I have a client with 30 domains and needs to have them all hosting on one server. Our server does not offer some important features - like cold fusion - that he'll need to run hos site so we cannot host his domains. However he is comtemplating getting a dedicated server or actually buying one to install in hos office and needs some advise. He is only going to have his domains on there and will not resell space. Does anyone have any good advise for this guy?

he is comtemplating getting a dedicated server or actually buying one to install in his office

IMHO, he would be best off purchasing a dedicated server from another company. Of course, I don't know anything about his system-administration abilities (and I may be a little biased ;)), but do know that it takes some work to setup a server in-house. You need to keep close tabs on the machine, not to mention all of the networking and system administration issues that are involved.

A dedicated server from a hosting company will almost always come with some kind of management software to help him maintain his sites. Also, they will probably be more than happy to install ColdFusion on the server for you if you provide the software license (I don't think many companies offer this standard). However, I have heard some people have had trouble getting a few of the "larger" hosting companies to do any custom installations. Just do some research before you pick a company to make sure that they aren't too big to notice you.

If it turns out that he is really interested in running the server from his home/office, then this tutorial might be of use to him:
http://serverwatch.internet.com/articles/buildserver/index.html

Hope that helps!

Matt
mlightner@site5.com

I agree with Matt in saying that he should buy one from a company and not do it on his own... One thing I want to add is connections... I don't know about his office, but chances are many hosting companies will have better connectivity. I know some offices have T1s or evenb T3s, but still I think he'd be better off with a good dedicated or even co-location provider. I reccomend either VDI.Net OR UltraSpeedUSA.Com. Both are really great. I do think UltraSpeed has better support though.

I think http://www.ecui.com gives cold fusion extension
Try
http://www.ecui.com/hosting/plans/dedicated.asp?section=8