Users, Accounts, Domains

On the user side, H-Sphere operates with three tiers:
- users
- accounts
- domains  

Users

A user is, for the most part, nothing but a login and password to enter H-Sphere control panel. One user can have many accounts created under different plans and platforms, and switch between them without having to log in every time. For example, a user can have an account under a Unix plan for SSH access and an account under a Windows plan for ODBC and ColdFusion hosting.
 

Accounts

H-Sphere primarily operates with accounts, not users. One account, also referred to as CP account, can be defined as an instance of a plan. One account regardless of its type (admininstrative, reseller, reseller administrative or user), requires one license. Once an account is deleted, the license gets released and can be taken by new accounts.
One user can have many accounts created under different plans and platforms, and switch between them without having to log in every time. For example, an owner of a Unix account and a Windows account under the same username will use two H-Sphere licenses. The unique thing about each account is not username, but a numeric account ID.

The four account types are:
 

Account Type	Variations	Main Functions	Created	FTP home directory
Administrative	main admin	- allows H-Sphere owner to administer the entire hosting system	with administrative plan	N/A
	tech support	- allows H-Sphere owner's support staff to manage/answer trouble tickets from customers
Reseller	N/A	- represents reseller as a user to the system and distributor of parent host resources - allows reseller to create reseller administrative account	with reseller plan	N/A
Reseller Administrative	admin	- represents reseller as an administrator to their customers - allows reseller to distribute parent host resources grouped into plans to their customers at retail prices	from reseller account CP	N/A
	tech support	- allows reseller's support staff to manage/answer trouble tickets from customers	from reseller administrative CP with administrative plan	N/A
User	customer	- provides H-Sphere owner and resellers with a 'medium' to distribute hosting services to customers - allows customers to manage their sites	with user plans	YES
	service	- allows H-Sphere owner and resellers to manage their promotional corporate sites

 

Multiple Accounts

Depending on account's plan permissions its owner can create other accounts of the following types under the same login:

Generally, a user with several accounts can:
  * login to different accounts with one login/password
  * switch between accounts without logging in every time
  * have accounts under different plans and platforms
  * use the same billing and contact information for different accounts (optional)
In order to create a new account under the same user:

1. Select Add Account in the User menu. You will be taken to the signup page.
2. Follow the signup process. Note that the system suggests the contact information previously entered for the first account created under this user.  

To switch between accounts within the same user:

1. Select Choose Account in the User menu.
2. Click the Select icon to log into the selected account.

 

Domains

Domains represent the third tier in the end-user side hierarchy. Your customers can have as many domains as they want under their one control panel license, unless you limit the domains they can have. In terms of a web server, a domain is little more than a correspondence to a web-site. Domains within one account share one control panel (one menu tree with the same look and feel), and, having no traffic usage or disk quota of their own, are billed in bulk with the same invoices.
It is not recommended to run more than thirty or forty domains on one account, because some pages of the user control panel may become very slow or even time out when displaying the entire list of domains.
To provide registration and maintenance of the following domain types from user accounts make sure service DNS zone is registered, instant alias template is created .

To offer registration and maintenance of any of the above domain types, include the corresponding resource in the account's plan creation/edit wizard.