My first box

[BlackMac]

Yeah so I just got into the whole hosting-deal thing and I'm looking for some advice.

 

Dedicated Server Specs:

CPU: Intel? Core i7-920 Quadcore incl. Hyper-Threading Technology

RAM:12 GB DDR3

HDD:2 x 1500 GB SATA-II HDD (Software- RAID 1)

Network: 1GBit

So what do you think? Is it any good?

I'm paying 200$ a month for the box and TCAdmin and the other stuff licenses included. Is it a good price? I can't really tell I'm new to this.

Also how many servers can I possibly fit on the box without over-killing it?

 

Games I'm planing on Hosting:

GMod

CSS

TF2

San Andreas: Multiplayer

Vice City: Multiplayer

Multi Theft Auto: SA

IV-Multiplayer

 

Also Ventrilo,TS3 and Mumble hosting.

 

How many can I fit on it?

 

Thank you for helping me out

[trancemode]

Are you using it for business purposes or for your own clan/community purposes?

 

I wouldn't mix voice + game servers if you were to use it for business.

 

Also no one would really know the "EXACT" numbers of slots or games your server would fit because it would all varies depending on mods, fps, background software / services, etc.

[BlackMac]

For a business.

I can't buy more boxes for the voice so that's why I'm doing it on 1 box.

I don't know if they mess up I will remove the voice hosting.

Also what do you think about the price of the box?

 

Prices: (without discount)

GMod 0.8$ for 1 slot

CSS 0.8$ for 1 slot

TF2 0.8$ for 1 slot

San Andreas: Multiplayer 0.3$ for 1 slot

Multi Theft Auto: SA 0.3$ for 1 slot

IV-Multiplayer 0.3$ for 1 slot

Minecraft [Not sure yet]

That's what I got planed to host and is the price good enough to be over 200$ without overloading the box with stuff?

[Admin-Nation-Servers]

Ok so your paying $200 for a server with all required licenses to operate.

 

Your operating cost is $200 monthly.

 

Based on your pricing you would have to sell a minimum of 250 slots from the $0.8 (without discount) group to break even.

 

You can have a lot of game servers on the box, the problem is when they all fill at the same time.

 

If your looking to avoid that, charge a higher price so you can meet your operating cost without overloading the server.

 

My estimate (which may be inaccurate) 6-12 game servers with a load of 20-32 slots without any modification / plugins

[SickPuppy]

My recommendation is use server grade hardware dual xeon 5620 or higher, 24GB of RAM

 

There is no reason to run raid 1 it is a waste of a hard drive. Use a small 250GB drive for your operating system and keep the game installs on a 1.5 TB drive. Host your TCAdmin Data Base with TCAdmin or host it on a different system.

 

Out source the Teamspeak and Ventrilo

 

You are probably going to have trouble meeting expenses with one server using your price structure. Companies that are making a profit on $1.00 a slot or less game servers have racks of servers. This allows them to reduce fixed cost.

 

Expect your business to operate at a loss for the first year and make sure you have sufficient capital to cover your expenses. Don't get discouraged it can be done Hostile Contact started out with 2 servers and 10 customers some years ago we how operate 25 servers in 6 different data centers in 2 different countries.

[BlackMac]

Well the problem with this is that I can't really pick what I want.

I can't really afford a better box and I didn't buy this one and then left it in a DC.

I wanted to rise the prices by using GBP like source games 0.6 GBP for a slot which is around a 1$ do you think that would help me?

[Jack]

Well the problem with this is that I can't really pick what I want.

I can't really afford a better box and I didn't buy this one and then left it in a DC.

I wanted to rise the prices by using GBP like source games 0.6 GBP for a slot which is around a 1$ do you think that would help me?

 

If you can't afford it, long story short, don't do it. If you gain clients and then need to close down because of your operating costs you will let them down and give yourself a bad name.

[Admin-Nation-Servers]

If you can't fight for a better box fight for a lower cost or discount. Most of the data centers are pouring a lot of money into marketing to find clients.

 

Sales teams are usually given percentages of leeway per x sales.

 

Always fight for a better price by searching for competitors names that offer a solution similar for a lower cost to the Sales Rep. State a budget that your trying to get (Don't make it too low)

 

While operating if your sales are down, tell your service providers that you may have to cancel (dont actually do it, unless required) do to lack of sales / bad month.

 

They may cut your expenses in half for a couple of months so you can recover, many companies (service providers) prefer to lose some of their profit for a while to keep you in the long run.

---

By using the above you can cut your expenses in order to offer lower prices to find clients.

 

You should organize a business plan (Doesn't have to be great, a rough draft is fine.) You need to state your objectives, services and goals as well as income projection.

 

Through your business plan you can come to realize it may be better to invest your money elsewhere & if not you have a plan of action.

 

Like HostileContact said your first year of operation may come at a loss. But in the long run can become quite successful.

 

Email me for a business plan outline.

[SickPuppy]

You should organize a business plan (Doesn't have to be great, a rough draft is fine.) You need to state your objectives, services and goals as well as income projection.

 

Through your business plan you can come to realize it may be better to invest your money elsewhere & if not you have a plan of action.

 

 

I agree 100% develop a business plan with a 5 year long term strategy.

[icekohl]

I agree 100% develop a business plan with a 5 year long term strategy.

 

As the above have stated. If you don't have a business plan and outside investment (unless your rich) consider it a hobby for now and work to get it to a LLC, LLP, or CORP status. At the least register a trade name (sole proprieter (spelling lol), within your state/country.

[BlackMac]

If you can't fight for a better box fight for a lower cost or discount. Most of the data centers are pouring a lot of money into marketing to find clients.

 

Sales teams are usually given percentages of leeway per x sales.

 

Always fight for a better price by searching for competitors names that offer a solution similar for a lower cost to the Sales Rep. State a budget that your trying to get (Don't make it too low)

 

While operating if your sales are down, tell your service providers that you may have to cancel (dont actually do it, unless required) do to lack of sales / bad month.

 

They may cut your expenses in half for a couple of months so you can recover, many companies (service providers) prefer to lose some of their profit for a while to keep you in the long run.

---

By using the above you can cut your expenses in order to offer lower prices to find clients.

 

You should organize a business plan (Doesn't have to be great, a rough draft is fine.) You need to state your objectives, services and goals as well as income projection.

 

Through your business plan you can come to realize it may be better to invest your money elsewhere & if not you have a plan of action.

 

Like HostileContact said your first year of operation may come at a loss. But in the long run can become quite successful.

 

Email me for a business plan outline.

 

Oh wow thank you very much for all of that, I bet it took some time to write up. Thanks for taking the time to help out.

Well yeah I've started planing out what I need to get done I am having some issues figuring out how everything works etc like adding new buttons to TCAdmin, I need a FastDL Sync button and figuring out how to make it so FastDL automaticly installs for the client when he orders a server via SourceRCS config file.

Still thanks for taking the time to help me out it helped a lot.

Yeah right now I'm having a hard time I have to make around 150$ or so by end of next month and still loose some money but that's alright I just hope I can earn the money by that time.