I want to start a website that allows users to upload files and access them later at anytime and anywhere. I know it has already been done (dropbox). How would I go about doing this? Do I need to purchase my own server? Can I rent a server? Users will be uploading an average of 10gb. After I have my server can users upload their files through my website? or do I need to create a program that they must use to upload this amount of data? thanks
actually it would be better to use amazon s3 right? they charge you just for the amount of data stored.
... buy it! ... first of all look for a colocation ... for a 1 Click Hoster you need a nice uplink port ... to start with it ... look for a 1 gb uplink port with MANY traffic!!! next step will be to buy server systems ... a nice layer 3 switch with BMC Modules ... and 16 Ports with 1 GB ... 2 - 3 servers with SAS HDD and 8 GB Ram ... and than 3-5 NAS Server (Storage Systems) to handle the files ...
You should have RAID5 for increasing your write speed. This is something I read on other backup service site that they are using RAID5 because 99% of tasks will be write only.
Definitely buy. You will obviously need tons of disk space as well, with little to no bandwidth limitations. Running an upload/download business is very expensive, always.
In that case its always better to purchase the server on monthly rent basis with the managed service, so that you can concentrate on marketing and other issue and your server provider can manage server side issue for you and once your web site launched successfully in the market than you can purchase your own server ....
that's up to you, if you rent a managed server then it will cut off your initial capex, and convert it to opex which than you can pay it monthly, quarterly or yearly basis. it will save you much money for your initial time so you can use it on marketing and others, and after you got numbers of users then you can start buying your own server if it is required.
Please check it http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2008/12/server-hosting-rent-vs-buy/ you may get your own idea
Looking at your first post I would say rent it first! You can always discontinue if the start-up goes south. Also there is a steep learning curve for any start up so when you rent you can always ditch the first choice and go for a better server later. 100% rent!
Personally I'd say not to rent, first of all it's all subject to your provider, you have less control over the servers, they could easily do whatever, I wouldn't feel as safe with my clients data on a rented sever as a collocated server. Also many rental providers do not setup nice RAID configs for speed etc, I would recommend you setup a RAID10 array with 4 disks, which is the minimum for RAID10, this would get you nice performance. Although to start out I would suggest something like S3.. Just my 2 cents.
If you do not have much experience, renting is the best option for you. When your project grow, then you will need to buy.
I wouldn't go for a server based on this requirement. You should look into Amazon cloud servers. You can upgrade the storage anytime without any downtime. Their servers are also much more reliable than most datacenters.
You make want to look into a NAS ( Network Attached Storage ), or SAN ( Storage Area Network ) devices to build the space you will require. On the other hand, you can always use a cloud service tied into a purchased server to host the content. IE. Amazon Cloud Services....