How To Start A Web Hosting/Development Company

What And What Does It Takes To Start/own A Web Development/hosting Company

Hello Nairalanders,

In accordance to the topic for this thread, I would like to know what it cost to start a nigerian based website hosting company, how do someone go about it.

I think this thread should be able to find solutions to my request and also to other people coming up in this way.

I would be very grateful if Nairalanders can treat me very well with good answers and opinions

yamaguchi?

It all depends on the scale of your operation.

I have no idea how much dedicated hosting costs in Nigeria, but you can definitely run a business in Nigeria, while having your hosting provider say in America.  No need for worrying about power failures, security, etc.

Here's what you do:

1. You build a powerful server machine.  I have several servers.  They typically cost me about $1,500 to build.  One of them has been running about 50 websites for over 2 years now without a problem.

2. Once you have your machine built, sign up for a colocation account.  Send the server to your service provider, usually in the USA.  I have seen people in the USA send servers to the Nethelands for hosting.

3. When your machine is online, you can access it via SSH, and perform any operation on it remotely.

4. It's now easy to create hosting accounts for your clients.   I do all my stuff on the commandline because it's free.  But some people prefer solutions such as Plesk.

Typical colocation cost for moderate data transfer is $50 a month.  I have 5 servers in the same location, and I pay $300 a month for all of them.

I don't see how co-location from Nigeria to the USA would work, except you have a technical friend that is located in the USA that would do all the runnings. Shipping such a hardware from Nigeria, would cost you a fortune.

if you choose to co-locate, you first must purchase all of the hardware (a server - worth between $2,000 and $5,000 low-to-mid end.) We are talking about using the right racks, and cooling fans and hardware for such an implementation. Not just any system.
This option is attractive when you have knowledge in the hardware and software running on your system, but nevertheless it is costly.

The disadvantages of collocations are:-
   
    1. You or your employees must be technically sound in that relation.

    2. Software licensing cost can surg very high, especially when it comes to renting the panels of today, and paying through the nose for original OS platforms like Windows, besides other softwares like Firewalls etc. You cannot use a pirated software !!

    3. Possible Hardware failure that might affect your business due to the dowtime , during replacement. As the owner you need to have backup hardwares, unlike conventional dedicated servers the replace hardwares without charging UParts, labour and warranty is your responsibility.

     4. All configuration and loading of the OS and software is carried out by you.

     5.Another drawback to collocation can be fluctuating prices. Since one of the factors in the monthly rate of collocating a server is the amount of data transferred via the server in the monthly period, an unusually large amount of traffic in a monthly period can cause the bill for the service to jump dramatically.

Is Colocation the Way to Go?

If you are a big organisation and need a dedicated secure custom software besides hardware to run your applications. Then yes, its the right choice.

If you are a new company trying to go into the web hosting industry. No, because it would bankcrupt you.

We do use a co-located server located in Malaysia, so I really know what I am talking about. I use it to host a Nigerian government site.

As a starter depending on what kind of knowledge you have, it is either you go for a reseller package, and see how comfortable you are, or you just jump  into getting a dedicated server. But whatever you choose, please note your cashflow, how much is the running cost, compare to the amount you are making every day.

My advice to starters, is get your market share first, in a duration of 1 year, and then expand based on that. don't rush unnecessarily, we made some mistakes at the beginning, due to our inexperience, and we don't want you to repeat the same mistake again.

You want to make money? Start small and expand generously.

This is really interesting.Please do not fail to take a look at www.hostportfolio.com/resellers.htm where you can start your own web hosting business with just N17,000.00. 1gb/20gb monthly transfer .What's more , you can host unlimited domains plus 1 free domain name.It's a limited time offer.Wonderful.You can pay monthly ,twice yearly or even yearly depending on your budget.

I totally support Bola that the best way to start as a reseller in Nigeria is to search top saerch engines like google, yahoo, msn for " Reseller host Nigeria" or " Reseller Host in Nigeria" or " Web Host in Nigeria" and pick top ranked providers from the search engines results compare their ratings on each of the search engines and their packages.

I agree, shipping costs could be high.  However, you ignored my opening statement:" It all depends on the scale of your operation."


