best dedicated server website host for a multipurpose site for my interests etc ....

[weebroonieuk]

looking and willing to spend a decent amount per month not crazy amounts, what will i be using ?

well want to build a small social site like faceparty but without all the annoying children and childish multicolour bubble writing etc. id like a wee chatroom too and a forum of the same type as my particular favourite and most visited forum ......your in it

lots of sites have different types of forum layout and searching but the type we use here always seems the most logical and well laid out and easy to search etc

do i have to buy this bulletin style board software or will most of the hosts who offer pagebuilding offer a forum of this style and chatrooms

and the ability to create profiles themselves as i cant be bothered nor do i want to know my mates passwords etc so the usual join a site process with selecting username and password and email and then confirming its there email by clicking on a system sent email like just about every site that you need to register for !

and as i said profile creation to see whos who and who whos upto what these days as personally i never go on msn messenger etc anymore as they get annoying and i find email boring

long since left the sites like faceparty and all its spinoffs because of the freaky pervs and weirdos and its constant push to buy that stupid cool tools to reply to more messages or look at more than so many profiles


main thing for me is sleek simple design and fast serving and lots of space as i will also use it as a filestore for documents and phone backups etc which are invaluable ....aslong as i can keep this hidden from my mates that is !!

also wee avatars and signatues like we have here which can just be linked to whatever persons profile page

hopefully this cant be too difficult ive seen some hosts offer forums and chat etc but im unsure of what too look for when it comes to new visitors signing up themselves and creating there own individual username/profile

and the ability to hop between chat and forum an profile with same login details , just somethin easy to use an covers our needs

also can i run other websites on something like a dedicated server? e.g. different domain names and theme , as i may wanr to have a site just of my own where i can ramble nonsense like this here post but with my name as the domain if available obviously

kinda my little blog/spot on the internet but which i control and get statistics like page hits and whos clicked what and when etc

i like my statistics

and also ip address i would imagine would be logged as no doubt you always get some a...hole out to cause trouble so i could possibly block them or whatever from rejoining under another username

alot of questions i know but will be my first time and want to have a decent backend 1st and foremost as quality is more important than cost aslong as its within reason that is lol

[MD]

go state side - dollar makes it silly money at the moment and most will take paypal.

The planet, Beachcomber, Server Matrix EV1, something like that if you want to go dedicated.

matt.

[Iain M]

I agree with Matt, go state side,

I currently have a dedicated server with ScarabWeb paying $115/month with cPanel/WHM, you can check out there dedicated plans here http://www.scarabweb.com/hosting_dedicated.php, they aren't a "big" hosting company, there support is great, and I've had no (or very little) downtime with them.

do i have to buy this bulletin style board software

this forum software you do need to buy, you can get it here: http://www.vbulletin.com/, there are free alternatives but don't have the same amount of features, and addons that vBulletin has.

also can i run other websites on something like a dedicated server?

Yes, you will need something like WHM (WebHostManager) to do this

and also ip address i would imagine would be logged as no doubt you always get some a...hole out to cause trouble so i could possibly block them or whatever from rejoining under another username

I'm not sure what software you'll be using for the faceparty type site, but with vBulletin you can ban IP Addresses, every post there is an icon that mods and admins can click to take them to info about the IP Address, there are addons fro vBulletin which notifies you when two people with the same IP Address have registered.


hope this is of use to you, if you have any more questions just ask


Iain


[Edit]
Missed out something important about dedicated severs, you'll need to find out from whover you choose to go with if the server is managed or not, if it isn't managed then you'll need someone to manage it for you, if you don't know how to do it yourself

There are always good deals for dedicated servers at WHT, here http://www.webhostingtalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=36

[weebroonieuk]

cheers for the excellent replies lads, this place never fails!

im gonna think of some ways to make money but between me and family chipping in along with me but only to pay for itself as dont want tax man or anything chasing me so even letting mates have custom emails or a little storage box or something an they can chip in too

from what i know dedicated servers are about the best way to do it, managed does that mean they have all access and my control to mess about with the site in design will be limited?

if managed means they are just monitoring the hardware and general health of the server/site then thats fine

i know its probably a bit much for my first site but i dont fancy the problems and hassles you can have with smaller less responsible site as i will be using it for my personal stuff aswell,

im about to read into your links and vbulletin etc and how to integrate, the next problem the servers OS....

ive messed with linux several times and i know is probably cheaper and than a windows box but i reckon i could handle and pickup alot easier due to using it for years

also would i be able to do a pbx remote boot of something like DMS (damn small linux) , purely for messing about reasons on a seperate partition or seperated space if not im not bothered just like trying new things

as for faceparty type software well thats just a generalisation as i said i hate the site and others like it with all the kiddies and chavs sticking their fingers up smoking joints or holding up bottles of buckfast ....sigh
atleast if any infrnged my little space id kick their ass back out

it would just be something simple people visit the homepage and click a register and do the usual and just the ability to have say ... just one page they can write up what there upto etc and have a page of a few pics linked from a thumbnail of them

well thats what id like anyways my own little space and the ability to weed out the wnkers etc


what you want and what you get are two different things though if its too difficult to implement then id just stick with a forum and chatroom for the social stuff and have a section for me to experiment and try out different web technologies when bored

