Hosting From Home

[MaxxRezz]

Anyone know how to host you own site at home?

1)what software is needed
2)what hardware is needed
3)any websites with this sort of info?

Thanks

[Josetann]

First, you need to have a static IP.  If you have a dynamic IP it's still possible but much more complicated.  If you have a static IP then pretty much any PC running linux would be fine, you need to do dns but you can either do that yourself, or go to a place like granitecanyon that offers free dns services.  Far as software, it depends on what all you need to run.  A linux box will have most everything you need, though it may take a while to get it all setup if it's your first time.

[watts3000]

JT is right...dynamic is a lil complicated but it works nicely.

Hardware: I assume you will be using a 2nd linux box? Any semi-decent computer should work. You will also need a router of some sort since you will be using 2 computers on your boadband connection. This router also needs to be able to forward ports since port 80 is typically blocked for most broadband connections.

Software: Visit http://www.dyndns.org/ and sign up for a dynamic dns account. Then download one of the clients and install it on your windows box. This client will tell the dynamic service what your current IP is so when you go to: http://rudeboy52.homeunix.org:8080/ it knows what IP to use for the lookup.

Sites: Come here as many of us have setup this kind of things and we would be glad to help you out.

[MaxxRezz]

Thanks for the info guys.!

Basicly i just got my hands on a pIII 550mhz 128meg ram 5 gig scsi hdd

I use a thosiba 1800-400 laptop as my main computer it has an ok spec
im getting a cable line installed and they have told me i can pay for a static ip so thats what im going to do.

i have Win2K pro and Win2k server i was thinking of using 2k server if possible but i will get my hands on linux if you think that would be better.

I have also been reading up on analog x and apache its starting to make sence but i might be barking up the wrong tree completely ! lol

i was going to use the pIII as the server.

so do i need to network the 2 computers and use 1 as the server or somthing like that?

lamens terms would be good i know quite alot about computers in general and i know the basics of networking as i hat to set up my office network because my boss is so cheap and did not want to pay for someone to do it.

but as far as hosing goes im a bit wet behind the ears but im reading lots!

I intend to base the site around hosting from home and making it as siple as possible and once iv got the site up and running i would be very happy to have adds for your sites on there.

Thanks

Anthony

[MaxxRezz]

And ill try not to have so many spelling mistakes on the site!

[watts3000]

If you use the laptop as your main machine then yes, you will want to setup the P3 as the server. You can setup the server as either linux or windows while most of us will probably advocate a linux server. Getting a static IP will make things a tiny bit easier. You can basically disregard the dynamic section of my post.

[MaxxRezz]

Thanks for your help once im a bit further forward on the hardware front ill sure ill have plenty more questions!

What version of linux would you recomend?

iv posted my desk top on the idle chat forum!

 http://images.thetechguide.com/forum/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\'\' />

[watts3000]

Hrm...I think you would do good with RedHat 8.0 or Mandrake 9.0. I personally use FreeBSD...which is actually unix and not linux. The difference being that linux was developed as a clone of unix. Unix has been around for a really long time now....linux, not so long.

Mandrake
Red Hat

The place to dl them is down right now, but...you need to dl disk one of each of those. They are iso images so you can burn them from Nero or something. Then you just boot to them cd and setup should start.

Im trying to find you mirror sites for the RH and Mandrake ISO images.

[Josetann]

Mandrake would probably be the best for your first distro.  I prefer Mandrake over RedHat myself anyways, but RedHat is the standard for alot of specialized webhosting apps (such as control panels) so I'll probably end up putting RedHat 8.0 on my next server.

[MaxxRezz]

Thanks ill get both and experiment with them!

Would you consider giving me a couple of meg on your server for a month just so i can experiment a bit without having to pay for a whole year! i would pay you for it of course!

np if you would rather not get involved

[Josetann]

That'd be fine, the new server should be ready in about a week.  Have all the parts, just have to install the OS.  Also went ahead and paid our first month for colocation, so everything's set.

I plan on charging $19.95/mo for our regular hosting package, but will have specials at $14.95/mo and you're welcome to get that one.

[MaxxRezz]

thanks just drop me a mail when its ready

[MaxxRezz]

ok iv bought a domain www.tekpants.com hehe!

i have apache, a dns forwarding thing and lots of other stuff.

what would be the first step
im using win2k pro at the mo!

any guidence would be good as the dns thing says the domain does not exist?

[MaxxRezz]

We are providing DNS services only, not registration services. You must instruct your registrar to use the nameservers ns1.mydyndns.org, ns2.mydyndns.org, ns3.mydyndns.org, ns4.mydyndns.org, and ns5.mydyndns.org for your domain. (Note: If your registrar will not let you input this many servers, leave off higher numbered servers; only ns1 and ns2 are absolutely required for activation, but we strongly recommend listing as many as possible with your registrar.)

(do i need to do this even when hosting my own site ?)

[Josetann]

If you have linux and are using a static IP, you can run your own DNS.  You can too with win2k/xp but unless you have the server version, you have to get extra software to do that.

It sounds like you are using mydns.org for your dns servers, so you should be able to just put in your ip and within a few days it'll resolve.  Now you do have to let the place you signed up for a domain know what dns servers to link to it.  Basically, go back to where you bought the domain, should be some kind of manage link, look for something that says dns or nameservers, and put in the addresses mydns gave you.

Hope that helped.

[MaxxRezz]

thanks i think i need to pay $30 to dydns befor they will give me one do you know any cheaper ones?

if not ill use them.

what server do you use apache? or can you do it all in the linux os?

ill get there i guess lol i just need to sort this dns thing.

[Josetann]

Yes I use apache for the webserver, it's a program that runs on linux or on windows.  Bind is the name of the DNS program that I use on linux, I don't think they have a windows version (but I honestly haven't looked).  You can goto www.granitecanyon.com for a free dns service, but you have to learn some about dns files as it isn't point and click easy.  Read the example they have, it'll help you figure out what you need to put into your own file.

[MaxxRezz]

Yeah i have apache for win2k

i think iv done the RR's right could you check it for me?

[MaxxRezz]

ok i managed to do the file and i must say i was impressed with my self! lol

iv been to register.com and added ns1.granitecanyon.com and ns2.granitecanyon.com to the dns servers but ill tell you wahts confusing me now!

1) what tells my domian tekpants.com to point at me
2) and using apache but im sure ill figure that bit out!

thanks.

btw i would like to make a donation for your help when im done just to show my thanks

[watts3000]

Your DNS records should resolve your servers IP for any visitors. I am not familiar with granitecanyon, but if your IP is static then you should be able to modify the \"www\" record in your dns and it should work.