DirectAdmin organizes every account into one of three levels: Administrator, Reseller, or User. Each level sees a different set of menus and can do different things, from managing a single website to running an entire server. Most people hosting with DirectAdmin only ever deal with the User level, so if your account looks simpler than screenshots you've seen online, that's normal.
The three account levels explained
Administrator
The Administrator level manages the whole server. This is the level your host (not you, as the customer) typically holds. An Administrator can create Reseller and User accounts, change server-wide settings, install software updates, and see every account on the server.
Reseller
A Reseller account sits between Administrator and User. It's meant for someone who resells hosting to their own customers. A Reseller can create and manage multiple User accounts, assign them hosting packages with set disk space and bandwidth limits, and suspend or remove those accounts, but cannot touch server-wide settings or other resellers' accounts.
- Can create, suspend, and delete User accounts under their own package
- Can set up hosting packages (disk space, bandwidth, number of domains allowed) to assign to those Users
- Cannot change server-wide configuration or see accounts outside their own Reseller package
User
The User level is a single hosting account for one customer, typically covering one main domain plus any addon domains, subdomains, email accounts, and databases attached to it. This is the level almost every ZIPROF hosting customer has. A User manages their own website, email, and databases, but has no ability to create other hosting accounts or see anyone else's.
How to tell which level your account has
You don't need to dig through settings to work this out. Look at what your DirectAdmin menu lets you do:
- Log in to your DirectAdmin account.
- Check your main menu for an account management section (often shown as something like Account Manager or Reseller Tools) that lists other hosting accounts you can create or manage.
- If that section exists and lists accounts belonging to other customers, you have a Reseller account. If you see server-wide options for managing every account on the machine, you have an Administrator account.
- If your menu only shows tools for your own domain, email, files, and databases, with nothing about creating separate hosting accounts for other people, you have a User account.
If you're a ZIPROF hosting customer and you're not sure, you almost certainly have a User account. ZIPROF manages the server itself, so Reseller and Administrator access isn't part of standard hosting plans.
Knowing your level matters mainly when you're following a tutorial online: a guide written for a Reseller or Administrator account may describe menu options you'll never see, and that doesn't mean anything is wrong with your account. If you'd like a refresher on how DirectAdmin compares to the other control panel ZIPROF uses, see cPanel vs DirectAdmin: What's the Difference and Which One Do You Have?