Newbie Needing Help

We all start out as newbies, I guess to day i will be starting out. i need to know as much as anyone can tell me about how to start a webhosting biz. Things I really need to know: All of the required hardware, all of the required software, an estimate of the cost, well i guess thats all i can think of. Oh yeh and what kind of languages i need to know, php, Mysql, linux, unix, i have no idea. All help that can be given would be most appreciated.

Sigh. Do yourself a favor and dont start a hosting company. If your going to learn everything about servers, linux, hosting etc... just to start a company, you wont get very far.

Please don't take this as a flame, because it's really not meant to be. But, you can't really expect the people here to educate you from the beginning on all things relating to web hosting.

If you want to get into webhosting (I dunno why you would if you don't know anything about it) do some research and read and find out what's best for you. Read these forums. They are an excellent source for little tidbits of information.

Think about this though: would you want someone hosting YOUR business if they knew nothing about webhosting??? :)

I'd start at the beginning. Do you have any experience running any business at all (any and all aspects)? Experience with on-line service businesses, sales experience, support experience, technical experience, etc.?

You should probably start out by signing up for web hosting at another company and watch how they work. Get a feel for what web hosting is. Then learn Linux. Then read up on servers. Then read this forum.

Originally posted by Chicken
Do you have any experience running any business at all (any and all aspects)? Experience with on-line service businesses, sales experience, support experience, technical experience, etc.?

Just to repeat Chicken's post to emphasis it. All the technical knowledge in the world isn't going to help much when the bills roll in. There are many experts in all walks of life who've ended up out of business for not keeping an eye on the financial end of things.

And that includes everything from Ma and Pa stores to multinational monsters.

Beyond that, installing Linux onto a partition of your computer, getting a few server admin and linux books, and tinkering around is a good place to start. Better you break your own computer than one someone's business is riding on. :)

Greg Moore

Previous posts have said it well. A few primary components involved in 'starting a hosting company':

1- server administration
2- customer support
3- business stuff like billing, licenses, taxes, lawyers, etc


If you're a techie, obviously start with #1.

If you really have no experience with any of the above, wait a while before getting started.

Ok, i am not ver experienced in this area. I do however know some1 that can handle the business parts for me. Many things that u all posted I do not understand. But, i wll try to take it a little slower and start with just web design.

I need help with one more thing. I have a comp with windows 98 and it has a "Personal Web Server" set up on it. How do i ftp stuff to it using the command thingy under "run"? Can some1 please explain exactly what that server thing is?

not meaning this to sound like a flame, but i'm just curious...what made you decide you want to start in webhosting?

Start as a reseller ;)

wow, you're really starting at the start. :)

A server isn't much different from your home computer as far as hardware goes (for the sake of this discussion). The only real difference as such is the software running on it, which is purpose built for webhosting etc.

http://www.redhat.com/
http://www.linux.org
http://www.apache.org/

are three good places to start. Much of it may make little sense at all at first, but keep reading. You'll begin to notice trends and definitions.

If you can get your hands on an old computer cheap try installing RedHat on it, just the same way you'd normally install Windows. RedHat is simple to install compared to some, so will give you a head start. It also runs as a desktop computer with KDE. Screenshots available here:
http://www.kde.org/screenshots/index.html

Books? I like these:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0764536303/qid%3D1023058827/ref%3Dsr%5F11%5F0%5F1/104-3951620-3898366
Red Hat Linux 7.2 Bible Unlimited Edition

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0672315246/qid%3D1023058898/ref%3Dsr%5F11%5F0%5F1/104-3951620-3898366
Sams Teach Yourself Linux in 10 Minutes
(nice little reference book)

____________________________________________________

For the webdesign bit, it's a good place to start. Learning on the job that way is great. ftp'ing, file permissions, script installation all come from doing it is you go along.

I've never used Windows directly to ftp anything - I prefer a dedicated ftp program to get the job done right. There are free programs you can download off the net. A good place to start would be:
http://www.webattack.com/freeware/freeware.shtml
who have a huge amount of free software available. FTP programs are specifically here:
http://www.webattack.com/Freeware/network/fwftp.shtml
screen shots, ratings and popularity are shown for each one.. nice resource :)

____________________________________________________

Regarding business management, you should check your local council for small business groups. Many will outline the required laws and procedures, as well as often be able to point you to educational places that can help with booklets and resources on learning the ropes (as it were).

It's not all that hard to do as long as you're willing to put in the work. Like any business the dedication you put into it will often have a large effect on the eventual success you gain. Regardless of whether you treat it as a hobby or not, you should treat it seriously, as other people are going to be relying on you to keep them online.

Greg Moore

I'm so glad there are some positive answers on this board instead of the flames he received earlier.

For some basic web design help (not sure how far along you are), I highly suggest you download and install this tutorial. Really a nice set of pages that covers a good deal, and how to upload pages (though I have to admit that I haven't taken a look at that part).

http://www.pagetutor.com/download.html

This:
http://www.pagetutor.com/dl/pagetutor-exe.html

THX again everyone, I havent been back to this post in a while. Chicken, I have quite alot of html experience, but thx for the site. TO everyone else, if you said that I need to read up on something could u please suggest a site or book.

Starting out with web design is really a *great* idea.

