Starting from the beginning ....

[ezmoney]

Hello forum this is my first of many post to come as I learn more about the hosting biz. I am a college student looking to get a head start on my future. I am trying to find out as much as I can about the hosting business so that I can one day start my own local company.

I would be greatful if anyone here can tell me what I need to learn about hosting, what equipment I need if I was to start a small hosting company for just my local area. The type of internet connection I will need etc... What type of servers do I need and what are the differnce between the flat servers that you see and plain towers of computers that you see?

You can use any of the basic computer lingo that you feel will help you get your point across easier. Also if you could give some example of servers and billing programs that you think would best fit a new comer with a small local hosting company in mind it would be great.

If this is the wrong place for me to post my newbie post I would be greatful if one of the admins could move this post to where it would be most helpful to me.

I havn't seen any flamers here as of yet and I hope that I don't, but if there are any out there who wish to put a negative view on my dream I would be greatful if you didnt post at all thank you.

Also if you see someone post a reply and you feel they left something out or you have an differnt view or another point of that person post it will also be taken in great thought.

Thank you in advance to anyone and all who post a reply that will help me.

 

[mark]

For a start ezmoney, there is no easy money in hosting.... IMHO (i've been in the game since '96), it's a long hard slog and one that takes a lot of research, learning, planning and sheer hard work.

If there was only one bit of advice i'd give it would be to research and learn.... research the market & the industry and learn as much as you can about not just running web servers or all the tech stuff but how to run a business.

Re: "What type of servers do I need and what are the differnce between the flat servers that you see and plain towers of computers that you see? "
..... the flat ones (usually 1U servers , the 1U means 1Unit, which is about 2inches) are designed to save space in racks (the racks you find in data centres. That is because most data centre space is sold in U's. Therefore the smaller (flatter) the server the less you will have to pay for the space.

I admire your stance on being in college but wanting to get a head start on your future... all i wanted to do at the time was drink beer, socialise and meet women .

To get started, i'd suggest buying a couple of cheap hosting accounts for yourself... maybe one on Unix (Linux) and one on Windows so that you can work out what *you* would want in a host. Then the next step i would suggest would be to identify a niche that you think may be profitable... at the end of the day everyone and his dog is a host these days, so personally i think you've got to get recognised for doing something quite specialised.

After a while you would probably want to look at getting a reseller account with a decent, credible host, so that they can do the hard tech bits like "keep the server running", while you can learn how best to fill the space up on it and get (and retain) customers.

After that, you will by then hopefully know what you are gonna do next.

Cheers and i wish you all the best.

 

[johnder]

Market research is very important, as Mark points out, and part of this is understanding where your clients will come from. When I started my web hosting business, I was already doing web design and hosting was just an "on the side" service I provided to my clients. I didn't realize that hosting, in itself, was a viable business. But then I realized the potential, and started offering web hosting services on its own.

It takes a lot of work, and no, clients won't be lined up at your door (unless you have something remarkable for them). It takes a lot of time, a lot of hours and a lot of commitment. Do your research! ;o) And good luck!


JP