A quick survey on Google indexed blogs shows that most webmasters are convinced that an Unlimited Shared Plan is more than enough to offer their network of websites a stable home to reside in. Shared Hosting is cheap and affordable on a low budget, and it often comes with features usually offered with business plans (ecommerce software, unlimited bandwidth, MX Records, etc.). However, reality speaks against such a massive usage of Shared accounts: hosting a considerable number of domains and subdomains on a single cPanel account is counterproductive for your server efficiency, and dangerous enough to constitute a security issue.
1. Shared Plans expose your websites to downtime and hackers
There is a number of reasons you should not host all of your websites (either domains or subdomains) on the same cPanel account. The first issue you could run into is an excessive usage of CPU and server resources, which would not just rise suspects in your hosting provider, but it would also decrease your network efficiency by slowing down loading time and causing database errors. In fact, the more sub/domains you add to your account, the longer it will take for Apache to load its config file (the file is read one line at a time). Also, your cPanel interface will take longer to show up, since it will contain a considerable amount of data to load: that equals management issues.
Secondly, think of bandwidth usage. Your plan probably states that you can use an Unlimited amount of bandwidth. Well, you clearly realize that nothing is physically unlimited on Earth, not even bandwidth.
Last but not least, FTP folders containing each of your websites are more easily exposed to hackers than cPanel root folders.
A Reseller Hosting plan, on the contrary, allows you to register a cPanel account for each and every of your domains and subdomains, isolating each website and allowing for easier management and security checks.
2. A Reseller Plan is more easily manageable (every site has its own cPanel)
Managing each website through its own cPanel allows for more management freedom, a faster loading speed, a more responsible usage of server resources and the possibility to catch any kind of issues as soon as they come up. The system isn’t clogged with hundreds of folders, addon domains and subdomains and locating problem files would take no longer than minutes.
Disk space and bandwidth usage can be kept under control directly from WHM (Web Hosting Manager), from the Accounts List, which shows problem domains and subdomains that use excessive disk space and traffic.
3. A Reseller is safer from security point of view
Hackers have a harder time drilling holes into your entire network if you host each website on a single cPanel account rather than on a FTP folder. In fact, if by any chance one of your domains gets hacked, the hacker could only cause damage to that single account, not to your network in its entirety. On the contrary, by using FTP folders on a single cPanel account, a hacker that breaks into domain1.com is able to ‘climb up’ to your cPanel root and destroy the entire network.
Additionally, if your cPanel account comes with an Antivirus option, I suggest you run it weekly to check your FTP folders and files for viruses. Make sure to use your Security section on cPanel to ensure your website against any kind of attack. Last but not least, I recommend using HTTPS to login to your cPanel, to encrypt your connection.
When I first bought a hosting package at Surnaturelle Hosting I still was a newbie webmaster, thus the whole hosting matter was pretty much unknown to me. I had been hosted at another provider for a year, but I wasn’t satisfied with it, so I decided it was time for a change and picked up Surnaturelle.net. Even though I was dealing with several troubles, the Surnaturelle admin did not leave me alone through the learning process: she replied to all of my support tickets, fixed bugs in my cPanel and databases, upgraded/downgraded the service according to my requests and needs; never a complain, never a bad word, just real support that I’ve appreciated since I started with my website, back on 2007. I’m still a happy client of Surnaturelle, but let’s see what it offers, apart from a diligent and prompt support system.
Affordability
Hosting prices start at $5.50/year for a basic hosting plan of 50MB and 1GB of bandwidth, and they go up to $43/year for a 1GB plan with 20GB of web traffic included. Even so, the packages can be customized, and a client has the possibility to order a totally custom package through the Custom Order form. The prices are overall pretty low for the service offered, even considering that every plan comes with Unlimited features (that includes domains, subdomains, databases, email addresses, Fantastico installer, etc.)
99.9% Uptime
This is not just statistics. In a two years time of being a client of Surnaturelle, I never experience any significative downtime; there have been small maintainance gaps, but that’s quite normal to every server, so that doesn’t really count. The uptime is really good, as well as the server speed; my website loads pretty fast, even with high resolution graphics not really optimized for the web.
Easy to pay for
Surnaturelle.net accepts 3 types of payment methods: Check, Money Order and PayPal (and credit card through PayPal). The risk of forgetting about paying is really remote, because an automated reminded will come in the e-mailbox whenever the renewal time approaches. I’ve found this functionality very suiting my needs, since I’m a person who often forgets about renewal dates.
Great support and great humanity
Once again, I want to underline this aspect about this hosting provider. I never felt alone through the troubles the first year of hosting (and now too at times) gave me, and what striked me was the humanity with which the admin replied to my emails and tickets. I felt cared for, and not just like another client ID.
Of course, this is my opinion. I’m sure there are other great hosts out there, but I won’t be leaving Surnaturelle.net for all of the above reasons, and I wanted to share my experience with you other webmasters and Internet users. I hope it was useful. :)