Server Setup Links

I am retiring my old computer (p4 2.8ghz, 1G ram, etc) for an even better one. I was thinking of setting this up as a web server and get my own domain so I don't have to rely on some outside hosting company.

Has anyone ran across any "how to" web sites for the above?

Any help would be appreciated.

Rad

Windows XP (Pro, at least) comes with IIS as does Mac OS X (Apache). It's just a matter of setting it up and you should be able to figure that out by referencing Help on either of these systems.

Where is gets complicated is, especially on the Windows machine, is when you need to set up CGI, mySQL, PHP, etc.

Good luck.

BTW, I don't think you'll be able to set up your own domain without going through some kind of ISP unless your "domain" is just within your own home network with no connection to the outside world.

It would be my intention to buy a domain name (www.radtech1.com) or something like it. I suspected that I would need to keep my ISP to maintain connectivity - but at least it wouldn't all be on thier server.

Rad

Radtech1 wrote:
It would be my intention to buy a domain name (www.radtech1.com) or something like it. I suspected that I would need to keep my ISP to maintain connectivity - but at least it wouldn't all be on thier server.

Rad

You don't really buy a domain name. You just have to register it. The name is yours for the taking, assuming nobody else beat you to it. What you do have to pay for is the registration of the name which is good for a year and then you'd need to renew the registration again. So, since you have to pay for the registration, I guess that would be equivalent to buying the domain name, wouldn't it?

Good luck with your server set up. If you tell me what system you're using, I can point you in the right direction as far as where to go to get started.

Most of your setup for Windows will be done from Start > Programs > Administration Tools > Computer Management > Services and Applications > Internet Information Services . If you don't see IIS in the Computer Management Window, then you need to activate it via Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs > Add/Remove Windows Components.

On the Mac, it'll be System Preference > Network > Sharing to active it and then editing a few config files to customize it.

I hope You don't take offense but my opinion is that if You do not know how to setup a webserver You should not do this.

Once You setup the webserver You need to keep the server update with all security fixes at all times otherwise You run a high risk of it getting hacked.

I think I know pretty well how to setup and run a webserver but nonetheless my webserver got hacked last year because I had not updated vital software on the server. So I decided to shutdown the server and host my website where they are in the business of keeping the servers updated and secure all the time.

I would also strongly advise against it.

If you are gonna have some people browsing through your pictures at the same time, you would also need the bandwith. I would also never be running a webserver on a home connection as it is crucial it stays on 24/7. Home connection are simply not reliable enough as it offer no redudancy. You could probably colocate your server in a proper datacenter with redundant connection and several diffrent carriers and power generators, but that would cost some $$$.

If you are gonna go ahead and do it anyways i would not recomend running IIS, Its slow and clumsy. If your gonna run a production server go for Apache 1.3.33.

It's actually not very difficult to setup a web server. For Windows, there are bundles you can install which include Apache, PHP, MySQL and a few other goodies. I've tried it at home with no prior experience and found it relatively easy to setup.

However, I too, would advise against it. As mentioned, bandwith may be a problem. Reliability too. But for me, the most important issue is security. There's just too many holes to plug and I, myself, probably know less than 1% of them.

If I had an extra PC, I'd install Linux and practice how to use it. I'd also use it as a music server since I own a Squeezebox2 and stream music wirelessly within my home. Or maybe it would be a file server, in general.

Anyway, I'm sure there are lots of neat things one can do with an extra PC.

I'll add my 5c worth by saying you could probably use your old machine as the webserver and not have to worry about your "main" machine being broken into, or having to have it running a 24x7. You just have to be aware that as an Internet facing machine you stand a higher chance of people having a "go" at it, and never put anything on it that you can't afford to lose.

I've got an old Compaq PII running mine, and as I've only got an ADSL line with limited bandwidth (Thanks, Telecom! ) you won't see any benefit from a faster machine.

Just be dilagent with security patches and keep an eye on the log files to see what folks are doing. Once you've got the machine running, patched & web site sorted, take a ghost copy of the machine and keep the image elsewhere (say on your main machine) that way if the "server" gets broken, you can quickly restore it.

To post photo's here I usually just dump the pic to my server & post a link to it, e.g.
http://joebloggs.serve​beer.com/potn/GKPS/IMG​_0804-800.jpg

hope this helps.

But every time you set up another server you know more and do it better.

Security is to be taken very seriously, attacks happen constantly. Today someone tried to guess my ssh passes with about 5000 attempts and it was all futile because I was ready for it. This server has also Tipping Point hardware protection which blocks several hundred break attempts a day. You must have several layers of security and constantly monitor what is going on. Close all doors but those which are essential for traffic.

Pages like http://www.eth0.us/ give you lots of good security info, but that info is not always helpful on your Linux. You can also hire people for quite modest fees to make your system secure. You should also read forums like http://forums.ev1serve​rs.net/ and http://www.webhostingt​alk.com/ for info.

Problem with ADSL hosting from home is speed from you to web - that is often very low and totally inadequate for any serious webserving - and photos need pipe.

There are inexpensive dedicated server companies like http://www.layeredtech​.com/ which offer quite a lot for the money. You can have them install CentOS 4 which is similar to RedHat Enterprise 4 (I run RHEL 4 on this server). Newer Redhats have excellent basic configuration and update systems, and Apache, PHP and MySQL runs on default but usually you want to tweak them even more. In that Google is your friend. It's all there in the net - you just have to know what info is what you need and what info to trust. With Linux only problem is that you have to know what to tweak before you can search them For example RHEL 4 has a system which takes care of all security policies, and you usually need to disable it or downgrade it to be more easy on you: if you do not know what that system is named you can not search for "selinux" and find out how to turn it off! Learning Linux takes months and years but it is worth it if you want to run your own servers.

Pekka wrote:
But every time you set up another server you know more and do it better.

True but You still need to spend a lot of time keeping upto date. I simply decided that I did not have enough time to do that.

Yes it is very easy to setup a webserver, maybe it is too easy. But if You are not willing to spend a lot of time doing what Pekka describes You also run a high risk of getting the server hacked.

Thank you everyone for your time in responding. Especially Pekka. I looked at those sites, along with some of they "So you wanna..." sites there are and it looks like it might be a commitment beyond that which I am ready to make right now.

One of the things that I was wondering was if this is sort of a "Set it and forget it" endeavor. I know now that it is most definitely NOT!

Again, thanks to all that replied.

Rad

I have to agree with this. This is definitely not something to just throw together, especially on Windows. Yes, it's easy to setup, but it is NOT easy to maintain a secure Internet presence.

I do Internet security for a living and have for years. My life would be a lot easier if people just didn't do stuff like throwing a Windows webserver up onto the Internet.

For probably $10 a month you can get hosting space, with all the typical software set up for you. Gallery software might be a different story though.