Forum Moderators: mack
What type of Hardware and Software do web servers need to operate efficiently?
What questions should i be considering if i'm interested in webhosting?
If i'm planning on servicing a large group of customers through webhosting, what type of security would i require?
I have many questions regarding Webhosting and Webservers and it is clear that there are volumes of information surrounding this topic which is why i would greatly appreciate some feedback and perhaps some pointers on how to get started.
Regards,
Offshore
Hosting websites from your location is almost certainly a no-go area, unless you have lots of experience and have staff who can be available for maintenance and repair 24/7.
A more realistic option may be to enter into a managed server lease agreement with a web hosting company. This grants you the same privileges as running the server from your premises, but the hosting company will provide support and maintenance for both the hardware and server software.
If you do want to have a server within your offices then I would recommend against using this for a production environment. Many people within the IT industry use test servers where they can test changes and modifications without the need to worry about breaking things within their production environment. A development server is fairly easy to set up and can act as a staging ground before you publish content or application to your main hosting server.
Hope this gives you some ideas.
Mack.
Thanks for your prompt reply!
Since i'm more familiar with the Windows operating system it would be logical to continue using this tool.
However I am curious to know what are the main differences between two?
In addition to your response regarding setting up a lease contract with the webhost (who would maintain the server's hardware and software requirements as well as having support staff 24/7).
What are my options if i choose this path?
Could i engage in an agreement with a company from abroad or would i have to be located in the same country as the company i share the agreement with?
However I am curious to know what are the main differences between two?
These days, mostly cost and speed.
Linux is free - so no licence charges. Most software for Linux is also open-source and free, which makes sourcing and customising applications a lot easier and a lot cheaper.
Because Linux can run in a "command line" mode (rather like DOS which you may be familiar with), there is no need for the overhead of a GUI environment.
My experience with two identical hardware servers, one running Windows and one running *nix, is that the *nix box is usually a bit quicker.
That said, the gap is closing and there are plenty of very high traffic websites around running on Windows. Incredibly powerful hardware is now also available quite cheaply.
There's no reason you couldn't specialise in Windows hosting, if that's what you're more comfortable with, but I would anticipate that market to be a little smaller. The majority of website hosting is with *nix powered servers running Apache.
TJ
With server silencing it is not quite so simple. Microsoft offer two main options for silencing their windows server software. The first option is to pay a fee per user, the 2nd option is to pay a set fee per server and have unlimited users. The 2nd option may sound more tempting but it's far from cheap. You would need to have over 100 clients on the server to benefit on this plan.
When you offer windows hosting you are almost exclusively aiming your services at clients who need windows specific features such as .net framework or asp scripting support. The "bread and butter" of web hosting will always be the pain vanilla HTML sites. You will not be able to compete with a Linux host for those sites due to the Microsoft licence fee that you will certainly need to pass onto the client.
Learning to administer a Linux server is not all that difficult. Generally your server provider will provide a control panel that will allow you to administer the server over the web using a browser.
As for country specifics. I don't think many companies will care where you are from as long as they get paid they will provide the service. The web is a truly global phenomena.
Mack.
Given that I choose to sign an agreement with a Webhosting company that have servers powered by *nix(I assume this is Linux), What is "Apache"? and why do most servers use this?
Once i establish the type of operating system to use and which company i choose to sign a lease with, since i've never administered a server could you please explain as simply as possible without loosing the important bits, how this would be done?
Thanks for the feedback this is really helpful.
Regards
In other words, what technical aspects should i be looking for?
Off the top of my head, here's a few:
- Support (much more important than you'd first think). They might do admin services like patches for you as well. They also might do managed services like backup and so on. You should talk to them about the upgrade path as well, for when you outgrow the current hardware - e.g. they might help you with migration, let you run both boxes without extra cost for a while, etc.
- Hardware spec of the box itself
- Spec of the data centre e.g. power, fire suppression
- Connectivity: you want multiply redundant connections to the Internet backbone. If your customers are in a certain geographic area then think about getting hosting close to them (i.e. in the same country) so as to make the site fast from their POV.
- Maybe they meet some quality standards, e.g. ISO 9000? No real guarantee of quality, but nice to have.
hth, a.
Whereas Linux is free (no licensing fees) and easy to tailor (That is why most website hosting powered by it).
I do not think the free bit is what matters - lots of people buy a commercial version or a support contract from their Linux vendor.
The thing about it being easy to tailor is that there are lots of Linux distros out there, each tailored to different need.
Another advantage is that you can tailor your installation of Linux to install only what you need. A server does not need a GUI for example. This improves security and possible performance.
Debian based distros and some others have a very good system for updating the OS and all the software you have installed either from one GUI program or one command on the command line.
servers powered by *nix(I assume this is Linux)
*nix does not necessarilly mean Linux. FreeBSD (also open source) is also popular with hosting companies. The rally paranoid about security might use OpenBSD.
That said *nix types OSes are very secure so Linux is probably fine.
One advantage of *nix type OSes is that they are very easy to admin remotely: important if you are installing a server in someone elses facilities.
What is "Apache"? and why do most servers use this?
Apache is by far the most popular web server software. It is reliable, free (open source again), and very flexible, can run lots of sites on a single server, and can scale up to running large sites.
There is a lot of software such as CMSes that run on a combination of Linux (or *BSD) Apache, PHP or Perl and the MySQL database. Google for "lamp".
Lots of web hosts packages which effectively give you hosting for lots of sites at a discounted rate. You sell to your customers and take a profit. Your customers will only see your branding and only deal with you, so from their point of view you are their web host.
You will not have to bother with choosing, installing and (worst of all) maintaining OS, server software etc. Your margins will probably be lower, but it will be a lot less work.
In light of leasing agreements with active webhosts, what are the terms and conidtions within these contracts that one should be mindful of? That is, when i'm negotiating an agreement, what should i be looking for that is by industry standards considered risky and foolish if agreed upon?
Please understand that this industry is fairly new to me and I have little knowledge of what the implications would be if i were to fall into a typical pitfall.
In advance, thanks!
Regards.
