Starting My Whmcs Import

[FRH Dave]

I'm getting ready to start testing with live data.  Before I do, I have a few questions:

• What happens if the import script attempts to import a product, but my existing product price doesn't match?  IE, a customer has a "Medium Dark" VPS at the old price of $24.99, but I'm currently charging $29.99.
• I assume Blesta will start immediately processing orders, attempting to collect payments, sending emails, etc.  Will disabling the cron job kill this behavior completely?  I don't want to confuse anybody with redundant emails (since I'm still live in WHMCS), let alone double-bill anyone.

I'd also love any feedback on my dilemma.  Out of all my VPSes, about 50 are custom packages.  For example, they might have an $80 VPS with a $20 cPanel add-on, plus a 25% discount on the whole thing, bringing the price to $75.  In Blesta I'm dropping my cPanel price to $15 / mo, and that VPS package's non-discount price is $80 / mo. 

 

When I import this customer, will Blesta forcibly change their price to $95 / mo?

 

Will Blesta know enough to add a cPanel package to the account?  In WHMCS, the VPS is the main package, with cPanel as a "control panel" configurable option.

 

I'm currently about halfway through creating custom "grandfathered pricing" packages to match up on the price point.  Tell me there's an easier way.

[Michael]

Your best off mate making a new package for them but make them Restricted. So they will only be for the old clients  -> select them on the importer instead of the new ones.

[Paul]

While we don't have any docs for importing from whmcs up yet, it may be helpful for you to review the import from Blesta 2.5 here http://docs.blesta.com/display/user/Migrating+to+Blesta

 

You should install a fresh copy of v3. Then, take a backup of the database, so you can roll it back to a fresh install after doing a test import. You should do a test import and then verify everything works correctly. If there are any issues, let us know. We are still working on the importer and are happy to work with you through any issues.

Also, we don't recommend turning on the cron in v3 until you're ready to go live. Until you turn the cron on, you can always go back. Nobody will be charged, nothing will be sent, etc unless performed manually.

 

Also note that admin accounts in whmcs use MD5 passwords. You can enable support for these by editing config/blesta.php and enabling legacy password support. Once the staff member logs in, their password will be updated automatically to a bcrypted HMAC-SHA-256 password. We suggest disabling the legacy support after enough time has passed.

[Cody]

FYI, the current WHMCS migrator doesn't import packages or services. That's still in the works.

[FRH Dave]

I ran into a small hiccup on the import (posted in the cPanel thread), but so far all works as designed.  I manually added a package to one of my clients so I could see how best to handle my pricing dilemma, and it looks like it's going to be a major pain.

 

If I have a customer in WHMCS on a $50 VPS with a $20 cPanel add-on and a $30 management add-on, then a 25% discount, their WHMCS invoice would be $75.  In Blesta, I will be discounting only the base hosting package, so the same product with 25% off will be $87.50.

 

It looks like I have to create a "legacy" package for any existing packages that I need to move over.  If the situation was reversed, and I was importing INTO WHMCS (hah!), I could create a single package called "Grandfathered Package", import all the special customers into that, and then manually set the recurring price for each customer.  I don't see any functionality in Blesta that give a similar result.

 

Is there any way similar "price override" functionality could be brought into the import routine, or even into Blesta itself?  I'm sure I can dig in and edit the SQL data by hand, but this opens up a giant can of worms that I'd just as soon stay away from.  I'm sure I won't be the only one in this situation.

[Paul]

Is there any way similar "price override" functionality could be brought into the import routine, or even into Blesta itself?  I'm sure I can dig in and edit the SQL data by hand, but this opens up a giant can of worms that I'd just as soon stay away from.  I'm sure I won't be the only one in this situation.

 

A service price override option is assigned to CORE-747 and tentatively scheduled for 3.3. We might be able to bump it to 3.2, but even then it's still a little ways out.

 

I wonder if you're able to use recurring coupons to get the pricing the way you want, though it may be simpler to use legacy packages.

[FRH Dave]

A service price override option is assigned to CORE-747 and tentatively scheduled for 3.3. We might be able to bump it to 3.2, but even then it's still a little ways out.

 

I wonder if you're able to use recurring coupons to get the pricing the way you want, though it may be simpler to use legacy packages.

 

I might be able to use recurring coupons, but it gets messy becuase of all the custom scenarios I have.  Customer A has VPS Plan A at $89.99 / mo with no control panel, Customer B has the same package at $89.99 but gets a free cPanel license, Customer C has the same package at $89.99 but has an extra IP, Customer D has the same package at $89.99 + $19.99 for cPanel minus a 25% discount on the whole thing ($82.49 total), Customer E has the same package at $99.99 because of an old price structure, Customer F has the same package at $99.99 + $14.99 for cPanel minus a 20% discount ($91.98 total), and so on.  Then there's also the fact that some customers signed up with a package was $79.99, others signed up when it was $89.99, still others at $99.99.

 

The best possible outcome from my perspective is to create "Legacy VPS A", "Legacy VPS B", etc for each of my VPS plans.  I'd create them as SolusVM packages with the corresponding SolusVM plan (that way the SolusVM module options are available to the user).  Then I'd just manually override the price of each individual customer.  It would take an afternoon of effort, but it wouldn't be that bad. 

[Paul]

You can set up a package with multiple price options for the same term.. for example..

 

Package A

 

1 Month $89.99

1 Month $99.99

1 Month $79.99

 

Then just select the appropriate price point for the legacy package. This wouldn't make sense if offering it for order, since the customer would simply select the cheapest option, but for legacy services it might help with what you are trying to do and reduce the number of package permutations that are required.

[Michael]

You can set up a package with multiple price options for the same term.. for example..

