Heya, Basically, my site has grown so large, that the option for shared hosting, and the pricing of dedicated hosting far exceeds buying a server myself.

Basically, why would I buy a portion of hosting, when I can just buy an entire server for myself at 99 bucks a month?

I am contemplating buying my own server, but I just need a run down of what I need to do in dot point form, so I can research into what it involves running a server (no I have not gone out and bought one yet lol)

Can anyone spare a quick five minutes? pleeeeeeeasse? *puppy eyes*

in order to get a dedicated server, you should know the following:

1. System Administration - who can you call on if you don't know (buddy or tech)

2. Backup - Your going to want to back up your site at a remote location - best look into this ASAP

3. Control Panel - if you don't know system admin, you're going to want a control panel (plesk, ensim, cpanel, h-sphere, etc)

4. Contingency Plan - what to do if it fails...

there's more....

can you afford the guys at www.easyservermanagement.com, theyve dont a few jobs for me when ive been too busy and they rock:)

Thanks for the heads up on EasyServerManagement - I've never heard of them before, but their rates are reasonable.

is control panel an absolute neccessity?

Get a server from rackshack (comes with ensim).

Install Linux and use webmin. That's free and easy.

Orrr use lampp (do a search for it :D)

Yea, and use webmin http://www.webmin.com

You don't need a control panel, but they help.

true, control panels help a lot, but they dont do the basic security work etc.

thats very true- security - control panels really don't do that.