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Renting out a server

D

Dave851

n00b
Joined
Oct 24, 2010
Messages
6
Ok well call me crazy but i have an idea. I will be building a server/networking rack for learning about servers and networks. I am going to be useing it all the time. I am thinking that I can toss in a second server and rent that one out to help re-gain some of the money that i put into it. Thing is, how would i go about renting out a server???

Also I'm working on picking out switches and routers. I want stuff that i'm going to see in the feild. I'm new to networking and i would like to learn. I'm looking at a cisco 2610 router and 2900 switch right now. I also might be looking for a wireless AP later.
 
Well you'd be competing against data centers that have such things as:
*Big upload speeds....the key with hosting servers is...upload, since that's download for clients.
*Internet connections with VERY high uptime...you don't see data centers lose their connection much do you?
*usually something like nearly round the clock support
*usually backed by generators, in case the building that the data center is in loses power
*maintaining ACLs on the firewall to protect hosted clients servers against latest common threats
*big advertising budget
 
Unless you have fios, the bandwidth will be an issue. I used to host my stuff such as my game server at home since it was cheaper and I could have a server as powerful as I want without paying more per month, but once I started getting more then 10 online it would start booting me offline. Was forced to lease.

The rest is easy to setup at home. Generator (check out Generac), HVAC, firewalls etc... but bandwidth could be the issue depending where you are.
 
Even if you have the bandwidth, make sure you're not capped like how Comcast caps residential customers at 250GB/mo.
 
I might see renting the server or space or VMs to a friend, but anything beyond that wouldn't be smart. There's a lot to running a dedicated server or vps company. Liabilities, insurance, bandwidth, quality hardware, support, billing, etc. Not really the place to be learning on the stuff while selling a service whereby a client would expect those items already in place and working close to if not at five 9s.
 
You should do the same thing I do to learn servers,

Just set up a home server...

set up a simple home windows/linux server, you don't have to have that crazy expensive Cisco stuff you can get away with some WRT54g routers with DDWRT loaded on them. Focus on the basics of access controls and routing.

The biggest problem is when your get the server up and running and you go "well now what do i do?"

Start small, get everything happy and playing nice, then just branch out... i recently just set up a wireless bridge out to my shed so i could have a desktop plugged into it using a Ethernet cable, works great.

but just use it as a large file server, save your stuff. Maybe branch it out to a media streaming server.
 
You can go with a fairly cheap router (or use Astaro/pfSense/Untangle/etc.) but I wouldn't recommend a WRT54g at all.
 
dandragonrage said:
You can go with a fairly cheap router (or use Astaro/pfSense/Untangle/etc.) but I wouldn't recommend a WRT54g at all.
Click to expand...

Can they work with the DDWRT firmware? If so that would be awesome, Ive used like 6 WRT54g i got off craigslist. DDWRT is awesome, gives your router so much more power just with firmware
 
AdamC said:
Can they work with the DDWRT firmware? If so that would be awesome, Ive used like 6 WRT54g i got off craigslist. DDWRT is awesome, gives your router so much more power just with firmware
Click to expand...

More features but not always performance... there was a review of the Netgear WNR3500L that got much slower with DD-WRT. It's on SmallNetBuilder.
 
nobody wants to colo in your moms basement, sorry.

VPS's are so cheap nowadays, an individual can't really compete unless you are offering other services, and the hosting is just an add on. I work for a company that hosts SAAS products, so yes, we have datacenter space, but really were a software development company, not a hosting company.
 
not worth the hassle factor.

The only instance where it would be worth it would be where you can lease it to some friends who you can trust not to be douchebags, and on whom you can enforce policies via baseball bat.

Otherwise not worth it.
 
Assuming you are not purchasing business service from your ISP, doing a colo type setup would typlically be against your ISP's TOS (Terms of service).

It is really hard to compete versus stuff like the following being available for under $5 a month for a period of 3 months, down to $2.99 a month for 36 months from a major well known vendor...

10 GB Space
Unlimited Bandwidth
100 Email Accounts
10 MySQL Databases
 
do you have a wife and or kids ? If so, kiss them good by, your life will be changed having a server that you rent out, because all your time will be spent answering phones, and maintenance etc etc. Do you have a legal binding contract ? If not, get one, because if some one rely on your service and it's down, you could be sued.

It's a cool idea to learn on, but if you are learning on it, i would not suggest renting or charging $$ unless you know 100% what you are doing and how to fix it.

You have a safe storage location ? you have the adequate cooling for all the servers and networking gear ?
 
AdamC said:
but just use it as a large file server, save your stuff. Maybe branch it out to a media streaming server.
Click to expand...

streaming media out of a WRT54g, and AHEM, just how long do you think that little under powered router will last ?

i give it 1 week! IF THAT!
 
