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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2003
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    34

    * Where next with my hosting?

    I am wondering where to go with my hosting needs. I do not want to become a full time host myself. That is why I like to use reseller accounts, so someone else can maintain and look after the hosting while I concentrate on web development.

    I have always got the impression that the next step up from a reseller account is a dedicated server. However, I have not really been keen on this as it means putting all of your web sites onto one server. I have over 100 web sites at present and putting them all on one server would surely be too much strain on it? By using Helm windows reseller hosting, the web sites are spread between different servers.

    I am concerned about the lack of reliability with small hosting companies offering reseller accounts. They often start good and then go downhill. However, bigger companies may not always offer you the personal support that you need to get web sites working correct. You are just one of many many customers to them.

    So I am wondering what to do for hosting. Do I continue with reseller accounts with small companies, or look for something else? What are my options?

    My business model means that I am hopeful of increasing the number of low cost web sites I have for small to medium size companies upwards to perhaps 500. Should I look at the offerings of bigger hosting companies (like who - I'm in the UK)? Do they offer 'power' reseller accounts? Should I just open multiple reseller accounts, say a new reseller account for every 100 web sites, due to web space and bandwidth limitations? Are there other options?

    Thanks for any help you can give.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Location
    Boston
    Posts
    817
    You might go with a managed VPS hosting solution. Knownhost is good, and I highly recommend them
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  3. #3
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Location
    Canada
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    If you don't want to worry about the management side of things with a server I'd say multiple resellers is a good way to go. I know some of our customers have been doing that for quite a while opposed to going dedicated. The host x amount sites with us another amount with another host and just spread it around so that they do not have all accounts with on one server or even one host.

    The other option is really a managed VPS or managed server
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  4. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Posts
    34
    Thanks guys for the advice. Could you explain how a managed VPS account would work?

    Do you agree having a dedicated server is a bad idea, if for example I had 500 small to medium company web sites, some of which may be fairly busy? Reseller accounts, while shared with other people, at least are spread about on different servers the way Helm works (which I'm currently using).

  5. #5
    500 sites? ....its worth that you get a good host or maybe a managed dedicated server indeed. this could better server your customer.
    increase your server frm time to time when need.

    this is what i would do.

  6. #6
    If what you're doing now isn't broken, then why fix it? Using dedicated, managed servers would be best, but it doesn't sound like something you're interested in. Maybe you should just stick with what you're doing now?
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  7. #7
    Join Date
    Nov 2003
    Location
    Boston
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    212
    i think you already have the right idea.

    Considering your plans a goals then i think using reseller accounts its fine.
    - Steve D
    SERVBoston: Hosting since 2003
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  8. #8
    Join Date
    Mar 2000
    Location
    San Antonio, Texas
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    3,690
    Quote Originally Posted by Stevio
    I am wondering where to go with my hosting needs. I do not want to become a full time host myself. That is why I like to use reseller accounts, so someone else can maintain and look after the hosting while I concentrate on web development.

    Thanks for any help you can give.

    Yes, and thats always been the attraction to the reseller accounts. It allows you the option to be able to offer hosting plans to your clients without added server expenses
    I would say if it is working to your satisfaction now then stay at the same pace. The advantage you DO have is if you have multiple reseller accounts now you can easily compare the service you are getting from the multiple upstreams.
    HostCaters.com - Quality Web Hosting - Under A Gig! - Since 1999

  9. #9
    I would suggest going with Cirtex Hosting.. I have been using them for 2 months and they aren't perfect as far as uptime goes, but they have the best customer service I could imagine. They also have shared and reseller hosting. Plus they are pretty cheap
    Web and Computer Resource
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  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Los Angeles
    Posts
    52
    Quote Originally Posted by Snowroses
    I would suggest going with Cirtex Hosting.. I have been using them for 2 months and they aren't perfect as far as uptime goes, but they have the best customer service I could imagine. They also have shared and reseller hosting. Plus they are pretty cheap
    I am new to this forum, but it seems I see a trend that people are looking for cheap hosting and that reliability is second thought. Is price really more important? Should'nt it be a value for money issue?
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  11. #11
    Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Posts
    34
    Quote Originally Posted by Martie
    Yes, and thats always been the attraction to the reseller accounts. It allows you the option to be able to offer hosting plans to your clients without added server expenses
    A large part of it however is also to do with the fact that you do not have to manage and administer the server. My work is as a web developer, running web servers is a different job and not where I want to specialise.

  12. #12
    I think as was said if it's not broke don't fix it.
    Look at it like this, do you have time for your
    web development and to be more involved with
    the servers also?

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Dec 2001
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    127.0.0.1
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    3,642
    Quote Originally Posted by strtrans
    I think as was said if it's not broke don't fix it.
    Look at it like this, do you have time for your
    web development and to be more involved with
    the servers also?
    If it's fully managed - there's no real reason for a customer to need to spend inordinate ammounts of time managing the server. That's what the provider is paid for .
    Simpli Networks, LLC :: http://www.simplinetworks.com :: Proudly 100% Owned.
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  14. #14
    Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Posts
    34
    Fully managed dedicated server - costs a lot of money, both to the company managing it and for the software to run on it (or is that normally included in the cost), and all your sites are also on one server, but the advantage is you are not sharing the server with other people and their possibly dodgy web sites.

