Create a service plan
Build a hosting plan tab by tab, from disk space and mailboxes to CPU limits and free certificates, and learn how changes reach the subscriptions that use it.
Before you start#
A service plan is the set of resources, permissions and settings a subscription gets. StackRegent has three kinds, each on its own tab under Hosting Services › Service Plans: Hosting Plans for subscriptions, Reseller Plans for resellers and Add-ons that add limits or permissions on top of a plan. This article creates a hosting plan. If the menu has no Service Plans, the panel is in the Power User view; switch it under Tools & Settings › Interface Management.
Decide first what the plan is for: a small PHP site, an ASP.NET application with SQL Server, a WordPress package. It is easier to keep a few clear plans and use add-ons for extras than to customize many subscriptions.
Step 1: Start a new plan#
Go to Hosting Services › Service Plans, stay on Hosting Plans and click Add a Plan. Enter the Hosting Plan name, as customers will see it.
Step 2: Set resources#
On Resources, set the Limits: Disk space, Traffic per month, Domains, Subdomains, Domain aliases, Mailboxes, Mailbox size, databases of each type and their quotas, Additional FTP accounts and the rest. Tick Unlimited where there should be no limit; sizes take MB, GB or TB. Choose the Overuse policy (suspend, allow disk and traffic overuse only, or allow all) and set Notify when disk space usage reaches a percentage. Set Expiration if the plan is time-limited.
Step 3: Choose permissions#
On Permissions, decide what subscribers may change themselves, grouped as Websites and hosting, Access, DNS, mail and databases and Backups. Two points worth checking on every new plan:
- Backup and restore using the server storage and using remote storage start off. Tick them if customers may make their own backups.
- Ability to use the REST API lets a customer create API keys that act as their own login.
Leave Remote Desktop off unless a customer really needs it.
Step 4: Set hosting and PHP defaults#
On Hosting Parameters, keep SSL/TLS support and the 301 redirect from HTTP to HTTPS on, choose Websites of suspended subscriptions (disabled, an HTTP 503 page, or stay online) and decide on a Hard disk quota, which Windows enforces with NTFS quotas. On PHP Settings, pick the PHP version (empty means the newest installed) and values such as memory_limit and upload_max_filesize; empty fields use the server default.
Step 5: Set mail and DNS#
On Mail, choose the Webmail (MailEnable WebMail, Roundcube or none) and the outgoing limit per hour; -2 uses the server default. On DNS, choose a Primary zone unless another server is primary.
Step 6: Set performance limits#
On Performance, set the resource limits that keep one customer from slowing everyone down: CPU (percent of one core, so 100 is one core), Memory in MB, Disk read and write speed, Disk operations and Processes (allow at least 5). The IIS application pool settings live here too, such as a dedicated pool per website and recycling.
Step 7: Add free certificates and save#
On Additional Services, tick Keep websites secured with free SSL/TLS certificates. Click Add Hosting Plan.
Changing the plan later#
When you edit a plan that subscriptions use, two buttons appear: Update & Sync saves and applies the change to every subscription of the plan in the background, and Update without syncing saves the plan only. Subscriptions marked Customized are never synced; link them back with Change plan/add-ons. To copy a plan, tick it and click Clone.
The service plans chapter lists every option, and resource limits and isolation explains how CPU and memory caps work.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a service plan and a subscription?
A subscription is one webspace: a main domain, a Windows user, an IP address and a plan. The service plan is the template of limits, permissions and settings the subscription gets. Changing the plan with Update & Sync changes all its subscriptions.
Why can my customers not make backups?
Backup permissions start off on new plans. Tick Backup and restore using the server storage, and the remote storage option if needed, on the plan's Permissions tab, then save with Update & Sync.
How do I give one customer more disk space without a new plan?
Either add an add-on with extra disk space to their subscription, or open the subscription and click Customize. A customized subscription no longer receives changes to its plan.
Something missing? Ask in the community or open a ticket.