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What kind of free hosting would you be interested in?
So, I was thinking about this a lot, and I'm trying to figure out an actual plan with @FAT32 for a bit of time now regarding the specific details, but the idea is:
Shared Hosting Node (Probably this, to be honest, since it'd be the easiest to fill up)
VPS Hosting node (Difficult, but could attempt to, and would rather not to, as I really don't want to provide tiny specs, and have people wait a thousand years to install nginx, lol)
An entire /24 dedicated to it, so everyone gets 1x IPv4 (always)
Normal abuse desk (like, you won't get shutdown unless you do something illegal*)
So, it would probably be DirectAdmin (actually, I thnk it has to be, tbh, due to costs involved, in general) and there would be a guarantee that for as long as the company itself is active (not struck-off, etc) you will keep your hosting account, for free.
No fucking around, no bullying around to "upgrade", etc. Just your old fashioned free hosting like from back in the day, except this is meant to help out the youngsters starting out, older webmasters trying to get back into the game, hobbyists, basically anyone who wants a true free hosting package, with no strings attached.
*Illegal pertains to basically anything from:
- CSAM
- DDoS / Booters
- Malware
- Ransomware
- Spam
Basically, as simple as you can get. Just don't do stupid shit, and you will be fine.
What I need help with, and I guess what both of us need help with is:
What kind of packages would be the most sought after? Depending on the node itself, this would differ, but the most important part is to come up with one hosting plan that will work for everyone, people starting out, hobbyists, and people trying to grow, as well.
How would we ensure that every forum user only gets one? This one is a bit difficult, since there will be only one /24 allocated, but the best part of it is that no information will be required from anyone apart from their LET username, and I think either myself or @FAT32 would keep a spreadsheet, of which username is tied to which IP, etc.
But I thnk this makes it different to other options on the free hosting market because you don't give any of your information, you get some decent free hosting from the Netherlands, and the only actual requirement is not to do anything illegal, but if you want to, let's say, sell it off in an auction on LET... You would be free to do so, the user that bought it now, because he didn't claim it in time while we had the stock would simply take over the account and the IPv4.
So.. thoughts? or is this a really bad idea? I think it's a good idea, and that it gives some freedom to people, and a sense of true anonymity in a way that they are able to get their site hosted, or play around, etc... without having to disclose any information other than their LET username, and I think we need more of that, and less of taking so much information from people, even for something that costs $3 USD. The transaction fee alone would render the sale useless... whereas, at least here, you could try something out, and if you don't like it. Let it idle, or whatever... but no one is going to be monitored for whether or not they are using it, or just idling. Not the idling police.
Please let me know your thoughts on what the best specs would be... thank you
Comments
But why dedicate a /24 for a webhosting? Wouldn’t it be better to rent out that /24 and get a bigger server with that money instead?
VPS Hosting node would be nice, but i'd imagine it would cost quite a bit to run...
Free hosting rarely pays off. TL;DR, just don't go for it.
@sanvit
It's not about the money, it's about ensuring people have a dedicated IP, even if it's shared hosting. I know it might sound strange, but I have had some people in the past, who always paid extra for a dedicated IP, and it's easier to track of which account is assigned to which user, etc, without violating anyone's privacy. I think it justifies the cost, at least in my opinion.
@yabarg
I don't know... I personally only do bare metal, so this is something that a fellow user would be paid for, and I think he loves virtualization and such things, but I still don't know what specs are fair, and which ones aren't? If you know what I mean... I don't want to provide users with an unusable VPS, etc.
@MikePT
Fun part in all of this is that you're the "fellow user" I was talking about in the paragraph above this one, lmao. If I recall correctly, you ran VPS nodes, etc, too.
Nah, don't worry about it. This one would be on me, 100%. Simply to provide something of value, without having people lose their dignity, register, etc.
Free hosting with the option to upgrade to paid. Remember 000webhost.com era, turns out they're successful and rebranded to Hostinger, now they're everywhere. (I don't know the full story).
What concerns me is, do you plan on using Google Sheets for this or some kind of automation with billing software?
Thanks for the initiative. For better abuse control, probably you can set a lower limit of "thanks" or "LET account history" to get the free package.
