Question about setting up a webserver:

Hi I would like to setup a Linux hosting company, but I have a few questions.

1.What is the best way to setup shared hosting?
A.What is the best Distribution of Linux for this?
B.What is the best control panel Function/Security wise?
C.How do I setup a separate I.P. Address for every shared hosting account?
2.What security measures must be in place?
A.How do I keep the Shared servers seperate with mysql ETC.
B.How can I offer SSL for free so every server comes with SSL automatically after setup?
3. Backup?
A.What is the best method for backup just in case of error?
B.I want the customers to be able to restore a backup inside of the control panel?
4.What's required?
A.What type of internet access?
B. Would it be cheaper to build the servers myself?
C.How Do I monitor the servers just incase of failure?
5. Saving cost
A. Should I buy a solar panel?
B.Should I out source tech support to India?
C. What are some other methods of cutting cost with an increase in profit with out a decrease in capability?
D.Also any more Ideas?
E.Should I sell and manage the domain names myself?

Hope these answers help! Best of luck bud!

Originally Posted by goheadtry

Question about setting up a webserver:

Hi I would like to setup a Linux hosting company, but I have a few questions.

1.What is the best way to setup shared hosting? you don't, go with a reseller account and create plans for your customers. You will make/modify the plans based on the server space, bandwidth and features you have to work with.

A.What is the best Distribution of Linux for this? Red Hat Fedora or any Linux will work fine from your provider.

B.What is the best control panel Function/Security wise? As for functions, i really prefer WHM/cPanel, their are some tweaks needed for security but your host hopefully has addressed these issues.

C.How do I setup a separate I.P. Address for every shared hosting account? You can do this feature in WHM for "assigning IP"

2.What security measures must be in place? should be set if you go with a reseller account, are you planning on creating a new infrastructure with server racks/rooms?

A.How do I keep the Shared servers seperate with mysql ETC. MySQL will be a server-wide installation and all your hosting accounts will have the option to have it, you can explicity deny use of it though..

B.How can I offer SSL for free so every server comes with SSL automatically after setup? Hmm you could resell certs through certain providers too, chances are, each one will cost around $20, i don't see you getting these for free. You would need to pay the costs up front and then offer to your customers for free.

3. Backup? Of course! Daily and weekly

A.What is the best method for backup just in case of error? Automated Tape backup is needed and also cPanel allows manual backups.

I want the customers to be able to restore a backup inside of the control panel? Yes they will be able to in cPanel, their is a restore function.

4.What's required? have you got your web host site designed? Have you laid out what you will be responsible for as far as supporting? Will you install scripts? Your marketing plan is done?

A.What type of internet access? OC12/Sprint Lines, anything of that quality would be ideal.

B. Would it be cheaper to build the servers myself? Yes this will always be true, you would build the server. Do you have a data center setup or will be hosting at home?

C.How Do I monitor the servers just incase of failure? WHM has utilities to use
5. Saving cost
A. Should I buy a solar panel? i wouldn't off the start

B.Should I out source tech support to India? no... Customer support is extremely important for a web host, you need to effectively communicate with your customers via phone/email, plus only "YOU" know your services the best.

C. What are some other methods of cutting cost with an increase in profit with out a decrease in capability? Offer free website templates to customers, you can find thousands of free template designs on the web.

D.Also any more Ideas? Yes, marketing will be expensive for this area (web hosting, save some money to get a jump start with clients)

E.Should I sell and manage the domain names myself? You can and would be ideal in the end.

still need anymore help with q's?

Which control panel for hosting would you reccomend for multiple hosting accounts that is free and most customizable

Originally Posted by goheadtry

Question about setting up a webserver:

Hi I would like to setup a Linux hosting company, but I have a few questions.

