# Hosting Multiple Websites: Windows Server 2003



## stryker23 (May 23, 2004)

I don't know if this is the right place to ask, but with Windows Server 2003 how do you host more than one website? Is that possible with a single IP? Thanks!


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## Rockn (Jul 29, 2001)

If it is just for testing purposes it is possible. It can also be done as long as you have a pool of public IP addresses for each web site. You could also use a different host header for each site.


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## stryker23 (May 23, 2004)

Testing purposes? Does that mean I'm in violation of something if I host more than one? What is the proper way to go about implementing your solutions?


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## Rockn (Jul 29, 2001)

If they will be public you will need more than one static IP address and a router to point the correct requests to the proper internal IP address.


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## MMJ (Oct 15, 2006)

I don't think I understand you fully.

Why can't you host more than one site? Just make it a subdomain or something.


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## Sequal7 (Apr 15, 2001)

Of course you can host multiple sites with server 2003.

You can host and manage multiple Web sites on one server running Windows Server 2003 and IIS 6.0. To host multiple Web sites on a single Web server, you must configure a unique identity for each Web site by using *one* of three methods:
•	Port-Based Routing
A server can listen on a maximum of 64 ports at one time. The actual number of ports a server can listen on varies depending on the available RAM on the computer. Therefore, you cannot use port-based routing to route a large number of sites.

•	IP-Based Routing
With IIS 6.0, you can configure Web sites to listen on all available IP addresses or on an individual IP address. If you use multiple IP addresses to distinguish between different Web sites on the same server, you must configure IIS to assign each site a unique, static IP address.

•	Host-Header Routing
You can use one IP address (or the All Unassigned setting) for multiple Web sites and distinguish the Web sites with unique host-header names. This option is easy to configure in IIS Manager. To use host-header names, your computer or network must be using a name resolution system such as DNS.

A free DNS server is always an option if you don't wish to tackle IIS and set one up, you can use for example Zoneedit and enter each of your domain names, pointing to the same WAN IP and use the router to send the requests to your server, IIS responds with the host header and the site loads.


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## pcxt2007 (Mar 17, 2007)

I'm not familiar with IIS. But Apache can help you host multiple sites with a single IP using its virtual hosts feature.


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## stryker23 (May 23, 2004)

Sorry I haven't replied in a while. I haven't been being notified that there were new replies. If I want to use the different IP feature, how does that work? When setting up the site in IIS do I just assign it a different IP from the router's scope? Right now I have just assigned the IP of the server to the one website I have. If I assign a different IP to another website, how will the router know how to handle it? Similarly with the ports how will I designated the website is actually on a different port than 80 when trying to connect to it?


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## Rockn (Jul 29, 2001)

You can assign multiple private IP addresses to your network card and assign different web sites to these IP addresses. Look in your network settings on the server and look at the TCP/IP protocol and set up additional IP addresses.


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## stryker23 (May 23, 2004)

Oh, now I feel kind of dumb. Well that's easy enough. Thanks.


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## Rockn (Jul 29, 2001)

If you want them displayed publicly that is another issue.


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## stryker23 (May 23, 2004)

Well how do I display them publically?


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