Can i offer free web host to my clients?

[dirtydoug]

Hi i have another question as i really wanted to avail reseller account but i really have to make things clear first. I wanted to know if i can offer

Free Webhost to my clients?
If i can, is there a limit?

Also can i host HYIP's, AUTOSURF and GPT websites? Is there any limitations?

i really wanted to know all of these...


thanks..! i have read the TOS but you know its kinda hard to understand so i wanted to ask simple questions and i needed simple answers.

[gwyneth]

Originally Posted by dirtydoug

Also can i host HYIP's, AUTOSURF and GPT websites? Is there any limitations?


thanks..! i have read the TOS but you know its kinda hard to understand so i wanted to ask simple questions and i needed simple answers.

Here's what the TOS says; it's hard to see how it could be clearer:

Examples of unacceptable material on all Shared and Reseller servers include:

• AutoSurf/PTC/PTS/PPC sites...
• High-Yield Interest Programs (HYIP) or Related Sites

[dirtydoug]

oops maybe i was just lazy looking for it, sorry i understand now.. but how about my first question? can i offer free web host to my clients as a reseller?

i needed advice from veterans pls. share your thoughts and ideas.

thanks!

[dewt]

Originally Posted by dirtydoug

oops maybe i was just lazy looking for it, sorry i understand now.. but how about my first question? can i offer free web host to my clients as a reseller?

i needed advice from veterans pls. share your thoughts and ideas.

thanks!

GatorJosh already answered this for you in one of your earlier threads.

[aaron_nimocks]

Offering free hosting is hard to maintain and abide by any TOS. For the most part you will just get a bunch of people sign up and make illegal sites or run scripts that will eat up your processor.

Id stay away from free hosting if you dont know much about it.

[dirtydoug]

come on guys ... is my question not answerable by yes or no? pls. just tell me if yes or no? thats it..!

[cleanxhost]

Originally Posted by dirtydoug

come on guys ... is my question not answerable by yes or no? pls. just tell me if yes or no? thats it..!

YES, you can offer free webhosting to your clients.
Limit??? That would be upto you and what limit you want to offer your clients, ie, bandwidth, disk space,...

But I would seriously consider what aaron_nimocks says in his post...specially on a reseller account!

[dirtydoug]

ok, i want to offer free webhosting.. but ill put some ads on their pages.. and if they doesnt want ads they'll have to pay for it!

Is there any script that will automatically disallow illegal scripts? like turning off some functions that illegal scripts or warez or resourceful websites needed to run.. so i wont get my self into trouble?

[striddy]

Originally Posted by dirtydoug

Is there any script that will automatically disallow illegal scripts? like turning off some functions that illegal scripts or warez or resourceful websites needed to run.. so i wont get my self into trouble?

No.........

[cleanxhost]

I think that if you want to run a business offering free web hosting to your customers, your best bet is that you get yourself a dedicated server, then that way if you have someone uploading illegal scripts,etc, Which you WILL have, then its you and your server that will be the ones that suffer, not the other customers that are on a shared server.

[dirtydoug]

ok i think i get it now.. why its too risky and hard to manage a free webhosting company.. but i wonder how byet or myownfreehost.net get successful.. they have turned off some functions... and that is what i am pointing.. do i have the authority to turn off some functions on my reseller account so i can offer free hosting to my clients...!

[GvilleRick]

Originally Posted by dirtydoug

ok i think i get it now.. why its too risky and hard to manage a free webhosting company.. but i wonder how byet or myownfreehost.net get successful.. they have turned off some functions... and that is what i am pointing.. do i have the authority to turn off some functions on my reseller account so i can offer free hosting to my clients...!

They likely are running on dedicated servers. As Cleanxhost mentioned, with a dedicated server you would have more control over the accounts as you would have root access. You could then search for inappropriate scripts and delete them, set email limits, and better control the server. You would not have that ability with a reseller account. When I worked support for another company I had to suspend several clients when they gave a friend access to a subdomain and the friend used the account to upload warez, send out spam, etc. I remember one in particular where the friend set up a script to mailbomb an ex-girlfriend. So, I would agree with the previous posts that running a free hosting service is too risky on a shared reseller server.

As for a yes or no answer, yes, you can provide free-hosting. Just be aware that ultimately you are responsible for what your clients, free or paid, do and a violation of the TOS will result in either a suspension of the offending account or even suspension of your whole account if the violation is serious enough.

[gwyneth]

Originally Posted by dirtydoug

but i wonder how byet or myownfreehost.net get successful.. they have turned off some functions... and that is what i am pointing.. do i have the authority to turn off some functions on my reseller account so i can offer free hosting to my clients...!

The short answer: they know what they're doing; employ skilled admins; and use dedicated servers where security functions can be set on the server level.

As the other posters have observed, offering free hosting is NOT for the faint of heart or the inexperienced. Unless the offerer knows more about preventing trouble than the offerees know about creating it, it leads to disaster.

So it can't really be reduced to settings.

[regentronique]

The only way that i would recommend free hosting for a reseller is with a very controlled environment, where the user wont be able to do much more of what you authorized them yourself.

For that you need to be quite a good application developper and enough knowledgeable of the server security techniques. This is totally excluding giving your users full cPanel access as an example...

[alemcherry]

If you are really serious about offering Free hosting, better get atleast a VPS, so that you have complete control over the server environment. Even then, free hosting takes a lot of time and efforts to monitor and limit the clients activities. This is no easy task and you should double check if you really understand the business and are prepared for the same.

[jonel]

This is for me an interesting thread. In Reseller, how hard it is to allow HTML only sites, no database and no scripts for free hosting? I was able to offer free subdomain in a paid hosting, it works fine, and the hosting can run standard packages like mySQL, php, etc.

If I am to offer free hosting and free subdomain, how hard is it to limit the user with static sites only, no scripts, no php, no javascript (not sure if possible), and many no-no, HTML only is okey? Is this possible? I look around WHMCS, I'm not sure if this can be done.

[gwyneth]

Originally Posted by jonel

If I am to offer free hosting and free subdomain, how hard is it to limit the user with static sites only, no scripts, no php, no javascript (not sure if possible), and many no-no, HTML only is okey? Is this possible? I look around WHMCS, I'm not sure if this can be done.

1. I hate to sound cynical but if you have to ask, you probably don't know enough to avoid trouble from people who know more than you do.
2. Why would people who know more than you use free hosting? It's disposable. Who's going to suffer after they spam and disappear? You.

[jonel]

Originally Posted by gwyneth

1. I hate to sound cynical but if you have to ask, you probably don't know enough to avoid trouble from people who know more than you do.
2. Why would people who know more than you use free hosting? It's disposable. Who's going to suffer after they spam and disappear? You.

In this regard, I dismiss the idea of giving free hosting. The first question is an eye opener, the second is a reality and I don't want to mess with it. Thank you gwyneth.

[GvilleRick]

Personally, I think that it is a wise decision not to offer "free" hosting. I've seen way too many cases of abuse of the system. If you have a dedicated server then you can take steps to lessen the chance but with reseller accounts you have less control. If someone is not paying for something they have little to lose when they misbehave.