Hosting Solutions What would you pay?
by Vince Gee · 10/21/2010 (3:07 pm) · 7 comments
Got a question for Hobbyists,
Recently I managed to acquire a ton of hardware, Dell Servers, Tape Caddies, etc and I had a thought.
What would the hobbyist market be willing to pay for virtual server hosting targeted for the Hobbyists?
• Internet connection 50mbs down and 10mbs up –Check
• 30 minute power backup – Check
• Generator – Check
The virtual machine would have
• 1 or 2 gigs of ram
• 50 gigs of Raid 5 drive space Backed up nightly held for 2 days
• Upload (Server to Internet) speed will be limited to 1mbps (316GB per month if used 24/7).
• Download (Internet To Server) speed will be limited to 10mbs (3164GB per month)
• Windows Server 2003
• 1 Static IP
• RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) Access w/ Admin Rights (You can install anything you want)
• Support for setting up your Torque Server on the virtual (included, but would need to be scheduled in advance)
• Server to Server communication isn’t metered (And on a private network).
Mind you, I’m not a hosting shop, we are just two guys who have experience in datacenters and happen to have everything we need to set this up. The servers would be secured in a datacenter but this service wouldn’t be meant for anything outside the hobbyist industry.
My thought was to target hobbyist who have a game they are developing etc and want a place they can host it for testing, alpha’s, and anything else. The only reason this came to mind is because I am in this boat.
So, what would you be willing to pay for the service?
Vince
Recently I managed to acquire a ton of hardware, Dell Servers, Tape Caddies, etc and I had a thought.
What would the hobbyist market be willing to pay for virtual server hosting targeted for the Hobbyists?
• Internet connection 50mbs down and 10mbs up –Check
• 30 minute power backup – Check
• Generator – Check
The virtual machine would have
• 1 or 2 gigs of ram
• 50 gigs of Raid 5 drive space Backed up nightly held for 2 days
• Upload (Server to Internet) speed will be limited to 1mbps (316GB per month if used 24/7).
• Download (Internet To Server) speed will be limited to 10mbs (3164GB per month)
• Windows Server 2003
• 1 Static IP
• RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) Access w/ Admin Rights (You can install anything you want)
• Support for setting up your Torque Server on the virtual (included, but would need to be scheduled in advance)
• Server to Server communication isn’t metered (And on a private network).
Mind you, I’m not a hosting shop, we are just two guys who have experience in datacenters and happen to have everything we need to set this up. The servers would be secured in a datacenter but this service wouldn’t be meant for anything outside the hobbyist industry.
My thought was to target hobbyist who have a game they are developing etc and want a place they can host it for testing, alpha’s, and anything else. The only reason this came to mind is because I am in this boat.
So, what would you be willing to pay for the service?
Vince
About the author
www.winterleafentertainment.com
#2
I would maybe think of breaking up the services based on some of Guimo comments above and allow the guys to upgrade their package as there needs increase.
Bottom line is you need to decide the following:
1). Do I just cover my costs and recoup my initial investment.
2). Do I want to make money out of this endeavor.
Most Indies are funding projects out of their own pockets and would be keen to get a service like this (I am definitely keen to get a service like this) but are constrained by budget limitations.
Good luck with this ... you have one potential customer if the the price is right. :)
Q
10/22/2010 (5:24 am)
Wow ... very tricky question indeed.I would maybe think of breaking up the services based on some of Guimo comments above and allow the guys to upgrade their package as there needs increase.
Bottom line is you need to decide the following:
1). Do I just cover my costs and recoup my initial investment.
2). Do I want to make money out of this endeavor.
Most Indies are funding projects out of their own pockets and would be keen to get a service like this (I am definitely keen to get a service like this) but are constrained by budget limitations.
Good luck with this ... you have one potential customer if the the price is right. :)
Q
#3
So there's a rough figure to go with.
10/22/2010 (10:37 am)
I've a VPS server with a company with a similar setup for running our game server except it's 768mb ram rather than the 1-2gb you mention and I pay $45 a month for it.So there's a rough figure to go with.
#4
I want to cater primarily to the Torque community.
Since I would be backing up the virtuals daily and keeping the backups for 2 days, that pretty much would back up your database and game nightly.
As for the database, since you would have remote desktop to the server you could load what ever database software you wanted onto the server be it Mysql, SqlServer etc. It really wouldn't matter to me, since all I am providing is the windows 2003 server license.
Vince
10/22/2010 (12:21 pm)
Thanks guys, I really appreciate the feedback. I'm not so much trying to make money out of this and my goal is to only allow hobbyist to rent from me.I want to cater primarily to the Torque community.
Since I would be backing up the virtuals daily and keeping the backups for 2 days, that pretty much would back up your database and game nightly.
As for the database, since you would have remote desktop to the server you could load what ever database software you wanted onto the server be it Mysql, SqlServer etc. It really wouldn't matter to me, since all I am providing is the windows 2003 server license.
Vince
#5
10/22/2010 (12:22 pm)
And I would have limited space, most likely for about 6-8 virtual servers initially. 
#6
10/22/2010 (2:24 pm)
Compare prices with Hetzner.de. 
#7
http://www.nfoservers.com/
They offer a variety of services for dedicated gaming servers. I would compare their products to what you have and intend to offer. Special pricing format for indie game developers. Theoretically they will not be keeping the same solid load as a popular game server.
10/25/2010 (5:30 pm)
and nfo.http://www.nfoservers.com/
They offer a variety of services for dedicated gaming servers. I would compare their products to what you have and intend to offer. Special pricing format for indie game developers. Theoretically they will not be keeping the same solid load as a popular game server.
Torque 3D Owner Guimo
I may suggest you something, start by giving indies something they can work with, like a game master server. So they can register their games and people can search for other players. They won't play in your server at all, only the search mechanism and allowing for connections. Provide it as a free service so you get known.
After that, provide the hosting service but considering bandwidth. Some games require a lot of BW, some doesn't. Some games like a chess game will require very little BW. So it would be nice to be able to start with little BW when your game is not known and slowly let the indies to buy more and more BW to accommodate more players.
The next thing I would look is security and the ability to start and stop my services. Also I would require some ports to be open exclusively for my game server.
Database support is a must have. Also some kind of web management like cpanel and a CMS like Joomla. Ability to install a domain name and secure certificates is a must.
Next, full backup of database and website is also required. If it is an automated service then better. You are already mentioning that.
Nothing else comes to my mind. That is what I would look for. I'm paying $150 yearly for my web server but is a virtual machine only for my website, I have no dedicated server for my game.