# Hosting my own site on my computer



## jaredj (Oct 16, 2004)

It would be very appreciated if anyone can help me in getting information on how to host my own website on my computer. I have the website setup and it is being hosted by my ISP but I have a broadband connection and would just like to host it myself so that I'm only limited to the space on my hard drive. I would like to set it up with Windows but I do understand that Linux would be better but not real familiar with Linux. I would appreciate any information that anyone can give me on setting this up. You can email me at [email protected]. Thank you, Jared


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## TechGuy (Feb 12, 1999)

The first thing you'll want to do is make sure it's ok with your ISP. Most ISPs specifically say in their Acceptable User Policy that you can't run a server, and some actively prevent you from doing so.

All of our servers run either Red Hat or Fedora Linux. I'd recommend you download a copy for Fedora and install it. The installation is very simple. Then just put your HTML files in the /var/www/html directory and start looking things up as you need to learn them. 

Feel free to reply here with any questions.


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## TechGuy (Feb 12, 1999)

FYI, you can download Fedora at http://fedora.redhat.com/


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## cassamine (Nov 22, 2002)

i am also trying to host me a website from home.
till now i have done the following

1: setup IIS 5 server with a website on a Win2K machine
2: registered a domain name.

the problem lies that i have to fill in name server details on control panel of my domain manager.

How to setup a name server thing? what software is required?

Please can someone guide me how all this name resolution actually works?

Thankx in adv.

With regards,
cassamine


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## CoasterFreak (Aug 22, 2003)

Figured i'd let people know, if you have Comcast High Speed Internet (CHSI), you are NOT allowed to host your own website from home:


Comcast.net AUP said:


> (xiv) run programs, equipment, or servers from the Premises that provide network content or any other services to anyone outside of your Premises LAN (Local Area Network), also commonly referred to as public services or servers. Examples of prohibited services and servers include, but are not limited to, e-mail, Web hosting, file sharing, and proxy services and servers


(( http://comcast.net/terms/use.jsp ))


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## Melicbot (Nov 14, 2004)

Which processors would you recommend for this sort of thing? I've heard a bit about these "server processors"...A website the size of, say, this one - what kind of setup does it have?


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## Rockn (Jul 29, 2001)

Nothing like three people hijacking someone elses thread!


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## Melicbot (Nov 14, 2004)

Rockn said:


> Nothing like three people hijacking someone elses thread!


Hey, I started my own thread, but someone directed me to this one.


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## millergroup (Jun 29, 2002)

jaredj said:


> It would be very appreciated if anyone can help me in getting information on how to host my own website on my computer. I have the website setup and it is being hosted by my ISP but I have a broadband connection and would just like to host it myself so that I'm only limited to the space on my hard drive. I would like to set it up with Windows but I do understand that Linux would be better but not real familiar with Linux. I would appreciate any information that anyone can give me on setting this up. You can email me at [email protected]. Thank you, Jared


First, take the suggestion and check with your ISP. No need to get your server all set up and have them cut you off after all of your work. You will need to have ports, 80, 110, 25, 443-6000 open for you to access. Ask them if they restrict any of these, you will have problems if they do.

Second, make a choice between windows and linux.

You should have a fast connection, at least 1MB's down and 640 up. Dialup is a joke and will not work. Your machine should have no less than 500 MB's memory and a 500GHZ or better processer.

Using windows will cost you money to set up your server, linux will not.My suggestion is that you use linux (Redhat or Fedora). Linux is more dependable, faster and has all nessessary software for a server.

If you meet this criteria, post with your answers and will will continue.


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## Rockn (Jul 29, 2001)

If this is a basic web site why are all of these ports required "80, 110, 25, 443-6000 " I can understand 80 and 443 for SSL but 25 is SMTP which is not required unless you are running a mail server and receiving mail to it. The other ports are like 443 for POP mail to 6000 are also not needed. 

A basic web site will NOT require a 1MB line either. Hmmm...."500GHz" CPU? Didn't know thye made them yet.  Fast disk access and lots of memory are the most important features on a web server. The pipe to your sever will only become a huge factor with a large number of visitors.


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## pool147 (Dec 5, 2004)

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## Heatsink (Dec 7, 2004)

cassamine said:


> i am also trying to host me a website from home.
> till now i have done the following
> 
> 1: setup IIS 5 server with a website on a Win2K machine
> ...


DNS - Domain Nameserver Service/Server - this is the dude on the internet that reconciles your IP address with your domain name.

The best, bar none, free DNS service out there is http://www.zonedit.com. They will give you 5 DNS entries for free. I run 3 domains off my box at home and all of them are DNS'd by Zone Edit.

Zone Edit rocks over many other free DNS serverices because most of them require you to take a subdomain off of their main domain (ie - something.dydns.org). Zone Edit allows you to bring your own to the party and has instructions on how to rig dynamic DNS clients to update your Zone Edit records if your ISP changes your IP address.

Hope that helps...


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## southernlady (May 6, 2004)

I'm hijacking this thread now... 

I've looked into it and figured out from my ISP's POV that it IS fine with them to run our own server.

I have three domains I want to host. We have a computer that we can configure as a server with either linux or windows, either way. And it currently has a 40 gig hard drive but I have an 80 gig just sitting in my computer taking up space. I also have a 160 gig that I could swap out with the 80 gig and use it for me and let the server have the 160 gig. So minimum configuration on hard drive space would be 120 gig and maximum would be 220 gig. It is running 512 in memory currently and is stable as a rock.

We have several copies of different versions of linux but none are current that I know of. I think our version of Mandrake is 9 or something along that line. I have apache web server downloaded but it's the windows version.

My questions...

If we did this...would the domain name have something added to it? Currently our business name is www.prioritycomputers.net I wouldn't want anything added to that, kwim?

And what about email? How is that handled?

I've read thru the web sites I've found like Zone Edit and No-IP.com and have gotten slightly confused. If someone who is already doing this could answer this for me, it would be a great help. Liz


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## Rockn (Jul 29, 2001)

The point is NOT to hijack someone elses thread. Start your own.


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## southernlady (May 6, 2004)

> The point is NOT to hijack someone elses thread. Start your own.


The thing is...all the questions had been asked in THIS thread...and the people who could answer it were also ON this thread. Liz


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## namenotfound (Apr 30, 2005)

I think my ISP activly prevents hosting a server, because my IP is blocked when I try to access it with my server on  (I have server software on my computer).
I use it to test webpages before I publish them to the net, but people trying to access the server can't.


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