How to set up a personal home web server
 

Is a nice article at LifeHacker
http://www.lifehacker.com/software/f...ver-124212.php

Hey nice link there. I was about to search for one but i had a hard time looking for a good one. Thank you !

Here's a few more home webserver resources for you to poke through.

http://diywebserver.com
http://dslwebserver.com

Thanks guys, so many resources!
The wealth of information is so broad on the internet that Im thinking that I dont even have to go to college to study this stuff anymore.. its all out there for free on the net.

FIRST, make sure your ISP will allow it. Not all of them will.

Then, make sure of your connection speed.

And here are some good links to follow.

http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum48/2117-2-10.htm
http://www.dslwebserver.com/
http://www.no-ip.com/
http://www.easydns.com/

As far as what server software, if you are a linux fan, Fedora or CentOS are the best for servers. If you go windows, use a windows server.

We used a standard computer with CentOS4. Our ISP was SBC Yahoo DSL (now AT&T) and the package is the Pro-S plan. We have 5 static IP's. Bundled with our business phone which allows us unlimited long distance anytime, DSL, and the static IP's, it's less than $200 a month.

We have since found out that SBC Yahoo uses something called a *Sticky IP* which is a cross between a dynamic and static. They have the absolute gall to tell me it's the same as a static. I told them it's called *bait and switch*.

You can NOT get static IP's from SBC/AT&T unless you are paying for a T1 line. The Pro-S plan is a *Sticky IP* not STATIC.I had the second level tech's at SBC confurm that with the despute resolution specialist at SBC when I cancelled my contract due to that issue. And that has been true since July 2004.

http://www.broadbandbanter.com/q-t_7...ic-addres.html
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/7740
http://isp-lists.isp-planet.com/isp-...109/index.html
http://209.123.109.175/forum/remark,10920351~mode=flat
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/rema...8185~mode=flat
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/...html#wp1062570
http://www.mailarchive.ca/lists/comp...5-04/0099.html

The biggest problem is the RDNS and mailserver issue. You can't run either on a sticky IP and I needed both for my business. So I cancelled my contract after verifying I could get a true static IP with Comcast and then desputed the cancellation charges and won.

According to the web site, the Pro-S plan states 5 STATIC IP's and I called them on it.

My issue with Comcast has been with the config files. We keep losing them. Even their third level techs can't figure that one out. We are still a business plan member but no longer have static IP's. My husband and I are now part of a group that shares a decicated server at Softlayer. Liz

hi
 

Might i add that you guys are talking about ISP which are only based in America as a European this is very akward as it has nothing to do with me... Also american ISPs seem to be d***s :P here in the Netherlands everyone gets a dynamic IP adress and they can do whatever they want with their internet :D

Also stating that Fedore / CentOS are the best for a server is very very personal. Debian Sarge or RedHat are also strong canidats, and thats still excluding other distro's. Its just what you prefer. Now for a good howto site i found this one:

http://www.howtoforge.com/

It has server tutorials for a large amount of linux based distro's

Red Hat isn't FREE however. I don't know about Debian Sarge. As for the others, most don't compete in the server market yet. Fedora/CentOS are very strong in the server market.

That's where most of our experience lies, unfortunately. I wish it were different. Liz

Nice links. I have never seen diywebserver.com before. After all my searching I thought everything. After a quick glance through the forums, I found soulwatcher's thread about getting this site started. Really good read.

Nice links guys - thank you!

Yah Soul. how about u make a sticky with all the links, just links and lock it

Hi ;)

Yah Soul. how about u make a sticky with all the links, just links and lock it Thank you :);):)

I recommend using XAMPP for a personal home web server running from your desktop. Do not use it for an actual webserver as I believe it is really only intended to be used for development purposes.

Hey thank you for sharing the link. It is really good.

I never thought I would say I enjoyed setting up my home web server for the first time, but i followed the directions here and it worked wonderfully. Only thing that was missing was to make sure windows firewall is set manually to open port 80. Bingo ! that did it for me to enter my computer from the outside.

Now...if I could only find a way to host my own E-mail server within my home web server, my life would be complete. anyone ?

Which method did you go with? If you're going to be hosting sites from your personal computer, I would suggest using virtualization software for this. Something like VirtualBox along with whatever operating system you choose to go with. Using VM will essentially separate your host operating system from your webserver's operating system.

With regard to running your own email server, you can do this - but it might not work out well. IP addresses from Internet providers are designated for personal use. The anti-spam organizations use these IP designations to indicate which IPs should be able to send email. If your IP shows up being designated as personal use then you'll likely be blocked by any email server that checks these designations on incoming email.

As i'm new to this forum, it is great to see such an useful posts.Thank you guys for sharing the links and many useful information. I'm also ready to share my views hereafter.

I dont like this serveer sbecause you need to spend a lot otf time on them and you have no time left to spend in other things... :-)