Website hosting certainly falls under the purview Adam Smith's doctrine of division of labor. On the external it may seem like such a nice money saving idea to be your own web host, but there really is a lot to it. Prior to starting to purchase gear for web hosting, think of all that is entailed in terms of web hosting on your own.
Server: The word "server" means a powerful computer with certain custom networking abilities. You might be able to get by with a small server for a minimally sized business for a short time. Servers that are good are made by Hewlett Packard and IBM. Dell manufactures servers as well.
Security: Securing your Server is probably the most difficult part of doing your own website hosting. Network Security specialists are trying to keep up with the hackers and spammers (not the other way around). Server Security is a highly technical task that never ends. It is certainly not a matter of installing an antivirus or internet security program. Unless you have a Certified Administrator or equivalent on staff, you'll probably need to forget doing your own hosting.
Software Licensing: In the majority of instances, server operating systems have licenses covering a limited number of concurrent connections. Licensing all the software can end up costing you an arm and a leg.
Network: A data trunk will need to be brought into the building where the server is located. Most likely it won't be possible to merely connect the server to your ISP. The bandwidth will be too limited for you to host your own website, so don't plan on it -- although it is done by some people to experiment and for personal websites. For those with smaller sites, look into the conditions of service for your ISP.
You will also need to acquire equipment like a handy off-site backup system for your data, as well as a sturdy battery backup to take care of power glitches.
Employees: If you do not have an employee who is knowledgeable with regard to networks, it will be necessary for you to hire someone to be on call or on duty pretty much around the clock. Even the best servers and networks experience problems - very often. It isn't possible to just "set it and forget it" for very long at all. There is absolutely no chance of that.
In Summary: Your website will benefit from the powerful and reliable servers provided by leased web hosting services, and you will save lots of money on hardware, administration, and labor. Without the support of devoted IT technicians, you will be spending too much money as well as valuable time running your operation. It is possible to get shared web hosting if you have a smaller site, with prices from approximately $10 monthly. I bet you can't find anything to beat that.
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