How do I set up my own server?

What are the costs involved in running your own server? (e.g.
connection, and the actual server) I have home cable connection, no
static IP. How do I go about getting a connection that will allow me
to build websites and have my own server?

Sorry for my lack of knowledge here. I have a CS degree but no real
world experience. How do I go about getting my own commercial web
server up and running? Note the traffic will hardly be enourmous, but
it should be able to host an some (more than 1) sites.

Thanks a million!

Shawn

Re: How do I set up my own server?

In article <1192735623.002891.239820@y27g2000pre.googlegroups.com>,
slindsey3000 writes:
> What are the costs involved in running your own server? (e.g.
> connection, and the actual server) I have home cable connection, no
> static IP. How do I go about getting a connection that will allow me
> to build websites and have my own server?
>
> Sorry for my lack of knowledge here. I have a CS degree but no real
> world experience. How do I go about getting my own commercial web
> server up and running? Note the traffic will hardly be enourmous, but
> it should be able to host an some (more than 1) sites.
>
> Thanks a million!
>
> Shawn
>
Shawn,

This is NOT the canonical answer to your question(s), but I have
a similar connection setup: cable, dynamic ip. I'hve had very
good luck over the last couple of years using the dyndns free
registration (www.dyndns.org). You can select any one of their
"canned" domains and, providing the name isn't already taken, the
name of your choice. They setup the DNS record and you're good
to go. Only thing you have to do is to update the record whenever
your ip address changes - and that can be automated by using any
one of several available scripts.

I don't know what your ISP's policy regarding websites, especially
commercial sites, is. I've not run afoul of my ISP in that regard,
but my site is low volume and not commercial. I'd suggest you look
carefully at the AUP and TOS at your ISP before jumping into the
deep end of the pool.

In terms of cost, my setup costs nothing over my "subscription"
to my ISP and whatever time I put in to it. I review all logs
daily to be sure nobody has managed to hijack things and, knock
wood, have been successful in avoiding that so far.

Final thought: you might want to see what your ISP offers in the
way of web hosting services and what that might cost. You can
still develop on your local machine, but having the ISP handle the
rest might make more sense - they're responsible for security, you've
got a static ip address (or, if not, they're responsible for maintaining
the DNS registration,), connection speeds are faster, up-time
more reliable. Costs will vary, so I can't give you anything even
in the ballpark here. Check it out with your ISP.

Bob Melson
http://rgmhome.homeunix.net



--
Robert G. Melson | Rio Grande MicroSolutions | El Paso, Texas
-----
"People unfit for freedom---who cannot do much with it---are
hungry for power." ---Eric Hoffer

Re: How do I set up my own server?

On Oct 18, 10:08 pm, slindsey3000 wrote:
> What are the costs involved in running your own server? (e.g.
> connection, and the actual server) I have home cable connection, no
> static IP. How do I go about getting a connection that will allow me
> to build websites and have my own server?
>
> Sorry for my lack of knowledge here. I have a CS degree but no real
> world experience. How do I go about getting my own commercial web
> server up and running? Note the traffic will hardly be enourmous, but
> it should be able to host an some (more than 1) sites.
>
> Thanks a million!
>
> Shawn

will you be using a windows desktop to host your websites, if so i
recommend xampp from apachefriends (there is a version there for linux
too)
you install that - follow the proceedure for locking it down -
changing passwords for mysql etc... then set your desktop to have a
static IP (assuming you use a router which has dhcp) and port forward
port 80 to that IP.

you can host as many sites as you wish, limit is the bandwidth you are
going to serve, some cable companies have outgoing bandwidth shaping,
as well as fair usuage policies on outgoing amount of data. You will
need to test your web server for speed, (a friend of min uses cable in
the UK) he gets 400kbps for the first 10k and then it drops to around
16kbps so its no good for a webserver.

Re: How do I set up my own server?

"slindsey3000" wrote in message
news:1192735623.002891.239820@y27g2000pre.googlegroups.com.. .
> What are the costs involved in running your own server? (e.g.
> connection, and the actual server) I have home cable connection, no
> static IP. How do I go about getting a connection that will allow me
> to build websites and have my own server?
>
> Sorry for my lack of knowledge here. I have a CS degree but no real
> world experience. How do I go about getting my own commercial web
> server up and running? Note the traffic will hardly be enourmous, but
> it should be able to host an some (more than 1) sites.
>
> Thanks a million!
>
> Shawn
>
A few suggestions to add to what has already been posted.

My ISP allows multiple dynamic IP addresses. This is accomplished by running
the cable modem to a hub, then plugging each 'computer' into the hub. I get
2 addresses included, then up to 2 more for an extra charge. First computer
on the hub is the webserver, second one is a firewall/router and all the
machines here, including a wireless access point are behind that with local
IP addresses. I like this because there is no internet access to my home
network, only the webserver is out in the wild.

The TOS here for a home connection allow only personal use, no file sharing,
no web servers, no commercial use. You can pay a bit more, have a commercial
account with multiple static IP addresses if you want to. I am sure that the
ISP 'knows' I have a hobby web server here, but the volume is so low that it
is not having any impact on them.

For security and reliability, I recommend any of the more popular linux
distributions. I will not start a discussion here of which is 'better'. I
use Mandriva, but each one out there has advantages & disadvantages. You can
e-mail of you want some ideas there.

I use Easydns (www.easydns.com) to register my domain name and to provide a
permanent domain name which points to the dynamic IP address. Generally, the
dynamic address changes 2 or 3 times a year.

I really like having the webserver sitting right here - so many advantages.

Stuart