is it worth getting a Cobaly RaQ 4 to setup as a hosting server at home. with a low connection n stuff, or is it better just to get a reseller package?

A cobalt server is a good server to start your hosting company (I did the same) but setting up your cobalt server at home is NOT a good idea.

If you cannot afford to colocate it then don't get one but go reseller instead.

so u mean, if i was to get a cobalt server, i should set it up somewhere else, with a good connection, like a dedicated server?

Correct. It is no use buying a good server when you have a lousy connection (and the connection at your house is lousy compared to datacenters).

Maybe instead of buying a server and colocating it in a datacenter you could rent a server in a datacenter. That way the startup of your company won't cost you that much money

u c, it's a little complicated for me. i'm what u could call, a 'minor'. i dont have that much money, and i have to use my mums credit card to buy stuff off the internet. that means, convincing her first. so i dont wana pay US$199 a month just for a server stuck in a big building big a big connection (it's about AU$500 here). i'd rather it cheaper at my place, or get a 6mb/s connection. i'm on cable at the moment, which for some reason, can never download faster than around 60 kb/s, which is wierd, but nothing compared to a 1000mb/s connection which some companies have (how the hell do they do that). so what i'm saying, i dont know many companies locally, that could hold the server for a cheap price.
u probably didn't understand what i just said, so what i need is either to find a datacenter locally, or purchace one through a company, who'll put it into their servers, cheaply (like US$10-20 a month)

you should certainly search around here about hosting from home. it's not highly recommended at all.

if you're hosting your personal site, that's not mission critical, then what the heck, go for it. but, for commercial sites, charging customers to host off of your home line, it's not going to work as well as you think it will.

but yeah, the topic has been started many a times, search the forums and you'll find them.

Your age and determination are in your favor!

Personally call a couple of places in your area that do co-location / hosting. You may be surprised to find others who like to see young people starting in business. Find out what they might charge you for sometype of progressive agreement where you pay more as your business grows.

Just remember, if you start hosting sites for people, especially businesses; that you are responsible to provide a reliable service to them.

Good Luck

Originally posted by chaos972
u probably didn't understand what i just said, so what i need is either to find a datacenter locally, or purchace one through a company, who'll put it into their servers, cheaply (like US$10-20 a month)
Instead of buying a server and only having $10-$20/mo. available for the connection (which you could barely find, if at all), I'd suggest saving the $$$ on the server and getting a reseller plan or a VPS, both of which will most likely be more than $10-$20/mo., but you won't have to spend the $$$ for the server in the first place.

true, but i find a server better.
now, i'm gona try and find a place where i can put my server, and use their line to access the internet. Now, i need it to be local, this cuts off around 70% of the people, if not more. i'm situated in Melbourne, Australia. so, if there's anyone in australia, (preferably melbourne), that could help me here, like find one, or know one, please reply. you can also email me at.. chaos972@hotmail.com
i know that there are some Auissies here, so if you are one, HELP ME!

help, anyone??

From the other mods (who are in AU) they say that AU bandwidth and space is expensive. I have no experience myself.

I can tell you that here in the states, it is highly unlikely you'd find a datacenter willing to even house the machine in their racks for $10-$20 (generally $35/mo/1U just for rack rental, plus setup fees of $0-$300 one-time, plus minimum bandwidth charges, usually in blocks of at least 10GB - if buying via transfer method).

You can barely get virtual hosting for $10-$20/mo let alone anything involving colo/dedicated.

perhaps consider a budget dedicated machine here in the US?

$99 rackshack RAQ would be best. serverrack.net perhaps, they have a $79 / month RAQ 3 i think.

but then again, the credit card, lots of money thing. perhaps look into reseller accounts. then, when it gets to the point that you're doing well enough, consider a dedicated machine leased from somewhere US-side.

I've bought two Raqs now and co-located them at a local ISP.... if you've got some local ISPs in the area, it may not hurt to check them out. They usually have a lot of inbound data and very little outbound (which your server would be) and you may be able to pick up some bandwidth at a good bargain.

The most appealing part to having your own server is that you can pick it up and go someplace else with it whenever you want.

-dr