Date: Tue, 2 May 2000 21:00:01 -0400 (EDT) From: bill@wjv.com To: Jan Knepper <jan@smartsoft.cc> Cc: freebsd-isp@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Startup FreeBSD ISP host. Message-ID: <200005030100.VAA28370@mail.wanlogistics.net> In-Reply-To: <390F50E7.507A67CE@smartsoft.cc> from Jan Knepper at "May 2, 2000 06:04:24 pm"
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Reply to: bill@wjv.com X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4ME+ PL61 (25)] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Jan said: > I am kinda a newbie here so here come my question(s): > I am thinking hard about setting up a FreeBSD machine as dedicated > host for e-mail and WWW. I have been talking to Bell Atlantic > about this and they send me an offer at follows: > 1. Cisco 2620 Router for $ 2,978.00 Based on your requirements you surely don't need that. If you want Cisco HW you should be able to get a used 250x for about $1000 > I do realize that this is more than it would be to buy this thing > somewhere else, but configuration (I do not know how much I need > this) is included. For what you are needing configuration it not that hard. You could find a high-priced person to do it for $250 - and that would be overkill for that. $100 would be decent. I'll bet there are several on this newsgroup who would do that. > 2. Monthly recurring charge of $887.25 for 256K Frame Relay. And most of that is for transport. Charges vary by area - but 256 K (anything over 64K actually) requires a 4 wire circuit - and transport charges in this area (I'm in Florida) would be about $550. Data typically goes in the range of $700 Mbit. Those figures can vary widely. > 3. Some kind of security I do not think I really need. 'some kind' is a pretty vagued description. > I have no idea where this offer stands. Nor do I know if this is > really the best thing to do. I hope somebody on this list has a > lot of experience with this and give me some valuable advice. We'll all give you advice - you have to determine whether it is valuable or not > Simply speaking what I want is this: > 1. Intel Pentium based FreeBSD 4.0 Box with Apache. > 2. Dedicated connection, minimal 128K, but preferable 256K or > higher to the internet. I understand that this is done using an > Ethernet card in the box and a router connected to the Ethernet > card. > 3. Host at least 3, but probably up to 10 domains on the box. I > understood that Apache is able to do this. All the domains already > exists, just would have to change their IP addresses I guess. I worked with an ISP and had about 80 domains on a 120Mhz Pentium with Apache that ran faster than the SGI Challenge S server with Netscape it replaced. The clue was the faster HD. For 10 domains you have more than enough horsepower. > 4. Attach the box to our local PC network using a second Ethernet > card in the box and a 10/100 TX hub. > 5. Use the box for incoming and outgoing e-mail for the several > domains. > 6. Use the box as a gateway to serve the web. > Why do I concider this? > Right now we have a couple of domain's hosted with different > virtual host providers. Monthly charges vary between $45 to $85. > We have 2 dialin ISDN-2 providers, 1 is backup, Each $35/month. > ISDN-2 phone line with an access plan which we usually just do not > make. About $120/month > The total costs for Internet access, e-mail and hosting are > somewhere between $400 and $500 per month with all kinds of > restrictions. Virtual hosts usually can not store more than 40 > Mb, some have 60 Mb, but it's usually rather limited. The only > scripting allowed is PERL. No C or C++. FTP is a problem. etc. > etc. etc. One of the other replies suggested a co-location. A friend and I are building such a facility (*this is not an ad*) and we targeting indstrial/commercial areas - no cheap web hosting - and we are building up a price list. The amount of money BA wants to charge for your service is about what we are targetting for a dedicated machine on a 100Mbit uplink with 1.5 Mbit guaranteed bandwidth (T1 rates) to our providers switch on an interconnected OC48 (approx 2Gb) link - being upgraded to OC192 by the end of the year. Power backup is a 1.25Megawatt system backing up one of the largest battery banks I've ever seen. This type of facility is becoming more common so you should be able to find one near you and for the same amount of money you would be paying for a 256K line you would get an effective T1 link - without having to worry about UPS systems, etc. Look carefully at what the bandwidth limits are at co-location facilities too, and take out your calulator and do the math. While some of the prices look good if you get busy you could wind up paying more, a LOT more than what you expect to pay. Look for guarantees too - eg guaranteed bandwidth - and what the remedied are if the don't meet it. They are called SLA's - service level agreements. > I guess I just would be a lot happier if I could run my own > FreeBSD host, with all the sites and a few other things upto and > unlimited boundary. Unlimited would be nice. But with my experience with BSD and Apache - several hundred sites - depending on useage of the site - is really no problem. For some people that is unlimited. > Any ideas? Comments? Suggestions? As you can see - I think the colo idea is best. In this past week or so there are two places locally building 'carrier hotels' - all located near major switches for zero mile transport. It's the wave of the future - at least for this year. Look around. Do some 'web shopping' and find just what is out there. If you aren't aware of what these places look like check out the exodus.net pages - they are building their own network - or www.level3.com/us/services/colocation - that's where we have our racks. Those are just two of many. Just be sure to look around before you sign that proposal. And try not to get excited when you find something that really looks good without doing some careful shopping. Depending on your dynamics waiting a month or two before you leap could pay off in the long run. After all you don't want to have to do this again later on. Bill -- Bill Vermillion - bv @ wjv.com To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-isp" in the body of the message
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