[raidne]

I was wondering about this. Although I will certainly become a reseller first - more economical when starting out - what is the difference between a reseller account and leasing a server?
I know it depends on where you go, but I was wondering about how much more do you need to do if you have your own server? Such as management, and what might be available to you as a reseller that might not be available on your own server. I can't seem to find much information about servers.
Hope someone can give me some info here.

[bright-byte]

:) Hi raidne,
As you have already stated, it really depends on where you go.

However I will generalize for you to give you some idea of the differences:

Reseller hosting;

You are required to:

Look after all your clients orders and invoicing.

Look after level 1 support for your clients, this is general support such as lost passwords, nameserver, domain names, how to's and some minor hosting issues.


Your Reseller hosting provider is required to:

Provide level 1 support directly to you and look after Level 2 support issues, this includes but is not limited to all server, hardware, software, security and network issues.


Dedicated Server;

Unmanaged:

You are required to do all the above with the exception of network issues.


Managed:

This varies from provider to provider and can be semi or fully managed;

Semi Managed;
Too varied to list here

Fully Managed:

Can vary from it being somewhat like a huge Reseller package where the provider gives level 1 support directly to you and looks after Level 2 support issues, this includes but is not limited to all server, hardware, software, security and network issues to just level 2 support.


Please Note: this is an extreme generalization and is dramatically simplified for obvious reasons.

So in short if you go for an unmanaged server you will require knowledge of running a server such as server, hardware, software and security and a lot more.

[raidne]

Thankyou so much. This was exactly the kind of info I was looking for - just a generalisation so I could get ny head around it.


I know you can't get too specific since it varies a lot. Thanks again.

[denisdekat]

you should also consider, do you want to run a server?

Soemtimes it makes sense to have a couple reseller accounts on different servers so you can spread them across networks. I ncase any one network has any problems, not all your customers are affected. It's an idea :)

[nsusa]

Starting with a reseller account is not a bad idea. It keeps your overall expenses low for the beginning. It will take some time anyway to get paying customers. Your own server (owned or leased) just adds a certain level of cost and pressure to you.

Chris