Plesk for VPS

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webling

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My upstream provider informed me that if I order more VPS solutions I have to get my own server management software. They didn't say why. My current license key for Plesk allows 100 domains. So I visited the Plesk site and I could be wrong but it looks like things are changing. The Web Pro edition for VPS only allows 30 domains. If these prices keep going up it will affect the industry greatly.

I downloaded Webmin recently just in case. I had used it on a server a few years back but had problems. It looks like they have fixed a lot of things after I was visiting their forums.

I'm searching for a replacement for WHMCS as well. I installed Box Billing on a sub domain to see how it works. It's not bad for free software, but there are some issues and after being spoiled with WHMCS even if I could fix the issues it would be a difficult transition. But I want to cut costs so I can stay afloat. I have almost 24 domains for myself and I'm selling some off and set some for non-renewal. I want to stay afloat so I am taking measures to continue being successful.

I cancelled one VPS account also and moved domains to one that has more room. As prices soar for web hosting companies it's going to require changes on our part to not go belly up. My first website had 30MB of space for $30 a month back in 1996. When VPS became available you could get a small one for about $30 so the cost wasn't great but now that seems to be changing due to the software needed to operate.

If I had enough clients I'd set up a colo and put a massive SSD on it. But then Plesk is going to cost $49.99/mo. This will make it hard for some to start unless they get a reseller account.
 
Nowadays, it is quite expected that prices and specifications will change, but for beginners there are many solutions that are less functional, but still quite good for getting started. So you just need to look for a replacement, and I'm sure you'll find one.
 
I have a computer that I put a 1TB SSD on and installed Linux. I've thought about tossing that into a data center on a colo plan. I'm not sure if I'm ready for that yet however. The closest data center to me is an hour away and I'm not sure I like them.
 
Plesk is owned by WebPro's, who also own cPanel. I'm sure you've heard that prices increase every year, and will continue to do so. You should also look at purchasing Plesk through a legitimate reseller, such as cplicense.net: https://cplicense.net/portal/index.php?rp=/store/plesk-license-key-for-cloud-vps

You can purchase the VPS unlimited domains edition for $29 per month, instead of $49.99.

Blesta is a great alternative to WHMCS.

If you want to avoid constant price increases but would also like a control panel with great support then take a look at Enhance.

Has your current provider stated the reason why you "have to get my own server management software", this doesn't make sense?
 
SharedGrid said:
Plesk is owned by WebPro's, who also own cPanel. I'm sure you've heard that prices increase every year, and will continue to do so. You should also look at purchasing Plesk through a legitimate reseller, such as cplicense.net: https://cplicense.net/portal/index.php?rp=/store/plesk-license-key-for-cloud-vps

You can purchase the VPS unlimited domains edition for $29 per month, instead of $49.99.

Blesta is a great alternative to WHMCS.

If you want to avoid constant price increases but would also like a control panel with great support then take a look at Enhance.

Has your current provider stated the reason why you "have to get my own server management software", this doesn't make sense?
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I don't have to get their management software. I can get a Linux VPS and install what I want. I have Webmin and have downloaded RoundCube for webmail. I'm preparing to get away from the costly software that many feel they have to have. I have a tendency to think outside of the box. I have a linux box at my NOC also that I can test things on. I appreciate your response since I'm looking for alternative billing systems. I could write my own ordering page and process everything directly through Paypal but it just takes a lot of work. But if all else fails it's not beyond me to do that. Many years ago I actually wrote my own ordering site in perl cgi.
 
In regards to website control panels, user familiarity is an important factor. Switching to Webmin makes your service more cost effective but general users may not find this user friendly. There is a reason why cPanel and other control panels such as Plesk, DirectAdmin are so popular and moving to something like Webmin could end up with low user satisfaction.
 
Yeah, I’ve seen this coming for a while. Plesk’s pricing shift isn’t a surprise — they’re pushing folks toward their more expensive tiers or reseller setups. If you're managing multiple VPS boxes and trying to keep costs down, it makes sense you're rethinking things.

Downsizing, consolidating servers, and trimming domain overhead are smart moves. A lot of us are doing similar things just to stay profitable. Running your own hardware with a big SSD might make sense someday, but only if you hit a certain scale and can handle the maintenance.

In the meantime, sticking with what works (and doesn’t break the bank) is the name of the game. You're on the right track.
 
I'm thinking of offering different plans on servers that use webmin. I can get a VPS on a yearly plan for less than I would pay for one monthly that has plesk. I could lower the hosting price drastically on a server with webmin as compared to one that has plesk or cpanel. Cpanel is actually my favorite. But because it got so doggone expensive I made the transition back to plesk. If you consider what you're paying for plesk along with whmcs on a monthly basis it's actually a huge cost. Everyone knows we don't make a huge profit on web hosting as the provider. The companies that are making the money are the ones that develop the software. One of my thoughts is modifying webmin enough to make it easier for customers. Any good programmer can modify it to their liking.
 
SharedGrid said:
In regards to website control panels, user familiarity is an important factor. Switching to Webmin makes your service more cost effective but general users may not find this user friendly. There is a reason why cPanel and other control panels such as Plesk, DirectAdmin are so popular and moving to something like Webmin could end up with low user satisfaction.
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I agree that customers would not like it as much. But also for the price of that I offer I don't think I would lose customers. And with some of the upcoming transitions and thinking of doing I can actually lower prices if I'm not using the popular programs such as plesk, cpanel and whmcs.
 
SharedGrid said:
In regards to website control panels, user familiarity is an important factor. Switching to Webmin makes your service more cost effective but general users may not find this user friendly. There is a reason why cPanel and other control panels such as Plesk, DirectAdmin are so popular and moving to something like Webmin could end up with low user satisfaction.
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Unless of course you're a good programmer and you can modify it to make it look better and be more user friendly.
 
webling said:
Unless of course you're a good programmer and you can modify it to make it look better and be more user friendly.
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It's certainly an option. However it's a time vs money decision, the amount of time it will take someone to customise Webmin to look better and then have to merge these design changes with every Webmin release - does this cost less than a $29 per month Plesk license? It depends what your time is worth, which could also be spent on promotion and advertising.
 
SharedGrid said:
It's certainly an option. However it's a time vs money decision, the amount of time it will take someone to customise Webmin to look better and then have to merge these design changes with every Webmin release - does this cost less than a $29 per month Plesk license? It depends what your time is worth, which could also be spent on promotion and advertising.
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It's worth my time to do the coding. $29/mo for 5 years = $1740. I have more time than money.
 
If you get an iDRAC card 9+ you can manage the entire server remotely. If you add extra or spare ram and hard drives to your server, or find a data center with basic free remote hands, you should almost never ever need to go to the data center. Some data centers such as ours offers free remote hands, and we swap drives, ram, all the time.
 
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