Hi, i just needed to get some advised on the following. I currently have a small I.T business and have been renting a dedicated server for FTP hosting for my clients. I wish to host my own FTP server now as renting does not give me the scalability and options i require. I have a couple high spec computers i plan to use as the FTP servers i.e.

Petium 4 D 3.0 (925), 4 sata 2 (200gigs each) drives with raid 1, 2gigs of memory each.

I know its a risk hosting the servers yourself but i also have backup power through a generator and UPS and plenty of data redundancy plus i have my DNS
hosted with the ISP. My only question is that the fastest internet connection i can
get is ADSL 2 (here is Australia) which is 24000/1000k. Im not sure if this speed
will be sufficient. I currently have 100 clients with about 500megs of assigned space each. Will this speed be enough for me to do this? i know the download speed of 24000K should be ok but how important is the upload speed? will 1000K be enough?

Thanks,

i know the download speed of 24000K should be ok but how important is the upload speed? will 1000K be enough?

It really depends how active your users are, and what their quality expectations are. 1000Kbps will allow a user to download a file from the server at 128KB/s. If more than one user is downloading a file, it will drop from there.

Scott got it right there. A single connection would be fine, but multiple users on the line at once would instantly kill the performance.

What kind of upload speeds do most webhosting companies provide? is it much different?

If I were you, I would steer clear of Cable lines, even though they have nice upload and download speeds, keep in mind that you are sharing those speeds with the town.

If possible, dual DSL lines would work fine. If your local Telco comp is Verizon, look into Verizon FIOs, which is Residential Fiber optic. You could also look into what local libraries and such are paying for T1’s – T3’s, around here you can get a T1 for about $250+ a month. Which is worth it if you get donations and such for the FTP server.

Looking at the speeds you have told us, dual ADSL lines would do well.

Wrestler08, supaloc was asking about his or her options in Australia, so what you said doesn't really apply.

Based on that ADSL 2 speed, your users will be able to upload to your server(s) without much issue but retrieving files will bring your network to its knees. I don't know what the market is in Australia but in general, most servers are offered on a 10mbps port (which is 10x the upload you specified), if not 100mbps.

Unless

1) You can get a faster connection
2) The server (and future upgrade options) you are currenting renting is really expensive and you can save tons by doing it yourself
3) There is something you are doing that requires the servers to be physically there with you.

I'd recommend sticking with the rented server.

Well MCI is offered in Australia, which makes Verizon Available in Australia now. Depending on his cable company the network issue is most likely the same in the US, and looking at DSL prices in there I am sure he can get a T1 and higher at rock bottom prices.

http://www.verizonbusiness.com/au/

Thanks, (im actualy a guy :>) well its a shame there is still not much options in Australia when it comes to high speed internet connection compared to the rest of the world. I guess i will have to continue renting the dedicated server until i find a more decent upload connection. I have tried the link above but it seems verizon only offers 2M/256K as their top business plan which will not be sufficient.

However as wrestler08 vbmenu_register("postmenu_3840786", true); was saying i could possibly have two DSL connections at the 24000/1000K speed at fairly reasonable prices, would this be a resonable option?

However as wrestler08 was saying i could possibly have two DSL connections at the 24000/1000K speed at fairly reasonable prices, would this be a resonable option?

Even adding a second line with load balancing would only bring you up to 2Mbps. When a standard dedicated server or co-lo port is 100Mbps, it just doesn't make much sense to host something like this from home. If you were just hosting a few personal websites, that would be one thing, but FTP generally requires a lot more bandwidth, and you don't have it.