Hi all.

I am interested in starting the typical web designing/web hosting company.

May I get some advice on how from the experts here?

How and what should I do?
What kind of staffs do I need?
I am experience in HTML and Flash 5 only. I suppose I will need other staffs with knowledge of other major internet computer language.


Any advises? Thanks.

Concentrate on what you know best and utilize others for the rest of the tasks. From your post it seems you are not very familiar with Unix; in which case you can rule out a dedicated server. I would bet your best option would be to resell for another host.

Reselling enables you the freedom to set your own prices (some hosts also allow you to customize your own plans). You woudl use your company's name and the host remains hidden in the background.

Or possibly if you are interested, a Dedicated Cobalt RaQ 3. RaQ 3's are webservers which are driven by browser menus, and they are really easy ... especially for the unix newbies. And they can help you teach unix (as I've seen).

Do a search for "4webspace" on this forum. There's been some talk about them recently, and they are offering these dedicated RaQ 3's for $99 a month.

Alternatively, like Wazeh said, you could take it on as a reseller. This is generally cheaper and takes less time, but you'd have less control and say over what happens.

You can still get a dedicated server, where you'll have the full controls of what you want to happen.....there are hosts that offer the technical support and administration as well will help teach you how to run your own server. Its a matter of how involved you want to be, what you want to do, and what you want someone else to help assist you with.

Email me your website or portfolio please.

I'm also new to this and have had great success on a dedicated server from http://www.4webspace.com

Don't you ever need to get a shell prompt to do some admin tasks on Raq's or is their control panel in total control of the server?

*need*? -well I guess no. I kinda liken it to windows. The START > 'run' is somewhat like the 'install package', but for the most part, just like windows, you can get by with just using the GUI desktop (the control panel) for basic things such as setting up the server, adding a domain, email accounts, etc.

Originally posted by Wazeh
Don't you ever need to get a shell prompt to do some admin tasks on Raq's or is their control panel in total control of the server?

Yes, sometimes you do need to do some tweaking via the shell, for instance installing PHP, or perhaps one of your hosting clients wants to alias mydomain.net to their mydomain.com so you'd need to telnet in and edit your httpd.conf file by hand.

It all depends on your own needs and your customers needs. but mostly you can do most things by the gui that comes with a raq machine. If you think in the box, you dont need telnet, but if you want to get fancy and offer more than the raq3 was designed to offer then the command shell is going to be required learning.

Bbox

I have been following this thread and the other one in the advertising forum.

Has anyone used their servers to start a hosting company? Feel free to email me privately if you do not want to post it here.

I have been searching for a host, and I thought I would wait for the holiday season just in case there was a sale...and look what came up. :)

My other question is whether these type of severs will limit me in any way. With their special, it gives me time to play with the servers using my own sites for free and gives me the opportunity to build up my clients.

Tera-Byte ha an overall excellent reputation, so that is not an issue to me. I was just wondering if there are limitations on the servers.

Also, if someone started a hosting company, does anyone have a demo control panel I can look at?

And yes, I am going to send an email asking them specific questions as well.

Thanks!

If you haven't seen it before, you can view a demo (or at least screen shots) of the CP at cobalt.com. Also, the only real limitation is that you can't throw thousands of sites on it, and the interface likes to be left alone. If you want a server to modify things and fiddle with, a RaQ would be my last choice.

I have, in the last 5 years dabbled in the different realms of hosting. from free webhosting (blech!) to what I am trying to build up now.

At the moment, I am sorta kinda a reseller. But as soon as I can scrounge up about $2k more dollars the first actuall server ( a really GOOD one at that THANK YOU PRICEWATCH!)and 3 months hosting at VDI.net will be bought and paid for.

I am an optimist at heart. No not exactly the happy kind, rather, in the past for instance, I ran a free webhosting service on my cable modem and my old AMD-k63 450 computer. I was able to squeeze out support for about 500 websites on that thing, and took in almost 1.5 million banner impressions each month.

In fact, I may have inadvertantly been the cause for the "No reselling" clause in the cable modem agreements today. (doh!)

Anyways, that nightmare is over. Free webhosting is a horrible thing. You do't attract the best of people in that arena. And I am glad to have done with it.

Paid hosting, and content, content, and more content is, and always will be, King.