@Dazzle
The only actual upgrade would be to a bare metal server, basically... but still, fairly inexpensive compared to most offers (I am not allowed to offer servers for payment, yet, so this is simply something I was talking about privately with another forum user, completely separately from the selling servers, etc) as I don't do shared hosting or VPS, only bare metal servers. Thus, we would need to figure out what's best for everyone, and like I said, this is only a /24 and we all know how many usable IP's there are in a /24.
It will not break the bank. There are no actual plans of going past this one server, at least right now, since after all, if we build a decent node, it could fit a decent amount of users without impacting i/o too much, and having some short-term backups.
But like I said, no... nothing like the 000webhost.com (more like phishhost.com, lmao) stuff, and to be honest, I can remember losing a RapidShare account to a phishing page hosted on 000webhost.com and it pissed me off so hard. Hahahahah! Even back then, they didn't care, just like they don't care now as Hostinger. So much abuse... (Yeah, I know, DMCA, etc. but phishing is genuinely bad).
I was thinking on using Google Sheets, honestly. Because there will be no billing, nothing will expire. As I stated before, it will not break the bank. It's just 1x /24 and 1x node.
If it helps at least some users, I'd be happy, but I don't think a billing software is necessary, as the user can either upgrade with me, or upgrade with one of the fellow LET providers. It's not like they would be forced to stay... Their data is their data...
To be quite honest, I don't understand this, as I am not that active, but maybe @FAT32 might know what it means.
Does having a lot of thanked posts mean you are a famous user, and have money, or to not provide it to users who have a history of doing something really bad?
Genuinely curious, but somehow, it does make sense, what you're saying. Even though I can't figure out why. I guess I am a bit daft, lol.
Because otherwise you'd see 1000 new LET accounts signed up just for this
How about hosting docker containers?
Having a large number of thanks invariably means the following:
Sincerely,
number 6 on the leaderboard.
I think this is a grand gesture but I'm doubtful of the longevity of such a venture. The big issue is funding.
With 2 nodes + licensing + ips you're already in for ~2000 bucks a year or more. That's a huge expense for a free project. What about backups?
My considerations:
if a couple of trusty providers wanted to donate a node it could be a better start.
If you did nat vps or ip6 only it would be a tremendous financial relief.
If you used an open source panel it could bring a little extra savings.
For a really interesting project: community members host nodes out of their basement, this can cut costs down a lot too. It could add a lot of diversity and a lot to community engagement. Disclaimer: read your ISP TOS.
I hope you will give ample consideration to the financial stake involved. Many free hosts have come and gone. Would be nice to see one with longevity that didn't suck.
You may be doing very well now and have ample cash to sink into it... but economies change, markets swing, nothing is certain. I think the only way this idea has a good chance for a long life is to either keep costs low or set up a trust fund to make sure bills get paid. If you're independently wealthy and prepared to do this, by all means do it. If not, that's no shame.
Just some food for thought.
@dedipromo
Yep, you're right. I'm an idiot. Thank you for that. That has to be a requirement. For sure.
@raindog308
I am an old fart, if you tell me more. I am all ears. My PM's are open, and also we can talk here too, so others can benefit from the discussion as well. As I know absolutely nothing about that. We do simple LEMP shit for people.
@fitkoh
It's 100% financially sound, no issues there. I would personally fund it, especially because there's a lot of unused IPv4 space, and I want people to have some dignity, too. So it kind of works out.
Longevity is not an issue, my issue is coming up with the right specs, to get the most out of it, and to come up with the proper hardware requirements, and obviously, the backups would be kept short-term only, but the server itself would still be RAID10 regardless.
So like I said, I am more worried about coming up with a package that will be of benefit of people, let them learn, grow, play around, etc. But it's difficult because this is coming from someone who has never used shared hosting in their life. I have spun up some DO instances and such, I mean, who hasn't... but I would never stop doing bare metal, personally.
This is why I want to dedicate 1x decent node to LET users, and keep it up and running, for as long as I am around, and truthfully, even if something were to happen to me personally, there are other people involved, who know of it, and what I want.
I know it sounds like a huge promise, but it's something that I truly believe in, and it's not a big commitment, the IPv4 I get in bulk, and still have a ton of it sitting unused, and some not even setup. So at least, it would go towards a good cause.
I truly and genuinely appreciate your thoughts and your advice, and it's nothing but thoughtful and considerate of financial stability of the company itself, which like I said, is more appreciated than you may realize.
So the most important points so far:
@Verasel
This is a great idea, but I think IPv4 is not enough for it.
