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  1. #1

    Question MOST BENEFICIAL SETUP

    Ok, first, I am running this business from the home. I have a good internet connection etc...The business is just starting and have 3 clients thus far.
    I understand how to set things up for the msot part, but before I waste more time I have a couple questions about the setup of my servers.
    -------------------------------------------------------------
    My question is what in the opinions of ya'lls would be best?
    I have legal versions of Windows Server 2003, 2008 R2 as well as CentOS 6.2(open source I know...)

    Server 1: 2 x Xeon CPU's 2.8 GHz with 2 GB RAM, 2 NIC's 146GB SCSI drive (will be adding an additional drive shortly).

    Server 2: 2 x Dual Core Xeon CPU's 2.66 GHz with 5GB, 160GB SATA HDD adding 1 TB drive soon.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Server #1 my thought is to use this as the PDC/File Share which will also host Enkompass CP.

    Server#2 Running ESXi 4.1 which I could upgrade to 5.0 and create my virtual machines from it.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    How does this sound? I planned on having only 3-4 VM's on Server 2 until I get more RAM and HDD space.

    Thank you for your responses in advance.

    I would like to create some VM's and for that I am using ESXi 4.1 for bare metal install.
    I plan on using Enkompass unless someone else can provide a better option...

  2. #2
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    Your running from home? What are you doing about power failures etc? Its cool to run from home, but do you really want someones business being dependent on your infrastructure? Let alone a couple busy virtual machines will probably overload your line.
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  3. #3
    I did think about that...UPS in place, and eventually will probably do a COLO somewhere. There is a huge-long story behind what I am doing...but can not go in to all that.
    I am actually looking at having a VPS (offsite)in place to also assist with power failures etc.

  4. #4
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    What do you mean by:
    CentOS 6.2(open source I know...)
    CentOS is a great operating system and I'd highly recommend using it.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by MrAdams79 View Post
    Ok, first, I am running this business from the home. I have a good internet connection etc...
    From the sound of your post you want to do this right from the beginning, so step 1 to doing it right is move your clients out of your house and into a proper data center with full redundancy and security that you cannot offer from your house... then worry about hardware/software.
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  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jun 2012
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    Why not just pick up a good VPS for your three customers and spend some time setting up your 2 servers properly and then ship them to a good colocation facility, I think there are serveral that you can do this with for about $40 a piece if they are in 1u cabs.

    Seriously your clients deserve a decent place for thier websites and if your serious about really starting a hosting company then take your time and do it right.

  7. #7
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    Jun 2012
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    Quote Originally Posted by MrAdams79 View Post
    I am actually looking at having a VPS (offsite)in place to also assist with power failures etc.
    Not sure I understand this, what good would a VPS do to assist in power failures? I mean I get it if you meanhaving your main site on a VPS so that customers can still reach you for power failures. Is that what you mean?

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jun 2012
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    I just can't let this go, you absolutely should not, under no circumstances, run a web hosting company that sells accounts to the general public from a home based data center unless you actually put in a comercial grade data center in your home. That would cost thousands of dollars even to properly do one single rack.

    There is a huge, huge difference in folks setting up home based web hosting companies, utilizing data centers and literally trying to provide the actual hosting on servers at their house on essentially a home network with a fast small business connection. Is that what you are saying you doing?

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by scwhite View Post
    I just can't let this go, you absolutely should not, under no circumstances, run a web hosting company that sells accounts to the general public from a home based data center unless you actually put in a comercial grade data center in your home.
    Unless he advertised that he was hosting his clients out of his home of course, then he can do whatever he would like but I'm fairly certain he's not informing his clients about this or else his paid clients would likely drop to 0.
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  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by MrAdams79 View Post
    Ok, first, I am running this business from the home. I have a good internet connection etc...The business is just starting and have 3 clients thus far.
    I understand how to set things up for the msot part, but before I waste more time I have a couple questions about the setup of my servers.
    -------------------------------------------------------------
    My question is what in the opinions of ya'lls would be best?
    I have legal versions of Windows Server 2003, 2008 R2 as well as CentOS 6.2(open source I know...)

    Server 1: 2 x Xeon CPU's 2.8 GHz with 2 GB RAM, 2 NIC's 146GB SCSI drive (will be adding an additional drive shortly).

    Server 2: 2 x Dual Core Xeon CPU's 2.66 GHz with 5GB, 160GB SATA HDD adding 1 TB drive soon.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Server #1 my thought is to use this as the PDC/File Share which will also host Enkompass CP.

    Server#2 Running ESXi 4.1 which I could upgrade to 5.0 and create my virtual machines from it.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    How does this sound? I planned on having only 3-4 VM's on Server 2 until I get more RAM and HDD space.

    Thank you for your responses in advance.

    I would like to create some VM's and for that I am using ESXi 4.1 for bare metal install.
    I plan on using Enkompass unless someone else can provide a better option...
    Nope, Nope and Nope lol. Sell your servers and use the money to get your-self a dependable reseller account (use the extra money for advertising or keep a nice cushion for forward operating costs). However under NO circumstance should you move forward with this in-house server enviroment you plan on setting up.
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  11. #11
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    Oh, for Pete’s sake. Are you serious? Have you discussed this with your internet provider or read their terms of service? What you are doing is for hobbyists, and many of us have done that. It is not the way to host customer web sites.
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  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by rickroberts View Post
    Oh, for Pete’s sake. Are you serious? Have you discussed this with your internet provider or read their terms of service? What you are doing is for hobbyists, and many of us have done that. It is not the way to host customer web sites.
    Second that. There's a huge number of reasons that hosting from home is a bad idea. Zero redundancy, no backup power, not to mention the speed and contention issues that you'd have with a residential connection. And then there's the fact that your ISP likely has something in its terms and conditions that prohibits using your line for hosting.

    Sorry to say it, but you're better off going colo, or even starting as a reseller. For your customer's an your business' sake, don't host at home.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
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    It's probably not going to actually cost you that much more to move these servers to a real DC. Especially when you add up the cost of the power these will cost to run at home.
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  14. #14
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    Also if I remember right selling VPS's using ESXi is against vmware's licensing, you will need to buy ESX if you wish to sell VPS's using it.
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  15. #15
    Ok, as everyone else is saying, this is obviously not the best way to run a legit hosting business with business type accounts on BUT if you are hell bent on starting out at home, I would suggest getting some more of those SCSI or SAS Drives for your ESXi node to sell VPS accounts from, the SATA Drive you are planing on using is going to burn up if you start running any half way decent VPS accounts on. Doesnt matter how much Ram or CPU you have in these servers Disk IO is going to be the first recourse you run out of. Also, you need to be running a raid array (at least Raid1 if not raid 10) on these servers in case (or should I say WHEN) one of these dirves fail.

    Good luck! and get these servers into a real DC ASAP!
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  16. #16
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    How many IPv4 addresses will a residential ISP provide a single client? Are you going to be using NAT for all of your servers?
    -Joe @ Secure Dragon LLC.
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  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by ZKuJoe View Post
    How many IPv4 addresses will a residential ISP provide a single client? Are you going to be using NAT for all of your servers?
    1, if he's lucky. Might not even be static.

  18. #18
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    Don't run a hosting business from home. That is absolutely ridiculous.

  19. #19
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    You also need to be in the SPLA scheme to use any Microsoft products for hosting purposes. Simply having an owned license does not permit this.
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  20. #20
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    Jun 2012
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    Well I feel bad the OP has disappeared. I think he posted in the wrong place. We all fixtated on the from home network and the truth of the matter is he never asked our opinion on that. He might have had better luck getting his question answered in the hardware area.

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