We currently have about 20 servers we have aquired. We were thinking about setting these servers up using RH 8.0 running the cPanel/WHM 5. I had a few questions since we were thinking about leasing out a building and running T1 lines to the building.
At the moment only 2 - 5 servers will be used for for Web Hosting.

1) How many sites max should be on each server? Server is Raid 5/0. Alloted space on server for web hosting would be about 10GB.

2) Should each server have its own firewall? Or can the servers be NAT with private IPs behind a firewall server with a public IP? What has been the most reliable Firewall product for RH Linux?

3) How many IP addresses max should be given to each server? Each server has multiple NICs. How many max to a NIC?

4) What has been the most reliable Anti-virus Software for RH Linux?

5) What backup methoods are used the most? We are using RAID 5/0 with hot swap drives, UPS, nightly backups. Are there otherways to secure uptime should all 3 of these fail?

6) Do most people have some sort of disclaimer to protect them should the power be out for extended periods of time, beyond the extent of their UPS?

7) What kind of line would give me enough bandwidth for 2-5 servers and yet not drown me in high price? Is having 2 T1s enough?

I am sure more questions will come up. Your advise and expertise is greatly appreciated.

Greetings:

If the servers are rackmountable (best case), why not consider co-loating them?

Otherwise, you are going to face competition that has OC-3 to OC-192 bidirectional rings with multiple DS-3's and DS-1's incoming, BGP4 routing, disiel power generators for backup, blah blah blah blah that end up making a home grown data center running off of T1's and UPS like traveling in a professional limo compared to a junk heap with 150,000+ miles on it from the 1970's that barely passes inspection.

If your target market is very local, they may not mind or even notice if you do your home work correctly (you've already started it with this post).

However, in the global market place where most competitors are operating in or out of a world class facility, you may drown against the competition.

Thank you.

Originally posted by FijianTribe
I had a few questions since we were thinking about leasing out a building and running T1 lines to the building.

OK, well, lets start with that. T1 lines are not usually going to be enough for web hosting, as their max bandwidth is just not enough, a T1 can push about 150 KB/s, which, can easily be saturated by 3 people on DSL lines.

1) How many sites max should be on each server? Server is Raid 5/0. Alloted space on server for web hosting would be about 10GB.

This is not a simple question, and many people here ask it. This really depends on their processor speed, the amount of ram, and many other factors. This is also a personal preference. Some people would look to put over 500 people on each server. Others would say only under 150. This also depends on how heavy the sites are. If they are media sites using 1 gb of web space, and pushing 100+ gb a month, you could only put a couple of those on a server, but, then again, they bring it a lot of money :)

2) Should each server have its own firewall? Or can the servers be NAT with private IPs behind a firewall server with a public IP? What has been the most reliable Firewall product for RH Linux?

OK, another very specific question, that nobody can really answer. The answer is a specific to a personal opinion.

3) How many IP addresses max should be given to each server? Each server has multiple NICs. How many max to a NIC?

Assuming these servers are for virtual hosting, only 1 is needed for each computer. There really is no reason to have multiple NICs.


All the time I have for now....

Thanks for the input so far (much more input from others please).

The servers are rack mountable. A few are the Compaq 3000 series servers.

The reason we were hoping not to co-locate was that it seemed much more expensive (although I do realize the benefits.) Seems that just for one server it would be between $100 - $400 a month and then to purchase Bandwidth seperatly. I looked at a few that people had suggested in previous posts, but our goal is to have the servers local to Southern California, San Diego County area.

Greetings:

If you are more particular about the capabilities of the data center, the quality of the infrastructure, and the abilities of their staff to meet your needs AND not the location, then you could get a complete rack for under $1,000 per month.

A standard rack has 42 rack units. Depending on whether or not you need your own routers, switches, etc. you can get up to 42 one rack unit servers into one rack.

Bandwidth would be extra, but you can often get around the bandwidth you need for far less than the price of two T1's.

The key is not being particular about geographic location as much as you are about the other factors.

Furthermore, there are companies that provide managed co-location services, so you don't have to worry about being close enough to do the work yourself. Even if their managed services and managed security are limited, they often offer “virtual hands” services; and, you could always partner with a managed service provider to meet the administration needs.

A quality provider for your T1 will most likely charge you around $400 to $800 for a single full T per month. Then you have the local loop fee from your local provider; and that can run $200 to $400 per month or more.

In the end, you will probably pay the same or more than co-location while you are offering services that are far inferior to your competition.

So why pay more to offer less?

Thank you.

First dont rent a building and throw in a t-1. Too slow for future expansion. Get a cage in an already local data center and rent the connection which is the best route to go. If you know what you are doing you could bring in your own lines but that requires a lot of work. Good luck!