I did this about 3 years ago thinking I could make a small investment and make a lot of money doing not much. I bought racks, switches, routers, firewalls, servers, a generator, UPS's to run everything for 15 minutes, FiOS Business 30/30, Comcast Business 15/10 as a backup, and even looked into getting 3 phase power to the house. My model was I would setup VMs of whatever OS you wanted, and then turned control over to the end user stating that the only thing I would help with would be if you couldn't get into your server or you were having bandwidth issues. I worked 30 hours a week at a hosting / helpdesk company and knew my stuff so this should have been easy, however each month pricing my services to be competitive I still was just about $100 over what it was costing to run the whole setup and it almost cost me my job (come to think of it my relationship too).

It is not something to do as a learning experience and unless you are renting space to your gaming clan for a pub server, or giving you mom a place to put her wordpress blog for free you can't do this as a side project. Too many companies are offering CoLo and cloud hosting for way cheap.
 
Whatsisname said:
classic method to turn a large amount of money into a small amount.....
Click to expand...

Yup, even buying used and selling everything except a few things I wanted to keep I was still in the hole almost $3000 after my 6 month "project."

Word to the wise folks, there is a reason everyone isn't doing this in their basement.
 
Cooling has been mentioned as being an issue, but I would not see that as being an issue in a home environment. Have a heat exchanger setup with water and move the heat to the living space. You would save on heating costs this way too.

The initial cost would maybe be an issue though but no need to go big right away.
 
Red Squirrel said:
Cooling has been mentioned as being an issue, but I would not see that as being an issue in a home environment. Have a heat exchanger setup with water and move the heat to the living space. You would save on heating costs this way too.

The initial cost would maybe be an issue though but no need to go big right away.
Click to expand...

This works for the winter when I want my house warm. How about in the summer when it is 90+ and humid? Not to mention the cost savings on my heating bill would take about 5 years to recoup what I spent having the whole system installed. It is cheaper to just put it in your basement and let heat do what it does naturally, rise.

Cooling is actually not as large of an issue as you think, its paying for the cooling that is the issue. I had a portable 10,000BTU AC unit that kept my "Datacenter" at a constant 70*F but turning that thing on easily added another $100 a month to my power bill.
 
dashpuppy said:
do you have a wife and or kids ? If so, kiss them good by, your life will be changed having a server that you rent out, because all your time will be spent answering phones, and maintenance etc etc. Do you have a legal binding contract ? If not, get one, because if some one rely on your service and it's down, you could be sued.

It's a cool idea to learn on, but if you are learning on it, i would not suggest renting or charging $$ unless you know 100% what you are doing and how to fix it.

You have a safe storage location ? you have the adequate cooling for all the servers and networking gear ?
Click to expand...

This man brings up many good points. Contracts, insurance, and BUDR are some of the biggest problems I had when I was setting up my side project. You can get a lawyer to draw up paperwork (for $$$) so its costly but easy. Insurance is a huge PITA but you have to have it. You miss a SLA, customer calls you on it and sues you, how do you plan to pay your legal fees? And Back Up & Disaster Recovery. I only had 4TB worth of data I needed backed up which now you could easily get from one of many online backup services for a very reasonable sum. 3 years ago it was hugely expensive and I ended up having to put a backup file server at a friend's place (who also had FiOS with a 10mb up pipe) and then backup over a site to site VPN. Not really the best thing.
 
C7J0yc3 said:
This works for the winter when I want my house warm. How about in the summer when it is 90+ and humid? Not to mention the cost savings on my heating bill would take about 5 years to recoup what I spent having the whole system installed. It is cheaper to just put it in your basement and let heat do what it does naturally, rise.

Cooling is actually not as large of an issue as you think, its paying for the cooling that is the issue. I had a portable 10,000BTU AC unit that kept my "Datacenter" at a constant 70*F but turning that thing on easily added another $100 a month to my power bill.
Click to expand...

Yeah guess it depends on climate. Where I live we only get like 2 months where AC is needed. When I build my server room (not many servers, far from a "data center") I plan to do something like this. Probably radiant heat on the lower level floor.
 
i don't think i'd ever pay decent money to rent a server from somebody that was behind a consumer grade router.... or sharing somebody's home connection
 
What are you looking to run ? Linux ? Windows ? I have a couple servers in a datacenter just sitting there hosting a couple web sites barely being used at all ... I'll work something out with you if you want to play around with servers ...

http://blog.mjwired.com
 
Honestly it's not worth the headache. If you want an environment to play in, setup a Darknet for your friends.
 
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