WHMCS Integration Guide

If you already bill and provision hosting through WHMCS, you do not need a separate system to start selling domains. The CentralNic Reseller module for WHMCS plugs domain registration, transfers, renewals, DNS and SSL straight into the platform your customers and staff already use — under your own brand, from the admin and client areas you know. This guide takes you along the happy path: install the module, connect your account, set pricing, prove it with a test order, and turn on automated renewals.

It is written for hosting companies and resellers who want to be live quickly. The module is the shortest route from “we run WHMCS” to “we sell domains”, and with a funded account already in place you can be taking orders in under an hour.

By the End of This Guide You Will Have

• The CentralNic Reseller module installed in your WHMCS instance
• Your CentralNic Reseller account connected with your credentials
• Pricing and TLD availability configured so customers can find and buy domains
• A test registration completed end to end
• Automated renewals switched on so domains stay live without manual work

First Things First

The module connects a WHMCS installation to a funded, secured CentralNic Reseller account — it is not the account setup itself. If you have not funded your account, created users and enabled security yet, work through Your First Day as a CentralNic Reseller first. It takes about 30 minutes and applies to every integration method.

Not sure WHMCS is the right path for you? See Which Integration Method Should I Choose?.

Before You Start

You need two things in place:

• A running WHMCS installation you can log into as an administrator and upload files to.
• A funded CentralNic Reseller account with credentials — the account name and a user login (a user logs in as accountname:username, as covered in Your First Day).

The CentralNic Reseller registrar module has the WHMCS module ID cnic. It is distributed as the WHMCS CNIC Software Bundle, an all-in-one package that adds domains, DNS, DNSSEC and SSL management to WHMCS, along with helper addons for domain search, importing and monitoring.

1. Install the CentralNic Reseller Module

The module is published on the WHMCS Marketplace and on GitHub. Installation is a file upload followed by activation inside WHMCS.

1. Download the bundle. Get the latest WHMCS CNIC Software Bundle (whmcs-cnic-bundle.zip).

2. Extract and upload. Unzip the archive and upload its contents into your WHMCS modules directory. The registrar module is placed under modules/registrars/cnic.

3. Activate the registrar. In the WHMCS admin, open your domain registrar settings, find CentralNic Reseller in the list of available registrars, and activate it.

Follow the Official Installation Guide Alongside These Steps

For the exact WHMCS menu paths, version requirements, upgrade instructions and the setup of the bundled addons, keep the module’s own Installation Guide open as you go. It is the authoritative, always-current reference for the module.

Running More Than One Account?

If you need to run several CentralNic Reseller accounts or brand variants side by side in one WHMCS installation, the bundle includes wrapper modules (cnic1, cnic2, and so on). Extract each wrapper so its path is modules/registrars/cnicX — WHMCS will not detect it anywhere else.

2. Connect Your CentralNic Reseller Account

With the registrar activated, tell it which account to use. In the module’s configuration screen, enter your CentralNic Reseller account credentials and save. WHMCS will then route domain checks, registrations, transfers and renewals through your account.

Test Against OT&E Before You Sell to Real Customers

CentralNic Reseller gives you a free OT&E (Operational Test & Evaluation) sandbox where nothing is billed and no live domains are touched. Point the module at your OT&E account credentials while you set everything up and place test orders, then switch to your production credentials when you are ready to go live. See Your First Day for how OT&E works and Moving from OT&E to Production for the switch-over. Confirm the exact credential fields in the Installation Guide.

3. Configure Pricing and TLD Availability

Customers can only buy the TLDs you offer, at the prices you set. WHMCS manages this in its own domain pricing area, where you choose which extensions to sell and set your registration, transfer and renewal prices — with CentralNic Reseller selected as the registrar for each TLD.

1. Decide which TLDs to offer. Add the extensions you want to sell to your WHMCS domain pricing list.

2. Assign CentralNic Reseller as the registrar for each of those TLDs so orders route to your account.

3. Set your retail prices. Your wholesale cost comes from your CentralNic Reseller pricescale (see Account Balance → Services & Prices in the Control Panel); your margin is the difference between that and what you charge in WHMCS.

Fewer Failed Orders on Demanding TLDs

The module is TLD-aware: it handles the extra registry fields and validation that TLDs such as .de, .us and .dk require, and supports internationalised domain names (IDNs). That means more registrations and transfers go through the first time. The bundled CNIC Admin Config addon lets you set default values for these additional domain fields.

4. Run a Test Registration

Before you announce domains to your customers, prove the whole chain end to end — search, order, payment and provisioning — with one test registration.

1. Search for a domain in WHMCS, either through the admin area or your client area storefront, and confirm availability results come back.

2. Place the order for an available, low-cost domain and take it through your normal WHMCS checkout and payment flow.

3. Confirm it provisioned. Check that WHMCS reports the domain as active and that it appears in your CentralNic Reseller account.

Do This in OT&E First

Running the test order against your OT&E credentials means you can exercise the full flow without spending real money. When the OT&E result looks right, the same order against production should behave identically — which is exactly the confidence you want before going live.

5. Enable Automated Renewals

The point of running domains inside WHMCS is that they largely look after themselves. WHMCS handles renewal orders, invoicing and provisioning on its automation (cron) schedule, and the CentralNic Reseller account applies its own renewal behaviour on top.

• In WHMCS, make sure domain auto-renewal and the automation cron are enabled so renewal invoices are raised and paid renewals are provisioned on time.
• In CentralNic Reseller, confirm your renewal mode. AUTORENEW renews domains automatically before they expire — the safe default for most resellers — and is set under Account → Settings → General in the Control Panel (see Your First Day).

Keep Your Prepay Balance Topped Up

Renewals draw on your CentralNic Reseller balance in real time. A balance that runs dry can cause domains to lapse even when WHMCS has collected payment from your customer. Set a low-balance warning in the Control Panel so you are notified in good time.

What To Do Next

Your WHMCS storefront is selling domains and renewing them on its own. From here, deepen the integration and get comfortable with the everyday flows:

WHMCS ModuleDownloads, documentation and the full installation and upgrade reference.

The Complete Domain LifecycleRegister, renew, transfer, restore and delete — the flows behind every domain.

Transfer a Domain into CentralNic ResellerBring existing domains across so they live alongside your new registrations.

Automating DNSOffer self-service DNS and DNSSEC to your customers.

Moving from OT&E to ProductionSwitch the module from your test sandbox to live once your test order looks right.