Getting Started

This document explains what you need to do in order to set up your hosting system with minimum required configuration, considering the following:

• We presume that you have purchased H-Sphere license, installed H-Sphere system, configured and tested it.
• A standard H-Sphere installation sets up a service dns zone, reseller CP alias, and an instant alias template, creates a wwwuser account for hosting your corporate site.

Follow the given instructions step by step to configure your control panel.

Global Resources Domain Registrar Mail Notifications Payments Plans Billing Periods Support Look and Feel

 
1. Disable Global Resources
Related documentation

Skip this step if you're not going to disable any resources, hosting platforms or logical servers.


You can globally disable resources, hosting platforms, CP designs, dedicated servers if you don't offer it to your customers.

1. Go to Plans - > Globals in your Admin CP.
2. On the page that shows, uncheck the resources and/or hosting platform you want to be entirely disabled in the system and submit changes.
   Now all changes need to be applied in all plans, including reseller plans and plans created by your resellers inside their CPs. After that the changes will take effect throughout the system.
3. Go to Plans - > Manage menu and click to edit the existing plan via Plan Edit Wizard.
4. Go through Plan Edit Wizard and submit it step by step without changing prices.
   Note: It's preferable to repeat the procedure of step 7 in plans created by your resellers under your reseller plans. Alternatively, ask your resellers to do it.

If you want to disable resources and platforms only for specific reseller plans, perform only steps 3 and 4.

2. Set up a Domain Registrar
Related documentation

Domain registrars need to be added and configured to allow customers to register second level domains directly from their control panels.

1. Select Domain Registrar in the Settings menu.
2. Select a domain registrar in the Add New Registrar drop down box and click Add.
3. Enter this domain registrar properties. Check with Domain Registrar Manager for detailed instructions.
4. In the Set Active drop down box, select this domain registrar.
5. In the TLD drop down box, select the top level domain you would like to associate with this registrar.
6. Click the Activate button.
7. Click Define Terms/Prices button for the new record that appeared.
8. Enter prices for each time period and click Submit Query.


3. Configure Mail Notification Addresses
Related documentation

To subscribe your staff to receive copies of user e-mail notifications:

1. Go to the Settings menu - > Notifications - > Notification Recipients.
2. On the page that appears add subscribers to mailing lists you choose.


4. Set up Payment Settings

On this step you can configure H-Sphere to process credit cards, accept check payments and perform online web payments for the services you provide.

To configure credit card processing through Merchant Gateway Manager:

1. Go to the Settings menu ->Payment Settings -> CC Brands and add necessary CC brands.
2. Go to the Settings menu ->Payment Settings -> Merchant Gateway and add necessary merchant gateway from the drop down menu and click Add.
3. In the Set Active drop down box, select this merchant gateway. You can have only one active merchant gateway at a time.
4. In the Payment Type drop down box, select the CC brand you would like to process with this merchant gateway.
5. Click the Activate button.

To configure Web Payment Processor, like PayPal or 2CheckOut:

1. Go to the Settings menu ->Payment Settings -> Merchant Gateway.
2. Select the payment system from the drop-down menu and click Edit:
3. Enter your account settings. Once you enter correct settings, the web payment system will appear in the list as Active

To configure Processing Check Payments:

1. Go to the Settings menu ->Payment Settings -> Merchant Gateway.
2. Enable Accept Checks.


5. Create Plans
Related documentation

Now that your control panel is configured, you can create hosting plans.

1. Go to Plans -> Create and click Select next to the plan to start the wizard.
2. Enter the name of the plan at the top of the page.
3. Select the resources (features) you would like to include in the plan. Make sure to leave Service Domain unchecked.
4. In the last section of the wizard, make sure to enter Credit limit, e.g. 10 and click Next to proceed.
5. Enter prices and free units for each type of resource and click the Create button at the bottom of the page.
6. Go to Plans -> Manage and turn this plan ON for signups.

Now your control panel is ready for signing up users. Please read all documentation before using H-Sphere as a production system.



6. Create Billing Periods
Related documentation

Each plan can have several billing periods with different price discounts for each. You can't delete billing periods, but you can change their duration. For instance, if you create a billing period for 1 year and you find out you don't need it, you can change it to 3 months.

To create a billing period for a plan:

1. Go to Plans -> Manage and click Settings in the Advanced section.
2. Scroll down to the Payment Intervals and click Add.
3. Specify the duration of the billing period. For instance, to make it 3 months long, select MONTH and enter 3 in the Size box.
4. Optionally, enter discounts. For instance, if you want to cancel any setup fee for this billing period, enter 100 in the Setup Discount field.
5. Click Submit. This will add the billing period to the list.


7. Configure Support Center
Related documentation

Support Center is the web-based means of providing customer support. To configure your Support Center:

1. Go to Plans -> Create menu and choose Administrator Plan Wizard.
2. Enter TechSupport Admin as the name of the plan, check to include TroubleTicket Admin and Allow assignment of trouble tickets and submit.
3. Go to Plans -> Manage and turn this plan ON for signups.
4. Go to Signup menu, click to sign up for Tech Support Admin and create Tech Support Admin account using the signup wizard.
5. Go to Settings - > Tech Support and configure your Support Center. It is required to collect customers' e-mails and convert them into trouble tickets.


8. Look and Feel

Go to Settings -> Look and Feel menu and enter information to all necessary sections. These settings will affect all your customers' control panels.

• Corporate Logos : enter Banner HTML Code for the banner to show up in your users CPs and the location and sizes of the logos. Click the help [ ? ] icon for details.
• Company Info : enter the company info that will show in customer e-mail notifications and the address will be used by customers to send checks.
• Default language : choose CP interface language. It can be overridden by individual customers.
• Regional options : enter preferred currency symbol.The language and the regional settings will affect all your customers' control panels.
• Default CP design : set designs to be available by users and the default design for Users CPs.