# How to setup a web server



## lwilli201 (Dec 22, 2006)

Is it possible to host my own web site on a home (networked) computer? I do not want to spend alot on server software. Free would be good.


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## smiddy (Apr 5, 2006)

Yes, it is possible. What type of system are you currently running and what is your network connection?


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

lwilli201 said:


> Is it possible to host my own web site on a home (networked) computer? I do not want to spend alot on server software. Free would be good.


Pretty much any Linux distro comes with Apache set up and pretty much ready to rock. I'd suggest starting with Ubuntu; maybe the server edition.


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

Depending on your ISP's terms and conditions, you may or may not be allowed to run a web server. Due to traffic, many residential ISP services prohibit running a mail server and/or web server on a residential connection. Also, your IP address is often dynamically assigned, while servers prefer fixed IP address. There is a solution around that.

With free web hosting services, there is often limitations on the amount of space, and advertising is often required to be on the site. I ended up purchasing space on a web hosting company such as Site5 where the price isn't too bad for a long term commitment.

HOWEVER, there is nothing that says that you cannot set up a web server on your own network for internal use already. I do web development for District 39 Toastmasters which is hosted on GoDaddy (not recommended as a web host provider). I have a development server running on a old Celeron 500 computer that was discarded from work. I installed a LAMP server software (Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP (or Perl  ) ) using these instructions (scroll down to Howtos: ISPConfig installation) and then install the ISP Config software. The ISP Config software makes it easy to set up web sites on the test server.

Once I have the web server set up, I simply insert the following entries into the host file (never got DNS to work...):

district39.test 192.168.0.210
www.district39.test 192.168.0.210

Then, as far as my computer is concerned, it is connecting up to an external website. The advantage of this is that I'm running the same version of the software as my web hosting software. However, if I **** up on a script with my test server, OH WELL! Nobody knows it except me.


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## bobnielsen (Jun 29, 2006)

Not only do many ISPs prohibit running web servers, they also block port 80 (although you might get away with a non-standard port). My ISP didn't say I couldn't run a mail server, but since they block port 25 it amounts to the same thing.


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## lwilli201 (Dec 22, 2006)

Thanks for all the input. Looks like it can not be done without the ISP blessing, unblocked Port 80 and an extra fee for a static IP address. Probably cheaper to get on an inexpensive web hosting site.

Every one has there hand in our pockets.


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## lwilli201 (Dec 22, 2006)

Any suggestions for a good web hosting site.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

lwilli201 said:


> Any suggestions for a good web hosting site.


What host features do you need?


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## lwilli201 (Dec 22, 2006)

harsh said:


> What host features do you need?


Nothing fancy. Not to expensive. I do not like the ones that have set activity restrictions. It will not be a high volume site.


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## tcusta00 (Dec 31, 2007)

I've used godaddy for years without much of an issue. I think I pay $70-80 bucks a year and host four sites on it. Their customer service is acceptable.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

lwilli201 said:


> Nothing fancy.


When I asked about host features, I was wondering about database engines and scripting.

Is your site straight up HTML or does it require CGI or FrontPage extensions?

Do you require a traffic counter or visitor's log type functionality?

Do visitors need to be able to upload files?

Is this site already set up somewhere (like your ISP personal web page) where we can look at it?


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## lwilli201 (Dec 22, 2006)

harsh said:


> When I asked about host features, I was wondering about database engines and scripting.
> 
> Is your site straight up HTML or does it require CGI or FrontPage extensions?
> 
> ...


I do not have a site yet. I need to keep it simple to start with. I am 68 years old and wanting to learn how to do it. Others will not need to upload files. Included web design support would be nice. I do not want to get involved with any scam domain name outfit.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

If you need design support, you should take a class. Many hosting services offer support, but it is more to get you over a hump than teach you what you need to know.

In general, I'd recommend staying away from tools that require the use of anything Microsoft.

A site that has helped many get started is http://webmonkey.com.


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## lwilli201 (Dec 22, 2006)

harsh said:


> If you need design support, you should take a class. Many hosting services offer support, but it is more to get you over a hump than teach you what you need to know.
> 
> In general, I'd recommend staying away from tools that require the use of anything Microsoft.
> 
> A site that has helped many get started is http://webmonkey.com.


Thanks, I will check it out and get some reviews on it.


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## NorfolkBruh (Jun 9, 2007)

You know... I've been a member of this site for a minute or two. I see Lwilli has been here quite a while... I've seen you guys help out in ALL things DBS, from the rocket scientists (real rocket scientists!!) to lawyers to... well... you know!

But this... THIS is what I think Chris really wanted when he created this site... this type of step by step guidance and help is simply worth the anti-TIVO rhetoric, the pro go for LOVE, they can do almost no wrong DirecTV (lololol)...

Yes... you folks prove this site is worth it all! Thank you!


Norfolk


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## BobaBird (Mar 31, 2002)

I've heard good comments about http://www.000webhost.com/ as a free host.

For a tutorial, http://www.htmldog.com/ is frequently recommended, with the caveat that you should ignore their XHTML focus in favor of HTML 4.01 Strict. Learn CSS (cascading style sheets) along with HTML to avoid using deprecated (out of favor) tags like font and center. Validate your work as you go at http://validator.w3.org/ for HTML and http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/ for the CSS.


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## lwilli201 (Dec 22, 2006)

BobaBird said:


> I've heard good comments about http://www.000webhost.com/ as a free host.
> 
> For a tutorial, http://www.htmldog.com/ is frequently recommended, with the caveat that you should ignore their XHTML focus in favor of HTML 4.01 Strict. Learn CSS (cascading style sheets) along with HTML to avoid using deprecated (out of favor) tags like font and center. Validate your work as you go at http://validator.w3.org/ for HTML and http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/ for the CSS.


Thanks, I looked into webhost.com and it looks like what I am looking for. Now all I have to do is get up the nerve to start a website. :lol:


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## rudeney (May 28, 2007)

Also check out http://www.1and1.com. I have used them for years and I am very happy. They offer several low cost plans and you can choose Microsoft or Linux hosting.


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## Getteau (Dec 20, 2007)

I've been using dynamic DNS (dyndns.com) for several years and have never had any issues. They offer free DNS domain names if you want to use one of theirs or you can go out and get your own domain name and they will host it for you (they can do all of that for you as well). If your ISP forces you to get a new IP address every time your address renews, they also have some programs on their site that allow you to automatically update your DNS info with the new IP address.

Who's your ISP? I have DSL through SW Bell and I can run pretty much anything on my home PC.

If you have a newer computer with a decent amount of RAM, you could look at downloading VMware Server from VMware. It's a free download and will let you run multiple OS's on your PC. Because I have a copy from work, I run VMware Workstation on my big PC and it allows me to have a dedicated virtual machine for my Exchange server and another one for my Web/FTP server (if I didn't have a copy of workstation, I would use server). I then configure my Linksys router to send the specific ports to the internal IP addresses of the web server and Exchange server. (i.e. port 25 goes to my Exchange server, 80 goes to my web server ...). 

Since it's always on, my web server runs the dynamic updater software I downloaded from dyndns.com. It checks my Linksys router every 5 minutes to see if SW Bell has changed my IP address. When it sees that the IP has changed, the software automatically logs into dyndns.com and updates my DNS records with the new IP address.

For web development, I just use FrontPage (yeah I know, FrontPage, Yuck). Granted, we just use the website to host pictures, so just about anything will work. To tell the truth, we really just use the FTP server to transfer pictures back and forth between the family.


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