 

Package A

 

1 Month $89.99

1 Month $99.99

1 Month $79.99

 

Then just select the appropriate price point for the legacy package. This wouldn't make sense if offering it for order, since the customer would simply select the cheapest option, but for legacy services it might help with what you are trying to do and reduce the number of package permutations that are required.

 

Like a redundant package mate?

[Paul]

Like a redundant package mate?

 

Yeah, this would be pricing in a single package. Duplicate terms with different prices.

 

I'm not sure it will solve anything in Dave's case, but I thought I'd throw that out there since this functionality is probably not common knowledge.

[FRH Dave]

Yeah, this would be pricing in a single package. Duplicate terms with different prices.

 

I'm not sure it will solve anything in Dave's case, but I thought I'd throw that out there since this functionality is probably not common knowledge.

 

That's an interesting approach.  I'll have to take a closer look at how many identical prices are in there.  We're talking around 50 active services with "out of band" pricing, so this won't be ideal.  But it's nice to know it could work.

 

If I had my dream solution, Blesta would ask me what to do with every package it didn't recognize.  Similar in layout to the "import / don't import" package list now, but change the dropdown to "Import as: (Don't Import, VPS Plan A, VPS Plan B, etc) ... at $___.__ per __ (months / years)".  That's a small hurdle to manually set each one, but we're talking a one-time thing here.  The catch is that in order to function properly, Blesta would have to see "Imported VPS Plan A at $99.99 / mo" as a unique plan from "Imported VPS Plan A at $84.79 / mo".

 

I've been mulling logic to make it work perfectly for everyone all the time, and I don't think there is such a thing.  There's always going to be some level of effort involved on the host.

[FRH Dave]

I'm in the middle of reloading my Blesta VPS right now to make another import run, so I can't answer this for myself:  Does Blesta maintain the service renewal date on an import?  If a customer's next invoice is due 11/15 in WHMCS, will it be 11/15 in Blesta?

[Paul]

I'm in the middle of reloading my Blesta VPS right now to make another import run, so I can't answer this for myself:  Does Blesta maintain the service renewal date on an import?  If a customer's next invoice is due 11/15 in WHMCS, will it be 11/15 in Blesta?

 

Yes, however the WHMCS importer does not currently import services and packages.. it imports everything else. I was actually talking with Cody about this earlier today, we need to get that importer finished up.

 

I also know that you need a way to import legacy plans, and a price override for services would be ideal for this. We talked through it and know pretty much how we're going to do it, but I don't have an ETA for this yet. It's tentatively slated for 3.2, but if we have time I'd love to get it in 3.1.. I know a lot of people want it.

[FRH Dave]

Yes, however the WHMCS importer does not currently import services and packages.. it imports everything else. I was actually talking with Cody about this earlier today, we need to get that importer finished up.

 

I also know that you need a way to import legacy plans, and a price override for services would be ideal for this. We talked through it and know pretty much how we're going to do it, but I don't have an ETA for this yet. It's tentatively slated for 3.2, but if we have time I'd love to get it in 3.1.. I know a lot of people want it.

 

Ah - that's right, I KNEW there was a reason why I hadn't imported yet.  This is a deal breaker for me.  I can't move forward with Blesta until I have time to run and test the WHMCS import.  Everything else is moot until then.

[Paul]

Ah - that's right, I KNEW there was a reason why I hadn't imported yet.  This is a deal breaker for me.  I can't move forward with Blesta until I have time to run and test the WHMCS import.  Everything else is moot until then.

 

I'll see what we can do about fast tracking the service import and wrapping up the importer. It's just a little... complex. We want to get you up and running.

[FRH Dave]

I'll see what we can do about fast tracking the service import and wrapping up the importer. It's just a little... complex. We want to get you up and running.

 

Thanks - that makes two of us!

[FRH Dave]

I realize you're already working on this.  But yesterday's sloppy WHMCS exploit, combined with the fact that the patch appears to only prevent one attack vector without actually fixing the root cause, makes this a much higher priority for us.  It's very likely that more exploits are coming in the very near future.  We need to move off WHMCS as soon as possible.

[Paul]

I realize you're already working on this.  But yesterday's sloppy WHMCS exploit, combined with the fact that the patch appears to only prevent one attack vector without actually fixing the root cause, makes this a much higher priority for us.  It's very likely that more exploits are coming in the very near future.  We need to move off WHMCS as soon as possible.

 

Cody spent most of Friday working on the importer, and is getting pretty close. We should have something release next week, hopefully early in the week. Once we do, I'd love for you to run a test import and help us work out any issues.

[FRH Dave]

Cody spent most of Friday working on the importer, and is getting pretty close. We should have something release next week, hopefully early in the week. Once we do, I'd love for you to run a test import and help us work out any issues.

 

Absolutely - keep me posted!

[Gareth-Host Red Dragon]

I was waiting for a few more features to come available in blesta before I moved over from whmcs, but after this recant fiasco with whmcs I have moved over.

Done the import, and just going though setting everything that wasn't imported up.

At this stage with whmcs I would rather do the whole thing manually than have to constantly worry about the security of my clients.

It is a sad day though. I have used whmcs since about 2006/7, before that I used modernbill from 2001. I'd forgotten how long I have been in this industry, starting to feel old now:(

[Michael]

I was waiting for a few more features to come available in blesta before I moved over from whmcs, but after this recant fiasco with whmcs I have moved over.

Done the import, and just going though setting everything that wasn't imported up.

At this stage with whmcs I would rather do the whole thing manually than have to constantly worry about the security of my clients.

It is a sad day though. I have used whmcs since about 2006/7, before that I used modernbill from 2001. I'd forgotten how long I have been in this industry, starting to feel old now:(

 

Yeah I couldn't wait for a importer for v3 I wanted off that system before anything happened, thankfully I missed all this and could just worry about my mates who use that system.