[Iain M]

im gonna think of some ways to make money

When you have the site up and running, I would highly recomend Google Adsense they pay on a PPC (Pay Per Click) basis just don't click your own ads, or get your friends/family to click them or you will be banned, when your site gets more popular/more visitors you can start looking at CPM (Cost Per Mille) ad networks, they pay every time the ad is served/shown, might sound good but they don't pay as high as PPC networks.

from what i know dedicated servers are about the best way to do it, managed does that mean they have all access and my control to mess about with the site in design will be limited?

if managed means they are just monitoring the hardware and general health of the server/site then thats fine

Dedicated servers are the best way to go about setting up your site, if you are expecting a lot of hits/visits, hosting files, setting up a network of sites, Faceparty type sites do get a lot of hits so dedicated is definitely your best bet.

Managed basically means they install the OS, all the required software to get you "online", but they may not install the software you want to use on you site, i.e. they install the back-end stuff, they will upgrade your hardware, and monitor "the hardware and general health of the server/site".

im about to read into your links and vbulletin etc and how to integrate

I am pretty sure everything you want done can be done from vBulletin addons, if there is something that's not how you want it, their are a number of coders who will be able to modify/code what you want, some will ask a fee, some won't

the next problem the servers OS....

A Linux OS would be the best choice, which distro you chose is really up to you, I've got CentOS installed on my server.

also would i be able to do a pbx remote boot of something like DMS (damn small linux)

umm.. I'm not exactly sure what you mean

just one page they can write up what there upto etc and have a page of a few pics linked from a thumbnail of them

that's possible via vBulletin addons

... and the ability to weed out the wnkers etc

Covered by vBulletin, you can ban and give out warnings


Starting your own site is something that should be thought about, because running the site can be very costly, and time consuming, it is fun tho

[weebroonieuk]

oops meant pxe boot atleast i think it is booting from a network connection just wondered if i could boot from my own site , again nothing essential just a thought

i dont particularly want to end up like faceparty theres too much competition and im most definatly inexperienced to handle something like that

had a look around the scaraweb like some of the power series now to look at the other suggestions and vbulletin sounds like a very good option still to have a look there tho

adsense etc i suppose i could just stick it there and see what happens ,

i dont think i will be advertising it inless i have a lightbulb moment and think of something usefull with potential as i know there is people who meliciously click on companys adds to add more cost to the company .....atleast i think thats what i read
might be wrong though but the minute i try an make money from something like that and advertising it would be just my luck for some sort of outfit to beat me to the ground as ive not had any real hands on html and running a website experience but we all gotta start somewhere

i have a few cunning plans that i could make a nice earner if i decide to but will see once ive dipped my toe in the water .....

ive used various flavours of linux thanks to linuxwatch etc but nothing majour and some just ran in vmware and mounting the iso file

im definately a pointy click for this kinda thing but i know you get "web templates" etc and site building software i might have a mess about with vmware again actually once i find a host i like the sound of

oh for help with costs i think il be signing up for google checkout as its rates are very good and mates or whoever can chip in , or i might just leave it and take paypal donations an cash from mates

another little thought..... now an then i logout and click some adds in here i doubt they pay for users clicks and if i logon from elsewhere i do the same, i dont do it alot as i dunno if google accept lots of clicks from the same ip address but like to put my bit in now and then , could my mates do this for me even just once when i dish out the invites to join ?

[weebroonieuk]

oh and video audio streaming would be nice

and would i be right in thinking that i could run a torrent application, probably not azureus as its getting rather bloated so something like utorrent ?

or maybe just plain old download links from other sights could i somehow point my server to it and have it download it onto the server ??

maybe there already is software for integrating this sort of feature and simply upload the torrent to the site and wait till it scans for new torrents, ive done similar with azureus running on my laptop and accessing it via a plugin and using my nokia n95 to monitor torrents cant remember if i could submit a torrent for it to download as i couldnt download torrents from the the big sites with the n95

again not a big issue but it would save me being a data horder as i said before i always mess about with linux and various other stuff that i seem to "need" , but rarely use so just wasting space
it would be nice to have some of my favs sitting in a private directory on whatever server i purchase and ready to download when i want without all the hunting around various places

[weebroonieuk]

another quick check of this thread an thanks again for the suggestions

currently scouting around that webhostingtalk forum plenty of decent offers but i guess i should stick with the metered tarrifs as some of them sound too good to be true sent a quick message to the planet and going to look through the beachcomber shortly

is there any sort of dedicated ones with the metropolis features of godaddy? = free modules of which can be added fairly easily to the site i may take up there sort of thing for a month or so and get the feel of it as im sure they offer dedicated servers with this feature

and seen some temptingly specced machines dual core xeons 3gb of ram 2tb of space 2.5gb transfer and so on ... i know i wont need anything like that but i am a spec freak, need to concentrate more on storage and speed!

the search continues...

