Hosting own Website

[DarkRanger]

Hi guys,

Firstly, don't know if this is in the correct forum, but move wherever it is suposed to be if you have to!

I would like to know the pro's and con's of hosting your own website and if it really is worth it. Reason I am asking is because the company I work for wants to host a website. The purpose of the website will remain unknown as I would like to hear your opinions on general site hosting.

I would like to know what we would need to host a website (speed of line, applications, server requirements etc etc) and what risks there are involved. Also, what are the advantages of hosting ones own website.

Thanks!!

[garp]

I'm no expert in this, but heres my .5 pounds....

I'd say one advantage is... you are your own host, therefor any server problems and whatnot can be dealt with immediately. The disadvantage is.... you are your own host, pressure to sort out broken servers and other problems (especially if a problem arises, and you not sure how to fix it) you get where I'm going with this?

[Koko_Lion]

It would help to know what the site is going to be used for. So we can give advice on what services you would need to run like, CGI, PHP, SQL, GCC, SSI etc etc?

As Garp said, hosting else where might save lots of headaches, as you don't have to worry about maintenance and service/apps updates.

[hamin_aus]

Hosting your own website is almost always a silly idea.

Web hosting is cheap. PM Ron2K for a quote (and a good time).

[doo_much]

Hosting your own website is almost always a silly idea.

Web hosting is cheap. PM Ron2K for a quote (and a good time).

Almost always. Hmm yes.


DR, have a look at these:

How do I host my own website at home?
Why Can't You Host Your Own Web Site?

Way I see it the cons are cost and security. A dedicated line is going to cost you dearly and you'll be responsible for the security - a mean task I gather.
If you start your own ISP I have dibbs on the first hafl-price hosting special.

[rustypup]

i'd concur that it's almost all con... with virtualisation, you rent space on a server with other customers, your backups, migration and downtime are almost non-existant and you only pay for the bandwidth consumed......

no hardware redundancy to worry over, you can put an SLA in place to protect your business and not have to burn man-hours on coddling the box.

unless you're going to burning through some serious bandwidth, managing an outward facing domain on a dedicated line is more fun than it needs to be...

[DarkRanger]

Thanks guys. The company just want's views on various aspects of web hosting and what would seem most benificial. I'm also against hosting it ourselves, but I still need to hand in a report on this.

@Koko - Services would most probably have to be: MySQL, PHP, and so forth. The website is just for the store of information and to direct users to different information categories. The majority of the information will be accessilbe by request only, so we will mostly use email for the distribution of the information.

For the little bit the website is actually going to do, I don't really see the effort as worthwhile, but as I said, I need to hand in a report.

@doo - Dankie vir die links. Die een het ek klaar gelees gedurende my eie research.

@rusty - We don't agree on a lot, but I do agree with you now.