Questions about hosting Drupal multi-sites in HostGator

I work for a non-profit and am working on creating low-cost website templates for local (small) governments in Michigan. I currently run half a dozen separate websites using Drupal 7.0, and want to create a Drupal multi-site install in HostGator. A Drupal multi-site is basically one Drupal core install and separate MySQL databases for each site. This lets me update all websites at once, and use a basic template to install a new website. When I asked HostGator tech about doing this almost two years ago, I was told it wasn't possible in CPanel. I don't want to use CPanel to perform the installs, just want my manual install to function and allow me to perform updates within Drupal.

There will be no charge to the local government for the website, my organization will pay the costs. Some want to have their own domain name, rather than a sub-domain, and they would pay for their own separate domain name.

I've had very good support from HostGator and would prefer to stay here.

Questions:
Can I do a Drupal7 multi-site at HostGator, without installing new core files and modules for each site? THAT is an absolute must for me.

I expect to host 10-30 sites, limited number of logged in users/emails per site. Which plan is best?

Any issues about redirecting domain names to my sub-domains?

I am just a small website developer, not a trained sys admin. What else should I be aware of?

[kingtas]

The only problem with using one cPanel account is that all sites under that account share the 25 mysql connection limit.

Thanks... I had forgot about the 25 connection limit. Is that limit a result of using CPanel, or any shared hosting account?

[kingtas]

HG imposes the limitation to each cPanel account for their shared servers. So if you are going to host multiple domains that use a database, it's better to go with a reseller account so that each cPanel account has it's own 25 connection limit, instead of everyone sharing 25.

[eurgbp]

oh, what you want is no doubt VPS, shared hosting will not give you what you want. You can mess with your VPS settings in root shell#, to satisfy your most detailed needs or hire freelancer to do Drupal for you...

Thanks for the replies.

I think my choice will be between the Reseller and VPS accounts, but for some reason the VPS sounds intimidating. I don't need to hire a freelancer for the Drupal, I've got half a dozen sites up and running in Drupal 6 and 7 now... just trying to learn the pros and cons each account type with regards to running multiple sites. Sounds like I need to do some research on how to set up a VPS before deciding.

[kingtas]

Reseller has less worries but a VPS isn't that bad, especially when you have cPanel and managed support. Reputable hosting companies will deliver hardened VPS for the most part. The nice thing about VPS is consistent resources, especially when working in the admin section of CMS.