Just go to http://buzz.google.com  then click the “Try Buzz in Gmail” button. Poof, instantly pushed it to my gmail account right then and there. After that it was available in my gmail account. Let me know if it works for you or not too…

Reseller hosting is a shared server setup, meaning your accounts will be placed on the same server as others from other customers. This is probably the number one thing to watch out for with reseller hosting. Since you have no control over the other customers, or their customers, you have to be able to trust that the provider is setting things up properly, securely and and monitoring/maintaining the server and network properly.  Things could go wrong if not done properly… insecure setups can lead to others getting to your data, a spammer could get onto the server leading to blacklisting, or an account could suck up all the bandwidth or cpu resources. These are just a couple examples of what could go wrong. Since you’re not in control of the server, you need to be able to rely on the provider to watch for it and fix it quickly should it happen.

Leaving the server administration is also one of the biggest advantages as well. This is especially true for new hosts who probably don’t have the experience or manpower to administer servers on their own. It is also considerably cheaper to go the reseller route. A decent reseller account can be had complete with control panel, possibly some billing software to handle collections from your customers, installation script, etc. for $10 to $15 per month.

When looking for a reseller account, be aware of the disk space and traffic (often incorrectly call bandwidth) that are included. Some reseller accounts can get so large in these stats that they rival small VPS accounts. When choosing you want to selection on that meets your needs and provides some growth room. You also want to make sure that the provider will upgrade the account without having to migrate and without penalty.

A nice feature, if you can get it, is a dedicated ip address or two for your accounts. This does a couple things for you. One it limits the impact if a spammer gets onto the server. Blacklists usually are at the single ip level unless it’s so rampant on a network that they block the whole network. It also does something else… The larger hosts probably have multiple physical servers.  By having your accounts to a single ip address, migrating the account, say for load balancing the servers, becomes significantly easier WITHOUT changing ip address. If your account shares ips with other accounts, that option is out the window…

If you’re serious about growing your business, a reseller account is a good way to get started with minimal cost.  But be sure to check with the company that they will support you should you need to move up to a vps or dedicated servers. That dedicated ip address can help there too. Once the vps is up and running they can copy the data over and move the ip to the new server. We’re talking minutes of downtime… a lot easier than if you had to backup the accounts, download the backup, upload to the new server and then change dns, and potentially wait hours for dns cache to die.

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment here to ask or email me at rob -at- lagniappeinternet.com

I recently was in a discussion with someone who had made a political statement about a proposed law and I didn’t agree. This isn’t the proper forum for the discussion, I have a couple others better suited for that. When I presented an opposing viewpoint, I was told that I misunderstood the “intent” of the bill. This sent me back to day one of the a business law course at a prestigious university I attended. This professor was a lawyer as well. He walked in and stated very plainly that if we remember anything then remember this “Words have meanings”.  His point was “intent” is very rarely ever considered in law. And if a lawyer wrote it, you can forget about the stated intent… the wording used will have been chosen for a very specific reason. Once a law is passed, the intent is all but irrelevant. It is the wording that we must live with, not they claimed they were trying to do.

Now to bring this back into light… any agreements you have with your customers, suppliers, or even the public in general, you need to be very aware of the wording you use. And you need to be willing to be bound to the meaning of the words. If you intended something else, you needed to state something else.  Another point to remember, a lot of times businessmen think like amateur lawyers… they’ll try to say one thing and make you think they’re saying another. Be on guard for that… This is one of the reasons we pick the providers we do… We like to work with “real people” instead.

All the other questions, bandwidth, price, features, etc. are details that can be addressed. None of them should factor into a decision to partner with them or not, provided none of them are out of line. But then if they are out of line with industry norms, they’re probably not going to measure up well with the other questions anyway.

Things to look for include checking that they have (and update) a customer news/announcements site or forum. You should also ask the support crew a question or two before signing up. It doesn’t have to anything special or even difficult. What you are looking for is a timely, courteous and accurate answer. One of my early customers asked a question he already knew the answer to… JUST to see if we’d be straightfoward in the answer. And they’re still a customer today.

It’s a simple method, and works well for managing many aspects. Divide everything up based on the above table into 1 of the 4 quadrants.

1:  Important and Urgent – These are the fires! Put them out right away!
2:  Important but Not Urgent – These are important, but don’t need addressing now. Schedule them for later.
3:  Not Important but Urgent – Delegate these to someone else. Have them do them now.
4:  Not Important and Not Important – Iif you can’t do everything, these are the ones not to do.

Your attention as a small business owner should be on the tasks in boxes 1 and 2 primarily, and sometimes on 3. The 4′s are the ones to ignore for now. They may be “nice to haves” or “nice to dos”, but the time they take is taking away from the more important and/or more urgent matters. Leave them on the list for a while, but don’t be afraid to let them go if need be.

Also realize that items can move from one quadrant to another, especially between 2 to 1, 4 to 3, and 4 to 2 . But they almost never go from a 4 to 1 directly. They almost always go over only 1 direction at a time, either between Urgent and Not, or between Important and Not. Often things move from one to the other because of being neglected, at which time they become either more important or more urgent, and rarely both.

