im thinking of trying to set up a small hosting business. Does anybody know anything about this? It seems to me that all I need is a dedicated server from a very reliable provider to host the sites on, and nameservers. I don't know if I'm up to it, but I have a few dedicated people around me that will help me handle the day to day business operations.

My main question here is about the software. Do control panels like cpanel and webmin work together with php applications like phpcoin? How can i integrate the server with the billing and order processes?

Any help would be appreciated. I don't know if I'll really do this but I'm very ambitious and it couldn't hurt to try. If me and some friends and family split the investment and lose that's fine, the technical and business learning experience would be well worth it to us.

Hi Sam

It would be best to start out with a reseller hosting account to host your main site and customers on and then once you grow enough, order a separate dedicated server to place new customers on and eventually expand. But be sure to get used to your hosting's control panel and backend system first, do some research on control panel options from cPanel to DirectAdmin and Plesk, Ensim, Hsphere and so on. Depending on your budget, a reseller account or vps server should be fine.

Be sure to do some research!

Good luck!

yeah that's a good idea, i was looking at some reseller accounts. but for my main site, do i have to design it myself, or is there a php script out there somewhere that can provide order processing and stuff like that, and integrate with my control panel?

Many billing systems like modernbill, ClientExec, etc, do interact with Cpanel/WHM, you can make them create the accounts and also, they do have a help desk, which may save you the hassle of buy a separated one (if you prefer)

yeah i looked at phpcoin. is there a billing/order system and integrateable control panel that are both free? It seems to me that almost all of the popular control panels cost money, and alot too.

I never used phpcoin, however, after read their doc it seems like you can interact with WHM. About the control panel price, is not something that you have to take care when you get a reseller account, at least, with Cpanel, host offering Hsphere may charge you an additional after X number of control panels.

If you're just starting, I suggest to go for a reseller account, and in the future, upgrade to a dedicated, if you need it.

Thread moved to Running a Web Hosting Business.

If me and some friends and family split the investment and lose that's fine, the technical and business learning experience would be well worth it to us.


Is that going to be your mission statement? Because I'm sure potential customers, who are thinking of investing their hard earned money and reputation with you, might be interested to know its not really a big deal if you go under. That failing them would be worth it to you, because its a great opportunity for you to learn.

I'm sure that's not entirely how you meant it but, seriously, going into the hosting business means that a lot of people are counting on you to keep their websites running. You need to plan all aspects of your business and be 99.999% sure you can make it before you even consider taking other people's money.

If you're just looking at it like "if it doesn't work out...oh well", then I suggest you think twice about going into business. You have an obligation to try to do your best for your customers. If it doesn't work out, it should be a great personal disappointment and you should do everything you can to make sure it doesn't come to that.

--Tina

Yeah that's the thing, but anybody going into the business will be helping me with the work, we'll all have responsibility for what happens.

I will definitely work as hard as i possibly can to keep things going, that's the type of person I am. But I can never be 100% sure, with the prices of internet connectivity, liability for security problems, etc. I was actually planning to form a corporation or LLC or something before going into this, to protect myself, and I have one friend who is very eager to start any kind of business and very hard working. I'm sure we can keep this thing going unless there's some huge catch that I just don't know about. I'm sure a hosting company has plenty of risks and costs invoved, I just don't know exaclty what they are.

Once I get the technical aspects sorted out, I can analyze the costs a little more, and have a better idea of what will happen.

Ditto everything Tina said. Maybe you should reconsider.
To answer your question though, most people would normally start off with a reseller plan which would come with everything (well, most) you need to get up and running, including the automation portion your talking about.

Going into business with friends can be EXTREMELY risky. Get everything in writing and have contracts, ownership, responsibilities, etc. all worked out before you take your first order. Separate your friendship from business. Don't go into it thinking that "Hey, we're all friends here...this is going to work out great!". It won't.

--Tina

Yeah you have a point there, I've kind of narrowed it down to one guy who I know would be willing to do it, and we'll split the tasks evenly. He knows alot about business, taxes, sales, etc. So I'll probably handle the technical aspect, and he'll help me out a little bit, and handle the business end.

I've looked at reseller plans, but they seem to actually give less disk space and transfer than dedicated servers in the same price range. What is the advantage of a reseller plan vs a dedicated server?

Going into business with friends can be EXTREMELY risky. Get everything in writing and have contracts, ownership, responsibilities, etc. all worked out before you take your first order. Separate your friendship from business. Don't go into it thinking that "Hey, we're all friends here...this is going to work out great!". It won't.

