Scalable Web Hosting — BETA to launch in July

June 29, 2009 – 11:05 am

Last year I helped a friend to build a scalable web hosting platform so that he can host around 100 client websites. Ever since then I have been thinking of a way that I could build a much larger system to provide as a true multi-tenanted service to companies like his.

My idea was a really basic system, at a basic price. The system would initially only allow PHP and mysql sites.

Over the past year I have been buying massive amounts of hardware and with my most recent purchase (a massive SAN) I think that we finally have enough hardware to start the system development work.

The kit I have set asside for the initial launch is:

  1. Two Cisco Netscaler load balancers in HA mode
  2. Three beefy mysql servers for a cluster
  3. Three beefy web app servers (I can add to this as necessary)
  4. My new SAN
  5. My new Foundry switch

The plan is to put all this equipment into one of our datacenter cabinets and then back it up onto the local SAN every hour.

I was thinking of a fixed monthly fee of around £250 which would give:

  1. Unlimited number of domain names and web sites
  2. 1Tb of disk space
  3. Basic apache and PHP config tweeks
  4. As many mysql databases as you want (perhaps give command line access as well as PHPMyAdmin)
  5. Bandwidth is charged at £0.15 per Gb in and £0.10 out.
  6. Outbound email relay
  7. Two full days development time to help move to the new system
  8. Access to a fully secure memcached daemon
  9. As many IP’s as you need
  10. SSL certificates (at a nominal extra fee)

The system would not do the following:

  1. Anything other than PHP and mysql (initially). I am looking at either perl or Windows hosting next.
  2. Log files (you would need to use something like the Google Analytics service)
  3. Domain registration

In return, we would guarantee uptime, throughput and system stability….basically…you upload your websites and we will guarantee that the site stays up even if the traffic peeks significantly. I am going to try to launch this in BETA before the end of July…anybody interested in trying it out?

  • Share/Bookmark
  • I hope to move the first few sites onto the new system on Friday ;) I will post more details when I have them!
  • I think it's a fantastic idea and love the detail! One thing you might consider is allowing "friends" to confederate on one account (sort of like sharing a flat).

    I've been looking at unincorporated non-profit associations this weekend, so my head is still full of "collective" thinking. The concept could certainly support premium pricing or the requirement that such a group pay in advance to avoid issues of fair contribution.

    Personally, I REALLY like the idea of knowing who is up "on my cloud!" as well is who is "managing my cloud" and wish you HUGE success!
  • Scalable Web Hosting in July sounds cool info given is good.
  • Hi Regina,
    This service will not suit everybody. It will be focused at design firms that host complicated ecommerce websites for their clients. Typically these sorts of firms will have several dedicated servers hosted by a local ISP. While it is trivial setting something like this up it is often very hard to manage in the long term. This service will aim to replace all of that infrastructure, all of that hassle and all of that cost!

    The USP's are basically:

    1) Extreme scalability (but basically peace of mind that if one of your sites is successful that it will not affect your other clients)
    2) No system maintenance…you will never have to upgrade your kernel or debug your hardware settings
    3) Excellent tech support…something that costs money and cant be done for $4 per month

    Each customer will also get two days consulting time with one of our developers. This time can be used to help move existing sites from the old servers to the new system. Many of the people that have contacted us over the past few weeks are more interested in this service as it will allow for system consolidation.
  • How could I NOT click a link that lead to a website called "spouting shite"?

    Glad I did, because this is a wonderful idea.

    The problem you're going to have is that £250 pounds (what is that, like $500000 dollars?) in ADDITION to bandwidth costs is a far cry from the $25 a month for unlimited domains, with not-quite-shite tools and services many of us have now.

    I'm looking at close to 200 domains, but until there's positive cash inflow, cloud computing is beyond reach. Surely there must be a way to build even a small cloud of my own, so please keep writing about your system specs.

    You might be able to sell that knowledge down the road! I'm thinking about serving as an advisor to a cloud collective, for example, because if 10 people get together on an account (or build their own), all of a sudden it makes PERFECT sense.
  • Sounds like a great little setup.

    I'm sure there are a few agencies up North raring to give your BETA a run for its money.

    Good luck!

    P.s. didn't realize you were at ThursdayFizz, otherwise I would have said hello.
blog comments powered by Disqus
Spouting Shite is powered by WordPress. Entries (RSS) and Comments (RSS). Ross is a principle at Rozmic the people behind the emailcloud spam filtering service