Migrating from WHMCS to Business Manager

[PaulSrch]

Hi, I'm brand new to Plesk / Customer & Business Manager... I looked through the forums and couldn't find what I was looking for, so forgive me if this has been answered already. Here's the scenario:

I have a number of customers that I'm billing using a different billing automation product (WHMSC). I'm in the process of moving the accounts from my old server to me new one, and that's going more-or-less OK (although I can't get the migration manager to work - but that's a question for a different time).

However, I'm trying to set up existing customers on C&BM. I can create the customer and it says it synced, but the customer doesn't show up in the panel itself. I've also created the subscription for the customer, but that says it failed - and it's not provisioned.

What do I need to do to make this work?

[EugeneL]

Hello,

As I understand you want to migrate from WHMCS to Business Manager.
The most reliable way to do this will be the following:
1. You install Plesk Panel with Business Manager, maybe you attach some remote panels to Business Manager as well
2. You migrate your customers to _Plesk_ firstly and ensure that everything works correctly. You need to have every customer's subscription to be connected with service plan because Business Manager works with Plesk through plans. Also you need to have this subsciption to be synchronized with plan - it should not have custom limits or permissions.
3. You add service plans in Business Manager - just check them in list and click "Add to Business Manager". After that you need to open each plan in BM and define billing cycles and prices.
4. You add customers in Business Manager - again just check them in list and use the tool.
5. You add subscriptions in Business Manager - the same steps. Plus you then need to open every subscription, click "Edit" and change "Next renewal date" field to the date when given subscription must be renewed next time. Once you set th date, BM will issue invoice to customer 10 days prior this date.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me here.

[PaulSrch]

Thanks, Eugene. That's exactly the process I followed, except that the customer was not added in the Panel side, nor was the subscription provisioned in the panel. Everything shows up fine in the Business Manager - but not in the Panel.

However, if I'm reading your reply correctly, perhaps what I need to do is create the customer and subscription in Panel first, then use the "Add to Business Manager" function to get them into BM. In other words, do it exactly the opposite of how I did it - start in Panel, and add them to BM instead of add them in BM and (assuming) they sync back.

Is that correct?

[DmitryK.]

Hi PaulSrch,

Yes, you're absolutely right, if you have already set up and configured Plesk Panel with CBM, then you just need to import the necessary plans, customers and their subscriptions into CBM from Plesk Panel.

Best regards,
Dmitry

[PaulSrch]

OK, I think I have that figured out now. On to the next question... I have a number of customers who have registered their domains through my eNom account, using WHMCS. Is there any way to add them to BM so that they get billed from there when they come due? If so, how?

[EugeneL]

Hm... Importing of domain name registrations is not so easy and straightforward as importing hosting subscriptions.
CBM has no tools to do that.

There is some workaround (which looks like a hack) you can try to use on your own risk:
1. First of all you need to disable provisioning of domain names - go to All Settings > Provisioning policy and set "Register a domain name for new/active customers" properties to "Do not run these items"
2. Then you need to disable "Domain name availability" service (or WHOIS service) - create the list of top-level domains you have now, go to All Settings > Supported TLDs, open each TLD one by one and in each TLD change WHOIS settings there.
Most probably you have empty fields there now because default configuration is taken from "/opt/plesk-billing/lib/lib-domain/include/whois/Whois.php". There you can find WHOIS servers and lookup patterns. You need to copy WHOIS server from this file and paste it into CBM UI, "WHOIS server' property. "WHOIS responce fragment" should be set to dot (".").
If you do this, all domain names will be shown as available for registration.
3. And finally you need to disable invoicing - go to Events, find event with name "ProcessInvoices" and change it's status to "Canceled". Plus do the same for "ProcessDomainSynchronization" event.

Now you are ready to import domain name. Do the following steps for each domain you want to import.
4. Go to customer profile, click "Add new subscription", select store, "Domain" plan, needed TLD
5. Type domain name, make sure that "Generate invoice immediately" options is unchecked and click "Add subscription"
Now you have domain name subscription in CBM in status "Pending", invoice for registration is not issued (you disabled invoicing), event for domain name registration is created but is not executed (you prohibited execution).
6. Open newly created subscription, click "Edit". Change status to "Active", change next renewal date to real domain expiration date.
7. Go to Events, find event for domain registration in status "New" and change status to "Canceled"
No you have domain in statu active with valid next renewal (expiration) date, invoice is not issued, task for registration is canceled.

Repeat steps 4-7 for every domain you want to import
After you import all domains, return stuff back - set default properties in "All settings > Provisioning policy", clear WHOIS settings in TLDs under "All settings > Supported TLDs" (both fields must be empty), turn status of "ProcessInvocies" and "ProcessDomainSynchronization" events to "New"

Please pay attention that there are no official well-documented way to import domain registration. Current instruction is just my thoughts about how one can do this using CBM UI tools and good knowledge of how CBM works. You follow this instruction on our own risk.
Of course I'll forward your request to developement team and someday proper tool will appear in CBM.

If you have any questions feel free to contact me here.

[PaulSrch]

First one worked like a charm, Eugene! Now to do the other 60 in whmcs....

Speaking of forwarding requests, it'd be nice if there was an automated migration tool to pull info from WHMCS and put it into Billing Manager. I love the idea of an integrated billing and hosting system, which is why I'm moving from cPanel / WHMCS to Plesk / Billing Manager.

[Mark J]

WHMCS is very popular in the hosting industry and is a great option for internet and business for sale online.

[ZopfWare]

I'm confused at the point where you disable the whois... What exactly does one put in the whois box when editing the TLD? I have put the . (dot) in the response field but i don't know what to put in the first field.

Any help?

[DmitryK.]

I'm confused at the point where you disable the whois... What exactly does one put in the whois box when editing the TLD? I have put the . (dot) in the response field but i don't know what to put in the first field.

Any help?

Hello,

For example if you want to import ".com" TLD to CBM then you need to do following:
1) Open "/opt/plesk-billing/lib/lib-domain/include/whois/Whois.php" file and find row: "'com' => array('whois.verisign-grs.com', 'No match for'),"
2) In the "Whois server field" on the "Edit TLD" page you need to put "whois.verisign-grs.com" value from "/opt/plesk-billing/lib/lib-domain/include/whois/Whois.php" file related to .com TLD and on the "Whois response" field you need to enter "." (dot) value

Best regards,
Dmitry