Scalability of a Home-based Web Server

alt.www.webmaster -

I'm considering setting up a business web application that relies
heavily on storage (i.e. users can upload/download files). Standard
hosting plans only go up to 1-2 GB and I need something that will
start at around 150 GB. Managed hosting offers this type of service,
but at a price - around $500 for the minimum package. My question -
is it feasible to set up a home-based server for this offering. I can
buy a computer with 150 GB for under $1000 - that's only equal to 2
months with managed hosting.

Some Considerations:

1. Availability: It's OK if the site comes down every once and awhile
- it isn't a business critical service. Therefore, I'm not that
concerned with my power at home going out.

2. I currently have Cox Cable's personal service running at
4mbps/512kbps.

3. Computer has 512mb RAM and 2ghz processor.

My Question:

How well do home-based servers handle concurrent requests? I'm a
little unsure of how to read the Cox upload/download speeds (e.g. if
10 users are each uploading 500 KB files at the same time). Is this
the bottleneck of the home-based system?

Thanks,
Josh

"Josh" <web RemoveThis @joshuajdmartin.com> wrote in message
news:e2cc2a1a.0408160928.67cfc567@posting.google.com...
 > alt.www.webmaster -
 >
 > I'm considering setting up a business web application that relies
 > heavily on storage (i.e. users can upload/download files). Standard
 > hosting plans only go up to 1-2 GB and I need something that will
 > start at around 150 GB. Managed hosting offers this type of service,
 > but at a price - around $500 for the minimum package. My question -
 > is it feasible to set up a home-based server for this offering. I can
 > buy a computer with 150 GB for under $1000 - that's only equal to 2
 > months with managed hosting.

There are a few things to consider here...

1) The Computer. Your computer should have a CPU capable of multithreading
and you should probably get more RAM.

2) Your IP. You technically don't need a static IP, but having one makes
things alot easier and you don't have to worry so much about when/if your IP
changes. With a personal account, odds are your IP is dynamic and not
static.

3) Your ISP. You have to check if your ISP lets you host websites. Some
outright block web servers while others will just shut you down once they
catch you. Since this is a personal account, odds are your ISP does not
condone hosting websites.

4) Your monthly allotment of file transfer. You need 150GB of storage
space? That means either: (a) You have alot of crap that you don't need...
or (b) You actually intend to make 150GB worth of files transferrable to the
user (either web pages, files, programs, images, etc). Again you'll need
to check with your ISP on this. They probably have some limit in place
(whether they announce it or not)... 150GB sounds like alot for a home based
ISP to allow in a monthly time (most limit to around 5-10GB per month...
some go up to 20-30GB... but 150GB is waaaaaaaaaaaaaay out there)

5) Your bandwidth. Remember here: Download is files and requests coming TO
your server... Upload is files and pages going FROM your server. So you can
serve pages at a rate of 512kbps... Thats pretty slow (your account alone
is able to ask for 4000kbps... and you can only serve yourself at 512kbps).
But the big thing here is also WHAT you are transferring. If its just
web pages and they're all under 20KB in size (including images) then you
could probably handle 10-20 users at once and they wouldn't really notice
anything.
HOWEVER... if you have files that are more than a couple of MB in size and
somebody is downloading one... then everybody else coming to your site while
that file transfer is in progress will definitly notice your site is running
slow and sluggish... multiple people downloading multiple big files at once
will slow your transfer rate to such a degree that anybody coming to your
site will get to experience what life was like back in 1982 using a 300 baud
modem on a Commodore 64.


In a nutshell: It is basically not feasible for what you want and with what
you have. You should have a better computer and you would need a better
internet connection... a case where your hosting needs far exceed what your
ISP is capable of (if they even allow you to host on a basic account)

Since you said this was a business application you should seriously consider
that if it does not generate enough revenue to cover the cost of hosting
then its either not a viable option for your business or you just aren't
making enough money from it and need to either charge more or find
alternative sources of revenue.

Clint<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->