I am a web designer based in manchester england and I have been having a nightmare finding a reliable hosting company. I have been thinking of setting up my own web host for use with the sites I design only!! but alas I dont really know where to start it has been sugested to me that I use red hat which comes with apache web server????
Please can any one help me as things are getting pretty urgent now.

Well, Alan, looking at your current situation, I think you'll be way better of if you start with reselling - it does not require you to spend lots of money to buy all the hardware, software, products, have staff to manage it all.

Just find a decent reseller package and simply start with this. Then, if you think the business goes well and you understand how hosting business works, maybe it'll be better heavily invest in it then.

However, if you have a cable modem, you can host yourself if you follow this step by step guide:
http://www.dslwebserver.com/

Best,

Hello Alan,


It's sad to see you can't find out any good reliable webhost at your need. However, if you would like to serve yourself at home, Foxserv (http://www.foxserv.net) can help you out. You do not need to know about Apache and stuffs since it integrates everything to make your site run already.


Kind Regards,
Kenny

the best thing I can advice you is to ask arround in this forum and other webhosting forums about a host.

Alan,

I can 4dhosting.com as a reliable host, and it sounds like a reseller package might be what you're after.

A lot of uk hosts hang around @ webhostchat.co.uk too, so check in there

Take a look at Reseller Affiliate Programs. Find one that does not require any upfront money. There are a few out there that are pretty good.

There are 2 types of reselling packages you can check out. One is where you will need to pay a certain amount for every domain added and the other form is where you can host multiple domains for the price of a single plan. Its called multiple domain hosting and also private name reselling as you will have your own nameservers. This will give you the 'feel' of a hosting company as well.

Warm Regards,

Hi, Allan

i use web hosting and not bad, cheap too!

Yes. Reseller Account is what you need. For Reseller Packages I vote for http://www.voxtreme.com/ I had good experience with them. Thier support is excellent.

I do not work for them. I have my own host, and I do offer reseller. However, for now, they are a better host, and there is no shame in admitting that :-).

Wow...I like people's willingness to jump in and help out when needed.

Alan: I concur with the suggestions provided here. At this point, a reseller plan would be the best way to go. There have been posts on this board and others regarding what to do and what not to do when choosing a host, being a newbie reseller that you are. Follow this advice. If you have any specific questions at any time, do not hesitate to ask as I'm sure you've seen are rather glad to help out.

I concur as well.

Reseller hosting is the way to go. Your host supports you and you support your clients. Make sure you evaluate the different reseller plans offered by web hosts. Some are better than others. (not necessarily price)

Some of the better ones are private label, which means your clients don't know about your host. It will look like you have your own server.

Good Luck

That's something that I, as a host, wouldn't recommend you, best choice for you would be to go with reseller account.

Your customers need something more reliable than that, and maybe that's even against your ISP TOS..

There is this listing of good web hosts that migth be helpfull to you:
www.whreviews.com as there are others you could find googleing..

Well, the original post in this thread is a year old but I still agree with Art.

If your ISP allows you to host sites on your home computer I don't see any reason not to. The thread starter was which is fine.
If you are planning on hosting other peoples sites then of course a real reseller account is the way to go.

I agree with you Blue on principle, but considering that Alan (a year ago) hadn't the necessary knowledge to manage a server and needed some web space fast, I still think it was best for him at the time to go with a reseller account.

Alan said:
Those would've been his customers' websites and thus hosting from home was not (IMHO) a viable option for him.

I think the best part about a reseller plan is that your not just jumping into the industry. It's like getting your feet wet. You don't manager the server, you just use it. It helps you develop a knowledge for how the internet works (if you don't already know) and how certain software works i.e. cPanel. I'm pretty sure you won't learn much running a webserver off of windows 98 (could be wrong...i don't know exactly whats available for this type of setup). A reseller account is a great place to start, then as you learn more about the industry and the technical and business aspects, when you think you can make the investment, go to a dedicated server, then 2, then someday, you will reach almost every hosts dream of owning its own datacenter (at least that's mine...).