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Hooking up some SERVERS


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#1
Lashtal

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So I had this amazing idea...

I'd like to hook up some servers and sell the space on those servers to other people, which they may access at any time. Unfortunately, I don't know anything about this process, despite my google searches which have provided me little real knowledge about how to go about Achieving this.

I was wondering if someone out there, who possessed some computer Know-How could lay the knowledge on me.

sincerely,
Lashtal
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#2
Kemasa

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There are places which provide services like this at a fairly low cost and since you don't know how to do it, you would have problems providing service. Also, there are issues of data security, as well as reliability. Do you have a UPS and a generator? Do you have a high speed connection with high speeds in both directions? Do you have multiple static IP addresses? Do you have a firewall which can protect all of the machines? Do you have a means of backing up all the data?

Assuming you really still want to do it, you can network the machines using a switch or a hub, putting it behind a firewall so that the machines are protected. You then need to have a DNS entry for those machines, unless you only want to give people an IP address. You need to add multiple accounts so that each person can only access their data.
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#3
Lashtal

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Is there a book I can read that explains the more technical aspects of this process, and how they relate to eachother? Appox. costs to begin this process on a small scale, or a How To guide of some sort? perhaps a link I had missed along the way.

Believe it or not, my ability to gather information on the internet pertaining to this process has been rather scarce.

Edited by Lashtal, 29 January 2008 - 05:00 AM.

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#4
Kemasa

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It would be many books. Look up System Administration. There is a lot of experience that you would need and/or you would need to hire people and all of that gets very expensive.

Based on my experience, I could do something like that, but I also know there are enough places out there which are cheap enough that I would not make any money at it. Now, I am sure that you could find people who could do this if you have enough money to give them, but I suspect it would not be profitable unless you can scale it big enough and get a lot of people to sign up, but unless you are known, most people would not sign up.
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#5
Lashtal

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I meant, that i'd want to be the host of Their Domain, by allowing them to use my server space.

Not to be confused with: being their Web Provider.

kind of like what they do here: www.velcom.com
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#6
Lashtal

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Any advice designed especially for that purpose?

I'm looking into the Systems Administrator functions at this moment, and while I haven't exactly found a How-To guide at the moment, i'm looking into the components of constructing such a process.
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#7
Kemasa

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Can you beat the prices of velcom? Think about that.

What do you mean you don't want to be their web provider? If you don't serve their web pages, then what are you going to give them? Just data space? Email?
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#8
Lashtal

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Can you tell me why it would be difficult to sell server space at the price that Velcom does?
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#9
Kemasa

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Because you need to be able to have the volume in order to get the price down. Consider trying to make an automobile and being able to do it cheaper than Kia (or some other low cost vehicle). If you make one, there is no way you can make it cheaper than a mass produced vehicle comes out to be. If you make thousands of them, then you can do it.

Part of the cost is service. If you have a machine that you can create accounts on already, then you might be able to sell some services on it IF the people don't care about support. Are you going to be available 24x7 to deal with support issues? At minimum wage, consider what the 24x7 cost per month. You have to be able to divide that by many customers in order to get the cost down. If you don't provide support, then people would most likely not want to pay much when they can pay a little bit and get service.
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#10
Lashtal

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I understand what you're saying as far as mass-availability is concerned.

What i'd like to ask you is: what difficulties would a starting-out web-provider run into along the way, Besides 24hour service and mass-availability, in an effort to create His Own web service to be produced on a more massive scale? I'm looking more in to the Technical Aspects of providing such services with this question. You seem pretty knowledgeable, and I value your opinions as well as your advice.

I can provide 24hour service and meet customer demands as far as scale is concerned; what I don't understand however, are the technical aspects of designing such a project.
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#11
Lashtal

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For instance, HOW to create individual accounts on any particular server and limit their access (a specific amount of GBs per month-Storage and Transfer limitations, etc.) As well as creating My Own firewall to run behind those servers in an effort to block all the backdoors to port80.
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#12
Kemasa

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You need to have good, clean power, meaning you need a UPS and perhaps a generator to deal with power outages. This includes air conditioning. You also should have multiple locations in case there is a problem in the area.. You need multiple connections to the Internet, in case the primary connection goes down. You also need staff who know what they are doing and able to deal with problems, technical people.

You can create accounts on individual servers or you can use a centralized service using something like LDAP, NIS or Active Directory. You need to be able to select which machines the accounts can login on. It also needs to be easy to deal with since otherwise it can take a lot of time. Quotas will take care of the disk space. There should be packages which can track some of the network usage, but that gets complicated. Network switches might also provide some control in this area, but there is a lot to track (web page usage, file transfer, etc.).

You need to have a good firewall which can be created from a Linux box or getting an expensive network switch (ie. Cisco or other similar switch). You need to be able to block IP address and monitor usage to deal with problem access, such as DOS (denial of service) attacks.
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#13
Lashtal

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This has been very helpful and I thank you. This is a ways beyond me at this time, as i'd like to configure it all myself. But this is something I would like to work up to.

If you take a look at that Velcom.com toll-free number, it's the voice of the guy who owns the site and he's only available 3 hours each day (maximum) to deal with customers inquiries, lol I've also seen those ads in the paper where you pay about 3 dollars per month and they give you an 800 number to make your small business look bigger than it really is in an effort to achieve customer reliance/trust.

At the moment, i'm just trying to construct a simple .com and make money off of Google's Adsense...any recommendations on how to excell in that industry?
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#14
Kemasa

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Well, if he is only available such short hours I would not use his service. Some people might though.

It is important to check out the company which you decide to use and it is important to know that places can and do fake things.

I am not familiar with adsense, other than knowing about it. I saw a book about things you can do. It was advertised on the This Is True email list, so you might want to check on that.
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