Using Service Plans to create sites
WEBppliance provides the tools to quickly and easily define and deploy Service Plans. Service Plans represent a bundle of applications and resources, such as disk space, that you can sell to resellers and site owners. Based on the specific service plan configurations you choose, WEBppliance will deploy the necessary applications and enforce the limits you have chosen for the domain when you create it.
If you intend to create multiple domains, before creating the domains, you might want to first create Service Plan templates. Each template can include different configurations that satisfy different business requirements. You can create as many Service Plan templates as you want. You can also set one of the Service Plan templates as the default plan used for new domains.
Note: These templates are not required to create a domain; however, they can make creating multiple domains easier and faster.
Even if you create a domain with a Service Plan, you can later modify the Service Plan for that specific domain to customize it for your customer's requirements.
Before you define a Service Plan, it would be helpful to understand your customers’ requirements and see what competitors are offering. You will want to put together an offer that is compelling to your target customers. There are a number of features that your customers will consider required, such as disk space and bandwidth. You also have the opportunity to differentiate your Service Plans by adding additional applications.
If you are using WEBppliance primarily to host internal sites, defining Service Plans can ensure you allocate resources appropriately, as well as delegate appropriate control to your internal customers.
You can create Service Plans using the Site Manager.
The following are examples of some service plans you can create and sell to your customers. You then use your control panel to create, manage, and remove these accounts.
Listed below (in order of complexity) are some examples of business Service Plans.
Gold
125 MB of Web space
25 email accounts
Unmetered bandwidth, meaning site owners will not be billed for usage
Dedicated IP address
Anyone who is just starting out on the Internet
Anyone who does not need database or multimedia features
Any small business looking to launch its first Web site
Any family or individual wanting to display their Web site
Platinum
300 MB of Web space
100 email accounts
Unmeasured bandwidth, meaning site owners will not be billed for usage
Dedicated IP address—one MySQL database
Database access
Multiple scripting language support (PHP4, SSI, Python, Perl, JSP—pre-built CGI script support
Anyone who has a large personal or business Web site requiring a lot of Web space
Anyone who needs a site with MySQL, media streaming, and/or SSL support
Anyone who needs the reassurance that they will not quickly outgrow their hosting solution
Titanium
500 MB space
200 email accounts
10GB measured bandwidth
Manage multiple Web sites under one account—host 5 domains
PHP4, SSI, Python, Perl, JSP
MySQL database
Anyone who has multiple Web sites they wish to host under one account
Anyone who needs a way to centrally manage multiple Web sites
Anyone who wants to consolidate existing Web hosting accounts into one low-cost option
Diamond
2 GB space
Unlimited email accounts
20 GB measured bandwidth
Unlimited domains
ASP, Tomcat JSP
Anyone who wants all the benefits of a dedicated server, but on a budget
Anyone with a large Web site that needs a maximum amount of storage
Anyone who runs resource demanding scripts