Re: Benefits of in-house SS/L for Business

Hi Donna,

Couldn't resist answering your post, especially since you're from across
town ;).

We currently co-locate a Web server with a local ISP.

Internally, we scrapped our Dual ISDN connection a few months back, after we
realized that Shaw@Work was available, and less than 1/3 of the price.  The
site we host in-house is for private development use only, and is run on a
NT Box, firewalled of course.

We decided that the web server was much more crucial, as we sell
internationally, so my considerations for the WWW server were:

1.  Speed
Had to be a fast Machine, just for this task.  Chose Linux Redhat. PIII
500Mhz
2. Security
Not connected in any way to my Intranet.  Redhat again.
3. Maintenence & Setup
Its sitting at the ISP right now.  I can't get in at 4 in the morning, and I
really don't want to.  For a nominal fee, I pay them to fix it, and keep it
running.
4. HUGE backbone (Bandwidth).
I leech off of one of the OC3s.   Since we transfer about 80GB a month just
in FTP, I don't want users from Finland getting shafted because we're slow
at this end.
5. Storage
It's my server, so I did a RAID level 0 (Two identical 16GB drives, mirrored
writing)
6.   Cost
Equipment Asus Mobo, PIII 500Mhz, 2 x 16GB Drives, 256 MB Ram = $1500 CDN
Dollars.

Cost of NT = $900.  Cost of Redhat = $0

We decided that Co-locating a WWW box at the local ISP, and keeping our
Local NT Box for intranet use was the best situation for us.   Bought a
certificate from Thawte, lowest price around, and the SSL issue was taken
care of by a proper setup of Linux.  I'm my own SSL server.

BTW, Your client does realize that with the ISDN connection any more load on
it will slow down users from inside as well as outside, right?  Just
checking...

Good luck, and you can post me off-list if you wish.

DB Godfrey
Developer/Techie/Webmaster
PG Music Inc.

*********************************************
   PG Music Inc. -- http://www.pgmusic.com/
          email: dgodfrey(at)pgmusic.com
*********************************************




-----Original Message-----
From: D J Tabish, Webmaster djtabish.bc.ca <webmaster(at)djtabish.bc.ca>
To: hwg-business(at)hwg.org <hwg-business(at)hwg.org>
Date: February 24, 2000 1:18 AM
Subject: Benefits of in-house SS/L for Business


>Hi everyone,
>I have a small business client who is considering setting up a secure
>server in-house rather than outsource. I've read a considerable amount of
>documentation on the requirements, particularly where the machine also
>hosts the company's intranet, and I can't see that it would be worth while
>for a small business (with a limited number of on-line transactions) to
>undertake such a task considering the costs, maintainance/monitoring needs,
>and security risks. However, this end of e-commerce is not my area of
>expertise so I am hoping that someone with server setup/maintenance
>experience and can offer sound advise/input. The business has an ISDN
>connection (through BellGlobal) and dedicated IP. BellGlobal charges hefty
>monthly fees for SSL access and insists on digital certificates (purchased
>through them only, of course) and this is what is prompting the business to
>consider doing it in-house. Yet I can set the company up with SSL access
>through an independant ISP for a fraction of the cost. So, am I missing
>something or is the independant ISP the obvious way to go?
>
>Any advise and insight greatly appreciated!
>Donna Tabish
>

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