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What to expect in the hosting industry?
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What to expect in the hosting industry?

CrogicCrogic Member
edited July 2014 in General

I wanted to know how hard it is to start in this business. I got the skills required, I work as a Linux Administrator and consider myself proficient in Linux, well that's what I do for a living. I have experience with kvm and openvz (I haven't played around with xen that much).

I currently have 2 dedicated server with OVH that I was using for projects, I already got SolusVM up and running (1 server as master and the other as slave).

My questions are the following:

  1. With how many servers should I start with?
  2. How much money should I put upfront?
  3. What are expectations in the first months?
  4. Is it time consuming (like 24/7)?
  5. What are the liabilities?
  6. What do I need (Billing panel, Licenses, Etc)

Thank you

Comments

  • doughmanesdoughmanes Member
    edited July 2014

    said: What are expectations in the first months?

    LEB/LET will see you as competition as their favorite provider so LETtards and LEBheads will accuse you of everything. Hang out on this forum. You'll see it everyday

    said: Is it time consuming (like 24/7)?

    Some providers point fingers at others while at the same time, their public facing stuff goes down then they scream they were on vacation. It's a business that operates 24/7, it will be time consuming 24/7

  • trewqtrewq Administrator, Patron Provider

    You should be speaking to a business advisor/accountant/lawyer about most of those questions.

  • CrogicCrogic Member

    @trewq said:
    You should be speaking to a business advisor/accountant/lawyer about most of those questions.

    I know I just want to get an idea .

  • shovenoseshovenose Member, Host Rep

    @Crogic said:

    I am not a provider used to be though - it's not an easy business. Competence in Linux is a great start but that's only a 3rd of the battle :) you also have to manage a business and provide support.

  • CrogicCrogic Member

    Zen said: With how many servers should I start with? 1 x Slave - 1 x Master - 1 x Billing

    Can put Billing in AWS?

    Zen said: What do I need (Billing panel, Licenses, Etc)? Do the research

    I did I just wanted to be sure I'm not missing anything.
    WHMCS + Add-ons, SSL Cert, Servers, SolusVM, Domain

  • trewqtrewq Administrator, Patron Provider

    @Zen said:
    Sure, a lot better than where most new hosts put their billing - RackSpace/AWS/Google/OVH Cloud these are all providers I would recommend and it should go without saying still take backups regardless.

    Checking the integrity of your backups is also important.

  • jarjar Patron Provider, Top Host, Veteran
    edited July 2014

    Happy to share my perspective :)

    With how many servers should I start with?

    Two for redundancy. Now that I've said what I feel obligated to say to prevent backlash from the idealistic crowd, just about every hosting company starts with one server.

    How much money should I put upfront?

    Shop smart. Don't buy cheap crap but don't go out and grab a $1,000/m server with a startup fund of $6,000 either. Plan to be able sustain yourself without profit for as long as possible. Obviously something is wrong if you go too long without profit, but don't forget that you want to file a loss on your taxes if you're in the U.S. Profit gets reinvested for at least 2 years, in my opinion.

    What are expectations in the first months?

    Ever put on a nice fancy suit, stand outside the door and wait to greet a crowd that must have never received their invitations? It's like that. Keep your chin up and a smile on your face. Don't act like you're more than you are to mask it, just keep believing in your product.

    Is it time consuming (like 24/7)?

    Until you automate most things, and then until someone finds the loophole in said automation. After you get that settled, you'll be smooth sailing on 3-4 hours of sleep a night, in intervals of 30 minutes.

    What are the liabilities?

    Legal. Cover your butt. Lawyers are not unapproachable, don't be shy, get one.

    What do I need (Billing panel, Licenses, Etc)

    WHMCS + cPanel (for shared), or SolusVM (for VPS) = automated hosting company. Don't get lazy, keep it up to date and do log audits.

  • CrogicCrogic Member
    edited July 2014

    Jar said: Two for redundancy. Now that I've said what I feel obligated to say to prevent backlash from the idealistic crowd, just about every hosting company starts with one server.

    I currently have 2 servers with OVH, both have two 120 GB SSD's on RAID 1 and E3's. My plan is using a AWS instance for my WHMCS panel and the 2 servers for the hosting.

    Is that a good idea?

    Thanks

  • jarjar Patron Provider, Top Host, Veteran

    @Crogic said:
    Is that a good idea?

    As the guy who started offering VPS by getting drunk and renting a server in FDC Denver, and still lived to tell stories about it, I'd say it's not only a good idea but you're also well ahead of the curve.

    Thanked by 2trewq jamson
  • 4 Is it time consuming (like 24/7)?

    Any small business is time consuming. If you want your business to succeed you must put in long hours. Maybe you should start with a reseller account from a company that provides support for you, however you will still need to market that business and that is time consuming also.

    Here it is in short, DO NOT start any business that you can't or won't invest your time in. Any small business is not a "set it and forget it" operation.

    Thank you Ron Popeil for the "set it and forget it" phrase

  • CrogicCrogic Member
    edited July 2014

    @EggheadTek said:

    4 Is it time consuming (like 24/7)?

    Any small business is time consuming. If you want your business to succeed you must put in long hours. Maybe you should start with a reseller account from a company that provides support for you, however you will still need to market that business and that is time consuming also.

    Here it is in short, DO NOT start any business that you can't or won't invest your time in. Any small business is not a "set it and forget it" operation.

    Thank you Ron Popeil for the "set it and forget it" phrase

    Well I plan on putting a lot of time into the business but I don't know if 1 person can do all the work required. Are there any companies that help with support?

    Thank you

  • ztecztec Member

    I'm actually really surprised of the reactions you're getting here. Go LET!

  • perennateperennate Member, Host Rep
    edited July 2014

    Crogic said: Well I plan on putting a lot of time into the business but I don't know if 1 person can do all the work required. Are there any companies that help with support?

    What kind of support? Majority of your support time is going to be spent on technical issues, when you have only two servers of clients to manage. So getting external support isn't so useful I think.

    Also IMO whatever language your billing panel is in, you should be able to program decently in that language; and know HTML too in case you need to tweak templates for various reasons.

    Oh and it's been mentioned in this thread multiple times but... backups!

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