I am brand new to the whole realm of hosting, and I am considering going with a dedicated server. (I will be doing heavy marketing for my site, so I would like to be on the safe side in terms of uptime.)
My question is in reference to features with a dedicated server. Will I get POP3 email accounts, control panel, SSL, and other features generally included in a shared hosting plan?

Also, any recomendations for hosting company?

Thanks!

it depends from who you buy, and how much you want to spend, you'll pay more for more things, just gotta shop around and compare the prices. its a lot of work before you actually get the server, then its more once you get it. have fun, if you have anymore questions just ask.

I have viewed rackspace.com and seem to be most interested in a Linux plan at $150.00/mo. Do you know if I would get the above mentioned services?

Thanks
Nawaz

Would I have maitenance issues after choosing a dedicated server?

Nawaz

depends, managed or unmanaged, & how up to date the company is with its patches, if its unmanaged, you'll be doing all the work (patches, installs, etc)

For me I've always preferred to err on the side of trusting nobody else and making my own mistakes. It's less expensive in monthly fee's, but makes the investment in time much greater.
If you're interested in learning these technologies, a good dedicated server (unmanaged) is a great way to go. If you really wanna leap in, go for colo and build your own hardware too (although honestly some of the dedicated deals here make it foolish to buy your own HW anymore!).
Most of the hosts will pre-install the core OS and other supplements you request. From there you can tune and tweak to your hearts content. It can be very rewarding and educational.

Nawaz, no offense intended, but from the type of your questions I assume you are a beginner, please correct me if I am wrong. Are you really able to admin the server yourself?

illegal for him to learn?

No, of course not. Did I say so?

But if someone asks "Will I get POP3 email accounts with a dedicated server?" there I have a strong feeling that starting with a reseller account would be better for him.

As stated, no offense intended, just my humble opinion.

Originally posted by Walter
But if someone asks "Will I get POP3 email accounts with a dedicated server?" there I have a strong feeling that starting with a reseller account would be better for him.


Walter is right- its a little hard to jump straight into the water. You'll learn to swim eventually but its not the wisest of decisions. I started on a shared server that is always managed by the provider and learnt a couple of things before moving to a RaQ which is quite good for beginners as a dedicated server and finally am now on the Ensim and being a little daring with trying out modifications to config files etc.

-Abbas

Walter,

Yes, as I stated initially I am brand new to the whole realm of hosting. This is why I have asked the questions. Why would you recommend I begin with a shared, instead of a mananged dedicated server? My assumption with managed is that someone else is looking over it, so its comparable to shared, except only you are on the server. Is this not correct?

Nawaz

managed hosting will be more expensive b/c you're basically paying someone to babysit it for you, unmanaged will be cheaper because you're not having a babysitter.

Nawaz, of course a managed dedicated server would be a perfect solution for you - but then you are looking at much higher costs than the $150 / month you mentionted initially.

Walter, rackspace.com has a linux package for $150.00/mo.

Does that 150/month come managed or unmanaged?-

most likely unmanaged, btw, are you Ronny_AcuNett?

Nawaz, no one is able to provide a true managed server for $150 per month. Read the fine print:

A dedicated server (also called an outsourced server or managed webserver) is a server that is leased to a single customer. The server hardware, routing equipment, and network connectivity are monitored and maintained by the service provider (in this case, Rackspace Managed Hosting) while the server software is maintained by the customer

So all they do is monitoring the server, you will have to manage the software, install patches, keep it secured and so on.

I jumped in and got my own dedicated server (unmanaged) a few months back because I got sick of all the empty promises of the shared hosting companies I had been using (I'm not saying there's no such thing as a good shared host, I just wasn't lucky enough to find any at the time). I knew my way round computers, but had very little linux experience. Still, the current low price of a dedicated server won me over.

All I can say is the one who persists gets there eventually. I encounter a problem. I try to solve it. If I don't succeed by myself I just go ask for some assistance in an appropriate forum. I must warn you, it's very time consuming, but to me, worth it. I'm now hosting a few small sites for free on my server and the webmasters seem happy enough. Just spent the last 2 hours restoring one of those sites as Ensim messed it up. Was lucky enough to be able to get it back to the point where I was able to make a backup of the site and it's mySQL database.

Conclusion: If you're up for a challenge, go for it !!!

Walter, excuse my ignorance, but can you please explain what you mean by managing the software, installing patches, and keeping it secure?

Thanks.
Nawaz

he means like, with an unmanaged dedicated, you basically get the server & the connection, then you're on your own, support will help you to a point, but the routine maintence is up to the one who pays (you).

I'm definately no genious but have my own dedicated server. What I did when I was getting tired of reselling, and didn't know what to do with dedicated, and how to go about getting what I wanted, was that I found cpanel.net. Which is actually a software that helps you manage websites. If that is what you are looking for (being that you said you are new to the world of "hosting") then check them out and go to their partner sites. You'll find many places that offer dedicated for fairly good prices.

CPanel is easy to use even for the novice in my opinion.

Thanks redcoyote7, and all others. I am looking into cpanel, and probably will use their services. I have also purchased a book, "Red Hat Linux 7.2 Bible" by Christopher Negus. Hopefully the book will be of assistance.

Please recommend other reference material.

Thanks again.
Nawaz

Nawaz:

If you have a mission-critical site, I would suggest putting that site on a managed host for a little while (or keeping it there) while you cut your teeth.

What I did was kept my primary site with its current host and leased a $50/month RaQ3 from ixpres.com, bought a $12 cheesy domain name and made a copy of my site to learn on and play with. The learning curve was pretty quick - and I hadn't worked with *nix is about 7yrs (and I was never really good at it anyway). After I was comfortable I leased a better server and moved my important sites without any hassle.

My suggestions:
1) If you don't know any *nix, get *nix for dummies and keep it handy, along with the more comprehensive linux book you referenced (the dummies book is great for syntax and basic functions).
2) Read the h*ll out of these forums. I have posted some really stupid questions here and still gotten good answers.
3) Get that cheap server and play with it until you are comfortable
4) Have your DNS hosted elsewhere until you know what you are doing. I just keep my domains w/register.com so I can use their DNS - makes like easier.

BTW, I still have my $50/month server w/ixpres - I sent the 256MB ram and they put it in for free - it is great for goofing around with!

Nawaz,

It's good to see that you've decided to go forward with dedicated hosting. With dedication and patience, you will manage fine (puns intended ;))

While it is important to keep up with security updates, I think you'll find that it is not as scary as it sounds. Also, a good company (like rackspace) will help walk you through the steps.

Personally, I have seen absolute novices move into the realm of dedicated hosting and do very good with it. However, it IS important to pick a company with great support who will be willing to answer novice questions and step in when you need them to. RackSpace is a great company and a good pick, but you might also look at a less expensive choice: DialTone.com. They have very good support, a free (BASIC) control panel, and will install many security updates for free upon request.

Will I get POP3 email accounts, control panel, SSL, and other features generally included in a shared hosting plan?

Also, don't let people tell you you shouldn't be in dedicated because you ask basic questions...that's the only way you'll learn!

To answer your questions is order: yes, if you want one, probably, and yes.

Hope that helps!