Should you have multiple hosting packages on one server?

[Mocke]

Hi all,

Just need some advice, I do apologise for my lack of knowledge here.

Context

At the moment I am starting out small and will only offer 3 hosting packages. Let's call them the small, medium and large package. I was thinking of having a different reseller hosting server for each package, let's call them server 1, 2 and 3.

Scenario

Now for arguments sake let's say Bob signed up for the small hosting package which is hosted on server 1 and decided to upgrade to the medium hosting package hosted on server 2. From my understanding if an upgrade is performed we will just allocate the increased server space (an all other features like mailboxes, ftp accounts etc.) to that clients account. Pretty straightforward, however, and here is my question...

If the different packages is on different reseller servers (same hosting provider though) does that then mean the client will have to move their website files/database information/update MX records etc.?

The reason I am asking this is because obviously I would like to provide my clients with uninterrupted service of their website/emails etc. I also want to encourage upgrades, but if upgrades means manually setup again I'm not sure if clients will find this very convenient.  

I am also trying to establish if it is even best practices to have each package hosted on a different server or should I have multiple packages on a server? 

Any feedback would be appreciated. 
😀

 

[steven99]

Correct, if the plan to upgrade to is only offered on server 2, then an account move has to be done to that server.  With that said, unless you are offering something special and not just difference quotas, there really isn't a reason to have separate servers for different package.   One reason to separate them would be to separate "classes" of services where you had packages for typical consumers and one for businesses.  Or like class of server, where one was packed to the gills and the other more like semi-dedicated. 

[lkitching]

As above, this would depend highly on the package offering and the specification of the packages. If it's a simple upgrade in terms of quotas and resources though you may not need to setup multiple services. Especially when you are just starting out it might be wise to offer "standard" features, just an increase in quota across the packages, this way you will keep your outgoing costs low while building your company, further on down the line you could add in 'business' grade hosting, with less contended servers. 

If you go ahead with separating the packages across multiple servers it will require a migration of their data over to the new server. It's relatively straight forward to do this, but could be added manual work for you which in the start-up era of your business is unnecessary and your time could be better spent elsewhere.

[Mocke]

Thank you for the feedback @steven99 @leewolz

I think this pretty much answers my question. Just have all my packages on the same server, easier to manage, especially because I'm just starting out.

I just have one last question:

In terms of the server size. My reseller provider only offers servers up to 100GB. So if this get's full, obviously, I can just add another reseller server of a 100GB and so on.

However let's say server 1 (100GB) is full. Now Bob decides to upgrade his package (which is hosted ons server 1), will WHMCS know that OK, this server is full let's create the new package on the other server (100GB) which is not full?

Thank you in advance 😁

[steven99]

Upgrading an account's plan upgrades the plan on the server it self.  WHMCS wont do an account move to a different server and that is what you would need to be done if an upgrade is required and your reseller account is at the max and overselling isn't allowed.  When doing an account move there are a few moving pieces that could fubar in an automated move.