I was curious about perhaps setting up a little hosting business, just to keep some change in my pocket, so to speak. Nothing super, no massive plans of hosting world domination.

So where do I start? What am I looking for? Pretend I have no idea (I don't. lol) what it involves.

Perhaps a tutorial on it...

Thanks guys.

Hey Kyle

Very wide topic here

You could start with a reseller plan, which I think would suit you best.

A reseller doesnt cost too much to buy, but dont go for the cheapest you see, bad move in a lot of cases

Make sure you find a host that has been around for a while so they dont do a runner and your left with their server being down and a lot of unhappy customers.

First thing, do as much research as you can.
Research is everything for running a hosting biz

Try get a host that will be able to help you because you dont know very much.

When you get a reseller account you get an admin control panel, from that you can add customers, edit their accounts etc. etc.

You will have to get a site setup and most likely install a few scripts, billing, client management, support.

You can also host your own sites under your reseller account which is a good thing if you have a number of your own sites.

Anything I missed out?

If you have any questions just ask!
John

Makes sense. I'll take a look around and see what I can find. Thanks!

No problem
If you find a host you like, just post here and people can tell you if we have heard of them or not

John

Do you all generally deal with UK/Europe hosts or American? I find the UK hosts tend to be a lot cheaper.

Actually, where the host is should not really make a difference. I have a lot of US and UK resellers on my server and try to keep the prices low.

Oh, you will also need a way to charge your customers. I would sugest PayPal.com and 2checkout.com

Don't get a merchant account until you have the customers to support it. In the long run, it is a lot cheaper then paypal and 2checkout but caries about $50 fee per month and a contract that lasts usually 3 years. Also, you will have to buy your processing program at the same time. If you ever do that I strongly sugest authorize.net for your processor.

Also, when selecting a reseller you first need to choose what control panel you want to learn and support.

http://www.cpanel.net
http://www.ensim.com
http://www.directadmin.com

These are some good ones and one of the 3 would probally come with your account.

Some that you will see a lot but personally I do not like them:

Plesk
Another one but forget the name (HS something)

Good place to get customers are the forums, Ebay and your local community.

Good luck! You are in for a long hall if you make it past a year. It is not a easy business and has it's up's and downs.

Mostly a thought I had especially since I do site cevelopment and wanted to be able to set everything up for the client from the site to the domain and all in between. I think I'll be reading a lot this weekend. lol

Thank you very much!

As everyone suggested start with a reseller account. Ask questions and interview the host first to make sure that provider is best for your. You want an established host with good support. Ask about thier staff(how many admins and techs). Ask about how support is handled. Especially how communication is handled during downtime. Also do reserch on the provider to find out what others think.

As far as Control Panels WHM/Cpanel is probably the easiet to start with and has a very friendly end user control panel. Next would be Ensim or Direct Admin. Plesk end user control panel is very plain. However Plesk has proven exceptional stable for me. H-Sphere is very nice with a built in helpdesk and billing system. However it is more complexed to use. I also had problems with the built in billing system and billing errors.

Palpal is a quick and easy way to start taking payments. You could look at phpcoin for billing/customer software. It is free at this time. Otherwise look at whois.cart. It is very nice order/billing system and pretty inexpensive.

Most important ask questions from the other members about the day to day running of a host.

Most many people start with a reseller account, as I did. Great start. Then move on to a dedicated server once you know all the commands of ssh ect. Many people use cPanel,ensim,h-sphere, but I like ensim pro the best. For my needs at least and customers like it. I would also suggest using PayPal to start and then using a account to do credit cards straight up, like 2Checkout,Authorize.net ect. I wouldn't suggest a billing system, but maybe check out moderbill or perlbill for both billing/support tickets. And as always, be ready to support your clients, they will love it.

Isnt perlbill just billing?
I think it was perlbill for billing and a seperate script for their support?

Make sure you ask the community here about any questions you have and we can help you out also
Dont be afraid to ask for help, we all need it at some stage or another, especially when your starting up.

I'm not here to preach or to be rude, but I just want to point out a few things that should help you on your way.

If you're starting out in this business just for the sole purpose of money and don't plan to put much into it, or aren't prepared to dedicate massive amounts of time to ensure that your clients are happy and things are running smooth, then I stronly advise you not to dive into this business. Web hosting takes time and money, something that many do not want to give, so I just want you to be aware that it's a commitment and not just something to do when you feel like it.

Now, that we're past that part... Hopefully you've made it to this point, and are ready to make the commitment and will do your best to suceed. Starting out with a reseller account is the way to go. This way, you're not pumping huge amounts of money into the project or working with a server which you may or may not know what you're doing. It's also good to have that helping hand behind you if you don't know something and need the help. I'm going to assume that you haven't ran a server and don't know how to, so in that case definitely go with the reseller account. Someone should theoretically be there to always watch the server, although unfortunately this is not the case with every company. Make sure that you choose a good reliable provider and start small. Build your way up as you go, and who knows where you might be in a year or so?

All valid points and good to read. I knew if I asked you would have a great ammount of advice for me.

What Denver said about doing hosting as a business only if you have the time to give customers is something very important also.
Hosting can take a lot of time to run and your clients will expect a quick reply with the answer or solution to their problem/question.
People expect their host to know everything and fix it very quickly now a days or else they complain..
So you do have to take a bit of time to ensure you can use the control panel anyway, as well as make sure you get a host which can help you when you need to help your clients.

If its a server problem your host might be the only person that can fix it so you might need their support at a very important time but find no-one is available and you have a lot of unhappy customers yourself

And he is so true with this statement. You should plan on less sleep than you have ever had and plan on investing in more than just the server.

Even with the help I get in managing the server end, your intial customers will usually be people you know and they will call on you for much more than they ever would a host they don't know but this is good because it teaches you what bounderies to set as well as gives you time to find out everything you don't know. A reseller account requires a lot less investment and a little less time but not much and so if you do decide you don't like it in the end you are not out as much. The only thing I ask of any of you that try this venture is If you decide it isn't for you please don't just dump your business and leave people hanging, There are so many good companies that will buy your business from you and this will leave a better impression of you in the long run.

Freckled

Stephen perlbill has perldesk intergrated in. They are about to release a new program though.

kylebellamy looks like you have some good information as a starting point here. The next srep would be research and asking more questions.