I am thinking of starting out as a reseller and hopefully upgrading to a leased server after I have signed up a sufficient number of clients.
I am thinking ahead and want to make it as seamless as possible, especially to my clients, when (if?) I become large enough to move.
I plan on having my own name server domain name which I can take with me when I move.
My question is, will my clients need to update their DNS info. at Network Solutions?
The DNS domain name will be the same but the IP will presumably have to change and the DNS info at Network Solutions also includes the IP.
I also have a second question - is it better to use the same domain name for the Web Host site and the nameserver, or is it better to have a separate domain just for the DNS?
Thanks in advance.

I would suggest starting out with an Alabanza host offering reseller plans. There are lists of these hosts all over this board, so I won't list many, but I started out with NoMonthly.com. They were pretty good to me - I had only a few minor problems.

If you start with them, then when you move up to your own server, everything remains the same - right down to the last IP (since Alabanza owns them all, they can move them between their servers). It is a nice system, because in most cases your customers won't even know anything has changed.

I know someone will correct me on that if I am wrong, but I believe this is true.

Mark

Check out our reseller program at http://www.atjeu.com - we offer exactly what you are looking for at a reasonable price and can upgrade you to a dedicated server when you are ready - Atjeu

Mark,

You're right about Alabanza. It is easy to move sites between servers so your transition should be easy and you will keep your clients happy with uninterrupted service.

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Angela
Charity Webspace (division of WebAuthorities)
http://www.charitywebspace.com

Si,

If you want information about reselling you might want to check out www.resellerinfo.com (http://www.resellerinfo.com) (a new site expanding every day) and www.recellar.com (http://www.recellar.com) . These sites are dedicated to resellers.

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Angela
Charity Webspace (division of WebAuthorities)
http://www.charitywebspace.com

Thanks to everyone for those informative replies.
This is great news as I was already thinking of going with an Alabanza "reseller" and then server. I really like their control panel and have had practically no downtime with my own 3 sites which I have with them through "resellers".
As for my second question, perhaps I can express it a bit better:
If my hosting company was, say, simonshosting.com, is it better to use nameservers of the form ns1.simonshosting.com or to use a different name like ns1.simonsdns.com for the nameservers?
Or maybe it makes no difference one way or the other?
Thanks again - I am already finding this forum an invaluable resource and I haven't even started hosting yet :)
I look forward to the day when I become knowledgable enough to help others out in return!

the only advantage to using nameservers of errrr, a different name (eh?), are to offer your services to resellers. They typically need either anonymous or their own aliased nameservers.

I will say this though... no matter what you do, tracing back to the host is rarely impossible, and that many companies seem to make the mistake of naming the server wrong (email headers are hard to miss).

If you are looking to cater to resellers than set thing up with that in mind from the start. The only drawback is that sometimes it is hard not to look like a reseller yourself, heh.

Once you are big, people figure it out anyhow. Most people on this board can identify a *****, communitech, or olm reseller a mile away, heh.