Actually, you can build one now for $1,000.  If you want to know how, let me know and I'D post specs.
Although that is still a lot of money, would it be cheaper using any other hosting plan.  Don't forget that the $1,000 is a one-time expense.


If you install RHEL, and choose server install, it practically has it ready to go with all required tools for hosting your sites.  All you do is configure your NIC card with your static IP, and you're ready to roll.  Even firewall is automatically configured.  Of course you need other post-install stuff that need to be done, but there's a lot of guide online for that.


Software licensing is $0 for me.
But I do realise that not everybody knows Linux.
However, if you're serious about running servers online, you better find a way to jump on the open source bandwagon.  It'D save you tens, if not hundreds of thousands of $$ in the long run.


True.  But you can anticipate all that in the kind of machine you build.
For example, raid5 will allow your machine to keep running, even if one of your hard drives fail.  Your raid monitor will send you an email to report such failure.  You simply purchase another hard drive, bring the machine down for 10 minutes plug the new drive in, and the raid will rebuild itself.


And why not, if you know how?


Actually, if you look around, you can find good deals that offer very huge data transfer for the same monthly cost.
I've been running image servers for a few years now, and I've never had to pay extra. 
Your point is correct, but it doesn't apply to everybody equally.


Don't get overly dramatic here.
It is clear your analysis is totally skewed against colocation.  What about the advantages it does offer?
Ability to install any application you need.
Unlimited storage space.
Unlimited domains.
Ability to add more ram, faster drives, change cpu, etc.
If you need unusual DNS configuration, you're not encombered by your isp's setup.
To get these things in a different hosting plan, you have to pay a lot more money to the isp.
There are even things your isp will tell you is impossible, period.
Basically, when you control your own box, you can scale up without any worries.

Here is the bottomline:

You're correct to say that colocation requires more tech know-how.  But, if you're going into hosting other people's sites, you might as well just educate yourself, because questions are going to come in from your customers.

A server machine can be built for $1,000.  If you have to build a $5,000, then you're not a small operation, which then counters your argument against colocation.

Your machine doesn't necessarily have to be anything special to be a server.  Any regular beefed up system can serve as a server machine.  Just get plenty of RAM, and SATA hard drives in raid configuration.  My site http://www.oasisoflove.com received 1,058,838 hits last month, and it's hosted on a regular $1,200 machine.

No software licensing if you use open source software.

If you set things up properly, no maintenance is required.  Linux can run for years without the need for a reboot.  I do daily backups without lifting a finger.  Even though my machine is colocated about 1000 miles from me, I have a home computer setup to do backups remotely.  Take a look at rsync over ssh.

Finally let me ask, what is the total monthly cost of colocation compared to a reseller program?

The guestion is how to start a webshosting/development company, not how much does it cost to start or whatever because i'm seeing peeps here listing how much they sell reseller or domain,

@oasis you say you  have 5 servers in the same location, and I pay $300 a month for all of them. how come is your website not running ?

thelastdon ,  what you need is an advice on what to do on how to start, what to look for and where to get your hosting from and also perhaps you might also need package  start with. i will say if you are aquainted with hosting or cpanel, i will advice you to start with a reseller packages or if you want something more bigger than that, i will suggest you go for VPS too. Hosting is a long time business,  you can start from  small and move big you know what i mean, 

First off, go to google and learn some stuff about hosting and come back and sit down and decide on what to do,   it all depends on your budget thelastdon,   let me know if you have any challenge smartsoft@live.com

Thank you kazey for that. what is the essence of doing a co-lation from nigeria to USA, when you can just buy your Dedicated server online and run it if you can manage it fine or if you want the ISP to manage it for you,   colation from nigeria, is a big waste of time,  even the best Hosting Coy in nigeria that people mention don't co-late or whatever is been called, they buy online, and do the rest or have them manage it for them. you must have a sound knowledge about SERVERS

Well thelastdon just start with a reseller hosting,  we also started with reseller hosting too and we graduated from that to VPS and later Dedicated Server,  I'm proud to say we've managed servers  for two companies and now contracted is now expired.