www.dreamcost.com

INTRODUCTION

Host Admin is a cutting edge tool for any hosting company that wants an automated solution to every day tasks. It takes care of virtually every aspect, a few including user/account management, billing, domain name registrations, customer relations, etc.

INSTALLATION & CONFIGURATION

We decided to use this script on racktransit.com The installation couldn't get any easier, we just uploaded the script's files, ran a file called install.php, specified a few settings, and it's done. You can setup this entire script entirely through their web interface. If you run into any problems during installation, it comes with an excellent help guide.

INTERFACE

Hostadmin's interface is truly magnificent, for both users and administrators. Everything is right where it should be. To the user of the script the entire process is a simple step by step system that will allow him to get everything he needs in just a few clicks. For the administrator, everything is accessible from a set of pull down menu's lined up against eachother. Given the nature of the software I don't believe any improvements can be made to the interface. Navigation, colors, and the pure user friendly factor are all top of the line.

FUNCTIONALITY

Hostadmin is a powerhouse of features. There is no end to how useful Host Admin is for a hosting company. Most hosting companies get information from the user, like what plan they want, their billing info, etc... and that's that. Host Admin takes this to the next level. They've automated everything from domain registration to account creation. Even billing is automated, which is nice, because I don't like having to check my records ever day to see who's account is due.

Domain Regisrations

This is a function you wouldn't normally find in a hosting administration script. It's about time! Host Admin supports several very popular domain registrars that you can link up with to give your customers automated domain registrations when they sign up. Basically the user orders the domain, and the domain is automatically purchased with your special account. Host Admin also integrated a relational TLD (Top Level Domain) List so you can specify which TLD's go with which registrar. Don't worry, there are test accounts so you can make sure it works before it goes live, without spending a dime.

The Hosting Plans

When a user orders a domain, they're going to need a place to put it. Host Admin allows you to setup hosting plans through the administration section.

A few of the many options you can set are:

1. Name
2. Description
3. Base Price
4. Setup Price
5. Recurring Charge
6. Billing Frequency
7. Billing Periods

Administrative Functions

The entire site is customizable through a web interface in an administration directory. Everything you would ever need to configure is there. There are far too many functions within the administration to list, so we'll just go over the main ones... Searching
Host Admin allows to search for accounts, subscriptions, or orders. This comes in very handy when you get an email from a customer requiring specific information. The search forms are very advanced so you can narrow it down without a problem.

Statistics
All your valuable information in one nice table. Just click on Quick Stats, and you get values for things from the number of orders received to how many sessions have taken place, a very good function indeed.

Payment Setup
This is one of the nicest parts of host admin, it allows you to setup your payment gateways through web forms, so you don't really have much work to do at all. For instance, we accept paypal, and 2checkout, all we had to do to make the customer be able to order through the 2 methods was to enter our paypal email address, and 2checkout account number and password. Simple as that. All the payment procesor functions for several gateways are already built into the script. They didn't have 2checkout support before this version, but I made a request in their support forums that they add it, and voila, it's now supported. That says a lot of the level of support they provide.

Coupon Codes
Ever want to offer discounts for a certain product? With Host Admin it's very easy. You just setup coupon codes, when a customer orders a product, they will enter a value that you predefine, and it will automatically knock the value of it off the order total. Awesome.

Server Relationship
Host Admin has the power to automatically configure your server once the customer has ordered the product. For instance, one of your customers orders a hosting plan with 20 megs of space and 5 gigs of bandwidth. When the payment has been confirmed by the script, the script will then automatically create the directories, permissions, user tables, dns tables, etc... everything you need. Mind you this doesn't come with the base script. You need to buy additional mods, they're well worth it though.

EASE OF USE

Normally php scripts are pretty hard to install, configure, understand, etc... Hostadmin on the other hand is probably the easiest to use script of its kind. You upload the files to your server, access a file called install.php, fill out the form, set some permissions, and that's that. You're done. It's not only an easy installation though. The whole script is generally easy to use. We had a bit of a problem understanding how the domain registration stuff works, but shortly figured it out after some playing around. The factor that makes the script so easy is how everything interacts with eachother. If you change a payment setting, then the value is affected in multiple places, so on and so forth. It comes with a heap of good documentation as well.

CONCLUSION

We've been looking for a script like this for a little over a year now, we've seen all of it's competitors, and I can surely say they just don't have the features, stability, and functionality that hostadmin has. It's a prety penny at $249 USD, but well worth it for all you get. Check out their online demo to see what we've been raving about this whole review.