I already know how to buy reseller hosting and do it that way. But my business has grown and I need to setup everything at home. In other words I need my own servers that I can sell How do I setup this? And do you have any articles or any web reference guide? Thank you -Steven
You will need a good template, billing system (preferably a paid one) Good support staff & most important thing is good uptime.
Oh boy. Web hosting is a tough market (and I say this having sold a web hosting business recently for 7 figures.) 1- Go with a dedicated server somewhere reliable. Get a managed server, preferably, as you probably don't want to mess with systems administration. 2- Check webhostingtalk.com - especially the "Running a Web Hosting Business" forum. 3- Have a REALLY strong niche. ("Small business" is not a niche. "Shared hosting" is not a niche.) 4- Find someone who can watch over your servers at night so you don't have to wake up at 3AM to answer pages from unhappy customers. 5- It's my strong recommendation that you stay away from any monthly fees under $25/mo. The <$25/mo plans just aren't worth it or sustainable to a small business. Let the GoDaddys and the Dreamhosts of the world have the cheap, crappy customers. My company's average monthly revenue per customer was $425. You can check out my website at erica.biz -- in particular the entry from January titled "Why Your Business Isn’t Doing As Well As It Could Be." In it, I detail how I would make another $1M in the hosting industry (although I don't plan to go back into this industry.) Good luck...this is a tough business. -Erica
If you need help choosing an operating system for your server use ubuntu: High performance (This might help): http://blog.lxpages.com/2007/04/24/ubuntu-performance-guides/
Yea CentOS is good too, but the original poster said he hasn't done this before, Ubuntu might be a better choice (since it's easier to use).
To be honest, if he has no experience in this then maybe he should learn something about it before he jumps headlong into it. It is never good to run through a forest blindfolded.
Right, if you are not going to hire staffs. You have to learn how does Apache, BIND Server, proFTPd (and the so many ftp servers out there like the others) works, how linux systems are laid out, where the logs resides to find the problem, how to debug a software if its segfaulting. Using WHM/cPanel is not enough. Also... you are setting at your home? What kind of connection do you have and what racks have you bought? You probably need a datacenter to house in your servers.. buy some racks and you are ready to go and have a fair knowledge on system administration... this is of course if you are that serious in growing.