Massive Cost Reductions

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webling

Member
Since I have my own Linux server at my NOC, I am considering running a dedicated wire in. The box has a 1TB SSD on it and with the changes I have made recently in cutting costs this would enable me to raise the bar on web hosting. I could host a massive number of clients on that. And with the hosting structure I currently have would still be cheaper than relying on VPS.

I remember when I ran my first web hosting company many years ago I wrote the order site myself in Perl CGI. It takes time and that one took me about 40 hours. But it was simple and effective.

I'm always thinking on more alternatives to expensive software costs and other things. FREE works really well for me.
 
When you have the opportunity to save money, it's very cool and I'm glad that you found such a solution, but I still think that online hosting has many advantages. Especially if you find a really reliable provider that provides full access, then in some cases it may be better than your own server.
 
webling said:
Since I have my own Linux server at my NOC, I am considering running a dedicated wire in. The box has a 1TB SSD on it and with the changes I have made recently in cutting costs this would enable me to raise the bar on web hosting. I could host a massive number of clients on that. And with the hosting structure I currently have would still be cheaper than relying on VPS.

I remember when I ran my first web hosting company many years ago I wrote the order site myself in Perl CGI. It takes time and that one took me about 40 hours. But it was simple and effective.

I'm always thinking on more alternatives to expensive software costs and other things. FREE works really well for me.
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I'm glad that other businesses are innovating and expanding their infrastructure, the industry is moving on quicker and quicker. Small hosts (especially newer hosts) need to keep up.
webling said:
I wrote the order site myself in Perl CGI.
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I do have a question about this. Was it secure, and back "then", was it looking fancy?
I'm genuinely interested about this. Great work.
webling said:
FREE works really well for me.
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This may be the case, but is FREE secure enough?
With cPanel for example, what you are paying for is a pretty much bullet proof control panel.
What I mean by bullet proof is it's almost impossible for hackers to break in.
That's one of the main reasons I switched from CyberPanel to cPanel.
Good work 😉
 
That sounds like a solid plan! Having your own Linux server at your NOC with a 1TB SSD gives you a ton of flexibility especially if you’re focused on keeping overhead low. Cutting out VPS costs and going fully dedicated can definitely raise the bar, especially with the kind of control and scalability you get from running your own infrastructure.


Also, respect for writing your original order site in Perl CGI that’s old-school and impressive. It’s wild how those early builds, even if basic, were super efficient and did exactly what they needed to.


Totally agree with you on avoiding unnecessary software costs. There’s a lot you can do with open-source and self-hosted tools these days. FREE definitely works when you’ve got the skills and vision to back it up.


Curious are you planning to offer shared hosting or something more custom for your clients?
 
instructhost said:
That sounds like a solid plan! Having your own Linux server at your NOC with a 1TB SSD gives you a ton of flexibility especially if you’re focused on keeping overhead low. Cutting out VPS costs and going fully dedicated can definitely raise the bar, especially with the kind of control and scalability you get from running your own infrastructure.
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I would agree, I would also like to add that while owning and operating your own Linux server brings significant control, it does come with upfront costs that can impact the bottom line if not managed carefully. Hardware, electricity, cooling, maintenance, and unexpected failures unfortunately comes with financial risk. Especially if client growth doesn’t keep pace with your infrastructure.
 
Running your own metal is super satisfying, especially when you’ve got a solid box like that sitting in your NOC. There's something oddly calming about knowing exactly where your stack lives and how it behaves. You're totally right about the cost angle too; once that hardware’s paid off, your marginal cost per client drops hard.

If you're already running a custom control/order system, you're halfway there. The real win now is automation and scaling smartly without burning yourself out. Monitoring, backups, user provisioning - those are the bits that tend to sneak up on folks who go DIY. 😉
 
webling said:
Since I have my own Linux server at my NOC, I am considering running a dedicated wire in. The box has a 1TB SSD on it and with the changes I have made recently in cutting costs this would enable me to raise the bar on web hosting. I could host a massive number of clients on that. And with the hosting structure I currently have would still be cheaper than relying on VPS.

I remember when I ran my first web hosting company many years ago I wrote the order site myself in Perl CGI. It takes time and that one took me about 40 hours. But it was simple and effective.

I'm always thinking on more alternatives to expensive software costs and other things. FREE works really well for me.
Click to expand...
That’s a smart setup. Owning your hardware and optimizing costs really gives you control. Curious — how do you handle backups or redundancy in your setup?
 
webling said:
Since I have my own Linux server at my NOC, I am considering running a dedicated wire in. The box has a 1TB SSD on it and with the changes I have made recently in cutting costs this would enable me to raise the bar on web hosting. I could host a massive number of clients on that. And with the hosting structure I currently have would still be cheaper than relying on VPS.

I remember when I ran my first web hosting company many years ago I wrote the order site myself in Perl CGI. It takes time and that one took me about 40 hours. But it was simple and effective.

I'm always thinking on more alternatives to expensive software costs and other things. FREE works really well for me.
Click to expand...
That sounds like a solid setup, especially with your own Linux server and 1TB SSD. Going direct with dedicated hardware definitely gives you more control and long-term savings compared to managed VPS solutions. Also, hats off for writing your first order system in Perl CGI — that’s some serious old-school dedication! I'm also a big fan of open-source and free alternatives — sometimes they outperform paid tools if used right.
 
f you already have your NOC set up and good connectivity, you can achieve excellent performance and good margins, especially if you automate all management and backups.

Look, having your own hardware gives you a lot of flexibility and helps you reduce costs in the long run.

I completely agree; sometimes the best infrastructure is free. Open-source tools can save you a fortune, and if you know how to configure them correctly, they will remain very stable.
 
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