How I got to where I am now:
1) Got a free email account (back in '97) - Those were the days :)
2) A few weeks later I got a free hosting account with Angelfire.
3) Used their web site generator, and moved on to doing some html myself.
4) Forgot everything about Angelfire and got my very first hosting account. Learned some things about how ftp works (trial and error)
5) Tried installing some perl scripts, moved on to modifying them a little bit. Didn't get me very far though :)
6) Got tired of not being able to get the (free) scripts working.
7) Started learning php + mysql (quite easy, actually)
8) Started a hosting company because I now believe I can give support to the users. If I ever get an answer I can't provide an answer to, I know that I can find the answer *somewhere* and that I learn something by finding that answer.

What's my point then?
My point is that (almost) everyone can become a good host. You just have to:
- admit to yourself (and others) that you don't know everything
- find the answers to the questions
- treat your customers with honesty and respect
- and have fun doing it.

If you *really* want to start hosting right away, go for a reseller account. No need to spend thousands of dollars only to find out that web hosting wasn't as great a business as you thought it would be.

Just my $.20 :)

Originally posted by lets.pretend
Just my $.20

Your $.20 turned out to be worth more than any other post in the topic. THX for posting, If you have any other advice email me at Stickhead12@aol.com

Thanks for the kind words. :) I was only telling you what worked for me, and - in my opinion - it should work for you as well.

Just remember: You must feel that you're ready for the mails your customers will send you. If you wnat to know what questions lie ahead, try starting a new thread entitled "What are the typical support questions?". If you're able to answer 95% of these questions, then you're probably able to start your reseller hosting company....
If you can't answer 95% of the questions, I suggest you experiment some more with your current hosting account - that way you'll bump into a lot of the problems your customers will have. Not to scare you off, but you will have to do that for more than just a couple of weeks. Spending time on this forum (along with others) will help you prepare for your won hosting business.
2 years went by from the time I thought of having my own hosting company to now where I have started reselling. So have patience - hopefully it will pay off very nicely in the end :)
If you have any other advice email me at Stickhead12@aol.com
I would much rather post it here; in this way it will be useful to everyone reading this thread and I believe we owe this to the other members of WHT :)

Just my $0.15

Off-topic note:
Heh, $0.20 + $0.15 = $0.35! My two posts in this thread are now for sale :D

http://www.w3schools.com/ is a good site that may have some tutorials that will help. This site is great if you find something that is useful.

Everyone is stating that you need to learn severs and hardware, administration, support, etc.

Several people have mentioned business skills but none have really put an emphasis on them.

Let me say this, without knowledge of how to run a business you will most likely fail.

And don't ever trust your business to someone else. You should know at least something about running a business before jumping in or you could be up for the worst ride of your life.

Some things to think about are: Business License / Registration
Taxes and fees
Accounting and book keeping
Billing and customer support
Planning and forecasting
Sales, marketing and promotion
Purchasing / procurementThese are just some of the things you will need to know/take care of on a daily basis when you own your own business.

Some people go to school for 6 years (master's degree) and still don't know enough about all these things to successfully run their own business.

The good news: There is help out there. Read business magazines and check out the SBA if you live in the US. THey offer free advice to business owners.

Also, if you're in the US join your local Chamber of Commerce, or the equivalent of this anywhere else. They often have seminars and meetings free of charge to help educate business owners and will often meet with you about other issues as well.

Good luck, and do remember that it's supposed to be fun. Make sure you go into business in an area doing something you enjoy :D

Originally posted by lets.pretend
Starting out with web design is really a *great* idea.

How I got to where I am now:
1) Got a free email account (back in '97) - Those were the days :)
2) A few weeks later I got a free hosting account with Angelfire.
3) Used their web site generator, and moved on to doing some html myself.
4) Forgot everything about Angelfire and got my very first hosting account. Learned some things about how ftp works (trial and error)
5) Tried installing some perl scripts, moved on to modifying them a little bit. Didn't get me very far though :)
6) Got tired of not being able to get the (free) scripts working.
7) Started learning php + mysql (quite easy, actually)
8) Started a hosting company because I now believe I can give support to the users. If I ever get an answer I can't provide an answer to, I know that I can find the answer *somewhere* and that I learn something by finding that answer.

I'm hoping maybe around the end of the year, or early next year, to get into reselling. On your list, I've somehwre between #6 and #7.

Sastan >> IMO, it looks like you're on the right track then...

Be sure to tell us all when you start out :)

You should probably start out by signing up for web hosting at another company and watch how they work. Get a feel for what web hosting is. Then learn Linux. Then read up on servers. Then read this forum.

I agree with that. I would suggest that you sign up for a reseller account where the service staff will be available to you so you'll be able to answer all customer questions/solve all problems effectively. Stay with them until you have learned enough/have enough clients to move on to your own dedicated server. Install linux on an old computer if you have one and learn. It's a learning process. You need to approach it the right way and to have the right skilled persons in your back to support you. You don't need to be professor linux ;) to succed. Good luck with your business!

John

You mentioned getting started in getting a reseller account...How do you go about this? What is the 1st step ?

Thanks

Jeff

decide how much space/ bandwidth etc u want and then go to a company such as the following:

splashhost.com
purple-paw.com
voxtreme.com
mchost.com


and buy one :)

splashhost.com
purple-paw.com
voxtreme.com
mchost.com

Yep, that's what I would suggest - get a reseller account first. I would suggest mchost.com - visit their support forum and ask some questions there.

John