[plug] DIY hosting - worth it?

[Nikhil Jogia]

Gavin Chester wrote:
> DIY hosting - is it worth it?  
>
> There are a lot of pros and cons to running your own web server at home,
> so I'm hoping that initiating this thread will evoke a lot of opinions
> both ways from those that have actually done it/doing it here in WA :-)
>
> I can think of some pitfalls:  need for dedicated box with UPS, chewing
> power having it 'on' all the time, constantly checking its logs,
> hardening its security, etc.  Other than the technical challenge of it
> all, the reason I am thinking about hosting my own web site (or three)
> is to have greater freedom and control.  Another factor in favour is the
> cost savings involved from being able to host my 15 domain names,
> instead of having to park them at registrars ATM.  It is uneconomical to
> have them hosted commercially when the business concepts for which they
> were registered are still in development.
>
> One factor mitigating against home hosting is that I have _terrible_
> phone down-times.  They don't give a toss about servicing us, being
> classed as remote regional here in Dwellingup.  For example. twice this
> year I have had faults that took _SEVEN_ days to be repaired, and would
> have been more if I wasn't agitating them all the time.  In that event,
> I have read that some commercial hosts offer a mirroring service - I
> presume that would takeover when my server was 'offline' due to phone
> faults.  Other ways around this is that I've considered the greater
> reliability of two-way satellite - albeit at greater cost.  Anyone have
> experience of either of those things.
>
> Another factor to consider is speed.  Is the DSL 512KB service the
> minimum?  Or, would 256KB be enough?  I expect very low traffic.  I was
> going to tinker with VOIP also and have read that 512KB is the minimum
> for good quality IP calls.
>
> There's a lot to be considered there.  I hope some have the time to
> write of their own experiences and with their advice.
>
> OH, and did I mention ... I have practically NO money with which to do
> this ;-)
>
> Gavin   
>
> _______________________________________________
> PLUG discussion list: plug at plug.org.au
> http://www.plug.org.au/mailman/listinfo/plug
> Committee e-mail: committee at plug.linux.org.au
>   

Whilst 256KB would be enough for a small site, the power bill, lack of 
reliability and amount of time taken don't really make it a viable option.

IMHO, the only situations you would host off DSL are as a learning 
experience, you want to integrate your website with your existing 
network (ie website to upload to internal file server) or you have a low 
bandwidth site that requires a lot of internal (CPU, memory etc) usage - 
thus saving on colo fees.

You might want to check out some US based shared hosting. I hear 
1and1.com is good and allows multiple domains - US$2.24 per month.