# Owning your own server and being your own ISP.



## seedspreader (Oct 18, 2004)

I know some of you have done or do this now. I own about 10 websites, I pay for them right now through my hosting service.

What's it take to set up a dedicated server and get an IP assigned, etc for the World Wide Web. 

Any help would be appreciated.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

I take it from your post that you are not asking about starting a dialup Internet service, but only a hosting service. If that's the case you have a number of ways to go.

Probably the simplest way is to open a hosting reseller account with a wholesale web host. You will find them for good prices at eBay, but some are more reliable than others. If you want to go that route PM me for which ones are good.

If you want your own server you will need to learn to be a Linux jock. I use Redhat Fedora for a server environment. That should be fine for your purposes, but you'll need to take learning Linux seriously.

With running your own server you have a few ways to go. You can lease hard drive space with your own Linux installation by getting a Virtual Private Server (VPS) account. That's the least expensive way to run your own server. You could also build a computer and place your server in a commercial server room (co-locate).

As an alternative, you could run web hosting software in your Windows workstation and host your web pages yourself, although doing so probably violates your user agreement with your ISP.

If your goal is to host your own domains inexpensively I would go the wholesale hosting account route.


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## Gary in ohio (May 11, 2002)

Unless your having issues with your current hosting site, why bother. Use there hardware. Some will allow you to rent an entire machine from them and do what you want. Let them handle the hardware and software issues, let them worry about backups and recovery.


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## Guest (Apr 17, 2007)

ZealYouthGuy said:


> I know some of you have done or do this now. I own about 10 websites, I pay for them right now through my hosting service.


 If you're just looking for a way to host your 10 sites cheaper, my reseller accounts start at $21.95/month and would handle all 10 sites in one account (and more) unless you get some awfully heavy traffic.

PM me if you want to know more.


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## seedspreader (Oct 18, 2004)

I already own a resellers account. I just wanted information about hosting on my own (as in my house) server.


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## Guest (Apr 18, 2007)

ZealYouthGuy said:


> I already own a resellers account. I just wanted information about hosting on my own (as in my house) server.


 Oh, ok. I've had a long, VERY exhausting day so I may not have read your original post carefully.

It can be done. You'll need a fast DSL connection. Servers aren't cheap, though.

Some people convert an old PC into a server, but I never did that so I don't know what all is involved.

The experts at webhostingtalk.com could probably explain everything step by step. That's one of my favorite places to go for any kind of server tech advice or problems.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

ZealYouthGuy said:


> I already own a resellers account. I just wanted information about hosting on my own (as in my house) server.


I would suggest that you install a Windows based web server and test your residential connection. Some ISPs block servers on residential accounts. They won't block port 80, since you'll need that for viewing web pages. However, you can be very sure that they'll block the standard FTP ports. There are ways around that, but you have to be ready for it and experiment.

That said, you may be able to do it. First, you'll need a computer (case only) to install Redhat Fedora on as a command line only environment. You don't want to have a graphical environment like KDE or Gnome, since those will use resurces and create instability. You can download and install Webmin later to have a graphical interface for server administration. That's free, small, and works very well.

As for the IP address, it will need to be in the same range as your Internet provider's. If you get a static IP address you will need to get it from your provider, but a static IP address isn't necessary. You can use a free DNS service like no-ip.com to keep your domain IP addresses in sync with your ever-changing residential IP address.

In short, it can be done but you'll have obsticals with a residential connection that you won't have to deal with if you get a VPS. You can get a VPS account for as little as $15/month, which will include a few gigs of hard drive space, your own Linux installation, and a commercial Internet connection.


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## Guest (Apr 18, 2007)

Nevada is smart. He has my head spinning right now. :viking: I'm too tired to take all that in.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

ladycat said:


> Nevada is smart.


Not really, I've just been down that road before. I've concluded that the Virtual Private Server (VPS) was definately the way to go. It's way less expensive than colocation, and it solves the connection problems for hosting email & FTP accounts on a residential connection.


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## Gary in ohio (May 11, 2002)

ZealYouthGuy said:


> I already own a resellers account. I just wanted information about hosting on my own (as in my house) server.


Again, WHY, You want to take a server at an ISP where all the bandwidth is located and move the servers to your home behind a slow speed or expensive none redundant link.

The way you do what your asking is get a business account with your ISP, Get with your local telcom have them install a high speed, (DSL isnt going to cut it) link to your home, install the server and go. So now you have a few hundred dollars month ISP cost, a thousand dollar network cost to host the same machine you can host onsite at $22. Again why would you want to do that?


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## seedspreader (Oct 18, 2004)

Gary in ohio said:


> Again, WHY, You want to take a server at an ISP where all the bandwidth is located and move the servers to your home behind a slow speed or expensive none redundant link.
> 
> The way you do what your asking is get a business account with your ISP, Get with your local telcom have them install a high speed, (DSL isnt going to cut it) link to your home, install the server and go. So now you have a few hundred dollars month ISP cost, a thousand dollar network cost to host the same machine you can host onsite at $22. Again why would you want to do that?


Well gary that's why I am asking questions. And just to be clear you are saying it can't be done for less than "hundreds of dollars" per month? And I haven't found any dedicated servers for 22 dollars a month.