    Reseller account - fully managed just like above but costs a lot lot less, but disadvantage is that your web sites are shared with other ppl's possibly dodgy web sites. A good company however should minimise any problems that occur like this. Your web sites are also shared across a number of servers so problems with one server do not lead to all your sites going down.

    Fair summary?

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Richmond, VA
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    3,119
    Who to choose depends on the server load that your sites draw, among many other factors. If your Websites are mostly static HTML, I do not see why a shared hosting plan would not work for you.

    Having said that, it seems as though reliability is very important to you - and I can see why: moving 500 sites is no easy task. Therefore, if it is in your budget, I think you could do really well with a dedicated server from one of the more reliable providers. The problem here is that most of the dedicated companies are either large, or small and not doing too well.

    So it's definitely a hard call. I think the more important thing to focus on is not why type of hosting - as any type seems like it would work - but rather, what company to purchase from.

    Have you looked into HostGator?
    Daniel B., CEO - Bezoka.com and Ungigs.com
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  16. #16
    Join Date
    Dec 2001
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    127.0.0.1
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    Quote Originally Posted by Stevio
    Fully managed dedicated server - costs a lot of money, both to the company managing it and for the software to run on it (or is that normally included in the cost), and all your sites are also on one server, but the advantage is you are not sharing the server with other people and their possibly dodgy web sites.
    Not really - there are some rather reasonable fully managed servers out there. However, if you were to get an unmanaged server at a reputable provider (i.e. Gigenet or SoftLayer) and add monitoring/management on to it from an outside party - you'd probbably looking at about the same costs as a fully managed server.

    Quote Originally Posted by Stevio
    Reseller account - fully managed just like above but costs a lot lot less, but disadvantage is that your web sites are shared with other ppl's possibly dodgy web sites. A good company however should minimise any problems that occur like this. Your web sites are also shared across a number of servers so problems with one server do not lead to all your sites going down.

    Fair summary?
    There is a middle ground.... .
    Simpli Networks, LLC :: http://www.simplinetworks.com :: Proudly 100% Owned.
    Providing Affordable Managed Cloud/VPS Servers & Server Management Solutions.
    We offer REAL 24x7x365 in-house support - proudly serving our customers since 2005!
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  17. #17
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    Scotland
    Posts
    214
    I would say go VPS. Either that or find someone who can offer you a lot of redundant space cheap
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  18. #18
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    New York, NY
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    I would highly recommend www.gigenet.com for a dedicated server.
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  19. #19
    Join Date
    Dec 2002
    Location
    Chicago
    Posts
    375
    You could always get an unmanaged server from somewhere, and hire a management company, such as Platinum Server Management to keep everything up to date, they do good work, and adding it on to an unmanaged server is cheaper, they're only around $30.00 a month, last I heard.
    -DPI
    Chicago's #1 Datacenter Technician

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Posts
    771
    Quote Originally Posted by DPI
    You could always get an unmanaged server from somewhere, and hire a management company, such as Platinum Server Management to keep everything up to date, they do good work, and adding it on to an unmanaged server is cheaper, they're only around $30.00 a month, last I heard.
    But if you go this way, you need to be confident that your server management needs are no more expensive than $30 a month. This is not meant as any criticism of Platinum Server Management (I've never used them), but no business can afford to provide more than they are being paid for. I'm sure they'll be willing to spend more time at the beginning getting it setup, and will expect much more work in some months than others, but they won't provide $40 of time a month for the $30 they receive for ever. This also applies to hosts providing managed servers, though the figures are a bit less clear with them because they also have the income from the server.

  21. #21
    Join Date
    Dec 2002
    Location
    Chicago
    Posts
    375
    Quote Originally Posted by Dormouse
    But if you go this way, you need to be confident that your server management needs are no more expensive than $30 a month. This is not meant as any criticism of Platinum Server Management (I've never used them), but no business can afford to provide more than they are being paid for. I'm sure they'll be willing to spend more time at the beginning getting it setup, and will expect much more work in some months than others, but they won't provide $40 of time a month for the $30 they receive for ever. This also applies to hosts providing managed servers, though the figures are a bit less clear with them because they also have the income from the server.

    Very true. I know that PSM has their services very clearly outlined on their site, and I believe that there is X amount of hours spent per month per server, with additional hours purchased for X amount.
    -DPI
    Chicago's #1 Datacenter Technician

  22. #22
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Silicon Valley
    Posts
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  23. #23
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    New York, NY
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    Quote Originally Posted by OriginXT
    http://www.biggest-hosting.com/reseller_sell.html

    Unlimited Resellers. You can sell reseller accounts too.
    You're joking, right?

  24. #24
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Location
    Earth
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    Quote Originally Posted by DPI
    Very true. I know that PSM has their services very clearly outlined on their site, and I believe that there is X amount of hours spent per month per server, with additional hours purchased for X amount.
    Where did you read that?

    Quote Originally Posted by platinumservermanagement.com
    Unlimited Admin Work Time!!
    We do not limit the amount of work we do for you, and we do not have any additional fees!

  25. #25
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Posts
    771
    [Originally Posted by platinumservermanagement.com]
    Unlimited Admin Work Time!!
    We do not limit the amount of work we do for you, and we do not have any additional fees![/QUOTE]

    So, we are back to the unlimited word

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