Information about servers, please (in Off-topic)

sorry about the caps, i was wondering if there is anyone out there who owns and operates their own server besides jon, im not gonna bug him he has enough to do. im wanting to get info, can anyone point me in the right direction for prices, retailers and any other jargon i need to know.

the reason is, im looking into starting a business, mostly renting space for sites and what not, with that generating possible, there should be an if in there a big one, i would then allocate space for my own venture, developing video games, i have been researching the works on it, i am now in the stage of pricing and getting people involved who cna contribute, ive only got one game designer and artist, programmer and possible networking guy. im incharge to make sure this works.

ive already got enough interest for game testers. but yea...as per my first points any direction or pointers from personal experience would be invaluable, thanks

dpc

Can you please be more specific?

finding web hosting is easy, later on you'll need space in a data center yourself, but for now a simple hosting account would be a good place to start...

Novice, I believe dpc wants to BE the web host (hence, renting space for sites). And using part of the space for his own game development.

Alrighty dpc, I'll see if I can give you a few pointers on game dev. First and foremost, you really got to do a good amount of research in nearly every aspect of the game industry. That includes how successful others are at the type of game you'll be making, legal issues, money management, how you'll keep in touch and contact with your crew, taking actions to prevent the team from becoming stagnant, etc. There's a great book called "The Indie Game Development Survival Guide" by David Michael (which I have in my lap right now).

You can trust me when I say making a decent quality game is a BIG challenge. If you don't have the money to pay your team (if you're in charge of it), then motivation for them to work can really easily fluctuate.

I'm speaking from first-hand experience as an art director (and local development director). Whenever I am able to find an artist who willingly volunteers to do work, they're obviously excited at first. However, unless the entire team is really moving at an incredible pace, that person may lose interest, especially if the rest of the team is a bit slow or idle with work. My artists don't remain motivated when our programming team does show new stuff from time to time. Of course, being the art director means I need to do two things, and that is keeping my artists motivated in any way possible, and talking with the programming team to make sure they get new stuff out.

If you're curious in what my team is working on, it's Project Aqua (http://www.projectaqua.net). Sadly, it's a bit idle at this point. However, I am very happy to say we have about 40 times as much content (art and such) in our secret forums than we do on that site. I'm just looking for 3D artists right now to help aid with the in-game modeling. Once I get my hands on a few, things should start back up well.

If you have any questions or whatever about game development, go ahead and ask me. I'm no expert in the area, but I do have some experience.

thanks for the book read ill definetly look into it, im still in the very infant stage, probable more like still in the womb. this wont be a full time thing. mostly cause everyone i have recruited already works full time and this is done i our spare time, so motivation i can understand can be a difficult thing to keep rolling. i find it hard to motivate myself

but now i got some more work to do, later and thanks again pixel

Oh, and as far as servers go, make sure you have the resources not to only get one, but to keep it running. That includes a fast connection and electricity bills =)

I'm still unclear on what you're trying to do.

If you just want to host your own site, buy an account on someone else's machine.

If you want to sell hosting, find someone for your team who knows about running servers because otherwise you're screwed.

from a business point of view to host sites, not ecpecting much from that at first. basically hoping it can pay for it self, while having the benefit to use an allocated area for development.

get a VPS ("virtual private server") first, they are cheap. westhost.com has good rates.

don't worry about buying + colocation + adminstration of your own until you outgrow the VPS.

http://www.redwoodvirtual.com/

I've used them on many occassions. Their rates are higher than what you can get overseas, but their customer service and uptimes are worth the extra cash. And really, if you can't spare ten bucks a month, you're in the wrong line of work.

I recommend forgoing the windows platform and using the linux one. And remember, you have to pay for cpanel if you want it.