Want to create a Server

[meriakre]

Hi.
I would like to ask you if it is possible to create servers, for web hosting, with a million dollars.
I have a million available and I am interested to find out the costs and the possible ROI of this business.
Will appreciate greatly your sugestions.

Thank you in advance.

[Gian04]

Anyone? Im also interested to learn what are the things needed to host my own websites.

I know I need the following :
MyQSL, PHP, Apache

So what else? Including the PC Specs.

[lammert]

Very open questions, but if you have one million dollars to burn, you should at least think about the following things:

First think about the market you want to be in:

• Shared hosting for low traffic websites
• Medium traffic hosting, VPS
• High end hosting, dedicated servers, colocation

Which software will you support:

• Linux, Windows, FreeBSD, ...
• Apache, .NET, ...
• PHP, RoR, ASP, Java, ...
• mySQL, MS-SQL, Oracle, Postgres, ...

Then think of the service level you want to provide:

• People can only email to the support desk
• Day time telephone support
• 24/7 technicians in the server control room with direct telephone access for clients

Now think of the data organization:

• Stand alone servers with just a harddisk and NIC
• Servers in clusters with a centralized network disk system
• Full redundancy and backup of all hardware and data

Think about the functionality separation:

• Every server runs webserver, SQL and mail software
• Functionality of webservers, SQL databases and mail processing is split over specialized server clusters

Look for a location:

• Links to two independent power grids
• Links to two or more independent internet backbones
• Place without earthquakes, floods, hurricanes etc.
• Stable location regarding politics, terrorism etc.

Only if you have answered all these questions, you can start defining the hardware.

[vincevincevince]

Take some of your million dollars and get a proper bit of market research done. Then, once you are well informed about the market, take some more of your million dollars and get some technical experts to design your systems. Only then do you start buying up hardware.

[King_Fisher]

Gee, If I had a million dollars I don't know if I would be hanging around
here or not. Probably the best thing is to buy up some good paying websites
You could buy 20 to 30 of them and still have some change left.:) KF

[jtara]

Start by defining exactly what it is you are trying to do.

I don't have any clue what you mean by "create servers".

Do you mean:

- "create a new web server software package"? (e.g. a competitor to Apache)

- "design a computer suitable for running web servers" (this *is* the hardware forum)

- "start a hosting company" (as one poster above assumed you meant)

Something tells me, though, that this post is really a troll for something else, just not sure what...

[internetheaven]

Something tells me, though, that this post is really a troll for something else, just not sure what...

Last time I got asked a question like this personally the guy was writing a business plan for his bank to get a loan for several hundred thousand pounds. I spotted the fishing expedition for free research and offered him my consulting brochure and fees ... ;)

[jtara]

I spotted the fishing expedition for free research

Nothing wrong with using WebmasterWorld to help flesh-out a business plan.

But do your basic research first, define precisely what you are looking for, then come here to get the benefit of real-world experience and some of the nuances that come with that experience.

IMO, the purpose of WebmasterWorld is *not* to get others to do your research for you, though.

If you're looking for a business partner, look into the "commercial exchange" forum here. (Read the charter, though, it's somewhat restricted, but still quite useful for this purpose.)

[LifeinAsia]

in addition to lammert's issues, you also need to look at the other related issues, all of which which will continue to drain your million dollars every month:
- staffing (IT guys with excellent networking/troubleshooting skills, sales people to bring in/maintain clients, etc.)
- rent and utilities (either buy your own building (probably not going to happen with only a million bucks) or rent out part of one, plus you need to supply it with power and Internet conenctivity)
- marketing (you'll have to advertise to let people know about you)