Thinking of starting a business... HELP PLEASE!!

[HaZzY]

Hey there, i am thinking of buying some servers (1 to start with) and running multiple game servers on here and then renting them out . Compared to anyone on this forum i am quite a little nooblet and Google has not helped me too much. I have searched this forum and nothing helped me much so i am posting here.

My main aims are:

• To find a quick server with large RAM, able to manage at least 20 gaming servers at once (if this is possible :S)
• To find out how bandwidth applies to latency and performance on these gaming servers, and how much i will need.
• To find out whether I need to update my internet and at which isp is best to update to (i currently have 1 mbit internet connection)
• To find out how much money I will need to raise, and what maintenance and costs of everything will include.
• To find out whether performance of gaming servers differ from game to game- especially between Counter Strike 1.6, Condition Zero and Counter Strike: Source.
• To find out whether I can host free websites, with proper domain such as www.mywebsite.com on this server
• To find out how to host teamspeak servers, and whether this will compensate for performance of my other gaming servers. Is it worth it?
• Should i be running linux or windows dedicated servers. How will this differ and which gives best performance? Do any require more mantenance (and headaches) than the other choice.

I know some of these aims are quite Counter Strike related but any help would be VERY much appreciated.

Cheers

 

[x0r515t]

First of all what kind of an internet connection do you have? Your going to need some major bandwidth for all those things. A standard cable modem couldn't even handle a load like your talking about. You also need to check your ISP's policy on servers some ISP's prohibit servers such as comcast, others just charge you extra.

* You can find servers here:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/Category/category_tlc.asp?CatId=30

* Latency will be critical for a game server, be sure to keep this in mind when looking for an ISP. Read here for more information on latency:
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/l/latency.html

* One megabit down is alright, keep in mind for a server the upload rating is more important than the down rating. What is your current upload rating? If you want to be able to host the things you say I would say you really need at least a connection with a megabit upload rating, too the upwards of two or three.

You can certainly host free web sites on your server, since it's your server. Even if you don't purchase a domain, you can always access your site like this:
http://64.233.161.99:80
There is free domains you can register, but they usually are in the format of www.mysite.x.com not www.mysite.com If you want an address like that, you will have to register a domain for a small fee.

Read this over if you want a how to on teamspeak:
http://forum.goteamspeak.com/showthread.php?t=15438
and yes hosting a teamspeak server will use allot of bandwidth. That link btw assumes your running linux.

As to which OS to run, I would have to say Linux. You might find this link useful since you plan on hosting counter strike:
http://www.fileplanet.com/58481/50000/fileinfo/Counter-Strike-1.5-Linux-Server-[Full]
I know it's a popular perception that Linux is hard to use, but it's simply not true. It may be harder to set a linux server up at first, compared to a windows server but once you set it up, a linux server is the easiest to maintain.

 

[HaZzY]

Thanks for the help man, i am not sure of my upload rate and i can't find any tests to find it out. I think it might be 256k as some websites indicate i should have this with my download of 1mbit but i am not sure whether this is reliable. Is there any tests that could help me find it out? All the tests i found just told me my download rate.

EDIT

Oh yea and i am Bt Broadband Yahoo. So its pretty fast atm but dont know whether this is enough?

 

[HaZzY]

bump

I need some real help understanding how servers work. Anyone want to help me or give me a link to a basic tutorial. I need to know just all about them :S

 

[x0r515t]

http://testmy.net/

You can test your upload rate there.

Don't double post or "bump" threads. You have to be patient and wait for a reply not everyone stays on the forums 24/7 you know.

 

[David Lindon]

Look for some local co location data centers to run your servers in

 

[HaZzY]

Ahh so i would be able to run them entirely through my computer on the net?

That may seem an easier option (and cheaper) until i can afford a couple of servers. Would they have fast internet speeds and would it allow me to give my customers access to the ftp of their game server files?

What kind of price range are we talking about?

 

[Rugmuncher]

Ok, I don't want to offend you but from my experience here is my opinion.

There are a lot of people ( under the age of 18 ) around 14+ years old who have ventured into the internet business and have a go at it. I did myself and failed. Internet business needs a lot of money to get going, you need to be able to cover business costs for up to 2.5 years. I started off with NO money, and i failed. Why? Because my money source died. I couldn't pay the bills, and i could not spend 1,000$ a month on advertising.

I have worked a lot in the webhosting industry, The webhosting industry is very similar to the game server renting industry, it requires a LOT of money to advertise to become successful, there are very few gaming server businesses out there who are successful who have hardly spent any money on advertising. You won't get a lot of customers in the start, people can find out very easily how long you have been running for, it doesn't take longer than 1 minute to find out ( domain whois ).

The problem is that, the server rental companies have made it very easy for people to buy servers. So inturn that makes it easier for people to start a webhosting company or gaming server rental company. You can purchase the web based software to manage billing, servers and pretty much everything else. The online money merchants have made it tooooooo easy for people to start businesses and exchange money, that is why you have so many scams etc around. You can gp and buy a server for $100 US a month, the billing software for $150US once off fee, and a website template for 80$ US and a 2checkout.com account for $50... It makes it so easy for a 15 year old to go and start a business, think it is great for a couple of weeks. Untill they realise that it will take at least 3 years of hard work to get it successful and earning at least 30k$ a week/month. They then loose interest in the business and they leave there current customers stuck in the mud. This has put a bad image on 15 year olds who are willing to start a business. i went through that stage, i am now 16 and i am gaining investors to start a large ISP, So far investors are willing to invest up to 350-500k$ a year to get the ISP successful and earning millions.

From experience i think that you should think about it more, You will not be able to afford it. It takes thousands of dollars to start up a successful internet business. In the end it is worth it, but only if you are earning a lot.

Good luck

Peace