Considering migrating to WHMCS - Have DNS questions...

[SeanC]

Hi all,

I'm currently using a hosting platform that allows customers to purchase domains, Plesk shared hosting etc.  We're looking at migrating to a more modern system and are currently considering WHMCS.

Our current system consists of a number of Plesk server nodes and a few dedicated authoritative DNS servers.  The hosting platform automatically creates DNS records on our authoritative DNS servers that points to the client's Plesk shared hosting, depending whichever Plesk server is least used on creation.  The client can also login to their central control panel and alter these DNS records or create more if required.  Browsing through the documentation for WHMCS, I don't see any information for enabling DNS management, adding DNS servers etc.

So, I guess my questions are:

- Is this a built-in WHMCS capability?
- If not, can a 3rd party module such as those from ModulesGarden provide equivalent functionality?  Ie, automatically create DNS records pointing at the server a Plesk shared hosting package has been created, allow client to edit DNS records etc.

Thanks in advance,
Sean

[SeanC]

On 14/02/2018 at 4:32 PM, SeanC said:

I've currently got WHMCS up and running and provisioning hosting on some test Plesk nodes.  I've also installed the ModulesGarden DNS Manager which supports external DNS servers, in this case a small PowerDNS cluster.  However, I've not yet figured out how to make a domain name point at the relevant Plesk node IP address.

I've had a ModulesGarden support ticket open for about three weeks and we've finally got this working.  I'm not sure if the reason it took so long was due to a language barrier or not, but we were led down quite complicated paths with Cron jobs & automatic Zone imports etc, none of which worked.

It turns out the solution is as simple as putting {$ip} in a Record Set.  DNS Manager automatically fills in the field with the IP address of the Plesk node that WHMCS provisioned the hosting plan on.  Nothing more complicated than that!

[MYGSG - Nicholas S]

22 hours ago, SeanC said:

Hi all,

I'm currently using a hosting platform that allows customers to purchase domains, Plesk shared hosting etc.  We're looking at migrating to a more modern system and are currently considering WHMCS.

Our current system consists of a number of Plesk server nodes and a few dedicated authoritative DNS servers.  The hosting platform automatically creates DNS records on our authoritative DNS servers that points to the client's Plesk shared hosting, depending whichever Plesk server is least used on creation.  The client can also login to their central control panel and alter these DNS records or create more if required.  Browsing through the documentation for WHMCS, I don't see any information for enabling DNS management, adding DNS servers etc.

So, I guess my questions are:

- Is this a built-in WHMCS capability?
- If not, can a 3rd party module such as those from ModulesGarden provide equivalent functionality?  Ie, automatically create DNS records pointing at the server a Plesk shared hosting package has been created, allow client to edit DNS records etc.

Thanks in advance,
Sean

Hi @SeanC,

 

WHMCS has s[ome truly great functionality inside of it, automation handling processes as well as automating email notifications after the product has been provisioned. In regards to your question, the best place to check for third party WHMCS modules is the WHMCS Market Place you can find heaps of great third-party modules.

If you want to take a look around a WHMCs system, please PM me and I would be more than happy to show you around one of my WHMCS systems that has some custom parts as well as run down and go through how you can automate more than just shared hosting.

Kind Regards,

Nick.

[WHMCS Alex]

Hello,

Thank you for your post!

WHMCS allows the automated management of domains with a wide selection of built in registrars but does not natively support centralised DNS management.

You would need to ensure that any domain registrar modules you are using support the DNS management feature. For example, the Enom WHMCS developed registrar module supports this feature as seen here: https://docs.whmcs.com/Enom

To have centralised DNS management, at this time, you would indeed need to review available third party modules.

I hope this helps.

[SeanC]

1 hour ago, RLT - Nicholas said:

If you want to take a look around a WHMCs system, please PM me and I would be more than happy to show you around one of my WHMCS systems that has some custom parts as well as run down and go through how you can automate more than just shared hosting.

Kind Regards,

Nick.

Thanks for the offer Nick - We've already been granted a temporary license by your enterprise sales team.  We're investigating the system to see if it'll do everything we need before migrating.

 

1 hour ago, WHMCS Alex said:

WHMCS allows the automated management of domains with a wide selection of built in registrars but does not natively support centralised DNS management.

You would need to ensure that any domain registrar modules you are using support the DNS management feature. For example, the Enom WHMCS developed registrar module supports this feature as seen here: https://docs.whmcs.com/Enom

To have centralised DNS management, at this time, you would indeed need to review available third party modules.

Thanks for the Info Alex - This is what I was beginning to suspect.  We use a few different registrars, some offer a DNS service (eg Enom) and others dont (eg, Nominet).  We'd much rather host our own centralised DNS services that rely on third party services & related fees.  I'll contact ModulesGarden and see what they say...

Sean

[RadWebHosting]

If hosting your own DNS servers, I recommend checking the BusyRack DNS Manager module as it is simple in configuration and operation. 

[WHMCS John]

Hi @SeanC

WHMCS sends the account creation command to the Plesk API. It is then down to Plesk to create the required DNS records you require. So if it's possible to configure Plesk to create the required DNS records upon account creation, then you're all set.

If not, then some of the aftert-market customisations mentioned by others here may deliver the required automation.

[SeanC]

On 23/01/2018 at 6:37 PM, WHMCS John said:

WHMCS sends the account creation command to the Plesk API. It is then down to Plesk to create the required DNS records you require. So if it's possible to configure Plesk to create the required DNS records upon account creation, then you're all set.#

Hi John,

Thanks for your reply - Ordinarily, if we wanted customers to use the DNS server provided by Plesk, then this would work.  However, we need to run a more robust centralised DNS service that works across multiple servers.   On our Plesk nodes, the DNS module is not installed/enabled, and our provisioning system would need to create DNS records that point at the the Plesk node that was chosen for the hosting.

I've currently got WHMCS up and running and provisioning hosting on some test Plesk nodes.  I've also installed the ModulesGarden DNS Manager which supports external DNS servers, in this case a small PowerDNS cluster.  However, I've not yet figured out how to make a domain name point at the relevant Plesk node IP address.

Anyone have any clues?

Thanks,
Sean