So you may ask yourself, if I’m focusing on the 1s, why not just ignore the rest? Because almost no task can be completed in 1 session. Often you will find yourself blocked by some outside force that limits what you can work on and actually make progress.  Don’t work on something that you’re not going to be able to move forward on, just because it’s a 1.  If you can take care of a 2 or a few of them, you’ve moved forward more than working on a 1 and not going anyway with it.

We do recommend that you make changes to you site’s files on your local machine and then upload them (with WinSCP) all at once.  But what if you need to make a change on the fly? Sure you could log in with PuTTY and use vi,vim, nano, or one of a dozen other editors. But WinSCP can help you out there too.   You can use your existing Windows based editor with WinSCP. Personally, I love EditPlus, http://www.editplus.com/, it’s small fast and has a lot of features. But it doesn’t work over SSH (at least not last time I looked anyway).

First, setup WinSCP to get to your server like you normally would. It will need the FQDN or ip address, port number (you’re not using 22 anymore right?), your login, and your key file.  Go ahead and save the session… Now on the left side tree menu, select Preferences, and then select the Preferences… button, and a new window should appear with new left side tree navigation.  A few down, there is a leaf called a Editors, select that. It should look like this:

Click the Add button.  Select the External Editor radio box, then click Browse. Find the path to your editor, in my case that was c”\Program Files (x86)\Edit Plus 3\editplus.exe - you’re may be different depending on OS version and what program you want to use. Under editor autoselection, you might want to change the association, say EditPlus for php files or .conf files. There’s another option there too… Inside the Add dialob box, there’s an “Associated Application” – then specify the type of files you want opened with your default Windows application for that extension. For example, I use CorelDraw for .cdr and .psd files, and Windows will automatically open CorelDraw for me if I double-click in Explorer. With the Associated Application radio box, that is extended into WinSCP as well.  So inside of WinSCP if I double-click a .cdr or .psd file, CorelDraw opens automatically, and when I click save it is transferred back to the server. This is even great for using different types of editors for different files.

You probably need to change the order in which programs are checked in the list. WinSCP goes from top to bottom until it finds an editor it can use for the file. So I’d put “Associated application” at the top, then your prefered text editor(s), then WinSCP’s internal editor at the bottom.

Sometimes, you’ll have issues with backup copies that programs make, or you may just want to keep them saved locally… Sometimes this is easily accomplished. For EditPlus, go to Preferences, then Files. There is a checkbox called “Create backup file when saving”, check it if it’s not. Then hit the button next to it “Backup Options”, select your local backup directory, and check the “Create backup file of remote file in backup directory” box. And you should be good to go.

Caution… As with any changes to a system, before you use this for real (ie a real configuration file that matters to you), create a dummy file out in a directory you don’t care about, and TEST it. Make some changes to that file. Check that it works as you expect BEFORE using this for real production files. Of course, best of all is to not use this on production files directly, but to edit them locally then transfer when you’re sure they’re right, but as you know life doesn’t always work that way.

Also available are x GB or x TB of “bandwidth”. Technically it’s not really bandwidth, but traffic. Again that’s another discussion… But you’ll see it either way. The question to ask there is it incoming, outgoing or combined. You want to know ahead of time depending on what you’re doing.

Lastly is probably the fairest of them all, but also the scariest for smaller providers when buying… it’s called “95th percentile” billing. In this case you will typically have a port speed (10,100,1000mbps for example) as well as a “committed rate”. That committed rate will be how much you’re paying for every month regardless of usage. So if you commit to 5mbps, and only use 1, you still pay for 5. But the more you commit to, the less you pay generally per mbps. Even though you commit to say 5mbps, your connection is burstable all the way up to the capabilities of the line – 10,100,1000mbps (minus ethernet overhead, bottlenecks, etc.). 

That great in that if you get slashdotted, or digg’ed, your might be able to keep your site up… assuming you server, etc. can handle it. But you bandwidth is going to spike. The 95th percentile method computes the bandwidth usage as how much line is required to handle the load 95% of the time.  That is to say if chop off the top 5% or the usage TIME wise, that’s how much you need. There’s about 720 hours in a month (30 days times 24 hours a day),  5% of that is 36 hours. So if we chop off the peak 36 hours, how big of a line would be needed to handle the rest… THAT is what you’ll pay.

Using the normal logs, you can usually tell how much traffic you sent in and out. Or at least get a good estimate. That works for the “x GB / x TB” scenarios. With the “unmetered” scenario, you don’t really have to care provided you’re getting all the bandwidth you need, as there’s no overage charges… thus why people like them, even if they are shared as they often are. But (and it’s a big hairy one), your website logs are almost useless for telling what your 95th percentile usage is… Almost. It can give you an idea if you should get worried, but that’s about it. Think about it, anything less than 36hours at the full 100mbps and < 5mbps the restof the time, and there’s no overage charge with just a 5mbps commit. But 36 hours and 5 minutes (a common sampling rate) at 100mbps, and you suddenly have a 95mbps overage charge. Even if it’s $10/mbps (a pretty decent rate for mixed, excellent for premium) and you have a new $950 bill to pay. Scary huh?  The key is that any provider selling to you at 95th percentile should (and I’ve not seen one that doesn’t) provide you with real-time stats of usage.

