I no longer like to use 3rd party hosts for my clients and was wondering how “doable” hosting websites yourself would be.
I know some things so far like I will probably need to learn llinux and apache. There are things I am confused about like where I can buy a server computer that can handle a good amount of traffic and internet security issues. It seems that newegg.com only sells servers for small business networks and not servers that can handle a decent amount of page requests.
So I guess what I am asking is: how much effort will it take me to be a solid web host and not have to use 3rd party hosts? How much do decent servers cost?
Most likely, the effort of learning to become your own server admin is not worth it, and concentrating on your actual business/activity would be a more productive use of your time.
If you plan on hosting from home off your Internet connection, you need to make sure that your ISP allows such usage. In any case, your connection is unlikely to be a good fit for serious, safe web hosting purposes.
A lot of developers use reseller accounts to host their customer’s sites. They’re cost effective.
Some of the things you’ll need to be able to host from home include:
An internet connection where the upload speed is at least as fast as the download speed.
A backup power supply capable of keeping the server running through any reasonable length blackout (say several hours minimum).
Someone monitoring the server at regular intervals (say every few minutes) to make sure that the server is still operational.
The cost of all of these is going to be at least as much as the cost of a dedicated server in a data centre.
I do not want someone to start the same kind of information service providing my customer will be doing over the web.
Now, the idea my customer has is pretty niche and will serve only a small portion of people, but I just don’t want my customers idea and my development time to be ruined because GoDaddy likes her idea and then does it with more marketing and in essence, just “better” than us. I am trying to keep the the operation very “low key” until we have a decent user base… I do not want to be made irrelevant by a bigger company who just steals the idea.
So, what would be the best way to go about protecting my customer from idea theft? I have heard some pretty horrible things about 3rd party hosts.
Use a web hosting provider whose main business is web hosting - they need to ensure that they abide by all the rules in web hosting in order to stay in the web hosting business. If they started stealing their client’s ideas they’d soon be out of business.
GoDaddy is in the Domain Registrar business. Web hosting is just a side business to them.
Any recommendations for honest and reliable web hosts in the US? Whenever I do a google search I get the feeling like these reviewers are all getting paid to say good things.
If you look around SitePoint’s Hosting boards, you’ll see that Rackspace has a good reputation but you’ll pay a bit of a premium for their excellent service. If you can afford it, that seems like a good suggestion. Same with MediaTemple. You can get “deals” with smaller providers but it’s like NASA contracts: Do you really want to be riding in something the lowest bidder built? Another way to put that is to ask whether you drive a Yugo or a Mercedes (I drive a Holden - an Oz/NZ version of a Chevrolet - and use a “middle of the road” managed VPS).
You are 100% right. Recommendations was maybe good in the past, but not anymore. Most, if not all, are paid recommendations. All bad hosts do it. However, even good hosts do it as well.
Sorry for being ironic. But life is hard: all of us do fight for good exposure. Just follow your instinct, select one and ensure that it is a cPanel host. At least, using cPanel that is so widely spread, if you didn’t select right, the change to another host will be painless :injured:
If you have a good idea, SOMEONE will try to steal it just because it IS a good idea. Posting it on a website whether it’s on your own server or another is irrelevant. What you need to do is refine your idea so it can’t be improved upon (or better advertised) and that should put you at the top of your niche regardless of who else climbs onboard.
