Running your own mini-hosting service with Plesk

I recently ordered a new server for my main site since traffic levels have started to creep slowly beyond the limits of my bargain basement dedicated server I'd been using for a few years now.

No holding back this time. I went all out and got a dual processor with 2 GB RAM and a 100 MB/s network connection. Should keep my site running smoothly for a few more years to come.

So on to Plesk. While ordering my server I accidentally requested Plesk be installed. I thought it was a advanced server admin tool much like Webmin. Come to find out it is a pretty cool full-featured hosting management tool. It lets you set any number of websites/accounts on your server with settings to control how much disk space each account gets, how muc memory they can use. They even get their own ftp access and webstats. All setup and managed from this Plesk software. Pretty cool stuff if I was ever going to get into doing some hosting (which I might down the road for sites I build as a consultant). But for my immediate needs, Plesk was too much so I ended up returning/removing it.

If you are looking to startup and manage your own hosting service on one of your servers with some free space, definitely check out Plesk... I think it cost around $15/month for a 30-site license. Also might be a good way to add some additional revenue if you have a under-utilized server...