Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

hi guys,

I m about to sign up for a Virtual Dedicated Server from godaddy.com but I just thought maybe  I should ask a couple of questions that their support team did not really answer me well.

ok, a bit of background, I run a web design company and currently my webhosting company is rather disappointing. So i was advised to take up a dedicated server from godaddy .com by my friend.

but, after reading the FAQ I still have some question. because we are only web design firm, so mostly my client will register their own domain name and just give me the detail and i get webhosting for them. is it possible with godaddy in this case? because the FAQ did not mentioned that 30 domains should be from where or is there any specification of registrar. I had a very bad experience and ended up losing some money last time due to the registrar of domain name.

secondly, it is very unbelievable that godaddy.com can give us such a good price and is almost they are not making money. did anyone if there is any catch?? I just want to be very careful before further action.

thanks! and have a nice day

growing to a dedicated server huh?
Well there is advantages and disadvantages to a dedicated server. One of the advantages is you control your resources [technial support is not included]. You can add and delete customers as you wish. The down fall is, you have to have a lot of knowledge with A names, CNames, IP configuration, Registering Name Servers, and just everything that has to do with Web Hosting.

If you are a web design firm, why not go with a reseller program? I can set you up on a reseller Plan on one of our servers for around 59.99 with up tp "25 Registrants" and the advantage is you sign up your own customers, you control your own customers. You can suspend or activate them as you please. Other features are, we run the technical support for you, You get 3 exclusive IP`s, If you`d like I can give you a one month free trial.

Now as far as using GoDaddy? Well, you can find better out there.. He is really not making alot of money. The catch is he gives you cheap server space but then gives you like this whole list of add ons so by the time you are done, you might be spending like 200.00 in upgrades and stuff like that. I went to the go daddy dedicated server page, after configuring the first dedicated server: The economy plan, came up to about 193.78 a month for what it takes to have a decent web server. Another thing you have to be careful with is: their Technical Support is not that great. All they are going to tell you is: Visit our FAQ page.

As for the domain name registration: We can register them for you at cost, and perhaps you may want to charge your clients a little bit more. Along with Registering a domain name, you get your own domain name control panel so you can manage your domain names. [if you prefer] if not we control them for you. 

 
Another, thing about Dedicated Servers... You run your own maintenance. Not them..
So if you don`t have a technical support savy person, Im pretty sure Godaddy wants at least 40 bucks a month extra. So there is not saving.

Regards,

-------------------------

Edgar Monroy
Web Developer / Owner / Consultant
When starting your own business the need to "know-how" is greater than money!
http://www.nuevolution.net

I had a couple additions to  Nuevolution`s comments:

1. Dedicated and Virtual Dedicated are two very different things.  GoDaddy achieves the prices they do because they offer virtual dedicated with is essentially a OS within an OS.  Bottom line is RAM/CPU are still shared with other VPS clients. 

2. Also note that if you have more than 30 domains you will have to pay for them if you want to give them plesk access.

3. Most dedicated / VPS solutions require you to be very familiar with windows / linux adminstration and might not be the best choice if your not.

4. Not that it makes a bit of difference but I personally much prefer CPanel as a control panel interface especially if you decide to get a dedicated machine.  It allows a lot more under the hood adjustments and it allows you to easily transfer entire sites (mail, mysql, html, etc) with basically the push of a button.

Based one what I`ve read so far I would recommend a managed reseller solution.

thanks for the info guys.

i still cannot make up my mind but i found more info from this web forum:

http://www.webhostingtalk.com

go to the forum and you will find tons of info regarding webhosting and reviews.

If you are already hosting sites or administrating the hosting for clients, and you don`t want to add more work to your schedule, I definitely recommend Nuevolution`s idea of having a reseller account and letting the client own their own hosting with you administrating (regardless of who you use).  Even if you are just starting to add hosting as a service to your clients, I still recommend the same thing.  Letting a hosting service handle the tech support has saved me hundreds of hours, dollars, and headaches.

 

-------------------------

Jamye Few www.zeodd.com "If at first you don`t succeed, skydiving is not an option for you."

thanks Jamye,

i found a sort of solutions. being hard person with hard ears, i will definitely learn only from hard lesson.

my solution is, i just sign up 1 month and see how it goes. from there, i will definitely learn something. if is good, the god bless me. if is not, take it as a tuition fee. that`s my philosophy:P

but thanks for all the advise:D

I have been in the webhosting industry for quite a while.  The board you speak of above used to be a great place, but has turned into a place for people to go to complain.  Sometimes the complaints are warrented and other times not.  In a nutshell, do not read this board as gospel. 

