Thread

Do any of you host sites you develop for clients through reseller packages or your own dedicated servers? Worth it, or more of a headache?

It depends on the amount of sites and SLA. After five years or so I decided to junp into it and get me some dedi’s. Since then it has been a steep learning curve and a lot of sleepless nights.

The first few years a headache but now (after about 5 years) everything is running smooth and I don’t get calls in the middle of the night.

Like you, I host my clients, I don’t offer hosting to anyone that just wants an account on my server.

It’s not that I can’t figure out how to keep a LAMP running fast and secure, but it’s not what I do all day and I’m a busy person with a family and outside interests. Playing a little guitar now and then is a hell of a lot more fun than trying to figure out why the server is slow at night.

And when server issues so prop up ... chances are I’m trying to get some code written or a site designed. I fall into the class that’s - look ... can it just please work and i don’t have tons of cash for some fully managed solution with real support.

So in the past ...

I’ve had reseller accounts and dealt with the blacklisting issues due to someone else on the cpanel box getting the servers’s ip hosed. I watched fast machines grow and grow into servers that constantly are oversold and slow.

Argh ... and moving sites, what a PIA!

I’ve set up dedicated servers and hosted clients on it, then a VPS cause it was cheaper and allowed my control (but no “that” cheap - if you run cpanel you need some resources).

I’ve gone back and forth trying to find the best solution for my clients and desired lifestyle. I don’t want to deal with server issues ... like ever! For my clients, hosting needs to be competitive with the cheaper hosting plans ... so anytime spent dealing with support and it quickly falls into “cash flow negative” and “not remotely worth it”.

After much frustration, I decided to get on Mosso Cloud, now the Rackspace cloud. I’m soooooooooooo happy there. Things just work, support is great. No brain damage ... make accounts, get coding ... upload them ... have a nice day.

For $120 a month with unlimited SSL, it’s the best thing I’ve done for hosting since getting my first reseller account years ago!

They are growing fast, we had some slowdowns and overburdened servers a few weeks ago, but Rackspace took care of that ... things are working great. I love their interface too. So sure, I do lose some control ... but at the end of the day, most of my clients need the typical CMS based site, so I don’t need all the control.

Control = Your Responsibility.

You can talk them into some sort of trial or large coupon for the first month ... I think (not sure what they are running now).

But the $70 VPS can’t hold a candle to this, for my needs anyways.

I currently host my clients sites, using a reseller/shared account. Mainly due to my target audience being small business owners, and I throw in free hosting. The price is right (for me, as well as the biz owner), and as skattabrain was saying, running dedicated is $expensive. Then again, I only host about 10 client sites, and my own. None of the sites have crazy traffic, or require SSL.

On the note of getting your shared IP blacklisted, check into BlueHost, as they offer dedicated IP’s on their hosting accounts. It’s an extra fee, but saves the headache of being blacklisted, and a lot of phone call when mailings get bounced.

If you don’t require SSL, major resources, or just don’t have that many sites to host, I would go with a reseller/shared account. The price is right, and no sleepless nights in front of SSH.

Just my opinion though 😊