--Tina

AH-Tina is perfectly right here, what if the person you rely on doesn't put in the business the same effort as you do? what if he doesn't work as you would expect?
Have EVERYTHING written and signed. My opinion is based on personal experience (with a person also closer than a friend) not in webhosting but this applies to any field.
Moreover, other than damaging your business, this situation might also screw a friendship, and this sucks.

Yeah I know what you mean. I'd trust this guy with anything though, the thing is that we both have equal motivation and investment. The main reason I would trust it working though is that we will have specific tasks that we handle, I'm not going to say "ok, lets just both split the work".

Even so, things happen. If you end up breaking off the friendship (things do happen) he could end up screwing you and your customers over.

I don't mean to be offensive by saying this but you mention your going to be the tech guy yet you state

It seems to me that all I need is a dedicated server from a very reliable provider to host the sites on, and nameservers. I don't know if I'm up to it, but I have a few dedicated people around me that will help me handle the day to day business operations.

My main question here is about the software. Do control panels like cpanel and webmin work together with php applications like phpcoin? How can i integrate the server with the billing and order processes?

I would suggest you take a course or start learning about hosting before you get into the market. Then you'll have an idea of what your getting yourself into.

:eek:

Yes I am all for self-improvement but before you get into the market you should be on the up and up with the tech stuff, especially if your going to be the tech guy as its kinda like me saying I'll be the french speaking guy but I don't know how to speak french.

Even so, things happen. If you end up breaking off the friendship (things do happen) he could end up screwing you and your customers over.
Agreed, you gotta prepare for the worst and expect the best.

Let him know your doing it to protect both of you and make sure hes a real life friend. I hear of people everyday being business partners/friends yet they've never even met the supposid friend.

Gotta protect yourself.

I would not go into business with a friend. Not a startup anyway. I would probably look at getting a friend to invest, but i know i would end up being the driving force behind the idea and more than likely the one doing most of the work and yet only getting 50% of the reward.

Reseller accounts all the way. I would recommend digitalhost in australia their prices are not the cheapest and you get an ok amount of diskspace and bandwidth but best of all their service and technical support is second to none. The owner responds within 20 minutes generally! You can also upgrade to a dedicated later on but always best to start out small and work from there.

If you going to do this seriously i would recommend getting a billing/support system setup i use WHMCS (DOT COM) and it is the best one i have ever used. And probably the best advice i will give is: DO NOT PURCHASE A TEMPLATE OFF THE NET FOR THE SITE!!!!! BUILD YOUR OWN SITE FROM SCRATCH OR HIRE A GRAPHIC/WEB DESIGNER, it will look much more professional!

All the best mate and if you want any help PM me.

Yeah i definitely wouldn't use a template, I want to make it myself. You say this digitalhost company is good, but are they in Australia?

Hi,

Yes they are very good. There servers are located in Arizona and i use them myself. Check out my site if your interested. Although i am in NZ i have a lot of US clients. My email is on my site ;-)

Cheers Guy

you can all hate me and i can be the ***hole of this forum if i have to.

But i anyone else sick of these threads? Personally i think this forum should be more for HOSTS that have established themselves but all these "i want to start hosting" threads that always start off with " all i need is this and that and this" are killing me.

There is so much more to it then all you people will ever know and its not easy. Lets face facts and cut the crap finally. Most of these people are thinking, i can work from home and make tons of money etc etc. But no matter how good your plan is everyone looses money for awhile.

Second you should do it because you already have the knowledge or having been going to school for IT, business or both. The fact of the matter is that anyone with a credit card thinks they can start a web-hosting business.

Sad but true. SO let the flaming begin, im ready.

you can all hate me and i can be the ***hole of this forum if i have to.

But i anyone else sick of these threads? Personally i think this forum should be more for HOSTS that have established themselves but all these "i want to start hosting" threads that always start off with " all i need is this and that and this" are killing me.

There is so much more to it then all you people will ever know and its not easy. Lets face facts and cut the crap finally. Most of these people are thinking, i can work from home and make tons of money etc etc. But no matter how good your plan is everyone looses money for awhile.

Second you should do it because you already have the knowledge or having been going to school for IT, business or both. The fact of the matter is that anyone with a credit card thinks they can start a web-hosting business.

Sad but true. SO let the flaming begin, im ready.

I have to agree with you. I have been running a hosting company now for 8 months, so I'm new. But we haven't started turning a profit until recently. It wasn't easy, there were some hard times.

I come here for advice. Starting out I had a fairly basic knowledge of cPanel/WHM and managing linux servers and that really helped me, I also had a bit of business experience and I don't think I could've made it without it.

So you have to sit down and re-evaluate this. You're not going to make money over night. It takes time. Clients don't just come to you, you have to go to them.

P.S - Hades, Flame on! :P