So there's all this hype about cloud computing and etc.

And well I want to be a cloud host.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

A few immediate questions:

1. Is there a control panel to simply setup a cloud hosting company like with cPanel or with DirectAdmin? or something simliar to HyperVM that clusters one VPS container across numerous servers?

2. How many servers would i need? << of course this would vary based on the amount of clients, but i was thinking 4 would be okay to start off with, am i wrong?

3. Is there any known plugin that will bill clients for their usage through WHMCS??? :)

Any other information relevant to cloud hosting would also be appreciated.

Thanks! :)

easiest thing is really for you to use a current provider's infrastructure. Setting up a fully redundant, scalable and flexible cloud takes quite a bit of work.

:)
D

Lol Ditlev, a bit of work? If it only took you guys a bit of work to do VPS.net... have you got an army of clone albert einstein's running the show? :p I'd love to know exactly how long it took you guys from the day you decided to do it, to the go live date for the public beta just to get some idea on how long it would take to set up something a like. -- Not that I would want to, you've done it really well from what I've seen, perfectly happy using that when I have the need to! :)

If you go with cloud hosting you will need around 10 servers to start out with. This will be expensive. After you have everything set up you can configure the server like you would normally do to host cPanel and or VPS. If you don't have a big client base i would not recommend you to do this.

10 servers? Depends on what you want to offer on day one.

You will need some expertise with one of the many hypervisours available, you could start with one server, just don't offer features you can't implement with a single box.

10 servers will cost a lot of money, 10u rental will be a killer on day one :)

I would recommend investing in a test lab and implement something you know very well. Depending on your deployment a host going down could be the end of the world for a start up, especially if you don't know how to fix it

Also i wouldn't use cloud till you have atleast 50 -100 vps clients. So you don't waist your money on servers which are just idling

Any ideas on what software i should look at being familiar with? Just in case some day i get 50-100VPS clients and wanted to start offering this as a service to them Or maybe even to just my hosting clients.

lets see

This article might help you
http://tinyurl.com/nbld9y

Great! Thanks for the link, i will be taking a look at it shortly.

this video will definitely answer your question
http://www.enterpriseinnovation.net/content/build-your-own-cloud-hosting-service

this video will definitely answer your question
http://www.enterpriseinnovation.net/content/build-your-own-cloud-hosting-service

Sweet looks like a quick 6 min crash course on what i am looking to know. However, i am not getting audio from the video but it could be an issue with my PC, so i will try it from another one shortly. Thanks for the link!

check out openQRM.com it looks like a decent VPS management application. I have not deployed it though.

How about using someone else cloud and resell it?
Any recommendations or sources where to find it ?

How about using someone else cloud and resell it?
Any recommendations or sources where to find it ?

yes, that would be the way for most WHT hosts. Finding a trusted partner that has made the investment into a cloud infrastructure and go with them.

Ditlev, its kind of off topic, and I don't know if you are going to say, but, what system is the VPS.net set up based on, Xen?

:)

Ditlev, its kind of off topic, and I don't know if you are going to say, but, what system is the VPS.net set up based on, Xen?

:)

yup - it is a custom implementation of XEN.

:)
D

you could just go the vps.net and buy a a bunch of nodes and ask them to combine it. And there you go a mini cloud service.

Xen is crude and dated imo.

lol @ schmitty , abit more detail to back up your comment would help , what you recommend so?

Xen is crude and dated imo.

On what do you base your opinion ?