Step 1 – Get your 2nd cPanel server (or cPanel DNS-Only server) up and running… we’ll call it “ns2″, assuming “ns1″ is on the main server.
Step 2 – Log into ns2′s WHM at http://your.ip.address:2087/  with your root password
Step 3 – Under ”Cluster/Remote Access” on the left side, select “Configure Cluster”
Step 4 – Under “Modify Cluster Status”, enable dns clustering if it is disabled.
Step 5 – Back under “Cluster/Remote Access” select “Setup Remote Access Key”.
Step 6 – Go ahead and “Generate New Key” for some reason I’ve had trouble with the existing key the 1st time.
Step 7 – Copy the Current Access Key, make sure you select the WHOLE KEY … scroll down to get it all.
Step 8 – Log in to ns1′s WHM with your root password
Step 9 – Under ”Cluster/Remote Access” on the left side, select “Configure Cluster”
Step 10 – Under “Modify Cluster Status”, enable dns clustering if it is disabled.
Step 11 – Under the Servers in your cluster section, add the ip address of ns2 and click configure.
Step 12 – When prompted for the access key, paste the whole key into the box.
Step 13 – Back under “Configure Cluster” your new ns2 should now be listed, change the Role to “Synchronize Changes” to start sending dns to that server.
Step 14 – Under “DNS Functions” on the left pane, select “Synchronize DNS Records” to push existing records to the new server.
Step 15 – You should now be able to query the new nameserver with nslookup for existing domains that you serve.
Step 16 – If all went well, update your registrar with the new name and ip address of your new secondary nameserver.

 This is the perfect application for a small vps… We even offer a secondary cPanel dns only vps service that we install it for you, and only handles dns for a rather reduced rate of $5.95/month at Lagniappe Internet, http://www.LagniappeInternet.com/ . Perfect for vps resellers who don’t want the expense of maintaining their own secondary cPanel server but want the redundancy of a real secondary dns server.

For new hosts, this is probably not on your list of high priority items, but it should be! Every host, or every business for that matter, should have a stated refund policy.  Plus that policy should be publicly available. The reason being is it makes the issue when (and it is when not if) a refund request comes up, you can simply refer back to the policy for how to handle it.  You should put some thought into it now, and not have to think about it when it finally does happen. And actually as a newer host, it is more likely to happen sooner than later. 

Of course there will always be exceptions, and you should account for that in the policy itself… for “unusual circumstances”. It should not be your way of getting out of giving a refund without cause. But if you say that there’s a 30 day money back guarantee, you should honor it. But personally if the user knowingly abused the service, and your Terms of Service permits it, a refund is not warranted. But notice the TOS reference… your stated refund policy should reference accounts terminated for TOS violations and how they will be “normally” handled – if there is such a thing as a “normal TOS violation”.  Ideally it should be a part of the TOS itself. So that customers explicitly agree to it on sign up… You are having them agree by checkbox, or other method right?

Having a stated refund policy helps build trust in your new hosting company. It shows the customer that you are thinking things through… That you are flying by the seat of your pants… You have a plan, and are working it.

One of the other benefits is when a customer leaves, voluntarily or not, when they want a refund and start the threats, etc. You can refer to your refund policy. If you don’t have one, you’re at somewhat of a disadvantage should it go any further than the threats. Payment providers will want to know the terms that the customer agreed to, and if it’s not spelled out, it may mean that you will lose any challenge.

So go ahead and start working on your refund policy if you don’t have one already. Or review the one you have… You want this in place sooner rather than later.

So here’s an overview of the parts of a Business Plan.

• Executive Summary -  THE most important part of the plan. Who you are, what you do, and where you are and where you are going at a high level overview written in everyday terms.
• Market Analysis - A description of the industry including size and target market, growth rates, etc.
• Company Description -Another high level description but in more detail than the executive summary, this time specifically about your business and what needs you’re going to meet, and who the target is for those needs.
• Organization & Management – Profiles of the key players in your organization and the roles they will be taking on. Also should detail the overall structure and how those players fit together.
• Marketing & Sales Management – Descriptions of sales force, management, and how they will go about getting business.
• Service or Product Line -What you will be selling and how you will distinguish yourself product/service-wise.
• Funding -  Regardless of if you are requesting funding, this is where you will say how much you need and/or have, and for what it will be used for…
• Financials – Historical and Prospective financial data. One of the later sections to complete.
• Appendix – All the extra stuff that will be needed based on what you’re going to do with the plan. For example, if you are requesting money from a bank, etc., they will want credit information and resume’s on key management.

Today’s was only an overview of what each section encompasses. Begin to read over them and start thinking about each section, and start making notes or outlines for each section.  Next week, we’ll start going into each section one by one and get down and dirty with it.

Last Week: http://hostentrepreneur.com/2009/08/13/step-1a-write-a-business-plan-part-1/
Next Week:  Coming soon…