Starting hosting

How to start into hosting

[rgilbank]

I have a small media company that does design/construction stuff and now I'm thinking about getting into hosting. The host my site is currently with comes with unlimited domains, unlimited bandwidth and unlimited hdd space. Now my question is...is there any reason I shouldn't start providing hosting for customers on my own hosting package (charge them to use a piece of mine)? My provider's terms of service say nothing about reselling their services (as long as you're not selling to a child porn producer). I can't think of any reason I shouldn't do it! I mean, the name servers aren't registered as mine but that doesn't really matter I don't think...
Any thoughts?
Thanks.

[rocknbil]

Welcome aboard rgilbank!

Hosting for your clients is awesome if you have COMPLETE control over the dedicated servers. It's an environment you can control, spot problems immediately and kill them, and don't have to worry about someone installing some hackable script on your server that compromises everyone's sites.

I wouldn't do "open" hosting for anyone though. Just too many liabilities and maintenance issues. Check out all the threads on sites being hacked . . . no thank you.

The most difficult part of this, I think, is customers who have bought their own domain name and either forgot they did it, what it means, or simply have otherwise lost their domain name registration info. This invites a nightmare of bureaucratic stuff you have to go through to get your measly domain hosting fee. It's the first question I ask now: "do you have control over your domain name and know how to log in to your domain name account?"

[rgilbank]

Well i think the plan would be to essentially do all the buying myself, such as buy the domain (through godaddy or something like that) on behalf of the user, then point it to my server location. Also, the users wouldn't likely be accessing the files via FTP or anything like that because most of them I find just want me to take care of the whole back end and make changes myself, although I'm writing a little CMS that would allow them to simply login and make a few limited, basic changes. Do you think that would still be problematic? I also have a computer here I'm planning to use for daily backups of everything hosted in my account to cover my ass if the hosting company I'm with goes under. Thanks again!

[StoutFiles]

unlimited bandwidth or *unlimited bandwidth? There's a big difference, and if there isn't, please share.

[Receptional Andy]

StoutFiles makes a good point. Most "unlimited" anything comes with an "Acceptable Use Policy" which prohibits anything the supplier doesn't like. Most hosting companies are overselling (i.e. allocating far more resources than they actually possess). You'll trigger AUP problems pretty quickly if you start using a large proportion of the resources they actually have available. of course, the same principle they use may apply to you - most sites you host will use very little resources, so you can oversell your oversold hosting account ;)

[grandpa]

Do you think that would still be problematic?

When dealing with clients, everything is problematic.

On the plus side, if you have some experience with your own domain hosting then you are only slightly ahead of the client. If you take on a client who is looking to get out a bad hosting plan, well...

It sounds like your provider will still be handling all of the server upgrades and maintenance. Have you been with them long enough to know how well they perform their duties? Have you had to contact them for support? Can you contact them for support?

For the average client (if there is such a thing) for whom you will be providing a total package you are in a good position, so long as your provider is reliable.

Obviously, there may be issues that I know nothing about... let's hope someone else will have something to add.

Don't follow me, I'm lost! [webmasterworld.com]

[rgilbank]

StoutFiles is definitely right, there is an Acceptable Use Policy on my account but the majority of my clients, myself included would have very little resource usage...If they needed to stream a lot or process a lot I'd definitely look into just making them get their own account so I'm not liable. Server upgrades and maintenance have been excellent and seamless in the few years I've been with them. It's all green energy powered, 24/7 security, great support (online helpdesks and whatnot). In their ToS though it says they're not responsible for backing up data which I assume means they do, but if something breaks it's not on them which is why I think having my own backups would be important too...also it would be good in case they go under (really really cheap for everything...not sure how they can afford it!). I know some users will need their own setup anyway (to get an SSL certificate for example) but for your average limited page site, you guys sound like I'd be in reasonable standing.