Why?

[HRTimothy]

For those of you who are somewhat interested in our dedicated offers that haven't actually made the jump, what's holding you back? Why haven't you gone dedicated?

[Mr. Popularity]

If I may add, I've been dedicated now for well over 3 years.

As a dedicated reseller, here's what I've learned from my potential customers hanging up the phone on me in the past! I've since made the following adjustments to how I lease servers, and have become successful in selling dedicated servers to newbies. I compared myself to my current reseller backbone provider (ev1), and learned the following:

Price: I priced my first dedicated server with HR back in 2000. (It was a p3 700mhz with a 40gb hd, 256mb ram, and i forgot about the bw). The offer made to me was $400 a month. Since then, the price of dedicated hosting has gone down considerably. EV1 (Who I wouldn't recommend to anyone. If ev1 were a hospital, I wouldn't take a sick rat there! And I can't wait to move all my customers over to HR.), has dedicated servers for around $99. People tend to see that the prices keep going down and down. Most want to wait and will wait forever for the cheapest price.

Instant Activation: It's my educated observation that most people order a dedicated server when they're bored! Ask any web hobbyist who is also an impulse buyer! Most have already stretched their limits on their shared hosting accounts with resources, bandwidth, and oddball .htaccess configs to do things that you couldn't normally do with most CP software. Also, when someone lays down an average of $200, they want it NOW! So, I've written a modernbill hack that does this for my servers. As soon as I get a "1" response code from authorize.net, my provisioning scripts pick the next server in line, sets the root pw to what the user specified, and emails all this info to the customer. They're ready to go within minutes. Impulse buyers of the "web" fetish wanna get cracking on the ideas that are fresh in their head!

Newbie Transitioning: Even noobs with shell access are limited to what they can do, thus their experience is capped at whatever their CP software config allows them to do. When someone wants to go dedicated, they realize that they are getting a barebones OS installed. No worthwhile CP comes for free, so people seem to be intimidated by opening up that default httpd.conf file and trying to figure out what all that alien jargon means and how to make it work for them. Not to mention that most newbies haven't even browsed a / directory before, or heard of vi. So, I've written my kickstart scripts carefully and a post install bash script that installs Webmin (free and somewhat easier for a noob), and copies over my default httpd.conf file that has plenty of examples.

Options: Most noobs have never heard of CentOS. I'm sure some even think its another weird flavor of linux that they'd just have to get used to. I offer Windows Server 2003 and RedHat Enterprise Linux 4.0 AS on all of my servers. Two names people know are the BEST on OS's. I offer Plesk at a discount rate and on my modernbill order page, I have every option setup in the orderwiz (OS, IP's, hard drives, memory, bw, etc.).

The Sales Pitch: Most noobs who want to go dedicated, in my opinion, already know that they can do pretty much what they want with their server. But, their dreams and goals, hindered by their inexperience, seems to initiate a panic thought process of sort. "Wow, if I can go dedicated, I can do this, and that, and this, and that." Then, they login as root and feel discouraged by not being skilled enough to "master the bigger beast". Thus, I'm writing "Nucleus". Nucleus is my vision of a control panel that teaches as well as helps a newbie dedicated user. It won't take over your system, in fact, it will only be several PHP scripts. For each function it does, it teaches you the command line (in graphical mode with a breakdown of every operation and switch used). I've taken on this gigantic task in order to help myself (and other hosting providers) increase dedicated server sales.

Those are just a few things I've done to increase ded. server sales. I hope I've helped some!

[ZenSpirit]

Hi Timothy,
Actually, for the last weeks i'm considering going dedicated.
I had several accounts with HR (one semi-dedicated, about 10 Giga Sale), but moved them to another host, where i could have a 'virtual dedicated' account.
Working my own CPanel WHM and stuff.

The time has come to go dedicated, but i'm holding back because of my zero knowledge about linux.
At HR, you have several dedicated packages, but i don't reed anything about support at system administration level (maybe just not looking hard enough :p ).
How is this organised?
I'm looking at another provider, they work with Defcon (http://www.powersurge.net/defconservices.php) levels.
This is something i could use, since a never handled a Linux box before.

