Hosting your own website

[CGII Photo]

I read several posts on online albums, stock sites, etc. I did a little research and found a couple of things that might help you out, business or not. As you know there are several album builders like JAlbum available at http://jalbum.net. I also looked for a web server.
For those of you not familiar with a web server, it a small program that allows you to host a website on your home computer. It will not create the web page but it will direct people to that specific folder and file on your computer. In other words, if I type in www.yourphotosite.com (http://www.yourphotosite.com) in the address bar of my browser it will display the file on your computer C:/photo website/index.html on your computer. It’s call Abyss Web Server. I found it on CNET and it’s free. You'll have to find the software to build you website but this will allow you to create, run a website, and display and/or sell your own photos. You can have order forms on the website or even host an e-mail server so they can e-mail you me@yourphotosite.com but you’ll have to find that software yourself. The easiest way is just to have them e-mail you for quotes or purchases. You’ll also need to get the code to disable the right click function on the gallery so they can’t save the images if you want to do that.
Anyway, here is the description from CNET and the “editors review”

CNET description
Abyss Web Server X1 is a free, personal Web server. Despite its small footprint, it supports CGI scripts, FastCGI, ISAPI extensions, ASP.NET, server-side includes (SSI), download resuming, caching negotiation, logging, custom error pages, password protection, IP address control, aliases, custom MIME types, index files, custom directory listings, anti-leeching, and bandwidth throttling. It also features an automatic anti-hacking system and an intuitive multilingual remote Web management interface. With Abyss Web Server X1, hosting your Web site and your PHP, Perl, Python, ASP, or ASP.NET scripts takes only a few minutes. Versions for Mac OS X, Linux, and FreeBSD are also available.
Version 2.3.2 improves FastCGI support and adds custom HTTP headers support.

Editors Review
Ready to host your own Web site? If you just want to host a single site, you'd be hard pressed to find a better HTTP server than Abyss Web Server X1. This free application runs on both Windows and Unix-based systems, has a tiny footprint, and is a snap to install. Abyss Web Server X1 comes with all the features you'll need, including antihacking/leeching systems, bandwidth throttling, custom error pages, remote Web configuration, and SSI support. We found the program extremely stable, which is another way of saying that during the week of testing it never went down once. The only thing this application doesn't do is support virtual hosting (for that you'll need to pay the $59.99 to upgrade to Abyss Web Server X2). But if you want to get a single site up and running fast, this one can't be beat.

It received 5 stars from CNET and 4.5 stars for users. I am in the process of building my own website now. They have versions for Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, and MacOS. If you want to check it out for yourself here are the links.

http://www.download.com/Abyss-Web-Server-X1/3000-2165_4-10542581.html?tag=tab_pub
http://www.aprelium.com/

Another free web server is Apache available at http://www.apache.org/

It's just an idea but I thought you could check it out if you are interested.

[tim]

Apache is the industry standard web server, most sites use it, it's very, very reliable when you set it up right. JAlbum is great.

The downsides to hosting your own website are possible downtime, possible lower performance if you're on a consumer grade internet connection, and your ISP might not let you actually host from a consumer account. Plus a PC needs to be on 24/7, and it takes a lot of time to set up. Upsides... control I guess, and maybe cost.

I host with a professional hosting service, hostgator. Their prices are reasonable, the servers are fast and reliable, their support is fantastic and they understand things I don't care to know about. No way would I host my own site. I host a half dozen sites with hostgator for about US$10/month, no problems with the 300,000 or so hits I get each month.

[transcend]

Software-wise, as a developer, I wouldn't consider using anything OTHER than apache with a LAMP backend. IIS et al are a nightmare to work with in my experience.

As for hardware, you are probably much better served by using a professional (ie:large) hosting company rather than buying your own hardware and co-locating, or worse yet, hosting from home/the office unless you have a pretty robust, redundant network and the entire site is mission critical.

[Nocturnus]

I colo my webserver (easy for me since I work for a colo facility) and love the fact that I can secure my own server and not have to worry about a shared server with 10 other people that might be installing software with major holes. Running your own is a major task since there is alot that goes into it. My server is nothing special.. Dual P2-350 (yes, p2!) with ~512meg ram. It's time for an upgrade due to me wanting to do more mysql stuff on it. And as everyone says, your internet provider might not like you running a server over that connection. Thing to remember there is, if it's cable modem or DSL, your upload speeds (ie: when someone hits your site and your sending data to them) is going to be slow.

