Partner guide
How the partner programme works for hosting companies: bulk HF Panel licences, the pool, monthly billing per licence, the API and rollout.
The partner programme is for hosting companies and agencies that put HF Panel on many servers, usually one for each customer's VPS or dedicated server. You buy licences in bulk at a lower price, your own systems issue them as servers are created, and each server installs itself with one command, already licensed and in your brand.
This guide is for the people at a partner who set the programme up: the technical lead, the developers who connect your provisioning systems, and support staff.
How it works
- You become a partner: bulk licences on one plan, with a discount by the number of servers (see Partner programme).
- HostFog Ltd sets up your partner account: your discount, your billing and your release channel.
- You get a partner API key (
hfp_…). See Get an API key. - When your systems create a server, they call the partner API to issue a licence for its IP address and run the install command it returns on the server.
- When a server is deleted, your systems remove its licence, and its place is free again.
The pool and billing
Every licence you issue belongs to your partner account. There are two ways to pay for them; HostFog Ltd sets the one agreed with you.
| Billing | How it works | What limits issuing |
|---|---|---|
| Pool (the default) | You pay each month for a fixed number of licences, the pool. Issuing and removing licences moves them in and out of the pool. Change the number in the partner portal with Change quantity. | The pool: when every licence is in use, issuing answers 409 until you remove one or buy more. |
| Usage | No pool. Each night the number of licences in use is recorded. At the start of each month you are billed for the month before: its peak number of licences × the per-licence price after your discount. A month is billed once. | Only a cap, if one was agreed. Without a cap there is no limit. |
Usage billing suits fleets that grow and shrink during the month: you pay for what you used at most, never for licences you are not using. A pool suits a steady number of servers paid in advance.
Note: if a payment fails, the servers keep working for 7 more days. If the partner account then ends, the panels on its servers lock until it is renewed, but websites, email and DNS on those servers keep running.
What your customers see
A server licensed through you points to you, not to HostFog Ltd:
- Server Admin › Billing › Licence on that server shows your company as the licence provider, with your support email;
- when a support address was set for you (see Support), the licence screen's links lead to your website for help, plan changes and payments;
- with white label, the panel, the login page, Mail and emails carry your brand.
In this guide
| Page | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Get an API key | getting, storing and replacing your partner API key |
| Partner API | every call: list, issue, move, remove, the bulk calls, the fleet, safe retries |
| Webhooks | signed messages about your licences and servers |
| Automation | connecting your billing system and scripts |
| Brand the panel | your logo and name on every server |
| Move customers in | bringing accounts over from old servers |
| Roll out updates | release channels, automatic updates and staged rollouts |
| Support | who supports whom, support levels and how to escalate |
| Security | how HF Panel protects your servers, and how to report a problem |