Would it make sense to run my own WordPress server?
My wife is getting into the website creation business as an adjunct to her internet advertising sales and believes she want to run it on wordpress. Being the former IT professional I am I have considered setting up my own Linux box on my LAN to test this. While it could be internet facing through my dedicated DSL connection the purpose of this is mostly for learning. It would be hosted outside for live clients. Other than a bunch of headaches, what would I get out of running my own dedicated server over running a free wordpress site or using a dedicated external host for this?
Note: the main reason I am considering this is that she wants to be able to offer her clients http://www.yourdomainname.com access to their site versus http://wordpress.org/yoursitename. I know there are sites wherein this can be done but those cost money. I thought, if it wasn’t too hard, that I could set up a host to use for learning before paying money.
At the risk of sparking a religious war, if this would make sense does anyone have an recommendations? My goal is to get the system up and working as easily as possible. I am not going to do ongoing Linux development; I simply want a box on which I can host a wordpress site.
I found this site http://technologycrowd.com/2010/01/02/install-wordpress-on-local-ubuntu-server/ with complete step by step instructions. I am open to alternatives if something easier exists.
Thanks to those that already answered. To add to my question, I would never run a client site from my house. The purpose of this is so that she could try something out, decide she doesn’t like it and tell me "reset it so I can try again." I know all about domain registration (my bulkregister account still has 47 domains registered for clients) but again, the point was to give myself a sandbox over which I have full control.
Yes, I have a static IP address. In fact, I run a Windows 2003 small business server as my mail server and domain controller for my house.
Tagged with: adjunct • dedicated server • domain controller • domain registration • dsl connection • headaches • internet advertising sales • lan • Linux • linux box • linux development • mail server • money • religious war • risk • sandbox • small business server • static ip address • website creation • would make sense
Filed under: Wordpress
Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!
Hosting companies cost a little money for webspace, but then again part of that money covers 24/7 support, uptime, security coverage and the like.
I can tell you this from experience. I ran my own dedicated servers, with clients on them and it was a 24/7 job. You have to be on top of things, there is no going away for a few hours. You have to be available to correct something that is wrong or with a customer’s site. Customers tend to "sit" on their sites, and the second – and I mean second – the site goes down or is unavailable, or they can’t get email, they are on the phone, demanding it be fixed and fixed now. The majority of people will not be happy with dsl service.
Nothing wrong with testing when it’s your own site, but don’t do it on a customer site. Set your wife up with a reseller plan with hostgator.com – go for the smallest offered to start and get a feel for it. You can have your own domain name, each site you set up will have it’s own control panel.
Most designers I know don’t host their customers websites. They try it and realize what they got themselves into and quit doing it in a short time.
Better yet, let the customer handle their own domain name and hosting.
If you’re already an IT guy that knows Linux, it couldn’t hurt to try. Your dedicated DSL line has a static IP, right?
I think the biggest gain from havnig your own server is that if it goes down, you can fix it right away. Also, no one will be breathing down your neck about disk space or bandwidth. But you still need to pay to register the domain name, of course, same as you would if you hired a web host from someone else.
"Note: the main reason I am considering this is that she wants to be able to offer her clients http://www.yourdomainname.com access to their site versus http://wordpress.org/yoursitename. …The purpose of this is so that she could try something out, decide she doesn’t like it and tell me "reset it so I can try again."
Your question is screaming a dedicated server or a virtual private server. A dedicated server is easier to maintain because the company will maintain the hardware. A VPS is a great fit because it is cheaper than colocating a physical server and you can reset the entire configuration in an instant. Like what the other poster said, maintaining a server is a lot of work. You have to deal with attacks, abuse, spam, networking, and server performance. WordPress is PHP based so you must run a Linux flavor.