Hello,

What software would you guys reccomend to get a server up and running? Say OS, Site control panel, Mail ect. Any good software combos? Cost? Thanks for your help.

Hmmm, if you want it to be cheap and reliable I think Linux Red Hat 7.3 may be the best choice. Or Red Hat 8.0 if you have a bit more courage.

As for control panels my only experience is with WHM - web host manager - and cpanel. Both great, though especially WHM does require some technical knowledge (ie. to set up DNS servers correctly etc.). WHM is to manage your clients, cpanel is for your clients to change their account settings (mail accounts, subdomains, parked domains etc.).

It would really depend what you were looking to do and what you were trying to run on the server :)

I would be looking at 2 options, either host people on a dedicated server, or run game servers. What would be the software usage for those 2 apps? Also, what other software is out there to help with the management of the server? Maintenance? Thanks

I would go for Linux unless you need any specific features that Windows provides, such as MSSQL :)

Are there industry standard software set-ups? Say 3-5 key peices of software that have been proven good combos? Thanks

I gotta say RH Linux 7.3 (until 8.1 comes out at least) , Apache, and WHM/cPanel for hosting.

How easy is the installation of these software titles? What is the cost? Thanks

Red Hat (redhatlinux.com) can be downloaded for free. cPanel/WHM is 99 a month? I'm not sure on that though, as I don't use cPanel. Apache can also be downloaded for free at apache.org. You'll also likely want mySQL and PHP, which can be downloaded at http://www.mysql.com, and www.php.net

the price for cPanel will depend greatly on whether you buy your own license, get it from your server location who is a partner NOC, or get an external license from someone like htp://hostany.com externals are about $60-$100/mo and usually run about $50-$75 for installation. Internals are anywhere from $20-$100/mo usually.

Oh ok, thanks good to know. Are there any other client cps that dont cost? 20-100 a month is quite a nice pretty penny. Thanks

there are free ones and expensive ones, and everything in between. there was a thread that listed a bunch of them recently.

Would you happen to know where that thread is located? Thanks

I also see advertisments for ensim. What is that? Thanks

http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=21709

Originally posted by intigret
I also see advertisments for ensim. What is that? Thanks

It is a control panel :)

Originally posted by skelley1
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=21709

Nice link skelley :)

Yes, but is it client or admin based? Meaning what features does it have to run the site?

Meaning, would you use ensim or c-panel, I am lost. Thanks

Originally posted by intigret
Yes, but is it client or admin based? Meaning what features does it have to run the site?

It holds features for both users.

ensim or cpanel etc is a personal choice. some have better features than others but cost more. some are easier to use, but aren't as powerful.

Oh ok, is there anyway to try these different systems out, get more info, find out which one would be a good solution?

a lot of these have demos at their sites, and a lot of others have demos at hosting companies' websites that you can try. if you contact some of them, they may also create an account you can try out even if they don't have a demo account.

Very cool, I should look into that. Thanks How is bandwidth measured? When in the system? Calculated in the hardware or software. Thanks