About to jump/plunge into this market and...

Am probably asking the exact same thing thousands of other wanna-be-cyber-hosts have asked in the past month. I apologize if this be the case, but after searching the forums and lurking for months I've found very little in reference to the particulars of my current situation. So, without further ado...

I've a few-several hundred to invest in this idea of being a 'host'. I have purchased a 'reseller' account for the clients I have already [not many, but several of both old and some relatively new]. So, after not being able to access my 'provider' for about ten hours now... I've opted to go the 'dedicated box' route. As with everything else in life, I prefer no restrictions and being able to run my own show. Now the real issue... I've absolutely NO experience managing a machine like these! I haven't a clue about the OS's, CP's [though I've used many including plesk, H-Sphere and ummmm Cpanel], protection involved [firewalls?], costs and etc.

At first I figured I would either find a partner or find someone willing to manage the server for me [for a fee of course], but that option no longer seems very reasonable or well-thought-out. So what is a guy to do?

And the costs! While I am prepared to spend several hundred a month for the 'rented box' and set-up fees, what about licensing??? How much should a guy expect to drop for everything (initial software & upgrades) to be competitive? I would prefer a *nix box, but would consider anything at this point. I have even prepared myself to 'LEARN EVERYTHING IN A MONTH OR THREE' and doing nothing but 'playing' with my new toy, even if it means loosing a few hundred in the process...

I suppose if nothing else I am at least fortunate enough to have found this wonderful forum full of so many diverse, knowledgable and experienced folks! Did I mention friendly and helpful? Anyway, give me some advice. What should I do?!?!?! Forget it all together and find something else to invest my time and money in? I really enjoy this stuff... I hate to just give it up.

Is all this really worth it? Give me some options! Please?

Well we all started at your point sometime. I wouldnt give up! If your willing to learn you will. If you have no experence with any dedicated, it might be a good idea to start with something like a RAQ. As you say you only have a few clients at moment, so a RAQ could prpobably handle it with ease!

If your feeling daring, m=you could maybe look at the Ensim(Which I have) or the Plesk boxes. I would reccomend Rackshack.net.

As far as the costs go ...

Site design $300 - 500

Server setup $300

Month Server cost - $99

Hope this helps


Chris

As for the site design, I am fairly happy with my newest design... About thirty hours have went into it, so I hope people will like it! But, it [URL] will be added to my .sig files and everything else I can write, paste, stick, staple, print, glue, type or say it on as soon as it is tweaked and uploaded to whatever it's new HOME is.!.!.! :D

When I said 'several' clients... I meant around 30-50. Some come and go, but for the most part are very dependable on me and have been for a year or four. Funny thing is I turn away one or two jobs a week simply because I dread getting the sites hosted. Stupid as it sounds I'm sure, but truth it is. I'm unaware of the 'norm' here, but I honestly believe I could easily acquire another 100 accounts/clients within a years time...

Well Chris, your cost quotes are fairly close to what I had expected to fork over... While money isn't the biggest issue, it does help to know I'm on the right track in my price range. Now, what about licensing for like MySQL, the CP, ASP and other nonsensical stuff like that? My understanding is I 'MUST' someway get them licensed for my server... Right? If so, how mucg (ballpark total) am I looking at? Or, could I go with a 'managed' or 'semi-dedicated' solution that provides this software pre-installed? I'm confused in this piece of the puzzle... Completely lost.

I've read many bad things about 'RackShack'... But would seriously consider them if anyone here felt they had something promising for someone like myself /whois just starting out.

As for me feeling daring... Don't tempt me! I'm a true gambler at heart. ;)

Thanks much for the quick reply Chris!

You might want to consider the sysadmin portion of the server if you plan on doing it yourself...If you have the background, great, if not, you may be better off sticking to reselling. I mention it only because you asked what the licensing for open source sw is.

If your feeling daring, m=you could maybe look at the Ensim(Which I have) or the Plesk boxes. I would reccomend Rackshack.net.

As far as the costs go ...

Site design $300 - 500

Server setup $300

Month Server cost - $99


Heh, that wont cover much... dont forget

- CC merchant account setup
- CC merchant account overheads
- 1800 number
- 24x7 tech support
- additional assistance for the tech (maybe contract someone, etc.)
- ssl certificate
- plan on worst case, maybe get a managed server, or an admin to help you, you can't just "dive" into linux/webhosting and expect to be able to run shop in 3 months (without trouble at least)
- backup solutions
- potential overage charges
- advertising
- denial of service attacks
- getting hacked

Theres so many that i can't even begin to list, the days of the "wow, im a millionaire and my stocks just went up to 24 million" for having a .com are LONG GONE. Webhosting, data centers, all that are NOT get rich quick, you'll make more money at mcdonalds in a year then most will in their first year of webhosting.

Becoming a reseller is by far the safest road, but don't expect to get rich doing it, webhosting nowdays is no more profitable then any other industry, you're about 4 years too late :(.

If this is discouraging, sorry, but if it saves you from a fatal mistake, it makes it worth typing i suppose :). If you wanta start a webhosting company as a hobby/for fun, then you're probably on the better track then someone who knows little/nothing about the industry and thinks its a wise business move.

I'm not looking to get rich here... Nor start a full time hosting service. Simply wanting the ability to host my own clients I do design/development work for. Sure, I would happily host others, but I'm not looking to occupy much time searching for these extra few 'host needed' clients. I've been in this particular sector for almost five years now, mostly as an investor and I realize the days of fame and fortune are over (luckily I realized this about two years ago and got out of the 'investments' while the getting was good)... But, I'm also in it for the long haul as well. Nothing better to do, unless I want to work in a factory or go to school the 3-4 years just to receive a piece of paper stating I'm capable of doing something which I am already perfectly capable of doing?!?!?! :(

Discouraging? Nope. Much appreciated actually. You pointed out many potentially overlooked problem areas, but the support/assistance/help is probably going to be my biggest of issues, as I'm clueless to what I need and where to go to get it. But as you suggested porcupine, perhaps I should stick with my 'reseller plan'... Guess I will for now.

Thanks all... KRIS

no problem, im glad that someone finally took one of these posts to heart (usually people who are considering getting into webhosting and have to ask think they're gonna get rich). If you can find a reasonably priced reseller plan, its usually BETTER then having a dedicated server. Because from my vantage point, your only other choice is to get a managed dedicated server, and reseller plans are usually cheaper, and less work. Just an example, but i plan to offer reseller accounts some time in the future for $.75/gb and 200mb/1$/mo, thats a little lower then most, but if you look around at those plans, and then compare it to the pricing of *managed* dedicated servers, it usually ends up being less, giving you more bang for your buick (unless you become a leet unix admin) :D.

You should also search for old threads on "starting webhosting" or something like that, there were a few way back that had like another 15 points i missed. Dont forget to write a water tight TOS/AUP (feel free to use mine as a template if you need to: www.prioritycolocation.com/tos.shtml), because thats pretty necessary, and do some more forum searching relating to spam (how to deal with), bugs, and abusive users (how to handle them, trust me, you need to know that).

Regards,

domain_names:

I started reselling for Colossus, Inc., quickly moved up to a very low end unix server and from there I tried to do as much as I could. They held my hand whenever I had problems, and that's how I got to being able to manage servers myself...
I'd go with a managed server--they're expensive, but you can learn without risking your client base.

porcupine:

You've got some big text wraps in your TOS, I'm on a 21" and it was at about 1/4 of my screen... Someone with a small 15" monitor might get a really bad impression. Just wanted to let you know.