IPv6 will also work if you're only ensuring people have a dedicate IP, this can give more space. And for website hosting then they can use service like Cloudflare or something else.
You can allocate shared ipv4 but dedicate ipv6 in my opinion.
Shared hosting is a great idea but VPS hosting may cost a lot of abuses in my opinion.
I would recommend you provide a dedicate IPv6 and shared hosting to all users and only provide VPS for those who are currently using it.
You can share IPv4 port through VPSes and leave 443 and 80 port for shared hosting.
Also, you mentioned benefit all people ,let them learn. Then you will need to provide a domain(sub domain) for them. You can use Cloudflare and point to the IPv6 record for shared hosting.
TLDR: a free version of [PikaPods](https://www.pikapods.com/ "PikaPods", GCKE, etc.
But if you don't know anything about Docker, have never run kubernetes, etc. then it would be an adventure for you.
@Fengfeng
Agreed on all points, I also believe VPS would generate too much abuse, in general.
IPv6 is absolutely normal, and a reasonable request. Noted down, and accepted.
@raindog308
I know nothing of it, but if you are able to tell me approximate hardware specifications for it, I can see what I can do, regardless of this. This sounds extremely interesting to me... have we come this far with the one-click stuff? I still have to install a ton of old scripts for my clients. Some PHP5, etc. It's crazy. Meanwhile, people are doing everything instantly, hehe.
if you are giving IPv6 to each free hosting account, then good.
other specs should be 2 CPU, 2GB RAM, 20GB NMVe disk and 1TB minimum bandwidth. That's something basic hosting php/database/wordpress sites. Now a days not many go with static sites!
@JasonM
Thank you so much.
Ths is mainly what I was interested in, so I can figure out the needed hardware specifications, to basically, house the entire /24, and the IPv6, too.
Obviously, the IPv6 is a non-issue, that's a given...
So...
2 CPU
2GB RAM
20GB NVMe
(Bandwidth to be decided, hopefully as much as financially possible)
I would say, that I can agree with you in the sense that you could host a simple site with this. Maybe Even WordPress indeed, just not too many plugins, etc? We are getting somewhere, for sure.
Thanks, brother. Honestly!
I mean why not instead give out vps in cheap,
@Verasel this might not sound what you actually wanted but when people generally pay they don't abuse, also instead of typical pricing just give it cheap so it's sustainable both ways
and a pikapods clone sounds interesting but is there any opensource alternative? since I don't remember having one where a user can select the app resources and the app gets installed 😁
@cainyxues
Hello, brother. I hope you are well!
Well, I don't do VPS at all.... I might, but I am scared of actual abuse (and I mean real abuse, I don't mean some random email from whomever, or anonymous threats) and getting listed on Spamhaus, or worst of all, helping phishers, or ransomware people... I think shared hosting is less interesting to them, or am I wrong here?
PikaPods thing... sounds cool as fuck to be honest, just no clue how much it'd cost to run, at least for a couple of users, lol.
I mean, even the shared hosting node, if we make it proper and fair - it cannot be oversold, or have too many accounts, unless a fair amount is HTML/Static, or also cached with CloudFlare.... because the idea is to make use of the IPv4 space, the hardware, and give people dignity most of all. I just hate thinking that you need to register an account for something being given away for free, etc. I think if anything, being an active member of LET, with a history. Basically, someone like you... You are 100% trusted, and a decent human being too, so you immediately fit the criteria that I am thinking of, personally.
Even with the VPS... For those members like yourself, it does make sense. Just not if it's too many members, etc. But if you're a decent, active member... I think it should work, and not generate any abuse.
wait if you're 6 does that make me number 5
@beanman109
Holy Batman! You are SUPER POPULAR here! Lol ))
I need to read your posts and see how you got that many thanks. Impressive as fuck )
they're all paid thanks, im a fraud
regards
I can confirm, he bribed me with 4 free vps in exchanges for thanks
Thanks for the BTC, bro.
Docker containers for the win, you can prolly look into easypanel or likes to give you a better understanding.
@TrK
Thanks brother, this is what I like to hear. But, can I just ask... why is their business plan so cheap?
The basic version is free but can be upgraded for a fee. At the same time, I hope to have advertising revenue to keep the free version running.
They are new and lack many features tbh, but I like how they work and keep improving their product. Oh and they are giving 30% off as well.... pdmjzrpl30....