All right this is one question that has bobbled my head for many many times and I didnt really much care about it untill now. My boss wants to start a web site hosting business and hes going to pay me to reseach on how to do it(since he doesnt have alot of time on his hands).

I didnt know anything about this question and I thought maby someone here can give me a hand on where to start.

Thanks
DarkBlades

There are many ways of starting off in the hosting world. What you'll need to do is get a server and install cPanel or other control panel on it. You can then divide the resources of the server up as packages and sell them.

This is a very high level description on how to get started. You'll need experience in administering a server. Once you get clients, they'll be asking all sorts of question that you'll need to answer quickly.

Being a web host takes a LOT of time and knowledge to run efficiently. You'll need people administer the server(s), manage customer support, handle billing and market the services.

An alternative and cheaper way to get started is to get a reseller account with an existing hosting provider. This will get you used to the "customer" side of things and allow the provider to worry about server maintaince/upgrades etc.

The web hosting industry is over crowded and extremely competitive. Be prepared to lose money for at least 6 months to a year.

I didnt know anything about this question and I thought maby someone here can give me a hand on where to start.

Start at webhostingtalk.com. Use their search feature extensively.

We dont want to host websites to people all around the country just around town. Money is not really a problem.

Then only advertise to people in town...don't launch internet-wide campaigns.

If your doing it localy for a targeted group of people, then I would definitly look at getting a reseller account with a larger hosting company. That way you can cut out alot of your overhead costs.

There are several ways of starting a webhosting comany. In order of difficulty, easiest first:

1. affiliation, branding. You sell under your name, someone else does the actual hosting, support, take payment. but with your company name. It is turnkey, you can start doing that, within minutes without any cost. You do it with bulixhost, or liquidnet or others...

2. You buy a reseller package.. this is somwehat different. you take care of billing and customer support, they do server maintenance. you buy space and bandwidth, and can distribute it with a control panel.

3. you rent a managed server. they do the basic maintenance (operative system, service packs, backup, provide you with internet connection) you do the applications, that everything works on your hosting.. this is a major step

4. you rent unmanged server. now you need to do even more yourself. buy licenses etc..

5. you buy a server, you put it on a datacenter, you manage evertything yourself, but you have their internet line, you buy extra services, 24/7 watch, backup.. etc

6. you buy your own server, your own lines, your own diesel electricity generator, your own ups batteries, make your own server solutions, database clusters, load balancing, make a secure vault, theft, fire and water excess safety etc etc

7. you become an isp