I'm looking for advice and hopefully a tutorial in the future on how to pick, setup and run a small business server. I have good knowledge of computers in general, but very basic knowledge of servers. I really need a video going through all the major terminology etc.
I'm going to be setting up a business that allows people to create their own posters and other print based content which will be sent to our printers for print. I'm currently with JustHost and they have been good and met all my current requirements with small websites, but I'm wondering if it would be better for us to switch to our own server?
I appreciate all the videos on servers, but half of it goes straight over my head, mainly because I don't know the terminology. Some key info that I really need to know is once I have a server what are some of problems I'm going to come across and how am I going to over come them e.g. Power failure, hacker, server faults, swapping out parts on the fly, keeping the server running indefinitely, relocation, and some other problems I'm sure there are.
Some other key info would be, how to store the server (the actual rack), do I invest in extra cooling etc. Basically just want to know everything and what I would be getting myself into.
Also just thinking about it now, can you have a backup on an external server like Justhost for times when the in house server went down that would automatically start running? That type of info would be great.
Because of your questions I would tell you to stick with off site hosting. The number one issue with hosting your own server is ISP connection. With that said you will want a small business class network for your printers and most likely onsite storage server for back up (this could also ftp into your webserver to make backups). I cant really say something more specific because your questions are to general (its kinda like asking I want to buy a car that has 4 wheels)
Where I live there are allot of small buisness "it" companies that set up small servers for buessiness. I understand if you don't have the budget or think you can save money by figuring it out yourself but I see this turning this turning into a cluster f*** without finding someone who can help you in person
Yeah it definitely comes down to, should I spend a lot of money and try to figure it out myself with the decent possibility of killing myself in the process or spend a bit more money and get someone who knows what they're doing to it, but also wanting to know how everything operates is something that I know would be really crucial and valuable so I'm not just relying on an technicians word.
Tottally agree with you and wish I had more clients interested in learning some basic fundamentals in troubleshooting. Can't tell you how many times I get a phone call saying somethings not working, 99% of the calls the systems they have just need a simple restart.
If you give some specifics on what you want to do, like "I'll have 15 printers and and need a computer for design editing" I can point you in a direcrion.
I'm looking at doing a "create your own content" website focusing on print media, mainly with wide format (design your own poster etc). The main roll of the server would be retrieval of the customers file once they complete their design via the websites built in design suite.
The files being print ready would be around 7000px longest edge at 300dpi and jpeg. Usually around 15mb to 40mb depending on the amount of colour. At this time I don't expect the server to communicate with the printer for automatic printing, that might come at a later date if possible, but honestly the server would just store files in a secure location for us to grab and put on the local computer controlling the printer. We print it, send it off and everyone's happy.
What software does this website use to produce the files? Is this software running on the server, or on the user's computer? How many users do you expect to be simultaneously connected? How much does your hosting company charge for bandwidth and for processing power? What different hosting services does your hosting company provide?
Most probably, you don't have to get a server in your office, but it might be the best solution, depending on the answer to the aforementioned questions and then some lol, but I really doubt it. A server setup is expensive, and you'll need enough horsepower to both render the printer files and host the creation software and website, I would think twice before starting to invest in servers to be honest, I would keep with a hosting company, possibly with some dedicated hardware at the hosting company, and set up an rsync between the customer files and a local deskop machine at your shop, that then prints the files. Typically, the reason why a business would get it's own webservers, is mainly because they want to develop on them, or because of security protocols, or because they need the hardware also for compute purposes, for instance for database analysis for which a cluster is necessary.
Cheers for the advice, I think you're right. For now I think upgrading my hosting company service to a dedicated server might be the best way to go.
If I just upgrade the hosting company service how can I setup an action that downloads files from their server to my local machine automatically? Once a customer has saved their design to our server can I easily setup an automatic download of the files say once a day, hour or whenever?
Also the designing is done on the actual site with built in software no need for other software or plugins.
1. rsync, you just synchronize a folder, that way you always have an exact copy on your local machine of the folder on the server;
2. cron a wget, just let it periodically download files with a structured naming, if the files are pulled in on different machines and not just in one location, this might be a practical solution, depending on the volume.
Usually servers(even getting started) requires prerequisite knowledge of:
Deep-ish understanding of the Client operating system
Some networking (DHCP,DNS, understanding everything when you run ipconfig /all)
Once you're every comfortable with that, then there are plenty of videos on getting started with servers.
Download a copy of windows server and install it on an unused computer in your house. even a small laptop will do. play with it. It'll help greatly by actually being exposed to it. Try adding one of your computers to an AD for fun. Understand the process.
I'm not sure on what knowledge you do posess at this time but look up EliTheComputerGuy on youtube. He does a lot of server enviornment videos, and has a playlist on learning servers (Concept in general) Here: