hmphoto

I'm seriously considering changing from my reseller account to a dedicated server, hopefully to avoid some of the issues I've experienced as a reseller. I'm worried about doing this as I've absolutely no experience of managing a server. I have read the dedi pages, but it's not entirely clear to me. Can someone advise on the following;
1. What level of tecnical expertise must I have?
2. Does the server come with all the 'usual' aplications (PHP,ZEND,SQL,CPANEL,WHM, Mail Client, etc) preinstalled or would I have to do it? (that would be a no-go)
3.Do I have to do upgrades and patches myself?
4. Would I get help moving my accounts over and would there be much downtime?
5. I've still got about 8 months prepaid on my reseller account, will the balance be offset against the cost of the dedi?

I'm comfortable with WHM and CPANEL and don't fancy having to use command line, is there a GUI for the dedicated servers that are idiot proof?
Sorry to sound like such a noob, but I am one.

Thanks in advance.

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scottish-domain.com::Pass69

removed

1. Not much other than your standard WHM stuff -- support will take care of everything else if you want them to.
2. Yep. Anything it doesn't come with will be installed per your request.
3. Nope, support can do it if you ask them to.
4. Support can easily package them up on the reseller server and move them to your new dedicated server. The only downtime involves changing your nameservers over and whatnot.
5. I have no idea, but I'm sure one of the official folks can answer that.

Good luck!

Emmanuel

hmphoto,

The beauty of a managed dedicated server is you really don't have to know nothing more then what you know now as a reseller account holder.

I apologize about the issues on pass69, I can almost assure you, isolated environment like your own dedicated server is the long term solution to getting away from the possible issues on shared servers.

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Emmanuel :: Surpass Hosting Network Admin
http://www.SurpassHosting.com

Brandonnn

very much indeed!

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poof

hmphoto

Thanks Emmanuel, I understand that being on a shared server can throw up problems, it just gets very frustating.
I have been looking at the dedi plans and got more questions :-)
Given that I know absolutely nothing about this, what would be a recommended set up for me to start off with? I'm only a small fry and have no accounts that utilise a lot of resources, if I go dedicated though there will be about 20 other accounts I'll be moving over to it in addition to the ones that I have on my reseller account - again none are resource hungry. I wil need to back up though, does that mean I need 2 hard disks?

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scottish-domain.com::Pass69

Emmanuel

This should work out good for you then.

http://www.surpasshosting.com/conten...ingle/sp11.php

It has two drives for backups done daily and weekly (backups are important)
and later on as you grow you can upgrade to 1GB ram, for now 512MB is fine.
P4 2.4 is a medium end server with room for growth

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Emmanuel :: Surpass Hosting Network Admin
http://www.SurpassHosting.com

NovaRod

HMPHOTO,

We've migrated several times from OC10 to VPS and now recently dedicated. I can pretty much throw the stuff I don't know at Surpass and they'll support what I need. Trust me, you really don't need to know much to get working on a dedicated server. But...the more I work in WHM and putty, the more I learn and then the more self sufficient I can be and only then will need to contact Surpass with the more difficult problems (such as power plug gets unplugged). Take my advice and read this forum all you can. You'll find problems you run into solved in this forum. It will save you tons of time. The people here are really smart and the admins keep an eye on posts to keep them civilized.

The problems I've run into with every move include:
1- Getting the server software configured for all our web applications (including file permissions).
2- Getting the domain names repointed (the biggest pain!)
3- Monitoring the migration progress (web performance, new tools, reboots, etc.)

This past migration we were going from a VPS2 to a dual core dedicated server. The VPS was rock solid and I was hesitant in moving except the load was constantly growing with new customers and visitors. We needed to plan for the surges that happened so we waited until things had settled down for us then took the plunge, knowing we would have issues and to plan for them. Even with the planning there are unknowns that will test the best of us. That happened on this past migration but things are looking extremly well now.

Once you make the decision, move forward and ask questions here as you are migrating.

Good luck!
Rod

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Dedicated Server cosmicgeeks.com
Server Load

GamingHybrid

I went from shared to dedicated. It wasn't hard at all. If you know reseller, then you are more prepared than I. Really, dedicated (since Surpass manages it) feels like a bigger reseller account.... you know, better performing one with mroe resources.

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hmphoto

thanks to everyone, you have all given me plenty of food for thought.

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scottish-domain.com::Pass69