Helm 4 Screenshots

 

For the purposes of this article, we look at a typical Helm 4 setup that was actually installed on a brand new Dell Powerage server based in London UK. The webhost was aiming to sell UK based hosting and decided to install Helm 4 on the server, which after 12 hours setup, came online November 22.

Once the server was up and running, and Helm installed, the user is taken via the login to Helm’s main screen.

 

As you can see below, the new look layout is like a breath of fresh air. It simplifies the user interface and adds a ton of extra features, including the Helm Configuration Tool which allows you to customise your installation.

 

 

Helm 4 comes with a wide range of pre-installed skins, (Blue Datamine pictured), and can be fully rebranded with your own company logos, headers, footers and custom links, or choose from 3rd party themes.

 

In addition, you can modify default list sizes and take advantage of Helm’s Multi-Lingual Interface

 

The new Helm 4 user interface has been very well received.

 

 

 

Developed using ASP.net 2.0, the interface has some quite extraordinary features, including (shown below) the ability to simply right click on icons in order to load sub-menus.

 

Looking again the setup process, the initial Helm setup process concentrates on the server setup, which is done by adding servers to the servers list and then configuring all of the services associated with them including IIS 6, MS SQL 2005, MySQL 4, MySQL 5, Smartermail, Smarterstats, MS DNS, Serv-U, and FTP.

 

By compiling this information as a list (shown below), the services associated with each server can be checked at a glance, and added or deleted with a simple mouse click.

One way in which Helm 4 is markedly different than earlier versions, is the possibility to add domain names directly to admin accounts, rather than having to create extra reseller accounts for yourself, then creating a user account within that in order to be able to add a domain name.

 

This latest version of Helm has account user roles, which means you are able to create custom roles that allow different methods of operating Helm. For example, you can create two types of resellers, those that can create their own sub-resellers, and those that can't. You can also create end user roles that are limited to loading basic options for controlling things like domain names.

Helm 4 also has a new feature called "My Plan Templates". This could well be the best time saving tool ever created for a control panel, as it allows the creation of different templates that can be used with hosting plans.

 

As an example of just some of the options available, we created the two test templates. One was a Reseller Template and the other a User Template.

The templates were rather similar in setup and used similar Provisioning tools, while the features included in each could be set using MySQL, MSSQL, Email and other associated software.

The Provisioning tools Helm offers enable the setting of plans to automatically install any features you wish to offer to your clients. This means the ability to offer users instant access to popular features such as SmarterStats & shared SSL without them having to install these programs themselves.

 

Those of you who run busy hosting companies will understand just how important it is to have such tools ready and working for customers on demand!

After setting up the templates, you can use them in the creation of hosting plans.

 

Simply by clicking on the Create Plan tab, you move to a screen that asks what template should be associated with the new hosting plan. By selecting the Reseller template for example, all the features that were previously added to the Hosting Template are therefore predefined.

Create your own time limited offers

 

A superb feature of these hosting plans is that administrators are able to set specific time periods during which the plan is available. For those webhosts who like to offer limited period special hosting deals on their websites, this feature will prove a serious time saver, eliminating hands on cancellation of limited period specials.

 

As you can see in the screenshot below, setting up a new special offer that will only be available for a limited time is a simple as filling in a few simple details.

 

Once these details have been recorded, you can setup the usual features, such as how many domains are hosted, disk space, bandwidth and so forth. One great feature the new version of Helm offers is that you can now set many items to “unlimited”, and Helm 4 also has a Static IP resource too!

Even though the example hosting plans above specify disk space, it is possible then to restrict other areas of disk space within the hosting plan, setting a maximum of 100mb disk space to be available to Email for example. This is a fantastic tool for those who want to restrict certain areas.

 

The above are only a few ways in which the new, re-engineered Helm has redefined the fundamental processes and functions of a control panel. Helm 4 has completely changed the ball game in terms of how hosts can set up their businesses, and how much more choice they can offer their customers.