Networks What do you want from a hosting company? [Now taking orders]

Pretty much as the title says. I've been thinking of starting my own (little) hosting company for quite some time, and finally may have the opportunity to do so.

What kind of services/plans would you guys like to see from a host? Anything that pisses you off in respect to companies you've used before, something that really rocked, suggestions as to how much things should cost (and how much you get for your hard earned nickel), etc.

Thanks for your input.

(bty, rtt said this is ok)

Wasn't sure where exactaly this should go, please move if I chose poorly

 

What you want is cheap, lots of bandwidth, good security and vitually no downtime.

I know cheap and lots of bandwidth don't go hand in hand, but its what you want.

If you can offer a reasoably priced service and good reliability then you are half way there.
Things like an easy to use control panel will make it a more attractive option for some, especially people new to domains and hosting.
You may want to offer MySQL for those wishing to run bullitin boards, and Perl for cgi stuff.

 

Cpanel.
At least 10 MySQL databases.

 

will you also be setting up domain names?
I know that most people expect it now, so you'll lose out if you don't.

Make it linux, so you can set up hot-linking prevention.
Make it windows, so you can allow MS Access DBs.
(I have both on one account, which is nice, and it's unmetered!)

You definately need to provide some kind of Control Panel too.

email-wise - allow users: unlimited POP3 accounts; to set up fwding; multi-recipient lists; etc

Give bit-tech members discounted rates!

 

Good SPAM filters. Also be honest about actual bandwidth. It may even help to spread out traffic if users know when your servers are busy.

 

lotsa bandwidth
fast
secure
changelaple ip thingy

 

The usuals (lots of disk space, bandwidth). HDDs are almost a dime for a dozen now, you could splurge and allow users 10GB storage. Bandwidth will depend on your provider.

A black hole address, where you can send to anything @domain.com and it'll automatically put it in the address crap@domain.com if that address doesn't exist already. My host (1&1) doesn't have this (or I have yet to find it) and I find it slightly annoying. I got a good deal, though, so it's bearable.

Don't give unlimited POP3, you'll get some wacko trying to start his own Hotmail. Give them a high (but concrete) number to work with, say 500 or so, that way there's no loophole.

FrontPage extensions, because there are still people out there who use it. Sad, I know, but you don't want to alienate part of your customer base.

Multiple MySQL databases.

PHP support.

GOOD spam filters.

SSH access, if you can monitor it well enough.

SSL support.



Tall order, isn't it?

 

I would think that most people would prefer it to be up to them, and kept out of the hosting process. Please do correct me if I'm wrong though. Even though it may happen eventually, I don't think I'd do it right off the get-go.

It will be a Linux server, running cpanel and the standard run-of-the-mill packages.

Yep.

I think SSH would have to be handled on a case-by-case basis.

Don't see why not.

See quote below:

Yes, same thing with mysql databases. The limit would be pretty darn high, but just to keep such things from happening.

Cpanel has this.

Ever used spamassasin? I have it installed on the server I'm using right now and it plain rocks. It would be made avalible.

While hdds are indeed cheap, most dedicated server places charge extra for the service.

changelaple ip thingy, do you mean something like a dynamic dns service?

We'll see what I can do

 

So how about these for sample plans?

All plans come with:

Cpanel 9.2 (and all the usual stuff that comes with that)
Scripta (a bunch of scripts avalible to be installed by cpanel)
Frontpage extentions
POP/SMTP
Email auto-responders
Catch-all email accounts
Webmail
Web based file manager
FTP access
Cron Jobs
Web stats
PHP, MySQL, Perl, SSI
phpmyadmin
.htaccess support
E-Commerce (OS Commerce shopping cart software)
Subdomains (subject to a limit of 500)


Plan one:

Plan two:

Plan three:

Plan four:

How many of you would be interested?

 

well, since I recently got a scare when my host was going to stop using the server, I'll say that I would definitely be interested to get you started if my host does go down. Right now, I'm basically leeching his dedicated server which gets about 5% usage of what it can do, for free. So when that happy time ends, you're up first

 

another one to join the bit-tech hosting gang.

couple of hints for you: -
- Before you even get your first customer get all your e-mails written. One for Sign up, for upgrading accounts, accounts using over there limit. etc etc.
It makes it alot easier in the long run and then you can make sure theres no seplling mistakes in it.

- Get your prices set and know the price it costs you. If your going to do discount you need to know how low you can go before you start losing money.

also check out
hosthideout
and
WebHostingTalk

loads of threads that will teach you all you need to know.

Also put your domain name in your sig on here but dont talk about it in every post or RTT will get mad

Good Luck

 

Will you take payment in other currencies?
And I assume you'll offer Paypal?

---

 

I have a 2checkout online store which will do currency conversion for you, and will prolly get a paypal merchant account.

 

Will there be add-on options of some sort? ie Add 500MB HDD space for $1/month or something to that extent?

I couldn't imagine anyone ever needing that many FTP accounts for any type of site, but that's me.

Seems like a good deal overall- especially the cheaper packages. A reasonable fee to get your web presence

 

Eventually, more than likely yes. Right now I don't even have a server yet.

FTP accounts, have no idea why people would want that many, but that's about what the other companys offer.

Pretty much here's the deal: I need around 20 accounts before this gets off the ground. I'd like to aim for around the middle of december as a point where I can either start the process or forget it due to lack of interest. Post here or pm/email me if you are at all interested.

As always, questions and input are welcome.

 

TBH, I couldn't use 500MB - would you not do a lower service?

oooh, and am not sure if you mentioned virus protection on the email front.

 

I do have ideas for a smaller plan, but tbh it would be a bit rediculious to go about preselling a $2.50 plan, would it not?

Virus protection, good point. If it became a problem or was requested enough I'd more than likely install something similar to clamav.

 

For spam protection you will probally get Spam Assassin if your running Cpanel.

The reason people like having more FTP accounts is it can be useful if your doing a group type website you can limit what folders people can access.
True I dont know many users that do this but its a nice option to have.
Also makes the customer feel like they are getting something extra

I didn't use to do "small" plans but with our new site relaunch we are doing a 25mb site for something like £(cheap) a year. I know it sounds small but its what people seem to want it.
The best way to get around people saying they only want xMB is to say you do custom packages on your site. Then you can create the package around the customer not around what you have going spare on your server

Oh also make sure you buy the .com of your site. I didn't and someone else brought it

 

I am interested

We really need a server for our site

 

yes I'm interested. probably in the smallest package first, then maybe upgrading later? I've been looking around quite a bit and seems your prices are fair! And I'd love to support someone on bit-tech!