Interested in knowing how to get a hosting company setup.
Would like to know any special equipments that i need to use (Eg, accounting systems, bandwidth management....)
As for the server, I am interested in buying the cobalt servers. Any things that I need to setup or is it that when the server is up, that's it.
ANyone has experiences?
Can share your experiences?

Bizzy,

If you are just starting out and have little knowledge of server admin duties, I would suggest trying Reselling first. It's a great way to get your feet wet with very little start up cost. Plus if you choose the right host you will have room to grow into a dedicated or co-located box when that time comes. I would not recommend jumping into a co-lo box just starting out fresh unless you already have a customer base but from the sound of your post this is not the case. You may find yourself a little overwhelmed by doing so.

There are many hosts here that offer Reseller, Dedicated and Co-lo packages so you could start out slow and grow into the next level.

Just my opinion of course.

Bizzy,

side note: looking at your username , i thought you are my older brother but then again your ip is from singapore. my brother's nickname is bizzy too :D , if you are planning on reselling, email me and i'll refer you to my bro.

Ditto to what DigitalXweb said, you might want to try reselling first and when you have enough customers to pay for the dedicated server/s then start your own hosting company.


cheers,
elijah john :)

I am knowledge on administration. But on small servers & not internet/ network servers for hostings.
I know about hostings, but when it comes to setting up a hosting company, I don't know what servers are needed other then the webservers.


Anyway, talking about reselling, how do I start??
This is what I understand by reselling
I will need to approach a hosting company & tell them that i want to be reseller & they will be the one that host the websites & I will be paying them & at the same time, my customer will pay me for the service.
CORRECT ME IF I AM WRONG.
In this way, what do I earn ??

I need you guys to give me advise...
Thanks

If you need help, let us know.

Joe

Originally posted by Bizzy

Anyway, talking about reselling, how do I start??
This is what I understand by reselling
I will need to approach a hosting company & tell them that i want to be reseller & they will be the one that host the websites & I will be paying them & at the same time, my customer will pay me for the service.
CORRECT ME IF I AM WRONG.
In this way, what do I earn ??


Usually if you are reseller to a company, then they made discounts for you. Also, most important think – you’ll need to do all support for your clients; you must be available when they request it, and be able to help them. Also you’ll need to find a good web hosting company, to resell for, if company doesn’t work well you’ll be very vulnerable. (But it is true also in case with dedicated hosting)

There are various ways of reselling, although I would guess that most companies give a straight percentage discount on their packages.

There's another method you might want to explore, and that's to get a reseller plan that gives you X amount of disk space for Y amount of dollars-per-month, and allow you to put as many websites in that space as you want (usually with the help of a control panel). This method allows you to create your own packages and prices. DataPipe.com is a good example: http://www.datapipe.com/reseller.htm

Bizzy,

Reselling works in many ways, but the basic idea is that hosting companies will offer you much better deals if they know you will be providing them with lots of business, and taking CARE of that business for them.

Reseller Type "A"
One type of reseller will typically have a bunch of hosting plans available to their customers, at varying price ranges. (i.e. small account, medium account, large account, etc...). Then they will have a Reseller Package that is typically a little more expensive, but gives you the ability to buy all the other plans at a reduced cost. You could then "resell" these plans to YOUR customers and make a profit. For example you may be able to get a deep enough discount on the plans to enable you to sell them yourself at the same price (or even lower) as your supplier does, and still make a profit.

Reseller Type "B"
Another type of reseller is when a hosting company offers you a bunch of disk space and the ability to divide this space up into smaller "accounts", each with their own domain name. These types of setups offer more flexibility, and usually result in less "wasted" space within your accounts (all disk space gets used up).

Either way, the objective in OFFERING reseller programs or accounts is that hosting companies want to have other people sell their services for them, and are willing to pay a premium for that service. If a reseller is selling a bunch of accounts for me, then I don't have to worry as much about all the paper work that goes along with all the new customers... the reseller is.

I hope this helps! Email me if I can be of any other help.

Cheers! :)
Rob.

Originally posted by Bizzy
I am knowledge on administration. But on small servers & not internet/ network servers for hostings.
I know about hostings, but when it comes to setting up a hosting company, I don't know what servers are needed other then the webservers.


Anyway, talking about reselling, how do I start??
This is what I understand by reselling
I will need to approach a hosting company & tell them that i want to be reseller & they will be the one that host the websites & I will be paying them & at the same time, my customer will pay me for the service.
CORRECT ME IF I AM WRONG.
In this way, what do I earn ??

I need you guys to give me advise...
Thanks

Bizzy,

Server wise get the best you can afford. A poorly constructed server with cheap hardware will cause you nothing but headaches in the long run. You will basically need server(s) to host the sites off of. You can add RAID and DNS servers if needed also most will run DNS on the same box that is hosting the sites or use their upstreams DNS. I would suggest starting out as a Reseller though. The others have pretty much covered everything in regards to this.