Setting up own server for colocation

Following FreeBSD's comments that setting up one's own hosting is in some cases better/safer than buying shared hosting, I wonder is there a good reference for setting up a Unix box (BSD; FreeBSD, Linux, et. al.) with the necessary components?

Apache, PHP, MySQL, etc., I can basically do but there must be ways of ensuring tight security, performance, etc., in a shared hosting environment.

The machine would host about 15-20 hosts eventually with about 10 separate clients.

All help, URLs, etc., really appreciated. It may be some time before I make this swtch but it is a good skill to learn.

Thank you
David

Hi

This is not a sales pitch..... (Although we do sell dedicated servers)

I would think very carefully before setting up a server that will be connected to the Internet.
Security is the biggest concern here.

If you don't set the machine up properly there is a good chance you will leave something wide open for abuse.

Why not look at managed dedicated servers, that way you leave the security and set-up down to someone else.

Again this isn't a sales pitch but think very carefully before going into co-location.


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Regards
Darren
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http://www.php4hosting.com/ $
http://www.php4hosting.co.uk/ £
PHP/MySQL Enabled Hosting/Dedicated Servers, Reseller Accounts

Hey, with respect, read my post. I DO want to "think very carefully" which is why I need the info.

Everyone who knows how to host must have learned it somewhere. You cannot be born with that know-how! I do not know it today and would like to learn what I can, if only to expand my knowledge.

David

PS: You said "not a sales pitch" twice - once suffixed by "but" which word often negates that which precedes it ("This is not a sales pitch" BUT "it is a sales pitch") :-)

No truthfully it wasn't.

I post on a lot of forums, helping. You will find I never spam.

If you had posted asking for hosts for dedicated servers then I would have come in directly.

99.9% of web hosts have a team of people, its not something that just works from one persons knowledge.

To consider setting up a machine for hosting directly on the Internet with a few weeks browsing of reading a book is not a good idea. You can't just learn this sort of thing over night.

Firstly there is the Linux (Or other OS) knowledge, then there is the Internet knowledge, following that the webserver knowledge as well as security.



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Regards
Darren
--
http://www.php4hosting.com/ $
http://www.php4hosting.co.uk/ £
PHP/MySQL Enabled Hosting/Dedicated Servers, Reseller Accounts

Hmmm. OK, supposing my original question was asking for help about a subject I would like to learn about to add to my knowledge, what resources would you be able to suggest to do that?

Thanks

David

forefront

The first thing I did when I co-located a box at my ISP was figure out what was involved in setting up a secure box. In my case I went to www.securityfocus.com and looked at the Linux page. They have some great info on securing a Linux box even for the new people of the linux systems. One thing I looked at was the amount of exploits there were for diffrent dists of linux. Any Linux Dist is fairly secure as long as you load all the patches and don't run services you don't need. Also keep accounts few as possible to people.

It is much cheaper to let someone else set up a box on the internet for you. Our company does it for as little as $125/month, which beats the heck out of buying your own box and bandwidth. You would be able to host 200 sites and have full access.

If you do if yourself, be sure to get a good firewall, and keep up with any upadates very carefully.