[Splash]

Weebroonieuk - please don't take this as a flame, but I think you really need to scope out exactly what it is that you want to do with this box. You keep adding more functionality that I'm not 100% certain you understand (PXE boot from your site? what and why?)

Once you have everything planned THEN you should be looking for a server that fits the bill, not looking at a server and then seeing what you can do with it - chances are this is a VERY expensive way to experiment with this kinda thing.

[weebroonieuk]

im not taking it as a flame as i stated it several times it was the least important thing im interested in

im just wondering what things i can do via vpn's etc over the internet as im basically renting a dedicated server and as you say it could be a very expensive way to experiment but i dont see how it will be VERY expensive if i have some mates using it and chipping in some folks mention adsense not really something im bothered about ....

i have clearly stated what i do want and clearly stated what isnt essential like using the server to remotely boot a small linux OS from ..... i only asked if i could do it i dont know , whenever i dont know something about computers especially a network related issue then here is my first port of call and so far has been very helpfull and the lengthy replies people have offered up are well appreciated

i know i may be going a bit to the extreme with a dedicated server for my first time building a site but as i said before im a sucker for specs and usually when i build a pc or buy a laptop i will buy the best foundation eg motherboards , and when the expensive bits like cpu's get cheaper and better cores released for the socket then i upgrade .....

i dunno just start of with something decent then i cant blame anyone or anything for it being a waste of my time and money as ive been told the costs and know it wont be easy


and your last section of your post i think the opposite... think of everything i want this box to do and have it planned then price up a server? wouldnt i be better at looking at what they can do in a price range im happy to pay for first , instead of planning what i want because in an ideal world id want it to do everything i could ever think of and make me the richest man in the world , that aint gonna happen, im happier looking at what i can get in different price/performance categories

[GoNz0]

im hosting with www.streamline.net

they offer a 3 month free trial, must cancel or select your chosen package or you get put on the unlimited package.

£28 for 2 years on home user, and that comes with domain and database (for your forum)

[Splash]

That's not a dedicated server GoNz0 - the cheapest dedicated servers they do are £39.99 a month.

Other than that I stick by what I said - plan it out before you buy it. Can you afford to spend a minimum of £40 a month (bearing in mind that's on a virtual 256k pipe) while you play around getting things to work? Personally I'd set up a test box at home, learn how it all fits together and then look at shared hosting. If it then grows beyond the need for shared hosting there's no reason you can't go dedicated and transfer everything to a dedicated host.

[GoNz0]

why would he want a dedicated server to host a website ?
may as well start with a basic package, if he wants more than one site then reseller package, USA or not dedicated is not imho the way to go when having a starter website with forum.
then again its not my money i was only trying to help

[weebroonieuk]

well yes i could afford 40 quid if its something that interests me and the live chat ive had with some managed server companys were fairly positive and pleasant that was just the techguy not the sales pitcher

i know i could probably go with shared solution and probably should from a cost point of view but if it does need upgraded and/or switching companys etc is what makes me want to ge dedicated in the first place , seem like most stable platform and all the horror storys of dns problems and things that i dont really know much about so id like to just register a domain and point it somewhere once and be done with it

nothings definate yet either im only weighing up possibilitys and pros an cons

i was thinking of fireing up vmware and maybe try some linux distros and or download the prebuilt vm machines from the market place and see what i can do

[Splash]

why would he want a dedicated server to host a website ?
may as well start with a basic package, if he wants more than one site then reseller package, USA or not dedicated is not imho the way to go when having a starter website with forum.
then again its not my money i was only trying to help

Read the thread - that's my point too, but he's insistent on dedicated

[GoNz0]

well yes i could afford 40 quid if its something that interests me and the live chat ive had with some managed server companys were fairly positive and pleasant that was just the techguy not the sales pitcher

i know i could probably go with shared solution and probably should from a cost point of view but if it does need upgraded and/or switching companys etc is what makes me want to ge dedicated in the first place , seem like most stable platform and all the horror storys of dns problems and things that i dont really know much about so id like to just register a domain and point it somewhere once and be done with it

nothings definate yet either im only weighing up possibilitys and pros an cons

i was thinking of fireing up vmware and maybe try some linux distros and or download the prebuilt vm machines from the market place and see what i can do

kind of why im pointing at streamline, 3 month trial, then after 3 months if you dont know what you want select the small package, they say you can upgrade any time so no DNS issues as its on the same host !

thats why im with them, i would rather spend the money on the mrs than a dedicated server thats not getting used.

(and the upgrading is a 2 click in control panel and jobs done )