Dedicated servers?

[Nikolas]

Ok!

I'm looking at prices for dedicated servers! And they're huge! but I would like (mostly for information for now...) to check on certain things!

I was wondering what it takes to make your own server. I mean I have a computer, which atm is much much better than the ones offered at all dedication servers, with huge hard disk space (500 GB), 2.8 MHz and so on... I will be buying a new pretty soon (read in 2007), so I could just leave this one to the internet alone, and open all the time.

But I know nothing about it! How does it work and so on...

Can somebody give me the light?

What equipement do I need?
What internet connection I need (or do I cut a deal with BT, or Bulldog, or whataver)
Will I need a seperate phone line (most probably but...)

And any other info useful...

Could be a dumb idea, but giving £100 every month for a dedicated server, seems a tad much, and wondering how could I save in the long run.

Ideas anyone?

[scotch]

Running your own server isn't a good idea in most cases, your home connection will probably be 256kbps upstream, and at most 1mbit. In addition to that you're not really allowed to run servers on your home connection and you're at risk of it being cancelled. Especially if you start uploading dozens of gb a month.
You wouldn't need a seperate phone line, you'd just be using adsl or cable as you do now presumably, they're the only home connections you can get that cost less than a dedicated server in a server farm.

If you pay for a dedicated server you get the machine, on a 100+mbit connection to the interent, hundreds of GB of bandwidth, in a server farm with guaranteed uptime and so on. It is a big expense for one person though, we split the AGS server between 10+ of us and it works fine for everyone (it's something like £50 a month, which is more expensive than our old one, these are in Germany though, UK servers are expensive for some reason). Why do you need a dedicated server? If you don't need to run software besides web server stuff then a normal webhost is much cheaper, and if you do, but you don't need large amounts of cpu usage then a shared, virtual server is a good option.

[monkey0506]

All you'd really need to do is set up some server software. You'd probably want to install PHP and MySQL. phpMyAdmin is a popular, easy to use MySQL management system.

I'd suggest if you're seriously considering doing this that you format your hard drive first. As for your internet connection if you're on dial-up internet you would need a second phone line or you'd never be able to get any phone calls. If you have DSL or any other type of broadband connection you need not worry about it.

It's actually a fairly simple process.

[voh]

The important question is, indeed, what you'd need a dedicated server for.

I host 27 websites off of one virtual hosting reseller account, of which 3 are semi-popular webcomics. All sites together pull 78 gigs a month on average, taking up 4.7 gigs of space.

We had a dedicated server, but decided it was too expensive, and too much of a hassle, compared to what virtual hosting had to offer. Also, turned out we didn't need that much space/bandwidth.

Also, using a home connection for a dedicated server is pretty much a bad idea. 1 mbit is nice for a couple of connections, but when 50-100 users are on it, 1 mbit is full pretty swiftly, and you won't be able to do much with your own connection while they're on there.

[JimHejl]

I run my own server. I made the choice because of the secruity restrictions on Java applets (they may only connect back to the same server from which they were downloaded). So, to run server-side applications for my applets to connect to - I need to also run the server itself. I also host a streaming radio station, and a few other services.

I have business-class cable, with 1.5mbps up and 5mbps down. With that class, you are allowed to upload and they don't monitor your usage (within limits).

It is expensive though. I think I pay about $250 a month for it (Brighthouse Networks, Orlando-FL).

My primary web server is a quad-core G5.

In any case, I'm new here. My name is Jim - and, before you dig it up on my website, I work for EA. Please don't give me your ea rants... I just enjoy making entertainment -- like you.

cheers,
--jim