Home Internet Server

[bimbla]

I will be shortly buying a domain name. It will be of the nature: http://www.xxxxxxx.com. I will also be getting an ftp account. I want to host it on my home computer. What is the software to use so people can see my web pages on: http://www.xxxxxxx.com ?

If there are more than one popular choices, kindly list your priorities.

Thanks and regards.

bimbla.

[hoxlund]

What is the software to use so people can see my web pages on: http://www.xxxxxxx.com ?

bimbla.

are you trying to ask what are the different web browsing software programs out there?

or programs to make web pages, or programs to host the web pages on your computer?

[socheat]

I think he's asking about web server software. If you are a Windows user, you can use IIS. You could install Apache, Tomcat, Zope, etc, but if this is your first web server, and you're not familiar with Linux/Unix, stick with Windows IIS. I believe IIS comes with certain verisons of Windows (XP Pro?)

[cfitz]

The fact that you are even asking this question indicates to me that you would be much better off having the site hosted somewhere for you. That's not a knock against you, it just reflects that your current level of knowledge isn't up to dealing with the hassles of hosting your own site on your own hardware.

There are plenty of providers out there willing to do it for you. Some are quite inexpensive as well.

Does your ISP even allow you to host from your home computer. Many, maybe most, home ISPs don't.

cfitz

[socheat]

Speaking of lack of knowledge... I thought he was actually registering xxxxxxx.com, and I clicked the link!

[bimbla]

Programs to host the web pages on my computer. That is what I am looking for. Yes I am new to this area. But so what?

Within a couple of days my index page will welcome you all and then we all will be proud of playing some role in what we would be seeing.

Thanks and regards.

bimbla.

[cfitz]

Programs to host the web pages on my computer. That is what I am looking for. Yes I am new to this area. But so what?

I think it is great you want to learn something new. I was not and am not attacking you. I just think you might want to have a third-party host your site at first rather than exposing your personal computer directly to the hostile environment of the Internet.

Keeping up with security, including patches, configuration and best practices, can be a full-time job in and of itself. You, being brand new to hosting, are more likely to make mistakes that might compromise your system. Third party hosting providers, on the other hand, have the experience, resources and knowledge to secure and manage your site while you learn the ins and outs of hosting.

Once you are fully up to speed, then you might want to host on your own hardware.

cfitz

[cfitz]

I thought he was actually registering xxxxxxx.com, and I clicked the link!

Not me, man! I didn't like the looks of that at all, and stayed faaaarrr away...

cfitz

[bimbla]

No probs.
Its new, and it will be fun. I am aware of the security issues. Thank you. IIS is for Win Server 2003. How do I get going on Win XP Prof?

bimbla.

[integspec]

No probs.
Its new, and it will be fun. I am aware of the security issues. Thank you. IIS is for Win Server 2003. How do I get going on Win XP Prof?

bimbla.

Do you have a static ip or are you planning to do this on dhcp? If you have a generic broadband connection, chances are you have a dynamic ip which changes based on the interval set by your isp.

Darn, my ISP's lease lasts only an hour.

[bimbla]

I have static IP.

bimbla.

[thekillerbean]

Setting up an IIS web server is peanuts and although you do expose your PC to the hostility of the internet (what with all those trojan writers, script kiddies, etc.), you can make it happen. Everyone started somewhere - even the gurus out there started with baby steps and learnt the hard way!

So, with that said, if you are using a spare PC that will have no valuable/strictly confidential data, then all you need do is make an image after everything is working. Should you be compromised, all you have to do is re-image. Of course, you'd have to perform backups of you data which you can then restore after re-imaging.

On the other hand, if you only have one PC, then you'd be better served by installing some virtualizing software - something like VMware or Virtual PC - I've never used VPC. Should your system be vandalized, all you have to do is revert to a saved snapshot. This is what I've done and although I religiously keep up with all the patches that M$ releases, I've been hit once. But with the snapshot, I was back up and running in under 1 minute.

I've since then made my system redundant and I've daisy chained 2 IIS webserver. Visitors hit my IIS5 server hosted on Windows 2000 server, which gets pages from IIS6 running on Windows Server 2003. I also have a DNS server hosted on Windows 2000 with a local domain which I haven't registered yet. These 3 OS's are virtualized by VMware running on a Windows XP Pro host.

I'm now di.king around with Apache, PHP, MySQL and I'm about ready to delve into it. And guess what, VMware can host a virtualized guest linux system, yippee! Oops, is my immaturity showing through?

For VMware to function just right, you need plenty of horse power. I'm running an AMD 2600+ XP processor, 1.5GB RAM, 180 GB harddrive but I'm limited by my ISP - 256Kbps down/64 Kbps up - meaning web surfers on my site get data back at 64Kbps - dang it! I sometimes see performance degradation whenever too many people hit my server at once - like when I posted my wedding photos and sent an email out to ~150 people - what a dumb ass!

More power to you as you embark on the journey where many before you have gone and might I add, conqured!

kb.

[dpippin]

If you want to learn than put together some cheap Linux box. Install Debian, Suse (my two favorite) or any other popular Linux distribution. You can than run Apache off of that. You don't even have to get any peripherals you can just leave the box up and running and VNC into it. My box has been up for 32 days straight which is actually not a lot when you're dealing with Linux and servers. As stated earlier, if this site is going to be busy than it is best to get professional hosting which can handle much more traffic. Best of Luck!