The right solution for my server problem
When I bought my first shared hosting, I hosted a small community, some linked assets and that was about it. With the growth of the community, I had to look for a solution for our bandwidth that exceeded our maximum. So I switched hosts, went from 50MB webspace to 500MB, and instead of one domain, started hosting 3, 4 extra domains. Time went on, the little community disapeared, I started hosting more websites (part of my own, some for friends). So the problem was no longer bandwidth or available webspace, the problem became uptime and server management. Two problems that couldn’t be solved with the current provider, so a solution was needed. The uptime was a pain in the ass, as the promised 99,99% is neglected. The server management still is an issue, because using the right tools and technologies, like a UNIX server with shell access, GIT, SVN, etc… would come in handy, it would definitely get the workflow tighter, getting rid of the lost time in exporting files from a versioning system, uploading them with some kind of ftp app and all sorts of other issues that makes me loose time, valuable time…
As I started looking for solutions, the first thing that came to my mind was a virtual private server. Looking at different providers and after talking to Thijs Feryn from combell, a combell vps was a possibility. The OS of choice would be a Darwin Freebsd, the core of apple’s OSX. So I started saving some money until… something strange happened. The apple store went down and a whole new line-up of iMacs and mac mini’s were presented, and one of the mac mini’s is … a server, running the allmighty snow leopard server…
So I started thinking about a mac mini server, and maybe some colocation at easyhost. The problem is that is would cost me 75 euro a month. Which is more than the VPS at combell. The advantage is that I have the snow leopard server GUI. I kept looking for a solution for my problem, and I think I’ve found one! November 20, 2009 I’m planning to move. My girlfriend and I have decided to live together, and therefore, I have to look for an internet providor. So maybe I could host my mac mini server at home, with a 1TB time capsule as a back, an optional UPS, a static IP address and a high speed internet connection. The biggest issue on my plate right now is which provider would be the best choice? Telenet is blocking all ports under the 2000 range, so I guess they’re not really an option… Maybe belgacoms ADSL2 would be a good choice?
So if you have any experience in the hosting business, host your own server, work for a providor or you’re just a guy/girl willing to give his/her opinion, I would say: Fire away!
Comments (2)
I think it’s strange you decide to go for your own hosted box + own network to improve uptime.
What will you do when your hardware fails, power cuts out, Belgacom line goes down?
I work at Openminds and most solutions we offer for people who want their own server is to provide a VDS. Just so we can guarantee a better service, by having multiple network routes, redundant power supply with UPS & backup generators, and even spare hardware for when a physical system breaks up.
If a client’s site/app gets popular (think Digg.com) we can easily migrate his VDS to a better system, upgrade memory, and so on, to make sure his site is always reachable (within reason ;-))
I know, that’s why I was thinking about colocation. But on the other hand: If my server crashes (hard/software) I have a full backup (from which I can install!) on my time capsule. So if needed I could do a reinstall, maybe use a second mac (iMac or mac mini as a backup server). If my power gets cut for some kind of reason I could live for max. 15 min’s with the UPS, a generator would be a little bit over the top. But I catch your drift, like when I’m not at home or on a 2 week holiday and my server crashes, there’s no-one to fix it or to even reboot the machine :-/ But that could eventually be done by my brother in law.
I think my problem is that I want too much… And if I have to pay a lot of money I want something physical… It’s not my ambition to become a professional hosting company. It’s just for my own domains and testing purposes, I would never put client websites on my own server. For my client websites the only thing I want to be able to do is automate the uploading using git push, and a post-receive hook…