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## seedspreader (Oct 18, 2004)

Nevada said:


> I would suggest that you install a Windows based web server and test your residential connection. Some ISPs block servers on residential accounts. They won't block port 80, since you'll need that for viewing web pages. However, you can be very sure that they'll block the standard FTP ports. There are ways around that, but you have to be ready for it and experiment.
> 
> That said, you may be able to do it. First, you'll need a computer (case only) to install Redhat Fedora on as a command line only environment. You don't want to have a graphical environment like KDE or Gnome, since those will use resurces and create instability. You can download and install Webmin later to have a graphical interface for server administration. That's free, small, and works very well.
> 
> ...


I would like to hear more about the VPS provider for 15/month. Is that a dedicated IP also?


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## lharvey (Jul 1, 2003)

ZEAL, I went this route about 7 years ago.

I had a server running linux in my office running off my cable connection. The server was an 'old' machine that I rebuilt and started hosting sites.

It wasn't long before I realized that I started out the wrong way.

I saved money and bought a brand new server. Set it up and shipped it to a data center with real connections to the backbone and real UPS plans.

I now have two linux, one windows, and one cold fusion machine sitting in my rack at the data center.

I would really not suggest that you try hosting your customers on a machine at your office unless of course you don't want to retain those customers. It won't work out. Yes, it does cost more at a data center but the benefits of their advanced networking infrastructure and power handling is worth the extra dollars. Your customers will be happy, you will be happy as long as you keep your prices reasonable and provide excellent service.

Make sure when doing a coloation that you know your servers in and out. If you need the engineers at the NOC [ Data Center ] to step in and fix something for you, it will cost you.

WebHosting is a funny business. Customers don't understand redundant connections, UPS, mirroring and load balancing. They understand only one thing. How much does it cost. They will jump ship to save a dollar a month when they think they are getting a better deal even though you know that they are not.

Tip. Build your machines the best that you can possibly afford to build them. Plan for upgrades and replacement in your business plan and stick to it. You know roughly how much it will cost you to build a new server ahead of time, so set that money aside for that and then build when you can pay for it. Relegate your older machines to doing backups and other less stressfull boring duties.

Servers located at your office should be used for storage, sandbox operations and your internal working data.

Finally. Yeah everybody says. I am currently hosting over 400 sites on my combined servers. I still have almost all of my original 50 customers that I started with. I know them all. I know their kids, I know what they do for business, If I don't know my customer, I don't want to host their site. Less chance of the porn and other uses leaking in.

Hope this helps.

Lee


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

ZealYouthGuy said:


> I would like to hear more about the VPS provider for 15/month. Is that a dedicated IP also?


Yes, you normally get a dedicated IP address with a VPS account. You can find lots of them by Googling.


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## gccrook (Nov 21, 2003)

You can get dedicated IP address hosting without going VPS or dedicated servers. It usually cost more. Using your own server in your house is OK if you do not expect large volumes of traffic. Otherwise, your ISP will not be happy, and will probably shut you down.


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## pixelphotograph (Apr 8, 2007)

From what I understand you really dont want to be an ISP you just want to host websites at home on your own server.
An ISP would provide internet service for other people this would require much money lots of phone lines and or a t1 or t3 or oc3 cable. Not something you do lightly.

If all you want to do is host websites at your home you can use a spare computer.
My ISP Bellsouth offers what is called a STATIC IP Address, for an additional 14.95 a month. setting up your own hosting service isnt as easy as it may sound and frankly I dont wish to go into the details as it would be too time consuming and why repeat what is widely available in books and websites all over the net. Apache server is probably one of the most used pieces of software and is widely available free. I would start there.


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## pixelphotograph (Apr 8, 2007)

also out of curiosity why are you looking into hosting them at home instead of using someone else?


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## seedspreader (Oct 18, 2004)

pixelphotograph said:


> also out of curiosity why are you looking into hosting them at home instead of using someone else?


Because I will be hosting about 12 or 13 of my own websites (various interests/purposes) and where I currently host the cost of a dedicated server is prohibitive. When I update on of my sites with a new theme or plugin and do it via the script on my CMS (e107) the hosting company determines that it gets posted as an "anonymous" upload and therefor I can't make .php modifcations to the files that I may need to, or change titles, pictures in themes, logo's etc. without having THEM switch the permissions on the files. It gets quite tiresome, yes I COULD upload via ftp all themes, plugin's, etc. and then extract them, but really that's a hassle and part of the reason I love my CMS that I have... you have the zipped/tared files on your hardrive, go to the theme page it uploads and unzips the file into the right areas and it's previewable from the themes page.

(that's ONE reason)

Although my host tells me nothing has changed, this didn't USED to be a problem with them.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

You host is pretty restrictive. You can do those things with many hosts without a dedicated server account, and it doesn't have to be expensive.


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## seedspreader (Oct 18, 2004)

Nevada said:


> You host is pretty restrictive. You can do those things with many hosts without a dedicated server account, and it doesn't have to be expensive.


I am all ears for some personal recommendations I pay about 30 dollars a month for my resellers package.

http://www.totalchoicehosting.com/web-hosting-resellers.html

Like I said... show me some good places. TCH was one of the best when I first found them. I won't switch without hearing a personal testimony from someone.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

Check your PM.


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