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  1. #1

    Bandwidth vs Users Transfer

    I am considering starting a hosting service offering the following features.
    50mb
    1gb bandwidth etc etc
    On a box from a provider with the following specifications
    40gig Hd
    at least 256mb RAM
    500gb Bandwidth
    etc etc
    Using my calculations and the above user account specs, I should be able to host at least 500 accounts. I am wondering how much I should allow for people who don't use their full quota of data tranfer.
    This is leaving around 15gig of space left on the hard drive.
    For example, if I host the full 500 accounts, what would be the percentage of accounts on average that would not use all their data transfer?
    Would it be best just to wait and see the ratio of the amount users use etc?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Location
    London, UK
    Posts
    9,039
    500 accounts on a box with 256mb ram? No No No.

    its not just about how much bandwidth the box can handle, you have to remember a lot of your customers will use MySQL and other CPU intensive stuff. If just half of your clients used a forum the box would simply die.
    Matt Wallis
    United Communications Limited
    High Performance Shared & Reseller | Managed VPS Cloud | Managed Dedicated
    UK www.unitedhosting.co.uk | US www.unitedhosting.com | Since 1998.

  3. #3
    Ok, how much RAM should I have if all 500 people had forums on their account

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Location
    London, UK
    Posts
    9,039
    Well i wouldnt recommend putting 500 clients on 1 box, but go for 1gb ram minimum.

    Why not settle for 200-300 or so, you should still make a healthy profit. Our busiest box has about 104 domains on it.. most the others just 60-70.
    Matt Wallis
    United Communications Limited
    High Performance Shared & Reseller | Managed VPS Cloud | Managed Dedicated
    UK www.unitedhosting.co.uk | US www.unitedhosting.com | Since 1998.

  5. #5
    What my plan is to start of with, is to buy one box for about $200 from either the planet or another provider.
    As I live in Australia and have to organise business legal structures which are expensive to establish and I want to make sure that it will be successful before I even consider building the site for profit.

    What I intend on doing, is running the box for free with the above accout specifications. If it all runs ok for 3 months trial, I will consider providing paid customers, as by then I would hopefully be well known and have established my self in the market.

    I am also interested in seeing any suggestions that can be used to help establish a new hosting business in what seems to be quite a competitive industry.

    I know that it is important for people to have good support and good uptime on their accounts. Good support and uptime on the server in my opinion is a good indication that your service will be successful.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Location
    London, UK
    Posts
    9,039
    We if the accounts are free then it wouldnt be too much of a problem stacking them high and having high server loads.

    If you decide to move onto a paid service then you will need to think carefully before placing too many accounts on the box. Its just as important to provide quality which leads to profit as it is to get as many accounts as possible on a box to lead to profit.
    Matt Wallis
    United Communications Limited
    High Performance Shared & Reseller | Managed VPS Cloud | Managed Dedicated
    UK www.unitedhosting.co.uk | US www.unitedhosting.com | Since 1998.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    May 2003
    Posts
    1,198
    Yeah indeed 500 accounts on to one box is too much - I wouldnt recommend that. I would say roughly 0-100 accounts on your box but well its depend on memory and cpu usage… That is not easy to say.
    Quote, "Google is your best friend!"

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