There are a lot of people (individuals and small companies) making a nice profit from renting 3-5 or more servers from a reliable company like 1and1 or Cari.net and reselling VPS and shared hosting accounts to other people and businesses, complete with customer support and website creation, email server and other services.

Anyone can do that, but if you are really new to the scene, there are a few tools, software and utilities that you absolutely must know about (and know how to use them efficiently), in order to be able to manage your business correctly and provide help to your customers when they need it.

Server Operating Systems

The operating system is the base of a server (along with the hardware), so choosing the best one is a must, otherwise you risk having a lot of problems in the long run (like stability and responsiveness issues, lock-ups, etc.). Here are the most widely used (and, by definition, most popular) server OS’es:

1.       Red Hat Enterprise Linux (often abbreviated as RHEL). One of the most popular choices among big and small companies, RHEL is almost an industry standard. It is very stable, fast and has a company to back up, update and patch it, while providing the best tech support. It is one of the best choices along Novell’s SUSE Linux Enterprise (which is really very similar to RHEL) for servers running commercial apps based on custom or open-source database solutions like MySQL and using one of the most popular programming languages like PHP, Python, Java and others.

2.       Community Enterprise Operating System (commonly known as CentOS). Basically Red Hat Enterprise Linux without the price tag and the customer support. This is possible because of the GPL license that Linux is using, which grants anyone free access to the source of any program that is using it. As RHEL is based on Linux, it automatically inherited the GPL license, making it possible for a community of developers to compile a free version of it. If you are OK with the lack of support (which is arguable, as the CentOS community provides plenty), you can confidently use it, knowing that you have the guaranteed stability and performance of one of the best enterprise OS.

3.       Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2. This is Microsoft’s enterprise server edition of Windows, and despite the many bad reviews on the Internet (which mostly stem from the fact that it is not open-source, therefore, has limited customization options), it is a very good OS. It is expensive, but the support is worth it. And if you need to use Microsoft’s Internet Information Services and applications that use MS SQL Server and/or ASP.NET, it is the best choice. R2 has introduced a few features that make it faster and more functional when accessed by clients using Windows (especially 7), so your customers might benefit from it, seeing as most of them use that OS.

Tools that monitor your server

Monitoring your server is very important, so that you don’t end in a situation when you have an outage for a few hours and find out about it only when angry customers call you.

One of the best software solutions to monitor your server’s software and hardware is PRTG Network Monitor (from Paessler AG), which will automatically check the status of anything you tell it to and mail, message or even call you if something is wrong. As long as you have it up and running and you don’t receive any messages from it, you can be sure your server(s) are working fine.

Tools that let your customers manage their accounts and domains

Basically, control panels. There are a lot of them, some are free, but the best ones are paid. You will have to shell out some money to get a control panel that customers can actually use (although you can offer free solutions for experienced administrators who can do without one).

1.       CPanel + WebHost Manager. The most popular Control Panel for Linux-based operating systems on the market, CPanel/WHM has a long history of being stable, easy-to-use and having good support from the developer. It can be used for all the client’s needs, from adding and managing IP addresses and domains to creating email accounts and subdomains for any application.

2.       Parallels Plesk. Coming close behind CPanel on the number of installations, Plesk is a very good control panel, which is also prettier looking (IMO) and easier to use than CPanel. The main drawback which keeps it from being number 1 is the notorious problematic upgrade, which always seems to break something, and the customer support which is noticeably worse than that of other competitors. But once you get it up and running, your clients will start to wonder how they were able to live without it.

3.       Enkompass. This is basically the Windows version of CPanel/WHM (from the same company), and it inherits all of the strengths and weaknesses. It has all the features you need and the good support to back it up.

4.       Parallels Helm. Again, this is Parallels’ Windows version of Plesk. It is easier to use than Enkompass, looks prettier, but lacks the support quality and lack or problems of CPanel.

Tools that connect you and your clients to your server

As the server is located in a datacenter (and most of the times you don’t have direct access to it), you need programs that would let you manage it and upload/download files remotely (via FTP).

1. PuTTY. The best (and pretty much the only) SSH client for Windows and Linux. It can be used to connect directly to root or other user via a secure SSH channel. It can also create a secure SSH tunnel for other applications (like an FTP client, VNC viewer or a proxy client).
2. Bitkinex. Simply the best and the fastest FTP client on the market. It also supports SSH, SFTP and WebDAV connections if you need them, and it is free (despite what the main page says). It has a special caching engine that makes it faster when browsing and it supports up to 50 concurrent connections, making it 5 times as fast as any other client (like Filezilla or Fireftp), provided you have a high internet connection speed.

OK, so now you know the absolute basics that anyone must know to enter the web hosting business and not get lost. You’ll still need to do a lot of research and make a good plan before actually jumping in and starting it.

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