Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Dedicated Server : Where To Start..

[ThisNameWillDo!]

Hello,

I am looking to start up a new small web hosting company which sells web hosting and VPS'. However, I can't decide what server to purchase to start me off. It will mainly sell to friends and family but also other customers too, I do not plan for this business to get big at all.

I don't really want to start off on over £100 a month, yes, a low budget but that is just until I get a couple of clients, I will then upgrade or move to a bigger server if not possible to upgrade.

I have been in this business before and I do know what I am doing, just wondering what you guys think on where I should start and where I can find a decent server for that price or less if possible haha.

This is basically for a trial to see how the company does.

If you can't tell me where to buy the server, perhaps minimum specs you would recommend??

This is the worst part of starting off a hosting business I must say!

Thanks,
Vince.

[Techy]

If you've been in the business before why are you asking where to find budget dedicated servers? Do your clients really need VPS if you're on a budget of under $100/mo why not just purchase a large VPS for yourself and host their sites shared since you have no intention of growing...

[Lee-RackSRV]

Hello Vince,

May I suggest you look at reseller accounts rather than pushing for any hardware with a low budget, there's plenty of companies that provide webhosting however I'm not aware of any major VPS providers allowing reselling.

I wish you luck with your search and more importantly your business venture.

[Techy]

Originally Posted by Lee-RackSRV

Hello Vince,

May I suggest you look at reseller accounts rather than pushing for any hardware with a low budget, there's plenty of companies that provide webhosting however I'm not aware of any major VPS providers allowing reselling.

I wish you luck with your search and more importantly your business venture.

What do you mean you are not aware of VPS providers who allow reselling? Reselling the VPS or turning the VPS into a reseller?

[Lee-RackSRV]

I'm not aware of many VPS providers that allow the reselling of their VPS services, apologies if there was any mix up with that Doug.

[Techy]

Originally Posted by Lee-RackSRV

I'm not aware of many VPS providers that allow the reselling of their VPS services, apologies if there was any mix up with that Doug.

No problem. There are a few and some of them will create custom reseller plans or white label deals with you in order for you to keep costs down.

For example, they charge you $15 for this particular VPS which you resell for $20. They get paid, you get paid, you do end user management etc... I've also seen some managed VPS providers do this as well.

[GetKVM_Ash]

Agree with techy, If you cant afford a dedicated server go for a VPS and just slap cPanel/WHM on there. Just please make sure you know what your doing before you offer services to the public, we get enough burned customers here daily we dont need any more

[Techy]

Originally Posted by VMPort

Agree with techy, If you cant afford a dedicated server go for a VPS and just slap cPanel/WHM on there. Just please make sure you know what your doing before you offer services to the public, we get enough burned customers here daily we dont need any more

lol =] that's precisely what I was thinking.

@OP - maybe we can make this slightly more advantageous for you by having you tell us what types of sites you will be hosting for your friends/family, etc...? In addition, what expertise are you? This will help us narrow down some providers that should be in your criteria & budget as well as provide managed or unmanaged services.

[RC-Martin]

With that buget you might consider the option of getting a managed vps with cpanel to run shared and reseller hosting, and find a company that resells quality vps to sell to your customers who need vps.

[aodat2]

A reseller account would suit you more than a VPS. Unless you are going to be hosting something big, then Reseller accounts should be sufficient for you.

[ThisNameWillDo!]

Thank you for all of your replies, good to see this community is still strong! I do not want a VPS or reseller because I know some people looking to buy VPS servers from me for a good price and also resellers etc so a dedicated server is definitely what I need. I do wish to grow a bit, what I meant was I don't expect this business to get massive but remain a small business, if it gets big, awesome haha but as you guys say there are many businesses like this and that would be too much of a challenge.

Techy, I will be hosting websites such as free online gaming websites, small portfolios and also I assume they will be wanting to resell on their resellers and VPS servers. So as you can imagine, quite a combination. I have experience as I used to own quite a successful profitable business a few years ago in this sector selling exactly the same as I plan to now. It was sold off to someone else as I had many things to do at that point in my life and simply had no more time.

Also to whoever asked, I know it sounds odd, I'm experienced and asking what you guys think is the right server, but it's simply because there are just so many out there now, also because the company that used to sell me the dedicated servers closed and finally because it's been a few years since I done it .. so some advice from you guys would be amazing.

EDIT: My budget is by the way £100 GBP a month so let's say $150 a month in dollars.

Thanks once again for your replies, look forward to hearing more.

[HostAdmins]

This budget is quite enough to attain a standard dedicated server to start your hosting business. Now contact any providers near to you and get the quote for dedicated servers within your budget.

[jollymons]

well in EU im not sure (and guessing here) what the good hosts are. I would recommend Joes Datacenter if you are stateside. They are solid and CHEAP! Like I pay ~60 mo for my box, they loaded a custom OS for me, and ive not had any system based outages in over 200 days WOOT

However you need to know your stuff on your end to run with that man, dont just guess and hope. Make sure you get it all setup correct and know what you are doing or else look for fully managed with lots of reviews from ppl that rely on said dedicated managed host to bail their butts outta the fire

Good luck and I would say also check out Low End Box for a good practice server if you need to get yourself up to speed on a VPS for cheap. Those are seldom (never) production quality boxes but are great for learning the ropes on a dime.