... as most people in this thread are too.

I am looking to buy a decent hardware that is optimized for webserving and mySQL database, and in my quest I came across this Dell Server:
http://www.dell.com/us/en/bsd/products/model_pwrap_3_pwrap_web120.htm

It isn't that expensive, and I believe it is very good... Anyone has any opinions on this one?

I also wanted to find out what should I buy if I wanted to host a few of my websites on my home machine (hooked up to 3.0Mbit DSL connection)... Would AMD 1.4GHz with 512DDR-Ram be a good solution, or would P3/P4 processors be better optimized for the Apache server and Linux OS??

Any advice on either one of these questions is welcome...

I'm not sure if you're talking about hosting sites for fun or starting a business, but if it's the latter, then you'll need a real connection. The DSL might be fast enough, but it's not redundant nor reliable enough. No one would pay a host whose connection was through a home DSL connection.

As for hardware, it depends on how resource-heavy the sites are. I host my personal site and a few friend's sites just fine, and I have a 416kbps SDSL connection. The server is a 750Mhz Duron with 256MB RAM running OpenBSD. It's fine for my needs.

Do you have any idea how large these sites are, and if they use dynamic content?

btw, Apache and Linux work equally well on both types of processors...personally, I'd recommend AMDs, though.

Thanks for a reply...

Ok, first of all, I got this connection with the intention of starting up a small hosting company, and this is not just a regular home DSL connection (it's a 3.5Mbit down/ 800kbps up DSL connection (http://www.dsl.ca/business/info.html)). I haven't tried out the performance of the connection on more than 2 sites (getting 5,000 uniques/day each) yet, so I don't know if it is gonna handle the traffic, but so far it looks damn fast!

Second thing, I am looking to host 10-20 sites with 5,000-10,000 unique hits a day at the most, using php/mysql for a dynamic content creation. Also, I would be able to host smaller sites with not so extensive usage (on the other server I have around here).

And I was thinking of getting an AMD processor too, but if anyone has any suggestions why I shouldn't, feel free to let me know...

Even for what you are doing I would never pay a host for a DSL connection. DSL is DSL. They are not reliable enough to use for a hosting solution.

What type of firewall hardware/software will you be using?

You may want to puchase a colocated server instead of doing it all yourself.

Speed is a small piece of the pie. What happens when you DSL line is down, or the power goes out? There are lots of issues to consider.

Food for though :)

DSL is not reliable enough?
Why are many of these webhosting companies using the DSL then? I just read a post about a few companies that do use a DSL...
And it is reliable enough for me, because I am not looking to host 100's of sites, so that I require a T3/OC3 connection that I can't even afford right now. I think DSL would do just fine for the first couple of clients, and with the speed of a top T1 connection.

About the firewall, I have no clue! Should I go for hardware, or software only?

And the advantage over the buying of colocated server is that the cost of the hardware I am getting and the bandwidth I will be using (it is unlimited with this DSL plan, for $425 CAN a month) is smaller than if I had to purchase the similar hardware/plan and had to pay it off monthly.

Well, I have hosted a few of my sites on hosts whose servers went down consistently for a couple of hours, even though they said they were on an OC3 connection, dual backbone, whatever the technical term they managed to find there...

And there are UPS Power generators in case the power goes down, plus I will be using the RAID setup in case the HDs go down, with TAPE backups...

And speed/bandwidth is not that small piece of a pie, I think, because bandwidth these days is pretty expensive, and when you get truly unlimited bandwidth, now that's something...

Anyway, I'm not looking to have my own NOC, even though it might be a possibility down the road, simply because I don't have a budget for it. Also, if I get a find a good deal on a dedicated/managed/colocated servers, I might take advantage of that too, but for now, I am looking of buying the hardware myself, and having a few people work with me on setting it up, managing and keeping top-notch.

DSL is not reliable enough? Would I host with a company that has a DSL Line, probably not.

If you can get past the idea topic of DSL's reliability, what happens if/when it does goes down? What's your backup plan. What about power?

If you have hosting your own/friend's sites, no big deal but if you are going to charge money that's a whole new ballgame.

Speed is a very, very small piece of the pie.

BTW, Bandwidth is the cheapest it has ever been. Also, a 3.5 Mbps DSL line does not have "truly unlimited bandwidth"

I know you are looking to save some money, but check around for a good/inexpensive colo provider. They are out there.

Just my 2 cents :)

Different ballgame?
Come on, I know of at least 3 webhosts that host the sites on DSL, and are charging a decent fees for that too...
And if you know of anything more reliable than DSL at this price of $300 US/month, I would really love to know about it... and when it goes down, well, I guess I will just have to depend on my DSL ISP to fix the problem (even tho I had no outages at all for the last 2 months).

:) fantom, you make me laugh.

You have never had a flaky dial/up or DSL connection before. Your connections have worked flawlessly 100% or even 99% of the time. It never slows down? You are always able to access sites all over the world all the time?

Yes it is a very, very different ball game.

Hey if you want to host your customers off a DSL line, more power to ya. I think it is a very big mistake, but it is not for me to make. Good luck with it!

Yes, you can find colocation for less than or equal to $300.00 per month.

Hello

I have tried to use one of our server which is connected to internet by DSL lines for hosting purpose but it was not usable for that.

I even did not hosted our own site because it's uptime was lower than %95.

Provider claims that quality of their lines is very high but you see they are not usable at least for hosting.

Regards,
Mac

Fantom, if you truly know for sure of 3 different hosts hosting off of a DSL connection, why not name some of them with links?

This has me curious because I would never consider hosting with someone using a DSL for many, many reasons. Unless you misread the connection and mistaked DS-3's for DSL?? That's a different story. I wouldn't even do business with a host using T1 lines myself, but that's just me.

I would however like to see these web hosting companies hosting sites off of a DSL connection.

Originally posted by fantom
Different ballgame?
Come on, I know of at least 3 webhosts that host the sites on DSL, and are charging a decent fees for that too...
And if you know of anything more reliable than DSL at this price of $300 US/month, I would really love to know about it... and when it goes down, well, I guess I will just have to depend on my DSL ISP to fix the problem (even tho I had no outages at all for the last 2 months).

Originally posted by RackMy.com
Yes, you can find colocation for less than or equal to $300.00 per month.

Hmm, now that I look into what you're offering at http://www.rackmy.com, it doesn't sound that bad... I guess there is still hope for me.
One question though - how much would it cost to host this for me:
http://www.dell.com/us/en/bsd/products/model_pwrap_3_pwrap_web120.htm ??

fantom, I'm glad that you have decided to at least consider other options. There are many many places where you could get a dedicated server or colocate your own server with tons of bandwith for less than $300/month. If you browse through this board you will find tons of good places. Don't forget to the check the advertising forum for specials :D You never know what you might find there.

Thanks a lot bro...

Since I am new to this board, I didn't even realize there is an advertising thread in the forum.

I guess I just gotta look around!