Web Hosts are a dime a dozen out there.  You should be asking tough questions from your potential providers.  Here are some things to ask or be worried about:

1. If they suck in the sales process, odds are support will not be any better
2. Ask them about the hardware they use?  Do they RAID the hard drives?  Are hardware firewalls used?
3. Ask them the methods of obtaining support?
4. How many websites do you put on one server?
5. Where is your datacenter located?  What kind of connectivity does the datacenter have?
6. What rules do you have concerning the types of content on my website? 
7. Are you incorporated?
8. How many employees do you have?

You should see answers like this:

1. You should get prompt replies from sales
2. They should have servers with RAID of some kind if not DO NOT USE THEM.  They should be using REAL Servers not "white boxes we build ourselves."  Firewalls should be used.
3. There should be a support helpdesk or way to track your issues.
4. You want a host that is conscious about overloading servers.  The intent of this question is to see the response not necessarily the number.  If they are cramming thousands of websites on a box, you don`t want them.  If they blow this question off, you should be concerned.
5. The datacenter should be a professional location with multiple feeds to the Internet.
6. This is important.  We do not allow adult and IRC traffic.  Additionally, we have a banned list of scripts and retain the right to add to this list.  Here is why.  When you buy a hosting package, you are most often on a shared spaced.  This means the administrators should not allow "stuff" on the server that could potentially effect the whole.  Adult sites is a moral thing for us, but also it attracts visitors to the server we don`t necessarily want.  IRC is the same.  There are scripts or code that can have an adverse effect on servers.  You should be concerned if you host will "allow you to do anything" for that sake of making the sale or customer service.  The best customer service is providing a fair hosting account that doesnt destroy the server. 
7. The webhosting area is PACKED with companies.  Being incorporated is an extra step that serious people would complete. 
8. This is another reaction question.  Honestly, if the systems are setup properly you don`t need many employees.  We have 3 people and manage hundreds of websites.  However, as we grow we will add people.  You should be looking for an honest answer and get a feel for the provider.

I hope these statements above helped some.  As a webhost, I would rather have customers that ask these types of questions than people who see an advertisement on webhostingtalk.com. 

There are more questions to ask.  I have been thinking about writing a white paper on this topic...   Something like "Picking the right Webshost for Small Businesses."

Anyway, feel free to contact me if you have any questions.  Have a good rest of the Holiday weekend.

Sooon,

Testing waters, paying tuition fees, and being blessed by god only applys to when you are in college or when you are playing the role of a made believe business.
If I may, let me help you set your feet on solid grounds; So you are telling us you are just experimenting?
What if things don`t go as planned? what are you going to do with your clients? Are you going to transfer them from one server to another? Migrating databases, files, and so forth? thats alot of work. Then there are the nightmares... Not everything transfer`s over correctly.

As for the Hostclick, CPanel is not the greatest tool or web hosting control panel. The reason why many web hosting company`s use CPanel is because is the cheapest Control Panel.
H-sphere being the second cheapest, and Helm being the Third.
By far I have found that Plesk 8.0 for Linux or Plesk 7.5 for Windows is one of the best Web Hosting Control Panels in the market. As for the Migration Button? Plesk Offers that tool also.
Another thing don`t rely that the Migration button will solve your problems. It is helpful, but if its an application that you are moving over, you still have to configure the config.php or MYSQL Databases...
Well, I wish you luck on youer new endeavor.. Hope you succeed.

-------------------------

Edgar Monroy
Web Developer / Owner / Consultant
When starting your own business the need to "know-how" is greater than money!
http://www.nuevolution.net

ok guys,

wow! quite a handful of info... appreciate that.:D

why not we do a elevator pitch here?? hahahahaha.

ok, what i wanted is a dedicated server/VPS that i can use php5 and mysql(well, prefer preinstall) and if i wanted i can install my own application. for example Flash Communication Server.

my budget is $40 per month which will come up to $480 per year. i have no problem learning any new control panel tool as long as is free :)

my client so far are not using any e-commerce facility but you can advise me so that i can advise them if there is ever any intention.

as you can see with my experimental characteristic, i might be playing around with a lot of scripts like php and ruby or RubyOnRails. and probably i will setup some simple flash online game websites.

remember, it`s only 1 minute per pitch means your pitch only take 1 minute to read:P and i respect your confidentiality of your price that if you do not want other competitor to know, you can send me your pitch at:

sooonismATgmailDOTcom

have a nice day guys:D