Create reseller accounts and reseller packages as a DirectAdmin admin

DirectAdmin has three levels: admin, reseller and user. As the administrator you create resellers, who then create and sell hosting accounts to their own customers. Reseller packages define how much of the server each reseller can use. This guide covers the admin side.

Before you start

• Admin-level access (switch levels in the top bar). See admin, reseller and user levels.
• Free IP addresses if resellers should get shared or dedicated IPs of their own.
• A policy for overselling: how much you allow resellers to allocate beyond their real limits.

Create a reseller package

1. At Admin Level, go to Account Manager → Manage Reseller Packages (older skins: Reseller Packages → Add Package).
2. Click Add Package.
3. Set the limits for the whole reseller account:
   • Disk Space and Bandwidth in MB.
   • Users – the maximum number of customer accounts.
   • Domains, E-Mail Accounts, MySQL Databases, FTP Accounts, Inodes.
4. Choose features the reseller may pass on: SSL, SSH, Cron Jobs, DNS Control, CGI, PHP, SpamAssassin, Login Keys.
5. Decide on Oversell: when ticked, the reseller can allocate more to users than the package total, relying on most users not using everything. Keep it off or moderate if you want predictable capacity.
6. Set the IPs count, for example 1 shared IP, and whether the reseller can create custom user packages and manage DNS templates.
7. Name it (for example reseller_business) and click Save.

Create the reseller account

1. Go to Account Manager → Add New Reseller (or Create Reseller).
2. Enter user name, email, password and the reseller's main domain.
3. Choose the reseller package.
4. Choose the IP: Shared - Server to use the server's shared IP, or assign a dedicated IP so the reseller can share it among their users.
5. Tick Send Email Notification and click Create.

The reseller logs in, sees Reseller Level and can create user packages and customers within the limits you set; see reseller packages for users.

Manage resellers

• Account Manager → List Resellers shows usage against limits.
• Click a reseller to change package, limits, IPs or password, or to Login as them.
• Suspending a reseller also suspends all their users. Deleting a reseller deletes every user account they own – back up first with Admin Backup/Transfer.
• Use Change Reseller Owner (or user ownership tools) to move users between resellers.

Branding for resellers

Resellers can set their own nameservers (for example ns1.theirbrand.com) under their Name Servers menu if you give them IPs for it, and customise the skin logo. This lets them run a white-label business on your server.

Troubleshooting

• Reseller cannot create users: user count or resources reached, or the package lacks a feature the user package requests.
• IP not available for reseller: add the IP under Server Manager → IP Management and assign it to the reseller.
• Server overloaded: overselling too aggressive; lower limits or move resellers to another server.

Next steps

• How resellers manage users.
• Keep the server updated.
• Protect logins.