Windows Hosting Infrastructure Questions

I currently have several sites with a reseller but in the next year I would like to begin building my own network and/or employing a system admin to assist. Before I do this, I'd like to learn the basics of the infrastructure involved in a Windows hosting solution. If anyone can help answer these basic question or point me to some good posts I'd appreciate it. I've done a lot of reading but haven't really found what Im looking for (yet). Billing and tech support is a whole different arena and currently I'm just focusing on learning about the infrastructure


I foresee having a few (3) shared servers and a few dedicated servers (2). I assume it's best to outsource the building of the webservers, does anyone know of any reputable companies.

I understand I will need to rent some rack space in a data center (Equinix for example). What sort of switching equipment will I need to get started (with growth in mind)

I will initially need 3 services for my customers. Email, LiveStats and MS SQL. Is it best to keep these on seperate servers. Or, for example, should I install MS SQL on each of my shared servers.

What software/hardware should I use to monitor the loads and where the loads are coming from?

What is the best option for setting up FTP access? Any good articles on this?


What is the best way to set up the DNS?


Thanks for any feedback. I just want to paint a picuture before deciding on moving away from the reseller. I'd like to start with a few servers, get everything up and running. The main problem I have now is current host takes forever to respond. My customers have cell phone access to me and my goal is to be able to do whatever it takes to meet there needs and assure I (or my sys admins)have access to the servers, datacenter, livestat servers, email, DNS, etc.. to fix there problems immediately.

 

 

 

 

Top