Linux Web Server

[tab01234]

Good Evening,
My server information is attached.
I host 9 domains using cpanel, 7 of which are for email and web sites, 2 are solely being used for email.

I am trying to do two things.

The first is that I would like to have an IMAP calendar to access through Outlook in the same manner Exchange does.  I have several customers asking for this and I know there must be a way.

The second is I am looking for a remote access function for both new and existing users.  I currently use Team Viewer, however I have seen small plugins that I believe are Linux based which allow a  client and Technician to establish a session, possibly through a browser, and allow the tech to repair the users PC remotely.

I am also interested in utilizing the server for money making opportunities, I am considering Domain reselling and going after basic hosting on a larger level. Advice?


I am relatively new to Linux, I have tis web server which I concoct to through ssh (putty), and a Debian server with a KDE front end which I am using for an offsite backup solution for several of my clients utilizing sftp.

[Geek-9pm]

I am also interested in utilizing the server for money making opportunities, I am considering Domain reselling and going after basic hosting on a larger level. Advice?

The competition is huge. Everybody has web space for sale.

A more likely money making idea is to go to garage sales and resell other peoples junk om eBay. Really. There is a much broader market retelling all sorts of consumer stuff over the Internet.

But if you want to sell domains and web space, talk to Godaddy.com  and they can fix you up. For a modest fee, of course. To be  worth your time, you will have to service over 300 customers on your server. Unless you like to work for $1.50 per hour.

BTW: It costs less to rent a virtual server rather that buy your own hardware.  The cost per month will be about the same as the electrical use of your own server. Go figure. You need quad-core machine with lots of RAM and huge disk space.  And it has to be in a A/C room 24/4.

Here  on this forum we do not help people with real commercial projects. So then,  the above is about all I can tell you without getting into trouble.   

[tab01234]

Cool and thanks, maybe I wasn't totally clear, I am leasing the server for 150.00/month.  I host a public utility's website and accept payments through it so it all had to be approved by the department of homeland security. They required a dedicated server. So since I have to eat 150.00/month I was just hoping to generate other income from it.  It makes more than enough to pay for itself, but I'm always looking!

Any ideas for an IMAP calendar?

Thanks again.

[Geek-9pm]

Sorry, I thought you were  going from scratch.
Glad to hear you have a income cow.
You best opportunity is to work with the business community and the public service companies. Some government services are still slow about getting into the digital age. Anybody with some experience with web servers can find an opportunity.

For more about IMAP under Linux, I recommend  you try the Ubuntu chat rooms. Here is a list:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/IRC/ChannelList

[camerongray]

Unless you really know what you are doing I would advise against hosting anything for the public.  Large web hosts are extremely cheap so it will not be easy to get business, and then you need to worry about the multitude of different security issues that arise from doing this.  Unless you really know what you are doing and have the ability to manage the machine 24/7, you will have issues.

What do you mean about the remote access, for customers to be able to remotely access your server?  This opens up even more security issues, not to mention that teamviewer is not the correct tool for the job, you should use SSH only and then if you need remote graphical access you should be looking into either X forwarding or something like RDP tunneled over SSH (and therefore not accessible over the internet without the SSH tunnel set up).

They required a dedicated server.

So then why are you planning on putting other services on it for other users?  That totally nulls the idea of it being dedicated.

[tab01234]

I have publically hosted websites for about 10 years.  C-Panel actually has an excellent means to sell reseller packages, I haven't tried it out yet though.

I am sorry I guess I misspoke about remote access, but I did figure it out.  This is what I was looking for:
http://www.gidsoftware.com/remotehelpdesk.htm

Thanks for your help, still looking for more information about IMAP calendars, anyone with personal experience can sure give me a holler (KY boy coming out in me!)

[BC_Programmer]

I think you may have mixed up acronyms.

"IMAP Calendar" isn't a thing- IMAP is for E-mail- Internet Mail Access Protocol. It knows nothing of Calendar stuff (which is probably for the best)

MAPI, however does- MAPI is part of the Microsoft Exchange Protocol. Allegedly it is supported by the Mail Servers in Exchange, Axigen Mail Server, Kerio Connect, Scalix, Zimbra, HP OpenMail, IBM Lotus Notes, Zarafa, and Bynari, according to the MAPI Wikipedia article. (Exchange being pretty obvious, the others- I don't know. And I doubt any of those are free)

[tab01234]

You're right obviously BC_P, I meant MAPI, at one point I went around calling ICMP SNMP....acronyms...

[DaveLembke]

I am leasing the server for 150.00/month.  I host a public utility's website and accept payments through it so it all had to be approved by the department of homeland security. They required a dedicated server. So since I have to eat 150.00/month I was just hoping to generate other income from it.  It makes more than enough to pay for itself, but I'm always looking!

I would highly advise against selling off other slices of processing power from this server. There is a thing called PCI Compliance!!! This is to protect customers sensitive information. An online server that accepts payments if it is not already PCI Compliant should be, as for you are personally liable if there is theft of credit card and customer information.

More info here: https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/

I am relatively new to Linux, I have tis web server which I concoct to through ssh (putty), and a Debian server with a KDE front end which I am using for an offsite backup solution for several of my clients utilizing sftp.

Giving anyone the ability to go in remotely, opens up the ability for them to gain access to other portions of your server and since you already stated that its all new to you, your very likely to get hacked due to a vulnerability and sued.

[tab01234]

Thanks Dave and of course you are correct.  Perhaps I misspoke when I stated I was new to Linux, I am new to Debian and CentOS.  I ran a RedHat 9 server for several years, and before 9 I worked with the previous versions of RedHat. HOWEVER those servers were onsite which made it easier to monitor traffic. I moved to an off site server simply because of Bandwidth, environmental, and uptime issues.
I also had to get my CISSP because one of my customers is a good sized public utility. It was required by the department of Homeland Security, but that was about 13 years ago, I've probably forgotten more than I remember, and the entire scope of threats has changed immensely since then.

The server I accept payments on is a separate machine located in an extremely controlled environment.  Nothing is un-hackable but I'm trying!

Thanks for the input!

[Allan]

Attachment removed at the request of the OP

[tab01234]

Thanks Allen