[rhys]

If you use any old PC with a 90Mhz+ CPU and SME Linux then doing your own webhosting is a doddle. All you need aside from that is a broadband connection with a dedicated IP address to which you can direct your host name.

Whatever you do - do not use the same old PC for anything else other than perhaps as an internet gateway as it's quite likely to get hacked by some out-of-school brat. The least on it, the easiest it is to restore. Save your website onto a CD/DVD and then it's just a case of reformat, reinstall SME and reload your website.

[aIpha]

If this is your first web site, I don't see a problem with hosting it on your own PC. You do have to realize that if your site/files does get popular, there will be a bottleneck. For example, if you decide to post 5 decently-sized images to a popular POTN thread on your web server, every person that reads that thread is downloading something from your PC. Relatively this means your PC is uploading data through your internet connection. At some point, it will bottleneck and it will be slow for the people viewing the thread to see your images. This is all considering that most broadband connections have a significantly lower upstream rate than downstream.

Another thing is that once you own a domain, you can't simply point it to your web server without DNS. Most domain registrars offer DNS service for free or you can use ZoneEdit.com (also free).

If your internet connection also has a dynamic IP address, you'll also need to sign up for services like DYNDNS.com Dynamic DNS.

I actually offered free hosting on a few of my dedicated servers to a few POTN members way back when I registered in one of the sticky'd posts in the "Forum Talk" thread except no one was interested.

[BrandonSi]

I used to host my own using DynamicDNS, it was a pain, the connection was never great, not to mention the security risks.. now I pay $9.99 for a reseller account which I host as many accounts as I want.. I get 2GB disk space, 40GB traffic a month, unlimited domains, sql db's (mysql), etc.. hostnetway.com is my host.

[GaryPhoto]

We host our own website on IIS servers and have for years. We edited our Photoshop CS3 template (white on black) to include asp scripts. When the template is used by PS it generates the album then I run a batch file I created to rename all of the files to .asp. Once that is done, I copy them to the server and all is well. The user is able to select: quantity, style and effect for each image. Review the order, submit it and the scripts email us, them, total it and place it in our backend database. Took a LOT of coding but now that it is done, it works great!

[djscrib]

Hosting your web server at home is generally just a real bad idea. First, it's against the TOS for almost all internet providers unless you've paid for a business line. Next usually the IP changes at times so you'll have to detect when this happens and then update the DNS servers. Also, your home connection drops from time to time, plus you lose power occasionally, plus you step on the power plug, etc. Next a computer running 24/7 does cost money in power. Lastly if something blows up (hard drive, ram, cpu, motherboard) how long is your site down?

At that point why not pay $5/month for a budget hosting package instead at the very least.

[flipstyle72]

ooh yeah...unless I was running some sorta mega pipe to my home, i wouldn't host it on a home pc or a server at my house. especially if you plan on having any amounts of good traffic. With hosting so cheap these days, there is no reason to. Depending how much space you need, you can get hosting for around 5bucks a month.

[brantfordbandit]

is there free software to build a website, everything i've seen wants to add links or other stuff

[tim]

I use notepad.

[flipstyle72]

is there free software to build a website, everything i've seen wants to add links or other stuff


depends on what you want to do...

I never personally used the html editor but coffee cup software (http://www.coffeecup.com/software/) offers some stuff.

If you are a little more advanced - http://www.mamboserver.com/

Then you also have frontpage (as a last resort) that comes with Microsoft Office suite.

I know Netscape use to have a browser that let you edit and create pages as well.

Just like photography, there are sooo many ways to go about taking a picture...same for building a webpage/site.

I myself usually use Macromedia Dreamweaver (not free), which you can get in a bundle with Fireworks (for graphics) and some other goodies...flash editor etc. So i'm not all that sure of the free stuff out. But I am sure the exist.

[flipstyle72]

I use notepad.


Now here is someone who's been around for a long time I bet... lol. notepad is the trusty old faithful. That really is all you need if you know some basic html. Or find code you like from other peoples site and "steal" it. cut and paste. however, coding a large site is a PITA and time consuming...:mad:

BUT even if you do get some sorta program to design it, buy a beginner html book or something and know the basics. REALLY helps in the long run.

