becoming a web host

[Maxiomega]

We are interested in setting up our server to be able to sell webspace, and have web hosting capabilities. However, finding technical documentation or a book on how to go about this has been difficult. Does anyone have any suggestions of well written reference materials on becoming a web host or setting up to sell web space?

thank you.

[FatalException]

I think a more important thing to consider first is the capital involved in setting up a web hosting company. Customers want their servers connected to ultra-high-speed connections like OC-3's. I'd check with local commercial ISP's to see who in your area offers such connections and what they cost before even looking up how to do this. In the area I am originally from (a suburb of Chicago), Speakeasy offers high-speed commercial connections, but they are $770+ a month. Don't expect to go hosting peoples' web servers on your cable modem or DSL modem connection either; most of them just don't have the upload speed necessary to run more than one or two sites with 5 to 10 simultaneous visitors each at one time.

[bfcx]

or

get a server colocated or rented at serverbeach.com or 1and1.com and pay from ~69 to 100$ a month for a decent server.

I ran a webhostig company for 4 years, IMO today the market is way way oversaturated and it's not worth it unless you could find local customers and offer them design too, maybe.

even 6 years ago when i ran it there were thousands of thousands of webhosting companies.

Another way to go is get a virtual server to start, they give you a virtual root account (acts exactly like your own server, but can run many on 1 machine) and they give you like 10GB and so much bandwith for say 20 bux a month and you can resell it for them or do whatever you want with it.

And if you start and need an experianced linux admin give me a PM

[Xtreeme]

Ya I get virtual hosting on a server thats right on the oc3. Its super fast. My downloads go at 160kb/sec while Im still surfing the forums! I could never afford such bandwidth or the 100gb transfers a month. Its in Canada and I only pay $10 a month for free domain name, 5 mysql db's and php support with 25 sub domains and 10,000 email accounts with spam filtering and virus scanner. Their servers can run up to 2 months I think it said with power failure. Thats some major backup power too. Its HARD to beat those prices for non dedicated hosting. And their dedicated host prices are just as sweet.

Point is he's right the server hosting market is saturated with good prices, and tons of co's. Its hard to compete. Maybe if you could get a local following that might help.