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Barriers to entry to the server business--can they really be that large?
Posted on 1/11/21 at 9:09 am
Posted on 1/11/21 at 9:09 am
I understand AWS has huge infrastructure and service millions of cloud customers but is the service they provide really that hard to replicate?
To run one site safely, with redundancy and with fast server response time how much difficulty is that?
To run one site safely, with redundancy and with fast server response time how much difficulty is that?
This post was edited on 1/11/21 at 9:10 am
13
Posted on 1/11/21 at 9:12 am to JDGTiger
Good question.
I'm sure there needs to be a lot of capital to start up?
I'm sure there needs to be a lot of capital to start up?
Posted on 1/11/21 at 9:17 am to boomtown143
Well I have a server that 40 people use that cost me about $2,000. 
So if I wanted to serve 20 million I would need a billion dollars.
So if I wanted to serve 20 million I would need a billion dollars.
This post was edited on 1/11/21 at 9:18 am
Posted on 1/11/21 at 9:19 am to JDGTiger
You can always buy AOL from Verizon...the Boomer followers still have their bootup disks for their Windows 95 systems somewhere on their bookshelf.
Posted on 1/11/21 at 9:29 am to JDGTiger
It really depends 9n how much hardware you really need.. virtualize datacenters are surprisingly not hard to set up and maintain. It can be costly for licensing depending on how you want to go about it.....but can be done with 100% opensource software if you have the right people in place to maintain it. Kind of a tradeoff pay licensing or salary to maintain.
Posted on 1/11/21 at 9:31 am to JDGTiger
As usual the right has been lazy and didn't see what was coming. This should have been understood a long time ago that the right needs its own infrastructure. Hopefully they can get their shite together, I would happily invest or donate if someone coule organize this.
Posted on 1/11/21 at 9:32 am to JDGTiger
quote:
To run one site safely, with redundancy and with fast server response time how much difficulty is that?
The reason why people don't do it is because it's cheaper to let AWS do it then them build it out as well.
Posted on 1/11/21 at 9:47 am to JDGTiger
as others have said it is/was just easier/cheaper to just use a cloud provider, and that necessarily implies that there was no economic case to be made for building MAGAcloud or whatever.
now, to answer your question directly: yes. this stuff is almost all made in china. the supply issues for everything (including IT stuff, servers AND components) coming from there have definitely been disrupted since the start pandemic.
so even if you had the power, bandwidth, and square footage right now to start with, it's not a trivial thing to get the stuff that you would need to forklift in the door and set up.
the reason that you can launch newSuperAppService on itunes and google play in such a short amount of time is that you can purchase and spin up capacity on google cloud, AWS, salesforce.com, etc. to get up & running. that capacity is sitting there waiting to be provisioned for you already.
now, to answer your question directly: yes. this stuff is almost all made in china. the supply issues for everything (including IT stuff, servers AND components) coming from there have definitely been disrupted since the start pandemic.
so even if you had the power, bandwidth, and square footage right now to start with, it's not a trivial thing to get the stuff that you would need to forklift in the door and set up.
the reason that you can launch newSuperAppService on itunes and google play in such a short amount of time is that you can purchase and spin up capacity on google cloud, AWS, salesforce.com, etc. to get up & running. that capacity is sitting there waiting to be provisioned for you already.
Posted on 1/11/21 at 9:53 am to JDGTiger
How soon till the hardware and software composes won’t sell to those they disagree with?
Posted on 1/11/21 at 9:56 am to JDGTiger
The problem is you can buy all the hardware, but to get it online requires internet bandwidth to be purchased from some entity. There is hardly anywhere to buy it that is not directly tied to big tech, or can be strongly influenced by big tech.
Posted on 1/11/21 at 9:57 am to wickowick
To run a massive data center takes; multiple power providers, multiple back up generates, multiple and very large data pipes from the Internet backbones ISP's. That is before you spin up your first box. Along with very expensive IT people to manage it.
