Hi,

I have been considering starting a web hosting business here in my local area. I already do webdesign, ;).

I have $1,760 to invest in starting the business.

What would be the best way to set it up? I kinda want to start it up to test the waters, and if its popular then put a little more money into it.

This is what I've been considering so far.

Co-locate with ServerMatrix - I live in Houston, they are in Dallas, that means fast speeds here, a good think since I'm doing this locally. The plan I'm looking at offer rackspace and 100GB of bandwith for $50 a month, I know I may need more later, but for now this is good?

buy a nice server - I was thinking of picking up a Cobalt Raq server on e-bay for 400 bucks, but then thought maybey a newer higher-end rackmount server from CDW would work out better, and be more impressive to potential clients that are looking for higher-end type hosting.

Note, I do not plan to oversell my servers, just put enough sites on that the server pays for itself and then a little profit. I know how important server speed and reliability are to people.


Please let me know if this is a good setup, what else you would reccomend. Let me know any servers you think would be better and all.

Regards!

I believe that the rest would probably recommended going for a reseller's account. That is especially true if you are not all too familiar with running a dedicated machine or have the time or financial commitment to provide 24/7 support. The reseller's account would give you the ability to resell and because of the low financial outlay and no long term contractual burden would allow you to 'test the water' so to speak.

It is like if you go for your first trip into the sea, you don't go buy an oceanliner but could make do with a rented or borrowed rubber dingy. Get the feel and once you like it, you can upgrade yourself.

All the best.

Many users who just start out and are thinking about getting their own servers co-located with the purpose to host websites, etc. overlook one major detail; Control Panel licenses. If you're to buy a CPanel one time license, it would be $1400 alone. However, if you get yourself with another web host and purchase a reseller account (see below for more details) the license fee would be included in a monthly charge. Which is definitely cheaper than purchasing your own license. Or you could purchase your own dedicated server (see below) and the license charge is usually included in the setup or else simply an additional fee.

I have to agree with Edwin (eddy2099) in that starting off with a reseller account would most likely be the best course of action. A reseller account is basically a large chunk of web space from a web host in which you should receive admin access to create other accounts as well, and split up your own chunk of space into little plans. In most situations you would receive CPanel/WHM access or some type of administration panel as well as control panels for your own clients. IMHO this is the best option if you want to get your feet wet and see if the web hosting business is right for you. Chances are you probably want to start off with something under $50/month. Depending on the level of web hosting you go with (in terms of support, quality, etc.) you could get from 50 GB of bandwidth to 100 GB for this. Which should be more than enough for you to get your feet wet in.

If you find out you like the web hosting business and want to have more diverse plans as well as offer reseller plans of your own, then you might consider getting a dedicated server. Places like rackshack.net and servermatrix.com will help you there. My suggestion would be to get a managed dedicated server as opposed to an unmanaged. This way, you won't have to take care of the technical aspects of maintaining your server. Instead, you'll just be responsible for contacting support as well as maintaining your websites and own clients.

But whichever course you take, the best way to make sure you get quality hosting would be to do your research on the host/datacenter. The search tool here at WHT is VERY helpful for looking up the hype on a host or previous customer reviews. Or you can just ask around. You'll find webmasters and web hosts of all sorts here, willing to help.

If you feel you have any unanswered questions, feel free to post them. Or you can contact me and I'll be glad to help you find a right host.

Best of luck!

thanks everyone for the advice. I will look into reseller hosting then and see how much that would cost and such.

I had completly forgotten that I would still have to purchase cPanel or Plesk and a billing solution and all that too..

Thanks!

If I were you, before I did anything I would get a site setup so I wouldnt have to be paying for a reseller account when I didnt have a site to sell anything. It is always good to get everything organized before starting to get customers. Get a ModernBill or Perl Bill license integrated with the site and it will be easy sailing from there