[tim]

Now here is someone who's been around for a long time I bet... lol. notepad is the trusty old faithful. That really is all you need if you know some basic html. Or find code you like from other peoples site and "steal" it. cut and paste. however, coding a large site is a PITA and time consuming...:mad:

BUT even if you do get some sorta program to design it, buy a beginner html book or something and know the basics. REALLY helps in the long run.

I don't really use notepad. I use UltraEdit - still a plain old text editor. I don't much lke WYSIWYG editors, you get ugly unmaintainable code. I don't write much html though.

[KIPAX]

I don't really use notepad. I use UltraEdit - still a plain old text editor. I don't much lke WYSIWYG editors, you get ugly unmaintainable code. I don't write much html though.

I knew that was coming :) I have been using ultraedit32 for years. I ahve never used a WYSIWYG editor but I can beat dreamweaver any day of the week.

I started html before WYSIWYG editors where invented (for the atari) so I had to learn.. Once learnt... It's like taking pictures in Manual over P mode :)

[tim]

Yeah, you'd have to be pretty silly to actually use notepad.

[SlowBlink]

I love it when people drag out that old leet phrase. I used notepad when web pages were a header graphic and a couple of pics but it soon became a waste of time trying to keep up with the new hacks and formats. I can frame a site with floating tables and resizable graphics in about two minutes with dreamweaver. I don't take photographs, I carefully hand paint every image I see. :)

edit: There's a new e-book on CSS hacks out every week, I'd rather be out shooting than reading.

[Gary_Evans]

Yeah, you'd have to be pretty silly to actually use notepad.

:oops: :oops: :oops: :oops: :oops:

That would be me then.

However, as my sites rank well and get me plenty of work which is all I care about and so I dont think it really matters what was used to code them.

[flipstyle72]

I love it when people drag out that old leet phrase. I used notepad when web pages were a header graphic and a couple of pics but it soon became a waste of time trying to keep up with the new hacks and formats. I can frame a site with floating tables and resizable graphics in about two minutes with dreamweaver. I don't take photographs, I carefully hand paint every image I see. :)

edit: There's a new e-book on CSS hacks out every week, I'd rather be out shooting than reading.


haha..he said "l33t" HAHAHA...good one!

[pjtemplin]

Ugh. Server huggers. Get over it, please. Run a server at home for the fun of it, but do your hosting at a hosting or colo shop (disclaimer: I run a network for a colo/telco shop). You're doing everyone a disservice, and missing out on the economies of scale.

What's your home pipe? Cable, with a 1Mbps upload? That's 8 seconds per megabyte upload, best case. Neighbor, with 6Mbps cable, wants to download <your picture>. Your pipe runs full, their pipe runs 1/6th full. Had you gone with a hosting service that counts your bandwidth consumption, your meter would have read 1MB and it would have taken 1.33 seconds or so. That same hosting service has enough spares to keep things running, enough bandwidth to keep your server so busy it's not funny, and enough cushion to survive most DDOS attacks that would have your home router crying. The last attack that came our way was 220kpps. Yep, 220 thousand packets per second. It wasn't until we got to the Cisco GSR (12000) series and nothing less than Engine 2 line cards that we could survive those. I doubt you've got one of those handling your home Internet connection.

[hastur]

If you are set on running your own webserver for low volume use and the "fun" of it, you might want to check out Ubuntu Linux Server and a program called Gallery. You will probably also need to contact dyndns.org and get a router that can run aftermarket software like DDRT or Tomato.

You take a dedicated computer, add Ubuntu server, which has the LAMP software as an option then add Gallery. After you configure the ports and services you want open as well as the ones you want closed, you can add your content. BTW, this is done from the command line by editing text files using vi or nano. Don't forget to set minimal security options, like banning certain countries as well as fishy IP addresses.

The aftermarket software will have to be flashed onto the router firmware. This has the small risk of ruining the router if the power fluctuates during the flash process. You can then set up the router to keep you logged in 24/7 and keep the dns server updatd with your IP address. This will also allow the router to act as your firewall. Another computer running something like SmoothWall will also work, if you want to dedicate two spare PCs to this project.

After you get the router working on your line with your normal computer, for debugging purposes, plug the server into your DMZ and away you go.

It's pretty easy to maintain, once it's up an running. Check the logs for break in attempts, ban obnoxious ISP's and countries. Lastly, keep the content updated. It's not too bad once you learn networking, Linux and where to get the software.

If I haven't scared you off, let me know and I'd be glad to help you out.:mrgreen:

[thelightofsound]

some good info here. marked for later.