Posted on 1/11/21 at 10:01 am to JDGTiger
Extremely expensive. To have system that has proper redundancy between a minimum of 2 physical sites with proper licensing of the systems for not only backup but replication and recovery technologies is expensive in and of itself. Then you need WAN services, Networking infrastructure and proper hardware, Server hardware and storage systems along with the engineering personnel to support expand and troubleshoot. Don't forget security and maintenance of along with insurance for the what ifs. You are looking at 10+ million dollars to start up minimum and that doesnt include facilities.
Posted on 1/11/21 at 10:04 am to JDGTiger
quote:
Well I have a server that 40 people use that cost me about $2,000.
If you know what you're doing that server can handle millions of people.
Things get hairy when you want a CDN or geographic distribution.
Long story short, hosting barrier to entry is small if you're small and gets bigger as you get bigger.
Posted on 1/11/21 at 10:05 am to Sailin Tiger
quote:
You are looking at 10+ million dollars to start up minimum and that doesnt include facilities.
You're talking about starting a hosting facility. That's not what Parler needs.
There are plenty of hosts that will take Parler on. They aren't US-based and they'll be way more expensive. Building your own redundant host is unnecessary. Just don't build on Jeff Bezos' tools.
Posted on 1/11/21 at 10:12 am to JDGTiger
There are countless providers out there besides AWS or Azure, they are just smaller shops but could easily handle something like Parler.
Venyu in Baton Rouge used to offer such services. It's just easier/cheaper to use one of the big ones.
Venyu in Baton Rouge used to offer such services. It's just easier/cheaper to use one of the big ones.
Posted on 1/11/21 at 10:13 am to JDGTiger
quote:
understand AWS has huge infrastructure and service millions of cloud customers but is the service they provide really that hard to replicate?
To run one site safely, with redundancy and with fast server response time how much difficulty is that?
Hard not really. Time consuming and expensive absolutely. You need the capital to outlay for the servers upfront to offer the service
Posted on 1/11/21 at 10:16 am to EA6B
quote:
The problem is you can buy all the hardware, but to get it online requires internet bandwidth to be purchased from some entity. There is hardly anywhere to buy it that is not directly tied to big tech, or can be strongly influenced by big tech.
Well if you're a data center you're probably needing backbone providers so it's not exactly like you call you're local cable company and they run fiber. You contract with providers for direct pipe into backbones for this stuff
Posted on 1/11/21 at 10:19 am to JDGTiger
quote:
I understand AWS has huge infrastructure and service millions of cloud customers but is the service they provide really that hard to replicate?
To run one site safely, with redundancy and with fast server response time how much difficulty is that?
its not just servers, there are tons of co-dependency needed.
just to name a few:
Microsoft for windows licensing, or sql server
firewall and networking so companies like cisco
data in and out so companies like AT&T
If every company starts putting shite in their terms of service where they can cut a provider of internet services off based on what they feel then we are in a world of trouble.
IMHO the biggest fight that needs to happen outside of gun rights is putting something in place where providers of services like hosting cannot deny service based on differing viewpoints. It should only be something like child porn, etc. something that is illegal.
Posted on 1/11/21 at 10:22 am to JDGTiger
Co-locations (you want to run your own hardware, just rent rack space and power) and web hosts used to be pretty prolific. Because of cloud computing, Amazon, Microsoft, and Google have pretty much muscled a lot of these businesses out. Some are still around but it's not like it used to be say 10-15 years ago.
Posted on 1/11/21 at 10:24 am to diat150
quote:
Microsoft for windows licensing, or sql server
firewall and networking so companies like cisco
data in and out so companies like AT&T
You can easily get around the first two by running open source and there are other network vendors besides Cisco. In fact, in a virtualized environment there are plenty of robust alternatives for virtualized firewalls and networking.
Telcos are the hard part, very very few of them and not many are independent. Even then some of them rely on other providers for either backbone or last mile.
This post was edited on 1/11/21 at 10:25 am
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