Hi there... I've got a bunch of sites with virtual hosts, and I'm thinking of moving them to dedicated hosting, to which I'm a newbie.

I'm wondering how much extra work it is to administer a box with a dedicated host. I know my way around Linux/Unix from a user's and webmaster's point of view, but I have no sysadmin experience.

On the server, I'd like to have PHP, MySQL, qmail/ezmlm, a log analyzer, and DNS. Those are the things I'm used to having administered by someone else, and I guess they would be under my control with a dedicated host.

Are we talking just a few hours per month to look after these things?

Thanks for any tips.
Rehan

If you have a fly-through this thread http://www.webhostlink.com/showthread.php?threadid=2771 you'll get a few indicators.

Basically speaking, if you know Linux root commands well, and take some time out to learn the ins and outs of Apache then you should be OK and not necessarily require sysadmin experience (though it is handy!).

The features you mentioned (PHP/MySQL etc.) don't take long to install (it can be done in a morning), and usually well-documented at the same time.

I would say that you're not necessarily looking at only a few hours/month - I'd say you'd have to take an hour or two out every day to ensure the server's running smoothly, check the logs to ensure nothing goes astray, etc..

Thanks for the pointer, BC.

Originally posted by BC
I would say that you're not necessarily looking at only a few hours/month - I'd say you'd have to take an hour or two out every day to ensure the server's running smoothly, check the logs to ensure nothing goes astray, etc..

Ouch...That's much more than I expected.

I think I may need to find more reasons to go dedicated. At this point, the biggest reason is to have a bit more control over my sites and features (especially DNS and ezmlm). I don't have enough sites yet to make a dedicated server significantly cheaper than virtual hosting, and the extra time involved would be too much for the added benefits of going dedicated.

Maybe I'll just wait a little bit...

Thanks again.
Rehan

Something else you may consider is getting a managed dedicated server from somebody. That makes sense if you don't want to get tied down in system administration details. A number of providers will do server administration for you on a flat monthly contract rate.

Originally posted by Travis
Something else you may consider is getting a managed dedicated server from somebody. That makes sense if you don't want to get tied down in system administration details. A number of providers will do server administration for you on a flat monthly contract rate.

Thanks for the suggestion, Travis.

The cost of management is usually a couple hundred dollars a month, right? Surely the administrators don't spend an hour or two each day monitoring the logs to check that things are running properly... How much monitoring do they really do?

Rehan,

The cost is typically two to three hundred a month, yes.

I wouldn't say anybody spends that much time each day on each server - there's really no need for it. Experienced system administrators can set up automated monitoring for most functions. That way, if something is outside normal parameters, they can be alerted to take a closer look.

When you pay for systems administration, you're really paying for two things:

- Experience in setting up a stable system that takes care of itself in most cases. (This is not trivial.)

- A rapid, competent response when something does go wrong.


Systems administration is an odd job in that when all is at its best, a sysadmin does absolutely nothing. :)

I wouldn't say anybody spends that much time each day on each server - there's really no need for it.


That's what I was hoping you'd say... :-)

I know that you can't just walk off the street and set up whatever is needed for automated monitoring, but part of the fun is in learning how to do that (whereas looking at log files can put you to sleep). That part I can handle...

I think I will go with a dedicated server, roll up my sleeves, and have fun with the new toy. :-)