Hello,

I have been reselling for http://www.crystaltech.com for the last 3 months now and now I would like to have my own dedicated servers..

I have plenty of customers looking to start reselling for me but I don't want to get them stuck with poor support (customer contacts my reseller, they contact me, I contact crystaltech and so on).

I am interested in creating a reseller plan for my Company but the problem is that I know very little about managing a dedicated server, I started this as a part time hobby and now I have over 300 accounts and would like to start something new...

What would be my best choice, get a part time server administrator (any one interested??) try to manage it myself or are there any alternatives???

I plan to sell Windows 2000 with SQL Server, WebTrends Stats, and some custom ASP Components....

RackSpace.com is great..they manage your server for you for the most part. I have a couple sites hosted there and their support is great. You may pay a bit more too, but it's all worth it!

VDI.net also offers NT servers I think, not sure.

May I ask what the URL of your site is? :)

As a matter of interest, what do you think of CrystalTech? Also, who are GetNet Internation, as CrystalTech uses their network (seemingly).

You might also look at WIndows NT control panels out there, they would make admining very easy, but again Windows 2000 is very easy to learn as it is in itself already a control panel.

Crystaltech is not so bad it's just that I don't know how they are with Dedicated Servers so I wouldn't want to have a bad experience with my own dedicated server.

Really how difficult is it to manage a server??? Is it too complicated that not even a rookie will be able to manage???

Anyone interested in working from home and act as the server admin???

Thanks.

Managing a dedicated box is generally a piece of ****, until there is a major problem, or you need access to it for specific purposes (but your supplier should look after all the hardware stuff). So for general day to day stuff, (eg. setting up accounts) you should be OK, just get used to the tools first and how you do specific jobs (e.g. a setup script to follow). If you're not 100% confident with problem solving the box (shouldn't be too often, touch wood!), then have a couple of people who know how to solve problems, maybe in return of a small per incident fee, reduced hosting costs etc.

There is a hosting addon to Windows 2000 developed jointly between Interland and Microsoft to make it easy to add and configure accounts on a Windows 2000 box. Its available on the Microsoft site, I'll try to find a link for you.

With Windows 2000, make sure you get Terminal Services in administration mode (normally mentioned in the service page of your supplier. RackSpace does, as well as DN), and its as if you are at the box (better than PCAnywhere). If you need the client, give me a shout and I'll let you have a URL to download from.

By the way, what's your URL, and what options are available on your hosting?

this is my site, we currenlty have have 3 employees but none of them know about server administration....

We are looking into growing pretty quickly once we launch our reseller plans.


http://www.frontserve.com

Looks quite interesting.... You have quite a few features, do you intend to support them all on your dedicated box? Also, are you going to put all 300 on the same box?

If you go with RackSpace, they will perform jobs for you on a pay per incident basis, but they are pricey.

You may want to build the extras you offer into the cost of the dedicated box. For example, SQL Server licensing (which should in theory be on it's own box if you have a lot of people using it).

Actually I will leave all of my resold accounts with Crystaltech where they are now.

All new accounts that I get and all resold accounts will be placed on the new dedicated servers. I would then be the Server Admin and I want to know how hard would it be to configure statistics servers, setup ODBCs, Setup Index Server, create DNS entries...

I ask this because this is what I have to do all day with Crystaltech but now I would be doing it and I have never done it before so I would like to know how difficult it is and wether is it just better to get a Server Admin and pay him a few grand. What do you think???

I would check out Ultraspeedusa.com for servers. Great service, Great Support. They have automation for setting up domains on a Linux box. The Control Panel for the user and admin are just terrific.

You can't go wrong.

Most of what you want to do is done either via a wizard or can be done using custom scripts (using Windows Scripting Host). For this day to day stuff, you should be able to cope. Your best bet is to document how to do things the first time you do them, then follow the steps in future. With Windows 2000, you can access it as if it is a local machine (pcAnywhere style), so get access to the Administrative Tools where you will do most of the stuff.

You're best bet is to either get hold of a copy of Win2k server, install it and play about with it to see how relatively easy it is or get someone local to you to take you through things step by step, or buy one of the numerous books available on the subject (the win2k resource kit is the best bit, tells you everything you ever needed to know (Available @ Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1572318058/interactivenet0c))). I don't think it is worth a few grand just for this.

When you have major problems, hire someone you trust to sort it out, giving them remote access to the box, on a contractor basis.

Alternatively, if you want someone to take ownership of your dedicated box for you, so that you just let them know what you want and they sort it out, then a server admin sounds like a good idea, but I would recommend that you insist that they document everything they do to your boxes so that you have a record of it (and if they quit, go on holiday or simply die!) enabling you to find a replacement or take it on yourself easily.

As a matter of interest, what sort of turnaround would you expect the system admin to be able to perform. For example, account setup, account troubleshooting etc.....

they do free servers for popular sites.

Yes, but they show advertising, which is not very clever when you are selling accounts to people (muppet!)..

The thread was about how easy it easy to manage a box, not where can you get one - muppet.

I am doing courses and I think I can manage your servers as I am into microsoft tech..
please contact at rajivmehta1999@yahoo.com - I also e-mailed you

Have a Nice day


Rajiv Mehta

Certified? :stickout:

I am preparing for MCSE and MCSD and I have done diploma from NIIT (National Institute of Information Tech.) course content being -
HTML, MS SQL, HOSTING ON IIS SERVER 4.0 AND 5.0, DHTML, JAVA, VBSCRIPT, JAVASCRIPT, VID, FRONT PAGE, WAP, WML, XML, SSI, ASP, SITE COMMERCE 4.0, VB, E-PROXY, INDEX SEARCH ETC...
Only couple of topics from this list are left

Have a nice day

Rajiv Mehta

MCSE and MCSD are competing streams. The rest everyman and their dog knows nowadays...

PS I'm winding you up :D, apart from the competing streams that is - you're either a developer or a systems administrator...

inwks, uhm, you might wanna search through Rajiv's past posts for the answer to your musings.... (LOL)

Maybe he should call himself dreamer :D (sorry, couldn't resist..... slap ma wrists if you think you need to)

I am Not a dreamer
I aim High
I will live upto my expectations but I am moving slow as I don't have money to invest


Rajiv Mehta

inwks *slap on wrists*


:D

You shouldn't try and kill young enthusiasm.. :)