will behave as if the mailboxes have been created, but in fact they haven't.
Read more about creating Demo Plans.
Subsequent Steps: Setting Prices
On subsequent steps, set prices for this plan. To enter the price configuration pages, don't check the Leave registrar prices as they are on step 1.Unix RealMedia Plan Wizard
This plan type allows hosting RealMedia streaming audio content on Unix platforms.MySQL Plan Wizard
The plans created with this wizard allow customers only to create and use MySQL online databases. The customer can authorize individual Internet users to connect to the MySQL database and use it from any remote location.Windows Plan Wizard
Windows plans are created similarly to Unix plans (see Unix Plan Wizard). The only difference is that you can include-
Virtual Directory ( HS 2.5+):
- ASP resource to enable your users maintain sites created by means of ASP
- ColdFusion Module to enable your users to maintain sites created by ColdFusion (Third party commercial products such as ColdFusion, MS SQL server, Real Server, and Miva are purchased separately and should be installed prior to H-Sphere)
- ASPSecured to enable your users to manage access to their site resources creating their own groups and users
- ASPSecuredLicense to enable your customers to use ASPSecuredLicense for multiple sites
- ASP.NET to enable your customers to use .NET applications
- MS SQL Manager(version 2.3 Beta 1) to enable your customers to manage their MS SQL databases through a web-interface with ASP Enterprise Manager
Windows RealMedia Plan Wizard
In version 2.07 and higher you can't create Windows RealMedia plans unless you have a winbox with properly configured RealServer.
E-mail Plan Wizard
E-mail plans are created similarly to Unix plans (see In Unix based plans changed shared IP tag immediately shows up in the system control panel interface, however it actually takes effect only when the changes to the server configuration are applied.). The only difference is that they don't include any resources other than domain, mail and Custom DNS record.Stopgap domains are not supported.Regulating the overall number of resources that can be created
To set the maximum number of resource units a user can buy under this plan, go to INFO -> Plans -> Resource -> Edit (next to the selected resource) -> the Max field
VPS Plan Wizard
(version 2.3.1 Final and higher)VPS plans are created similarly to Unix plans (see In Unix based plans changed shared IP tag immediately shows up in the system control panel interface, however it actually takes effect only when the changes to the server configuration are applied.). The only difference is that you can include
- VPS memory limit: check to restrict memory consumption by one VPS account.
- VPS process limit: check to set the maximum number of simultaneous system processes.
- Summary Disk Usage: mandatory resource. Users will be charged for the actual disk space used.
-
VPS context RSS limit ( HS 2.5+):
the maximum resident/virtual memory usage for processes running and libraries loaded on a VPS server.
-
VPS files limit ( HS 2.5+):
the maximum number of file handlers opened inside a VPS server.
-
VPS TCP sockets limit ( HS 2.5+):
the maximum number of TCP connections established on a VPS server.
-
VPS CPU hard limit ( HS 2.5+):
the maximum CPU usage (of all host server CPUs) for a VPS server.
- Custom DNS Record: check to enable creating custom DNS records.
- VPS server details: returns technical server info.
Hosted Exchange Plan Wizard
In version 2.5 RC 2 and higher, resellers can enable MS Exchange hosting by creating Hosted Exchange Plan.Users signed up for this plan are allowed to manage MS Exchange Hosting in H-Sphere from their user CP.
