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VPS referral for development class.
Later I'll be teaching a free class on web development. Students need a VPS, so I want to offer a suggestion or two.
Has to be affordable because they are college students. I'm a student too, so I could use some cash or free service from it.
Also, I'd love to try reselling. Maybe now is the time. Is it too much work? I'd love a detailed guide.
Comments
buy a dedicated server. Resell.
What location?
@ztec Thanks. Don't know how.
Well there are a few different types of reselling at the basic level.
You have your own billing system and take orders from clients. Once they pay you, you use a special promocode given to you by the person you are reselling from that gives you a certain percentage off their services. You just mark your price up higher.
Pros:
No upfront cost
Cons:
Not automated
Client doesn't get access to VPS control panel
You signup for an affiliate program at a company using your unique link you get people to sign up for the company via your link, you then get a cut.
Pros:
No cost to you
Cons:
Typically have a minimum withdraw value
Generally need a decent amount of referrals to make good money
You buy a set amount of resources, CPU, Disk, RAM, from a provider who then gives you access to a "reseller panel". This reseller panel allows you to create your own packages and setup servers as needed. It can be automated via a billing system to auto setup when a client pays and generally has the most customization than the other options.
Pros:
Customizable
Automatic setup
More room to set prices
Easily scalable
Each client has access to VPS control panel
Cons:
Upfront cost
Hope that helps .
EDIT: Note sure why each option is labeled as "1", but there are 3 options listed
you will only need one vps if you don't have to do any fancy, i assume only html or even php/mysql
each student will have a regular linux user with ftp login, install simple LAMP server and install vsftp, then let student have access either via ssh or ftp to their user home directories.
you don't need many vps, just one is enough.
@noah - How long you need them?
@namhuy It's for more than HTML/PHP/MySQL.
@LowEND At least 4 months.
@Fliphost Thanks. They all sound good. I'm worried if I resell I'll break something. Or I won't make back what I pay. I'd love a detailed guide. Or suggestions about which providers for each.
@Liam On any VPS from any provider?
you could try wable.com - that could/would work but you probably wont make any money. you could always tell you students you can supply a vps for $25/year and buy something like this and pocket the change. https://billing.chicagovps.net/cart.php?a=confproduct&i=0
@seagle Wable looks neat. How do I install the reselling software? Is it free/open source? Do I need more IP addresses? I have have lots of questions. A guide would be great.
No suggestions for affiliate programs yet. Are they rare?
Not really, just find some hosting offers you like and have a look on the host for the affiliate section, if you already have an account look for the affiliates tab in WHMCS.
DotVPS, Ramnode, Winity, i83, ThrustVPS, FrontRange/WireSix, Digital Ocean, Interserver, BlueVM, Iniz to name a few.
@noah We have an affiliate program
My best advice since you lack experience is "Forget the VPS", get a reseller shared hosting account (take a look at crissic and buyvm, cheap price and nice features).
You will spend around 30 USD/year + 10USD for a domain. (40 USD)
You get to create accounts for each of your students, they get access to their own cpanel account and you dont need a reselling software for starters, just keep track of plans, prices and dates on a spreadsheet.
Also you dont get to be "root", so you have less opportunity of braking the server.
A very important thing to remember, "Don't forget that most webhost started as a shared reseller, as they gain experience and customers they move on to a VPS or a Dedicated server"
Have them all register accounts on Host1Free, I'd say at least 10% will make the cut and get a free VPS.
I'd say get a dedicated server and set it up with a free CP like Feathur (shameless plug, I know). If you'll all be at the same college on the same network, talk to your College IT Department. They may be able to give you an internal IP block which you can use with a computer plugged in to their network. OpenVZ can technically RUN on anything that will run either CentOS 5 or CentOS 6, so you don't need anything super fancy. An older generation desktop might work for you.
HostNun would be happy to assist you with a reseller account. Please contact us for a custom quote (simply PM me).
@thekreek The class is on VPS so shared hosting is useless.
@Magiobiwan Will look at Feathur. I'd like to try dedicated, but need a guide. No joy on Google.
@0xdragon PM me with your quote and details.
Maybe I'm not clear enough. I've never run a hosting service. I am asking for a guide. A tutorial on turning a dedicated server into a semi-automated hosting site.
I am getting lots of mail saying, "buy an account from me and resell." How? What steps are involved, what are my responsibilities?
I've tried to get answers for a week so I will just do referrals.
@noah there is no official guide on how to run a hosting service.
If your looking for a tutorial that will depend on what you want to do.
If you want to provide shared hosting, you can get a license for a panel or install a free panel (it has been talked on the forum previosly)
If you want to provide VPS server's, first install Feathur or Proxmox on a local box, get some experience on how it works and when your ready rent a dedicated or pay for colocation.
Your original post it's not very clear on what you wanna do.
My advice, for the time been concentrate on teaching a good class, later on get in the hosting business.
I prefer DigitalOcean with referral program, low cost and pay as you go..
@thekreek Did not expect "official" guide. Tutorial is fine.
@hashwaltz Just discovered DigitalOcean too. Great price, panel and referral program. Definitely doing this.