Hi I am been reading everything I can here about server and hosting accounts, but I have a couple questions I couldn't figure out. I currently offer hosting to clients I deal with on a regular basis with my web dev. company and the list is growing. I currently have sites spread around at 3 different companies do to cost and have recently started opening accounts with crystaltech.

I have just checked out the new plans at Interalnd (who I use to hate and left) but I can get a managed dedicated server at a good price, I believe.

Is this good next step?

And it doesn't come with a firewall, do I need one? I am not even sure my shared plans have one.

I just want to consolidate all this with out getting in over my head.

Thanks!

This would depend on the current price you are paying. You may have another alternative which is to go with a Reseller account with one provider and just use that for your individual clients.

Managed servers are a hands-off type of plan where you basically worry about filling the server instead of maintaining it. Most plans should come with some sort of firewall and yes I would recommend using either a hardware based and/or a software based. If your current costs are close to or equal to the cost of a managed server than maybe that may be your best bet, if not I would seriously look into a Reseller account.

Thanks DigitalXWeb

When you say a reseller account do you mean having a bunch of sites on one ip address?

At CrystalTech I signed up and I get a discount on each new site. That's what your talking about right?

The only thing I noticed with them is when I go to Whois I see that the name servers say crystal tech. Do any offer anonymous name servers for just resellers.

kev23 - I know CrystalTech offers custom nameservers for $20/month. You can use it for an unlimited number of domains (at least, that's how I understand it).

For a reseller, it's a good idea if you want to keep your relationship with a host at least somewhat transparent.

Good luck.

Actually, now that I think about it, if it's a dedicated solution, I think the custom nameservers comes as part of their setup. You may want to email them and ask...

If you are serious about it, managed dedicated servers are the next step up from multiple shared.

Originally posted by kev23
At CrystalTech I signed up and I get a discount on each new site. That's what your talking about right?

That is one way to have a reseller account. There is another way to do it called "unlimited domains - one account". You'll find there are several good reseller companies around here that offer this kind of plan. Basically, you pay one price, and you get a big chunk of disk space and bandwidth. You then have access to "Reseller software" that allows you to create your own accounts whenever you need them. You can create 2 accounts, or 200 accounts.. whatever will fit into the bandwidth/diskspace you are allowed.

Have a look at www.httpme.com to see what I mean.

Cheers!