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Looking to start a managed cPanel VPS service
I am managing my cPanel server for almost two years now and have plenty of happy clients.
I see many people are providing managed VPS service these days with Softaculous and cPanel bundled with it.
I am just trying to get an idea about it from the people who are already providing this service because I never purchased from a managed provider.
What type of expertize do I need to provide this service?
How demanding are the clients? I mean to say what comes under "MANAGED"?
Let's suppose do I have to install wordpress for them too? or add and delete addon domains in their account for them? (do I become their slave)
Comments
Why don't you rent some to test it out? Research costs are part of business.
You need to be able to pretty much solve every issue that can happen to a VPS if you plan on offering management services. Are you a Linux expert? Do you know how to properly balance the needs of your clients within the limits of your servers? You need to think outside the scope of cPanel as well such as DNS, security, exploits, redundancy, backups, etc. Can you quickly identify and fix problems that are unrelated to cPanel? Are you willing to be on top of exploits the second they are found and quickly fix the problem for all clients?
Knowing just the basics of cPanel isn't enough to offer managed VPSs. You also need to consider response times. Most managed customers expect a reply AND solution from you within 30 minutes, especially if their VPS is experiencing problems. Can you respond to requests within 30 minutes anytime of the day everyday of the year? What happens if you get sick, who will take care of your clients?
Regarding what your clients expect, you should definitely define the terms and conditions of the managed services clearly. If you don't want to solve problems such as installing WordPress or creating an addon domain, you need to tell them this upfront. Be sure to include what you provide with your management services and what isn't included. If you set reasonable terms, it may save you headaches down the road. Remember, some managed clients will expect you to do every little thing for them, you need to tell them what is included and what is not or you'll end up going crazy.
If done properly, you can be very successful with this. However, if your knowledge regarding Linux is limited, you may want to shelve this idea until you learn more. I would also recommend coming up with a contingency plan to ensure your clients are taken care of if you cannot take care of them. Whether that is hiring someone else or outsourcing the support, it's completely up to you. Problems tend to pop up at the worst of times so it is imperative that you can provide support all the time and not just when it's convenient.
I wish you the best of luck with your endeavor. Plan things out well, come up with a good set of terms and conditions and you'll keep your clients happy.
From what I've seen at a host doing $20 a month managed VPS plans with cPanel, you get 50% people who have no clue what they are doing and want everything setting up from domains, email and wordpress config, 25% people who run cPanel hosts and want someone to manage their clients and stop abuse, and 25% people who just want the cheap license and VPS.
This is for ultra low budget managed, I suggest you don't choose this market unless your time is cheap! And yeah, make some agreement thing that states how much management you will do, and if you can cover stuff like gameservers and shoutcast.