Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : VPS Hosting : Shared Hosting Business on VPS, good idea?

[lele0108]

I currently have a 4Gb VPS, and a 1.5Gb VPS, and I would like to run a shared hosting business on them. Do you think this is a good idea?

The servers are stable, and I think I can run a hundred or so clients on the 4Gb. Am I just dreaming, or do you think this setup will work?

Thanks.

[NYCServers-Nick]

What type of processor is the main server node running? How many cores does your VPS have?

It is possible to run a small shared hosting business from a VPS.

[lele0108]

Originally Posted by DaringHost

What type of processor is the main server node running? How many cores does your VPS have?

4000Ghz Dedicated, with 1,000 units on the 4Gb, Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5620 @ 2.40GHz (x2)
I'm unsure about the slave node allocation and units, but the base is Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU X3440 @ 2.53GHz (x8)

The main node also has 100mb/s uplink, and the slave can reach around that.

[godzbless]

Yes, but sometimes you will face problem with high load. As per my knowledge about shared hosting, VPS is not a better choice as it may crash and you will not be able to restore anything. Rather, better to go for dedicated server for shared hosting.

Cheers !

[Preetam]

Originally Posted by godzbless

Yes, but sometimes you will face problem with high load. As per my knowledge about shared hosting, VPS is not a better choice as it may crash and you will not be able to restore anything. Rather, better to go for dedicated server for shared hosting.

Cheers !

Don't listen to this guy. A VPS is just as stable as a dedicated server. You'll be able to scale much better using a VPS, so you can maximize profits early on.

Good luck.

[lele0108]

Originally Posted by Bitcable

Don't listen to this guy. A VPS is just as stable as a dedicated server. You'll be able to scale much better using a VPS, so you can maximize profits early on.

Good luck.

Thanks. I put up a similar thread on LowEndBox, and its 50-50. I think I'll try it out!

[VPSChamp]

A cloud server wouldn't be a horrible idea either, then you have on-demand flexibility when you need it(many places allow massive expansion) so you know you can always expand if you need it.

[gaboman]

My suggestion is that you select a good supplier of 100% managed VPS,
insurance will have a good experience and will always be able to grow to a dedicated server if you wish, luck in your search

[NYCServers-Nick]

Originally Posted by lele0108

I think I'll try it out!

Best of luck! Be sure to let us know how it goes

[DmitrijCSR]

"hundred or so clients on the 4Gb"

Ram doesn't mean much in hosting, what clients need is CPU and high I/O. Just a recommendation before you put any clients onto the VPS, monitor it for at least 2-3 weeks for it's performance like I/O, Uptime, CPU spikes and only then consider offers it to your clients.

[Preetam]

Originally Posted by DmitrijCSR

Ram doesn't mean much in hosting, what clients need is CPU and high I/O.

I don't think so. We use Sandy Bridge Xeons and RAID-10 arrays for shared hosting and RAM is usually what limits how many customers we put on a shared server.

[CyberLinux]

I think it is better you go with a 2GB RAM dedicated server which you will get for a price similar to your 4GB VPS I hope.

Though if you can handle the situations in which node load goes high and VPS responding slow, you can run it on VPS also.

[fshagan]

I ran a small hosting company with just over 30 customers on a 1GB VPS. Most were typical low volume SMB "brochure sites" running (mostly) Wordpress as a CMS, although there were three busy forums and one pretty busy WP site that was an on-line sci-fi fantasy site. I have since divested myself of the business due to a conflict with another venture.

You can definitely get a lot of accounts on a VPS with 4 GB; you will run into other resource issues, as others have stated. If you go after the SMB market and try to avoid the "cheap unlimited" market it will be easier to manage your accounts. The "unlimited" phrase tends to attract file sharers, people storing their PC backups on your server, etc.

Lessons I learned:
Throttle email sending to 200 - 300 per hour, and don't offer an email list (MailMan, phpList, etc.) The largest problem I had was with keeping the IP off blacklists because of a 4,000 member email list. It was a perfectly legal, double opt-in, easy to opt-out list that met all the requirements. But since 1% of the people in any group are absolute morons we were always chasing down accusations of being vile spammers. Refer customers to commercial email sending services instead.

Don't accept a customer who wants to send you a check instead of using your on-line payment system UNLESS you charge extra for the service. These fall into two groups, SMBs who want to prepay for 6 months to a year and modern-day Luddites who "never put their information on-line" yet want a website. The extra cost of processing checks, in time and money, really irritated me after a while.

[kpmedia]

A dedicated server will have better CPU and I/O.
Using a VPS may work, but it's a cheap setup, and may be a foolish choice long-term.

RAM is generally third place, in terms of bottlenecks.

[lele0108]

Originally Posted by fshagan

I ran a small hosting company with just over 30 customers on a 1GB VPS. Most were typical low volume SMB "brochure sites" running (mostly) Wordpress as a CMS, although there were three busy forums and one pretty busy WP site that was an on-line sci-fi fantasy site. I have since divested myself of the business due to a conflict with another venture.

You can definitely get a lot of accounts on a VPS with 4 GB; you will run into other resource issues, as others have stated. If you go after the SMB market and try to avoid the "cheap unlimited" market it will be easier to manage your accounts. The "unlimited" phrase tends to attract file sharers, people storing their PC backups on your server, etc.

Lessons I learned:
Throttle email sending to 200 - 300 per hour, and don't offer an email list (MailMan, phpList, etc.) The largest problem I had was with keeping the IP off blacklists because of a 4,000 member email list. It was a perfectly legal, double opt-in, easy to opt-out list that met all the requirements. But since 1% of the people in any group are absolute morons we were always chasing down accusations of being vile spammers. Refer customers to commercial email sending services instead.

Don't accept a customer who wants to send you a check instead of using your on-line payment system UNLESS you charge extra for the service. These fall into two groups, SMBs who want to prepay for 6 months to a year and modern-day Luddites who "never put their information on-line" yet want a website. The extra cost of processing checks, in time and money, really irritated me after a while.

Thanks for the tips. Would you mind if I get in touch with you if I need some help?