What's a good way to get into hosting?
I've read scrappy bits of info on the web, tried to piece it together to get an understanding of email, DNS, domains, SSH, SSL, etc, etc, but it's not a very efficient way to learn.
Can anyone recommend a book or web site that explains comprehensively how the net works, from the servers/hosts point of view?

I'm just getting started in web design, and it seems every other web designer offers hosting. I feel I should too, but I'm not too sure how to go about it, and what I absolutely need to know before I buy a reseller plan and give it a shot.

Any advice, perhaps from someone in a similar situation (ie web designer who had to learn about the hosting side of things)?

hi, my advice is a no-brainer, you'll be able to find everything in wikipedia. You may start with
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Server_%28computing%29

You probably don't really need (or should consume energy) to become a server admin. A reseller account would do the job, as it does for most designers.

So, get yourself a reseller account (maybe a very small cheap one) just to learn how to use it. Once you're ready, you can get one from a company you can trust putting your customers' sites on.

Yes LDCDC is right, i sell reseller accounts and i have many people coming up to me asking me is that how you get into hosting, before you start, i found, at the start, that it is very hard after all you have to consider the advertisment needed to get the business up and clients coming in.

Getting a reseller account or a VPS is a good way to get into web hosting as ldcdc said

Reselling, of course, but how involved is it? Keep in mind, I know little about running a server (practically nothing). My only experience with hosting is through running a few small sites through my hosting provider.

What kind of support am I likely to have to offer? Remember, I would be offering hosting only to my web design clients, of which there will only be a handful for now. I imagine email services - configuration, etc - would be number 1, as they probably won't be accessing their files or running scripts, etc.

I'm just afraid of taking on more than I have the time to cope with, which is why I'd love some good resources to check out, in order to learn all the basics.

Originally Posted by derjavina

Remember, I would be offering hosting only to my web design clients, of which there will only be a handful for now. I imagine email services - configuration, etc - would be number 1, as they probably won't be accessing their files or running scripts, etc.

If you plan to have only so many clients, then your best bet would be to
leave hosting to pros and to concentrate on design.
Any WHC would be more than happy to host for you 10, 20 or 100 sites and
provide your clients with tech support and site related functionalities.



fastreplies

So, I just refer my clients to a web host, and set up their account?
I like this idea. Just seems every web designer I come across does hosting themselves.

Just seems every web designer I come across does hosting themselves.

Coupled with a website maintenance service for example, it can enable designers to charge considerably more than a regular host, and protects them from losing customers as well. Recurring, stable income is quite a beautiful thing.

Sysadmin is a position that can be really time consuming.
Especially if your server is running linux, or bsd, as those os don't have a very quick learning curve.

I started working in the computer field as a sysadmin, and trust me, if you want to be able to understand why you need to do, and how to do it, it will requires hours of your times just documenting about it.
If you don't plan to offer hosting to a several dozen of clients, leave it to peoples that are used to it, except if you want to learn.

I would just add that an alternative to the vps solution, if you want practice, could be to simply either run a linux server in a vmware player appliance.
You can test everything like you want, and if there is a single problem, you know you won't have fscked something essential.
You can find a lot of vmware appliances of linux or bsd server that even spare you the task of installing the os, though I'd recommand it if you want to learn.
http://www.vmware.com/appliances/directory/cat/53

I appreciate all the input. But no one's really addressed my question.
To all (most) of you who have posted, I would certainly go with reselling - I have no intention of running my own server.
What I'd really like to know is what kind of customer support issues I might run up against. I assume it will be mostly email related (redirection, etc), as I would be taking care of the actual maintenance of the site, and could get support directly if need be.
So, is there a lot to learn before becoming a reseller, or is there nothing to it?

There isn't much involved, particularly if you are running the sites yourself. If you run into problems, simply contact your provider.

As others mentioned, a reseller account with WHM/cPanel should do the job for you. Everything is controlled through your browser. You won't need much technical skills for maintaining your client's accounts. Good luck.

Originally Posted by Commit1.com

As others mentioned, a reseller account with WHM/cPanel should do the job for you. Everything is controlled through your browser. You won't need much technical skills for maintaining your client's accounts. Good luck.

And what you suggest he should do if client complain about SMTP problems or
FTP permissions etc.?



fastreplies

Well considering that he's managing the site himself, FTP goes out of the window (it's not hard to learn about permissions anyway!)

If there are SMTP problems, I'd recommend contacting your provider and asking about the issue. Jumping in at the deep end can often give you the incentive/motivation to continue learning and improve your knowledge from first hand experience

Thanks, whym and commit1.com. I was hoping someone would say something encouraging. I'll give it a go. If there's not a huge amount of technical stuff to learn I'll get the hang of it soon enough.

Hello,

Going bit details, firstly, you will find issues on nameservers which can be further sorted in no minutes at the registry end. Once there domain is propagated from your server, you will find issues on website not working coz of pages not uploaded at the correct home directory, permission problems, etc, FTP will not work coz client might be using incorrect details to login and Emails some times account not created in the control panel and client tried to send email at the invalid email box, mail box full thus not able to send and receive emails, which will be again in resolved in few minutes. All this issues can be manged with the help of control panel and are simple once you are familiar with the management of the control panel.

Also, I will say that if you are not on Root, please do not go with VPS as it will be new and things might be difficult for you to manage. Once you are done with control panel, you can proceed with the VPS

As you are interested in reseller services, there are many companies who provide free 24/7/365 support for end users with good response time. Thus you need not have to worry regarding the administration of your clients and can focus in the sales and marketing of your company

Thank you.

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Some really good information here, keep it coming!!

Thanks for so much useful info.

Originally Posted by icyblue

hi, my advice is a no-brainer, you'll be able to find everything in wikipedia. You may start with
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Server_%28computing%29

One of the best knowledge sources.