If HR could give me a good feeling about support, i might make the step. Because you can't beat the price :)

Another thing is i would like to here some feedback from European (Belgium) clients, with heavy loaded (+1000 visitors/day) sites.
I had some bad experiences with HR, at the end my sites where down minimum once a week, for a few hours. (host5, host61, ...)

If i would be sure i don't get these problems with a dedicated server at HR, i will be signing up the other day!

Greetings, and have a nice day!
Johan.

[Kimberly]

For those of you who are somewhat interested in our dedicated offers that haven't actually made the jump, what's holding you back? Why haven't you gone dedicated?

Before I got dedicated host I held off for months and months because there so little help files on it to teach me what it is or how you use it - what are the advantages. Honestly, I printed out the 200 page manual offered on cpanel web page and am still lost on how to use the WHM (web host manager) and the cpanel I am just starting to get figured out but there a lot there is no help on. I searched B & N and Amazon book stores and there not even a book to buy. I wish I could find one step by step how to detailed instruction manual. If I had one to use then I would have gone dedicated A LOT SOONER. Now I am starting to like it more and more but it a bit scary to take on.

Today I got a new domain name to park and I am guessing from trouble ticket I need to set up something called a DNS zone and trust support to be doing the right thing but I have no idea what they are talking about.

I have to wonder how many other people out there like me simple do not understand what a dedicated server is and how to use it.

Just my 2 cents.
Kimberly

Update: I think I understand what tech support is telling me now but till wish there was a book or something I could find to read and learn more about this stuff.

[KingMotley]

I just helped someone move to a dedicated server at hostrocket. I can tell you why he was shy about doing so before. Most hosting companies drop you with a machine that has a barebones OS on it, and say "here you go!".

Signing up with hostrocket was a bit different. Although the dedicated server wasn't "instant access", it was available within 24 hours. Dismayed by the sluggish performance of another hosting companies shared servers, he went with the dual processor machine with cPanel. This machine is probably way way overkill for his needs, but his business depends on it, so the price per month was right, even with the added monthly cost of cPanel. I've never used cPanel before, and he had only used h-Sphere, but only with a reseller account. Anyhow, once we got the machine assigned, and accounts sent via email, it was a pleasant suprise to see pretty much everything good to go. We had to change the domain name servers to his own machine (Which took a bit of tinkering with WHM), but the machine was basically configured in a few hours, with absolutely no command-line stuff needed. I should say that again... *NO* command-line stuff.

I have to say, it was a pleasant experience for us both. Me being the tech guy who was responsible for actually making sure the machine was set up so he could "use" it and not being an apache/linux/php/mysql guru. cPanel definately made the chore easy. If he didn't need to do his own domain stuff, it would have been even easier.

I think a lot of dedicated server people just want the same "feel" as the shared server without all the problems associated with it (overloaded servers, etc). I know that's exactly what my client wanted. He just wanted his own dedicated "shared" server environment he was used to. Now he has it. It was a scary move for him, but hostrocket made it as painless as you possibly can, and that's a LOT different than most of the host companies I've dealt with in the past.

On a side note, it would have been even easier (Taken a day to move all his sites), if he was using cPanel on hostrocket's shared servers. But then again, perhaps if his old ISP was hostrocket in the first place, he wouldn't have seen the need to move off the shared server :p

I really like cPanel. The only complaints I have about it are:
1) Account names are limited to 8 alpha-numeric characters. This is a shame because my client in hSphere used account names that matched the domain name.
2) Apache2/PHP5 support is kinda quirky. Still can't get it to install right. That's ok though, Apache 1.3.3, PHP 4.3.11, and MySQL 4.0 is what came installed (Just like most shared servers), and we upgraded to MySQL 4.1 with a click of a button. I suspect that Apache2/PHP5 support will be solid (it does say it's still experimental, so the whole not work thing wasn't a suprise) by the time he needs to switch.

