Beginner's Guide to Hosting/Domains - Pt. 1
 

Domain names:

Before starting anywhere, a domain name is a prerequisite to becoming a webmaster. Ditch the free hosting, free .tk domain extension, and the free subdomain hosting your Uncle Johnny provided you.

No matter what niche you plan to dive into, it's important to register a short and memorable name for your domain name. Obtaining a generic domain name (i.e. www.xxx-porn.com) works well for search engines, because the keyword in your URL is one of the factors that search engines decide where you are on the search engine results. Avoid the search engine spammer shadow of registering a domain name like: www.xxx-porn-adult-sex-video-and-pics-porno.com.

However, the downside to generic domain names are that they are just plain vanilla-- meaning there is no branding. After all, just look at the top adult web properties (TheHun, WorldSex, Persian Kitty, etc.). Branding your domain name adds a memorable and personal touch.

You're probably now asking... Where's the best place to purchase domain names? I, personally, opt for the $8.88 domain name registrations at www.NameCheap.com. They have excellent support and a good interface for managing domains. If you want bottom-line, cheap domain names, go for the $6.49 domain registrations at www.ev1servers.net. There is no catch, unless you consider the clunky domain control panel to be one.

Other good, solid domain registrars are www.RegisterFly.com ($9.99) and www.DirectNic.com ($15.00).

Hosting:

After obtaining your domain name, your next step is to obtain a hosting service. The type of hosting you will need will depend on what you plan on doing (TGP gallery submitting, MGP gallery submitting, running a TGP, etc.). I would avoid virtual/shared hosting packages, because the limit of bandwidth that most hosting providers provide you with is too minimal to be used for a successful adult webmaster. Virtual/shared hosting packages are to be used for Aunt Wilma's online photo album website, not successful adult sites. I would suggest going big and landing your hands on a dedicated server. Nowadays, dedicated servers are very cheap, ranging from $100 for a decent Celeron or low-end Pentium 4 to $300+ for high-bandwith dual Xeon servers.

Now where to get a dedicated server? You can browse around GFY using the search feature for adult web hosting providers. However, I find that almost all adult web hosting providers are much more higher than mainstream providers, obviously because of the bandwidth use (mainstream web hosting providers oversell their bandwidth, because the majority of their customers don't use up the 1000GB or so bandwidth that they are given). On the other hand, it is hard to oversell in the adult web hosting industry, because large images and movie files make up the majority of the online adult industry. If you're on a short-stack, I would recommend checking out Webhostingtalk's Dedicated Offers forum (http://www.webhostingtalk.com/forumd...php?forumid=36). The competition is fierce among mainstream web hosting companies, so more often than not, you're bound to find a good dedicated hosting deal. For example, just recently, there was an Athlon 2400+ coupled with 1GB RAM that can service 1000GB/month for just $119/month. Not only that, but the server is fully managed and located in a stable and prominent data center. It's recommended that you research the web hosting company before making a purchase, there are quite a few people who focus on getting clients with their "too-hot-to-pass-up" hosting deals, and just plop you on a Cogent server with no customer support.

If you don't know your way around a server, it's best that you either hire a server administrator or go with a "fully managed" server deal. Most of the time, you'll have to pay a premium price if you go the "fully managed" route. So your best bet will be to hire a server administrator to baby-sit your server, upgrade the kernel, install 3rd-party software, server hardening, etc. An excellent and very reasonably priced server administration service is www.LogicSupport.com ($39.95/month/server). If you already know how to manage your server but don't have the technical know how on server hardening, www.Rack911.com are very experienced people when it comes to basic to advanced server hardening.

PART 2 coming soon! Stay tuned!

wow, one good useful post and no responces :1orglaugh



Good post :) :thumbsup

:1orglaugh, fuck this. I post a useful thread and all the useless GFY shit threads get bumped up.

good infos

bump :thumbsup

Great tutorial / article. I look forward to part 2.

Rack911 is a ONE MAN operation, who I wouldnt trust with a server.

He's even known for IGNORING clients when he doesnt feel like doing the work they need.


Just what you need from a sysadmin, right?

Fully Managed is NOT Fully Managed in Mainstream



If you're going to be cheap, and get one of the cheapo servers from mainstream hosts, make sure you ask EXACTLY what is included in their 'management'.

Fully managed there is not what we think of fully managed, its barely management at all usually. If you want the management youre used to, be prepared to put another $100-$200 on the table for what you get here, which brings costs over what you usually pay in the adult community anyways.

Also note, that almost EVERY SINGLE 'company' there, is a reseller.

Theres only a handful of actual datacenters, everyone else is a reseller of those datacenters, and most of the resellers suck. Not to mention some of the datacenters themselves.

Must've been some kind of miscommunication of some sort, because I've known Steve to be a stand-up guy. If you check his reputation on WHT, you'll see that it's solid and he responds to any request.

Actually, if you check it, you will see lots of complaints of what Im describing...


Look past the ass buddies, and read into the real reviews more.
He's got his pack of fanboys in each thread, most likely his IRC script kiddie pals.


Go read the huge post about him stealing a domain, and hacking a server on WHT.



Also, it wasnt a miscommunication, when you try to talk to him on everything made public as a contact method, while others are able to the exact same time you are, but he isnt answering you... when youre offering him $300/month after he's made prior commitments and leaves you hanging, that isnt a communication breakdown.

How dare you provide a usefull thread on gfy !!!

I demand you put a stop to this "usefull" thread.

There are pedo's who need to open threads dont cha know. Your filling up the space with usefull information will only hurt gfy.

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That post was a flash of fucking brilliance and wins the daily FoFB Award. The author of this post has earned $20 from FLASHCA$H and our eternal gratitude for making time spent on the boards more worth while. THANK YOU!

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bump