Connection speed to start a Web Hosting company

I would like to offer web hosting services.

I currently own a very nice brand new server it is a new Dell 2800 with two XEONS at 3.0GHz/1MB Cache, 800MHz FSB and for now it has 1GB of ram.

I believe I will start hosting my own 4 domains and start hosting a few customers domains. What kind of Internet speed do you recommend to start with? I don't have the money to pay hundreds or thousands for a T or OC connection now because there are no customers yet. Do you recommend to start with a connection with upload of 768kb for upload? it is a DSL line @ 3mb down and 768kb/down and of course Static.

Thank You

Walter

Collocate the server with a good DC or a good host that offers collocation space.

Hosting it at home on DSL is anything but reliable to be honest.

If it was just your own domains then fine but if you are going to be taking peoples money then collocating the server in a good DC is the way to go.

The bad thing is that you have a desktop style case and that takes a lot of space (called U's as in 1u 2u 4u) rather than a rack mount case. So it may be more expensive. I charge 149.00 a month for a 2U collocation (not making an offer just giving example). A desktop case is a lot more than 2 Us.

Anyway that is my .02 worth.

Thanks DamnSkippy for your professional advise


It makes sense, it won't be reliable to run a server on a DSL line and instead of paying for that DSL service it will be better to pay for a good DC if I could find a good DC for what you charge or less here in Los Angeles CA area.

Yeah I understand case size matters I just decided to go with the desktop case because for some reason I don't like to see all the components to close to each other I tend to think that they will get hotter (lol) but mainly because it was cheaper.

Lets pretend DSL at 3mb/down 768kb/up is 100% reliable, will the 768kb/upload speed good for a few websites? If yes how many?

Thanks again

Walter

We're in the Los Angeles area; our colocation facility is in Tustin.

We'd probably be too expensive to colocate a 4U server (most desktop servers when put on their side are 4U), but you may certainly call me if you wish; my phone number is in my sig at the bottom of my email.

Let's pretend that your DSL will be 100% reliable.

Here's the problem.

You're not the only one with DSL. And everyone else with DSL who'll be looking at those sites has 1.5M or 3M down as well.

So they're going to quickly overload your server.

And while I know you want to pretend that your DSL will be 100% reliable, having used SBC DSL from my home for at least three years now, I can honestly tell you it's NOT. It doesn't go down often, but it slows down almost every evening, and when it does go down, it's been known to go down for between hours and days.

Also, unless you've got an SBC contract that predates their merger with Yahoo!, your agreement doesn't allow servers.

If you're "lucky" enough to have Verizon connectivity, then you're not lucky at all. All the prior notes apply, and one more: Don't use Verizon, but rather another ISP that uses Verizon, because Verizon blocks ports from time to time.

If you're on Verizon or SBC and want to go with DSL, your best bet would be to switch to LinkLine if you don't have an unbreakable contract; LinkLine recently won a lawsuit against SBC and has some awesome deals and a lot of experience. Call them (they're in Ontario but have a 951 area code) and ask for Renato in sales, and tell him I sent you.

One more thing, though...

Those outages I mentioned; they happen with either SBC or Verizon, or a company such as LinkLine, because the problems are with the physical distribution hardware and that's owned by and run by Verizon or SBC.

I've moved this thread to Off-Topic because it really has nothing to do with DirectAdmin.

Jeff