[lilywhite]

I'll second what King Motley said. Pretty much the only thing I'm capable of doing with shell access is set permissions (a skill I had to learn last year so I could correct a persistent problem without emailing hostrocket every two days to do it for me), so I decided to go with Cpanel/WHM.

I'm up and running on dedicated with 10-12 accounts, and so far can do everything I could on my shared accounts, which is really all I need at this point. As other issues come up, HR support has walked me through everything, so I'm learning one step at a time as the need arises.

Perhaps one day all of this one-step-at-a-time learning will coalesce into an actual familiarity with the software so that I can forego CPanel, but for now I couldn't be happier.

[Delta_Boy]

I sure the newbs are scared off because of the cost. I dont want to fork out large cash(though HR is reasonable) while I am still learning how to be a Server Admin. I would need to resell space immediately to make it affordable to me. Personally, I find the whole task daunting. I see there are a few people here who know HOW to do it but it's hard to find tutorials on how. I am interested in reselling on a dedicated in the future but I feel very uncomfortable with it at the moment. A boxed and brandable reseller server would be nice.

I do have a few questions right now:

1. On a dedicated(reselling), who and how is Customer Support?
2. Can I resell game servers? If so, how could I automate this process?
3. Does HR install upgrades to Mysql, PHP, ect? I would be afraid of messing up an upgrade and disappointing customers.
4. Can reselling be a viable part-time second income? Or, does it require full time dedication?
5. How does Domain Registration work as a Reseller?
6. Security? How can I best protect my clients?

Today is my first day of checking out some info on Ded's. I see Mr. Popularity has been a great asset to this forum providing much info. Thank you.

[Cynara]

I think the whole "Sold Out" signs are an issue to those who wish to buy it ;) Just my thoughts though.

[djsqueak]

Honestly when I made my jump to dedicated, I had *no* choice but to do so. Most of my scripts I have written myself, and since I'm not a professional programmer, DBA, SQL architect, or HTML author, sufficed to say they are *anything* but efficient. My semi-dedicated account had been disabled for excessive resource utilization which was impeding the performance of other users on the box.

Besides the arbitrary (yet understandable) instant disabling of my site, I have always been ultra-pleased with HR, so I decided to make the jump to dedicated.

I had *zero* linux experience beyond what I knew of working through SSH. I opted against CPanel because of cost, so I ended up with a command line, and nothing else.

The learning curve was steep, but I tell you, when you have no other option, you figure it out. If you've been hosting a website under LAMP for a while, shared or not, you have the basic understanding of everything that you need to get started.

Eventually I found webmin (which I still use to this day), I figured out apt, and eventually even learned to compile things on my own. I did this all within 48 hours of commissioning the server. True, I got *no* sleep those two days, but I did figure it out. Google is a tremendous resource, as any good technician/webmaster/sysadm/developer knows--keep this in mind.

And within reason, HR's sysadm on duty when I had a root password snafu was incredibly helpful not only technically, but was also very patient with my frustration at being thrown into the Linux sysadm quagmire without a liferaft. Of course she couldn't walk me through everything I needed to know, but she answered my questions, and fixed the password problem. You can't expect a tutorial without paying the systems administration hourly rates, but for quick questions, they're more than willing to share some of their knowledge with you.

Since then, network and server performance have been top notch. I even was quite rapidly assisted when I requested that my server be upgraded to the hardware commensurate with the rate I was paying (as the technologies improved the cost for the hardware that was the best when I first ordered the server was now the base hardware for the price I was paying). No questions asked, they moved the hard drive to the improved server, and I would say I had barely half an hour of downtime from start to finish.

I would recommend HR's dedicated servers to pretty much anybody who is looking to make the leap. Between their network and their staff, I couldn't be happier; I plan on staying with hostrocket until the number of dedicated servers I need mandates colocation for effective TCO management. Currently that's one. But if it were necessary, I'd move up to two, three, five, or ten as my needs and budget expanded.

I'd gone through approximately 4 web hosts before arriving here at HR, and I don't see any reason to leave.

Regards,
- Todd