Objective: To setup an uber server which is value for money
Problem: Dedicated hosters will charge a rip off, exhorbitant cost making the project uneconomical
Soultion: Co locate your own box
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I've always considered using my own kit / installing Linux myself as the answer to rip off dedicated charges! I'm still not confident in doing so yet and here's why:
Self Hosting
Too expensive to co-lo here in the office due to BT charging crazy prices for a proper leased line. Using ADSL is not really an option either because the fixed upload speed of 256K.
Is really possible to run a webserver with ADSL? The traffic is light but has peak times. The current server has usage of about 10Gb a month but at peak times during the day there are a good few hundred running databases searches.
Besides, this line would be shared by surfers in the office. If a couple of us are downloading and watching video streams then the bandwidth available for the server will be restricted.
Co-Lo - Hardware
If the box goes faulty then it's going to be a problem to get it fixed quickly. If the server goes down (no access at all) then it means driving to the site, try to restart it, try to identify the fault, change the faulty component, sit and watch it for a few hours incase it goes again and / or a different fault is the cause, then return home after many hours!
With dedicated you often have SLA's such as all parts replaced in x hours. With co-lo this can be a bit tricky.
I guess it could be possible to leave a bag of spares on site and get the local techies to change some parts but wouldn't that cost a lot of engineer's time x hours? If the hourly rate is low then wouldn't the priority be low?
Co-Lo - Software
Dedicated servers come preinstalled with LAMP software. In theory, all the software should be reasonably upto date with basic security features in place. Certainly the techies will setup any DNS, and mail stuff such that a webhoster who may know his PHP from his ASP, but not his MX from his FQ host name will be able to get the server running in no time.
My point is that I may be a technical whizz with a screwdriver, and I may be able to produce highly efficient code, but when it comes to some of the server background stuff I may be leaving the box wide open to faults / attacks.
Again, the co-lo's may be able to assist here but what if it takes them a couple of days to sort out a 95% installed box? What if I installed the wrong version of SuSE? what if the kernel is not compatible with the Aus P48 mobo? What if ..... etc.