1.What is the best way to setup shared hosting?
Go buy a dedicated server. Find a good, cheap one (but not skimping) with a decent amount of hd space and a good chunk of bandwidth
A.What is the best Distribution of Linux for this?
I use FreeBSD myself, being a BSD junkie, but RHEL5, Centos, or FC6/7 seem to be good operating systems too
B.What is the best control panel Function/Security wise?
Depends on how much you want to spend on licensing. I use DirectAdmin (which came from my supplier). They're cheaper than CPanel, Helm, etc by far. And it's a really good bit of software. Again, depends on what you want to spend.
C.How do I setup a separate I.P. Address for every shared hosting account?
That's not a good idea. Should you be in a position where you have 50 customers, 50 IP addresses is a waste, and you'll have to keep applying to RIPE for more, and they'll wonder why. The beauty about linux/apache hosting is that it's virtual. It uses the domain name to separate requests instead of the IP address. And most control panels monitor bandwidth usage using the various log files dotted around the OS, so there's no monitoring issues there
2.What security measures must be in place?
A good firewall. Hardware preferably, but most dedicated providers don't offer this. A sofware firewall is the next best thing, but be careful configuring it, you don't want yourself in a position where you've locked yourself out, and have to pay for their support engineers to log into your box to unlock you!
A.How do I keep the Shared servers seperate with mysql ETC.
This is all acheived on a user-account basis. Again, most control panels will set this all up for you. MySQL, POP3, Apache, FTP, everything will be setup when you add a new user account. And logins for all these services are the user-account you just created.
B.How can I offer SSL for free so every server comes with SSL automatically after setup?
You can. You can use self-certifed SSL certificates. However these will most likely come up with a security error when the user goes to view the https:// address, saying that the certifying authority is not verified. But it's still SSL.
3. Backup?
Again, (and this time I'm not so sure about the others), but control panels alike will aid in this. DirectAdmin has a neat backup facility for users as well as admins. It'll .tar.gz all of your files, mailboxes, mysql databases, DA settings etc all in one file, which you can download. Additionally, you can supply your users with a separate location (a second HDD in your server, or a mounted NFS share on your provider's NAS system) to copy the file to.
A.What is the best method for backup just in case of error?
.tar.gz is the simpliest, most cost effective way of doing this. This way, you can charge users extra for a backup facility. If you want to provide it as standard, and are again prepared to spend the money, see if your chosen datacenter/provider offers an entire server backup facility (by tape, NAS or otherwise), which will most likely be rotated, and safe as houses.
B.I want the customers to be able to restore a backup inside of the control panel?
Again, not sure about other control panels, but should you choose DA, and let users create .tar.gz backup files themselves, this is something they can do.
4.What's required?
A good server. Doesn't have to be the best server ever to appear on the face of the internet. My first server was an Athlon 1.1Ghz, 512mb RAM. Still going!
A.What type of internet access?
Professional. Do NOT (and I'll repeat this, do NOT) host a server at your house, on ADSL/Cable/etc. This is not good hosting practice. And residential broadband is prone to errors and packet loss.
B. Would it be cheaper to build the servers myself?
Datacenter rental over a longer period of time, maybe. But you'll still be faced with co-location costs (which sometimes are as much as renting one of the provider's own servers)
C.How Do I monitor the servers just incase of failure?
Most control panels will have some sort of self-monitoring. You can setup additional monitoring software yourself. And for accessibility, try www.aboutmyx.com. For free, they'll ping your server (on a given service port) and send you a graph every week of how many times/pings failed. A single failure every now and again is nothing to worry about. But if they can't get hold of your server for a while, you can get them to email you. If your cellphone network supports it and you have an email address attached to your phone, you can get it to email your phone, so you're alerted immediately.
5. Saving cost
A. Should I buy a solar panel?
Yes. Good on global energy saving. Good for powering that little in-car fan you have when your AC doesn't work!
B.Should I out source tech support to India?
Oh please no. I hate companies that do that. I can never understand them, and they always read from a script.
C. What are some other methods of cutting cost with an increase in profit with out a decrease in capability?
Find a good datacenter. Offer other services using your existing resources. For example, you offer web hosting/email services. You could offer shoutcast streaming radio services, gaming servers, etc. The shoutcast services (if you market it right, and price it right) will be a good income, because you can make a good amount of money fairly easily with this. People who pay for shoutcast servers know that they're costly because of the bandwidth involved, so are willing to fork out. Gaming clans alike. CS, HL, and all them big internet gaming networks, consume a lot of bandwidth, and they know this. So are willing to pay extra for the priviledge. Sometimes it's cheaper for them to get shared hosting (providing you're reliable enough), than for them to get their own server to do it. They'll also buy off you if they don't know squat about linux!
D.Also any more Ideas?
Price your stuff right. Make your site look good. Market your product right (Google Adwords). Google Checkout is a good thing to integrate with right now with that. They give discounts for stuff if you use Google Checkout and have Adwords, you get so much free transactions if you spend so much a month with Adwords.
E.Should I sell and manage the domain names myself?
You can sell domains yourself. The likes of eNom or Dotster offer reseller services, which you can semi-integrate into your site. Your customer will buy a domain name through it, and you'll get the profits. Plus their domain name will be preset to your nameservers. Then they sign up with you for hosting, and you got an all-in-one. Advantage of that though is that you can sell someone a domain but not have them buy hosting. (Some people just look for people selling domains, but they already have their own hosting, or have some other need for it). Becoming a registrar isn't cheap (Around $5000/year last I checked), so becoming a reseller by another registrar is the next best thing.

Hope this all helps.

Dan