Setting up a web server

jester77

I'd like to setup a web server to host a personal site. It's not going to be anything serious, more of a hobby/research thing. I was reading in the webhosting forum, which is now closed about 2 years, about SMEServer. It seems like a good way to set it up.

Anyone use this or can recomend something similar?
What you think of it?

JanneG

One easy way is to just run the Abyss Webserver.
Free and can be run on any windows machine more or less.
Perfect for the homeuser...

http://www.aprelium.com/downloads/

Khannie

www.apache.org

Worlds most popular web server.

Things you should know about setting up a local server:

If you want people on the outside to see it, you'll need to open your firewall / router
If your computer's not on, people wont be able to see your site
You'll need a static IP address if you want to associate it with a domain name (or try dyndns.org)
You're opening your computer to hackage.

Good luck.

Sparky

i had a webserver running in a dmz but i did have mcafee firewall installed on the server as a precaution

Worked ok for me.

Rollo Tamasi

You'll need to port forward your router.
you might need to consider getting into linux also. You can install a server on an old pc. (i'm using www.linuxubuntu.org on an old laptop for testing purposes at the mo)

Jester who is your Broadband Provider, what speed are you on and do you have a spare PC or are you willing to splash out on a basic pc (<E500). What kind of modem/router do you have? Would you prefer to be windows based (ISS/ASP) or Linux based (Apache/PHP)? Once you answer those questions we will have a better understanding on how to help you.

Sparky

why did they shut the web hosting forum, shouldnt it be opened now.

Lord Oz

You can't go wrong with Apache.

jester77

I'm def going with Apache and a Tomcat container. Thinking of going with Linux, no real experience with it though. But I would like to use this to get some experience. That's why I liked the sound of SMEServer. It's used Redhat with Apache and few other PHP things and it removes unecessary software for a web server and the install looks to be straightforward.
I'm now living in Germany so I want to set something up for friends and family back home. I've a PIII 650 laptop with 256Mb of RAM and a 12 GB Hd sitting idle, thinking of using that or buying a cheap 2nd hand PC.
Portforwarding is not a problem, already have it set up for BT. Just need to setup some other ports for HTTP, FTP, etc. DSL connection is 200K up, so will prob be slow but it's just for family & friends. DNS will be dynamic but I read that it's possible to setup a cron job to notify you by mail when it changes.

Cabaal

jester77 wrote:

DNS will be dynamic but I read that it's possible to setup a cron job to notify you by mail when it changes.

OR use a service like no-ip.org or dyndns.org, they work too