kers7754 Posted October 6, 2011 Share Posted October 6, 2011 My new company is going to offer the following core products: Domain names, shared hosting on both Windows and Linux and email. Currently I was thinking about having a dedicated linux server for my website and WHMCS. Then I would have another dedicated Linux server for shared hosting and another dedicated Windows server for shared hosting. Then possibly another dedicated server to act as a Microsoft SQL server box. Should emal be handled on each server's hosting space or does it make sense to have a another box just for a mail server? Then I believe each domain would have to have an MX record pointing to that mail server? If so, what hardware and software should I use for a mail server? If anyone has some idealistic hardware designs or ideas, please send any information my way! Thanks, --Jeff 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mylove4life Posted October 7, 2011 Share Posted October 7, 2011 (edited) I personally would have 1 server for WHMCS and it's database. 1 server for linux hosting and 1 for windows. Then 1 for email and 1 for databases..Also 2 more for DNS if you are hosting it yourself.... It's over kill for starting out but will be a hell of alot easier to grow and manage.. As for hardware, you can get cheaper boxs that can be upgraded later with drive space and memory to keep costs down... I started with cheap DL380 from Ebay, they where $150 with drives and no OS... Check out Ebay number #170702557489 with a liitle shopping and no how you can get the whole network running for under $5000 bucks... Just dont go cheap on a good firewall..... Edited October 7, 2011 by mylove4life 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kers7754 Posted October 7, 2011 Author Share Posted October 7, 2011 Awesome information. We went out and bought 5 dedicated servers. I am going to go with your design: 1 Linux server for WHMCS and its own MySql database 1 Windows server for windows shared hosting accounts 1 Linux server for Linux shared hosting accounts 1 Windows server for MSSQL 1 (windows or linux - not decided yet) for dedicated mail server What do you recommend for a good firewall? Why would you have 2 extra servers for DNS? I kind of figured I would use 1 of my machines with 2 dedicated IP address for DNS. Is that not a good idea? Finally, do you have any suggestions on what OS and software I should used for my mail server? Thanks for all the advice! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mylove4life Posted October 8, 2011 Share Posted October 8, 2011 I like Sonicwall myself... You can do it that way to of course, but I like to have 1 system for each service. I'm a Windows fanboy so I don't run anything but Windows, but either will work fine. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kers7754 Posted October 8, 2011 Author Share Posted October 8, 2011 I am kind of a fan of windows myself just because I feel I can configure it better. I am a C#/ASP.net developer by trade. So my team wants to start with windows hosting only at first for both PHP and ASP.net. So if you had 5 dedicated servers, how would you best use that hardware? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mylove4life Posted October 8, 2011 Share Posted October 8, 2011 Well I'd have 2 for shared hosting (second share use as 1st DNS as well) , 1 for WHMCS and 2st DNS, 1 for databases, 1 for email I use smartertools for email server and Simple DNS for DNS http://www.simpledns.com/ and http://www.smartertools.com/ 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tweakservers Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 It's always a good idea to split the services across servers if budget wouldn't be an issues. This will give you a more scaleable environment and one server interruption will not give issues for all the services - i.e. Web one, email one server. For firewall on Linux, you could try with APF or CSF firewall if you are running cPanel control panel, both works quite well for this. For Windows, the built in Windows firewall works pretty much well. Since you are starting the business, it may worth to keep the cost down and only move forward for hardware firewall when you have enough profits/margin gained. SmarterMail mail server is a definitely a good mail server to move on. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mylove4life Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 The built in firewall is not made for that...... DO NOT SKIMP on the firewall...... get a good one, most of your money should be on that. I sonicwall is very easy to setup too. I have also used ISA on a couple systems, but it's not to cheap to buy and stakes some work to set it up 100% but it's very good... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xotj123 Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 A hard lesson that I have learned in the Hosting Business is to always make sure your Backup works well. And consistently. Some other things that I learned are, I originally had a mix of servers that I owned and some dedicated I rented. Owning my own servers became a burden, as I was spending time maintaining the machines and buying parts etc., it was much better for me to work out a deal with my Data Center to rent equipment that stays current and is upgraded every 2-3 years and that they are responsible for maintaining at their cost, they are in a much better position than me to service the equipment. The next leap for me was virtualization. I know run Hyper-V on Data Center edition. The licensing is included in my Dedicated Server contract. This has become the most affordable & profitable method for me and with Hyper-V it has become very easy for me to accomplish things… I use WHMCS and WSP for Billing & Provisioning... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mylove4life Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 It will be cheaper when starting out to let someone else host the sites, but I like having control of everthing. My electric bill is what a full time person makes at a fast food place and my servers are now 3 years old, but run fine and I never had to replace anything in them and reboot only when doing updates. not much to take care of. A hard lesson that I have learned in the Hosting Business is to always make sure your Backup works well. And consistently. Some other things that I learned are, I originally had a mix of servers that I owned and some dedicated I rented. Owning my own servers became a burden, as I was spending time maintaining the machines and buying parts etc., it was much better for me to work out a deal with my Data Center to rent equipment that stays current and is upgraded every 2-3 years and that they are responsible for maintaining at their cost, they are in a much better position than me to service the equipment. The next leap for me was virtualization. I know run Hyper-V on Data Center edition. The licensing is included in my Dedicated Server contract. This has become the most affordable & profitable method for me and with Hyper-V it has become very easy for me to accomplish things… I use WHMCS and WSP for Billing & Provisioning... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kers7754 Posted October 10, 2011 Author Share Posted October 10, 2011 Victor: What model Sonicwall do you recommend? I am looking at a TZ180 possibly? What do you think? And thanks everyone for all the help! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mylove4life Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 The TZ will work, but lacks some features you may want later... I would go with something in the NSA series, but the new ones on Sonicwall are very expensive for a new one. I would go with a 2400 or something like that to start. Ebay number 250871941128 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.