Hi,

I've been mucking about with a supported Virtuozzo VPS running cpanel etc only for a month now and I'm not familiar with command line *nix etc (newbie in other words) but I have been a reseller of shared hosting for a few years now and have a solid background in IT.

The provider installed cpanel etc etc for me and have also installed php mysql etc etc. I have no idea how to do this.

I'm getting a little dissatisified with my "supported" service because I cannot seem to get Joomla working the way Joomla tells me it at my should work (something to do with php suExec). The support guys at my vps host tell me to do things like chmod 777 everything which I just know is not correct.

The way I see it is... if I'm not getting the support from a supported service why not pay less and do it myself anyway.

My questions then are:

1) If I were to get a linode would I be in too far over my head?

2) How would I get help if the **** really hit the fan?

I'm a partime reseller with a 9-5 job and a family so I really don't want to have rebuild all my accounts from scratch too often (but then who does)?

Best solution is to stay with your current hoster for what your doing now, and get yourself a Linode with the view to playing with it for about a year to lean what you need to learn.

Don't think about putting clients on it at first. In 6 - 12 months time you will know the answer to your questions, and probably a lot more.

This will give you lots of time to scew up and learn, without getting your clients off side. Then when your ready, move them over.

Linode is not hard to learn when you don't have the pressure of one mistake loosing you all your customers.

It took me 2 years before I was happy to move my mail from my hoster to my Linode.

Good suggestion - thanks - I'd actually decided not to proceed with linode but you have a good point.

My problem now is that I'm not being well supported at my VPS so perhaps I need to go back to my fully managed host while playing with linode (I have only converted one of my accounts and one customer - a friend who i look after cheaply - over to the vps)

Sam.

It has also been suggested that I buy (or re-use) an old 486 and install gentoo.

I've been told that will take me at least a day but will help me to learn a fair bit. I can then muck around and in a few months may be ready.

Another good idea and perhaps a little cheaper.

Many thanks, Sam.

Gentoo on a 486? Interesting suggestion...

I suggest you play around with whatever OS you plan to deploy. I suggest Debian for a server/linode.

I think you'll learn fastest if you use GNU/Linux as your desktop OS . That way you're more forced to learn than you would be in other situations - such as installing it on a spare computer.

Get on IRC if you have problems/questions,
irc.freenode.net and/or irc.oftc.net

It's not that hard really - but I've been using it GNU/Linux exclusively at home for a few years now.

There is absolutely no reason why you couldn't run linux. Linux is not some mysterious massively difficult system to master. If you can do other stuff in IT, you can run linux.

Gentoo on a 486 for a newbie would be hellish. Don't do it. You would learn a lot, but it would be really awful. Linux is not awful, so you shouldn't come to it using a system that makes it so.

Get a linode and play with it. It's cheap, and you're in the business. $20 a month for professional development isn't unreasonable.

Or run vmware on your windows desktop and install ubuntu or debian. Learn how to edit text files and how to install packages using apt-get.

I asked myself the same question a while back. I've also used the various control panels like CPanel, etc. but found that it lacked the power I wanted.

Sure, it's easier to set up an email account and such but when it comes down to it, you're getting what they give you and nothing more. Need a lighter server? Tough! Only supports Apache. Want a different email server? Sorry, only supports xThis and xThat.

My suggestion is the same as the rest.. Get a Linode (the best VPS I've found so far) and play with it for a month. You'll be doing a lot of reading about how to set this and that up but once you know how it's done, you'll be happier with the end result. And you won't be tied to (and dependent on) someone else's "way of doing things".

Once you're confident you can handle administrating your node through ssh without the help of a control panel, shift your site(s) over to your Linode.

I'm thinking about getting a 2nd node but that's for another thread.