How to start a Web Hosting Company?

I wanted to know if anyone had information on how to start a web hosting company? I'm not interested in one of the reseller ones, but an actual host.

The reason why is because I was given 6 Servers for free from a friend (decent specs) and would like to run some dedicated servers.

However, my ISP (comcast) does not allow servers (except for LANs). Where would I go or how would I go about this? Thanks for the help.

 

I am also interested in this, good luck finding some information!

There are also some BIG Web Host Forums that will help you out and get you started !

 

Do you live near a big city/ metro area? Go in search of a local Colocation facility, there are several around Detroit that are great. They have the specific setup for servers, including extremely fast internet and usually techs. However, this will cost some money but it will be a better more manageable solution in the end.

 

I live in a small town, but Philly is about 45 mins away.

However, I do know a hosting company based in my state (Delaware) that has a full fledged data center, but they started out through colocation, but the company that provided it has been gone for years.

How exactly do large hosting companies get internet (I guess you would call it?) for their servers?

 

large companies established their own datacenters with varying ports.
So they basicaly have their own facilities.

medium or small ones either have hteir own or colocate at nearby datacenters.
Datacenters supply you with everything you need to ahve your servers up, charging by rackspace ("size" of servers), connection ports, power cycle, etc..and if you plan to colocate at datacenters who also have hosting theirselves, they may even:

manage your servers
instal softwares/hardwares
EVEN control panels, etc... for your servers (of course for additional fees).

I was going to suggest for you to rent server but since you have 4 servers, colocation is the better option for you.

There maybe colocation/datacenters near you or you may have to ship your servers out (a bit risky to ship out to place far or you dont know).
nearby: you can drop by, manage your servers, etc... (check in at times)
far: troublesome to drop by to fix/maintenance.. reliablity questionable.

 

You will need some startup cash to hire some people to put it in their datacenter. If you have 6 free decent spec servers you could sell a couple for cash startup or put them all up and start your business. Porbably just keep them in storage until your business needs more then you put that one up, instead of buying a server online. Good luck!!
Extremely lucky to get 6 servers that are pretty good for free

 

Thanks for the help guys. I'm still a little puzzled about colocating. Who exactly do I go to? A current hosting company or a current ISP?

 

you could either search for hosting companies near you (and see if they'll offer "colocation") or search for dataenters..you could also ask for your ISP i guess..they many not colocate but they may know.

who to go to? you bring your server to them, and they will give you conections, etc..to have them running...

where are you from? which state?

 

You would go to a company like datafoundry.com. You could go to one of the big ISPs and pay a large set up fee plus thousands/month to get a large line installed to your house but if you rent space from a collocation center its way cheaper and you have more features like redundant power.

 

How much colocating servers costs? any idea? Thanks

 

how much? if you have 1 server with normal specs, or very few 1-2 servers, then its better to rent a server.

But if you are planning to build your own servers with 24GB Ram, multi CPU, etc, with fast lines... colocation is "cheaper" for you. Otherwise, its really expensive and price depends on where.

 

I'm in Delaware, and I searched google a little. Best I saw was something like $230/month, but it doesn't have specifics.

 

You should hire it out ,its so easy..

 

Hire it out? Not sure what you mean.

 

Colocate them in any datacenter nearby and then hire some 3rd party management company like www.platinumservermanagement.com (long name that is really worth writing) and then rent those servers for end clients.

You should make some nice profits by just doing nothing but promoting the stock whilke the hardware didn't cost you anything.

what a nice friend you have there

 

I'd like to know how many people have started up a web hosting company with 6 Free Servers under their arms.

I'd imagine the Hardware costs for the Servers themselves is minor compared to the setup and running costs and the other bits and pieces.

Let us know how you go!

Cheers
Tim

 

Hi,
I think that you have to find some offers from data centers near the place you live and compare them. It may cost you, depending on the power and internet you will start with, approx. $500/m. And if you are able to build a good starting customer data base, then you may make profits in the end of the 1st year. Just make sure you are prepared to handle all the support and tech stuff as this is the indicator that makes a company reliable or not.

Good Luck!

 

I run my own web hosting company and have since February. I thought it was a natural step for me since I do a lot of development work. My biggest advice is to start out small, you obviously have server connnections which is great. Just realize that unless you are willing to fund those without any clients for quite sometime, you shouldn't bother. Relying on $5.00 hosting packages to cover a $100 per month bill is ridiculous and a common mistake.

Also, don't make false promises. The whole "unlimited bandwidth and unlimited space" is a myth. You do have limits and if you are upfront with your clients as to what they can get from your packages then it will benefit you in the long run. Most of my clients are long-standing clients. Those looking for a lot at a little price will only be with you for a short time.

That is my only advice really.

 

I'm interested in this as a business concept - did that price include the footprint of a 6-foot cabinet? I assume that all your servers will fit in this space?

If a dedicated server is $170/month then you're making potential profit of $790/month - that's pretty good!

 

+ Get your server secured

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