How to host other people's websites on your server?

Ok.. so I've been trying to get this question answered and I believe this is the best place for it. Not sure since I don't know much about servers.

But think WordPress.. they allow you to buy your domain and host right on their server to use their platform. Well I'm in the process of creating a CMS system not similar to theirs, but with a different purpose. However.. this solution stumps me. How would I go about hosting other's websites on my server right through the Signup?

I wouldn't want their domain to be on my server.. just the hosting of their domain since.. say for example. Sears started off as a WordPress site, but wanted to move to their own server with custom code.. not WordPress anymore. Well that would be a pain in the a** for them to move their domain over to a new server rather than just switch hosting providers.

So hopefully my question is clear. Does anyone have any ideas?

 

Hello!

You would need to build a CMS capable of interacting with the server's HTTP service. For example, if a client signed up for mysite1.yourdomain.com, it would need to add a DNS entry for mysite1, as well as an Apache VirtualHost entry for both mysite1.yourdomain.com, and optionally a ServerName with their domain name added, so you can tell your client to create a DNS CNAME entry to point their domain to your subdomain, transparently showing the contents of their subdomain via their domain. This way, the client can access the site via mysite1.yourdomain.com and mydomain.com (for example).

That being said, migration would only be as difficult as you make it. I would probably invest in Billing software such as WHMCS, so you can take payments and create subdomains with cPanel/WHM access. I would also hire a Systems Administrator, so that you can setup your environment to facilitate the creation of accounts for new users, as you surely don't want new clients signing up and being hosted under the same account on the same server, as that would be a disaster recovery nightmare

Perhaps you can clarify how your CMS will work, and how automatic you want it. There's plenty of ways to go about this, so a clarification will definitely help us help you get started.

Thanks!
Zach

 

Ok thank you Zach. That was a very thorough response. I should probably get the idea going before hiring other users, but I will look into that billing software!

 

IMHO, You could geta a Reseller Hosting Account which allows you to host several "Shared" Accounts under a single account.

You Can even couple a Billing system like WHMCS or ALP with this reseller account for automated Billing/Account Creation.

 

for this at least you should manage a dedicated server, if not then vps would also serve such facilities, programing depends on posts posted above.
have good ime.