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How to use a computer to host a web site?


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Ok, heres the deal, Sorry if im a noob on server stuff. I have a website registered through godaddy. I cancelled my hosting in hopes of being able to make my p4 3.2 ghz 2 gig of ram a dedicated server. I put windows server 2003 on there and have been stumped on how to do it. I dont know if you can but how do you configure everything to go through it and maybe be able to use my hard drive as an ftp site. Please help!!! Thanks, any comments will be appreciated.

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What's you home net badwidth?

can you buy a dedicated IP from your ISP?

How much data are you actually trying to host?

Are you partial to Win Servers only? Why not Apache?

Are yo intersted in running a webhost server where you can host multiple domains on a single IP address?

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Yeah I want to host my own website through windows server 2003 at home. For my bandwith its about 6 megabits down and 1 up. I dont think Ill be having too much bandwith. Also I dont have a dedicated IP but is it necessary to do so? Ive tried apache but Im not too good with it. Ill try it again if it tis the best. Im probably also interested in running two domains sincd I have one with network solutions. Would it be smart to go OS X since it has apache bulit in?

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Well in time you'll know how much you can actually serve on 1 megabit upstream.

 

Also I dont have a dedicated IP but is it necessary to do so?

The problem with using non-dedicated IP is when you send mail, the ISP you are with are usually listed at spam databases. Any mail you send will be flagged as spam by the client. One thing you'll need to consider is how often your IP changes. Road Runner changes IP very seldom. So you might be okay with it if you don't mind getting flagged as spam.

 

If your IP changes frequently, you'll need to use an application to tell everyone that your new IP address is different. You can get more info from DynDNS or the like.

 

Ive tried apache but Im not too good with it.

that shouldn't be a problem. there is a site that will work perfectly for you. They also have a free webhosting solution if you want to serve more than 100000 domains :thumbsdown_anim:. You'll find me at the forums sometimes.

 

http://www.howtoforge.com/

 

Would it be smart to go OS X since it has apache built in?

I prefer Linux/Apache since it's more scalable and uses less resources running 24/7/365.

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How to host a webpage using OS X:

 

1. Make sure you have a fast internet connection (like cable or DSL) and leave it on

 

2. Create your webpage using whatever you choose (even Word!)

 

3. Save site in /users/(your user name here)/sites folder

 

4. Go to the Sharing pane of System preferences and activate personal web sharing. Make sure to record the numbers OS X tells you (because that is the site address)

 

5. There is no step 5

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Not as simple as that Moose. You need to install and config dns server, mail server, ftp server, bind, database server, and all the nessessary modules for proper multi-site managment. you'll also need to configure iptables (firewall) properly if yo are giving 6 billion people client access to your machine :thumbsdown_anim:.

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Ok I have fedora 5 already and will use that. Should I use ISPconfig as I saw a how to on the howtoforge website. Also how do I know what dns servers to put in. I know I can change my dns servers to point to the computer on godaddy but how do I know what address to put in? And after will it just be as easy as going to ftp://mysite.com to access the ftp server and www.mysite.com to access the site from anywhere. I wont have to put ip's in right?

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You are running the DNS server after completing the how-to. Just follw exactly what the tut tells you and copy/paste properly. I take you already have a domain form godaddy. The trick part is that you have a dynamic IP. When your IP changes, he domain registry will not know unless you tell them. That's why a static IP is much easier to work with when running a server at home.

 

Everything you need i've posted on there forum. I am beta testing the new ntfs-3g mods so i'm very busy trying to nuke my system right now. read over at the forum and you should be able to get it running by next week :thumbsdown_anim:. Here are key things you need to run a server with dhcp:

 

- zoneedit.com account

- ddclient-3.6.6 from the repo or http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=116817

 

Then search all the posts that I started and replied to on the forum. you'll notice i had a godaddy account at one point.

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What page are you on? the DNS address they give in the tut is working DNS server. You may use it or if you know anothe DNS server, use that. You can use the one on the tut for now and change it later if you like.

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But why cant I use what zonedit told me to. I just went onto godaddy to point to the nameservers that zonedit made me. Then I put those on my comp so in essence it points to my computer. Tell me if im wrong.

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1. The IP address is provided by your ISP.

2. A script you will install in Fedora will tell Zoneedit what IP address you currently have.

3. Anyone that looks for yourdomain.com will connect to ZoneEdit and ZoneEdit will forward them to your router.

4. your router will port forward the request to your computer.

 

it's important that you have your firewall port forward port 80 to your server's LAN IP. Let me know when that phase of the setup is done.

 

Edit: Oh, and another thing. It takes a few hours to 12hrs for your domain settings to propagate. meaning your registry changes will not be known world wide for 2 -12 hrs depending on the registrar.

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That Fedora Core 5 Perfect Set-up how to is way to complex for me. Most of the time I got errors and some commands couldnt be found. Can you PM me with steps on how to get fedora running my webserver,ftpserver, and maybe a mailserver. Maybe break the steps down. Thanks a bunch.

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hehe, Like I said earlier, it' not going to take a few days to get it right. One week would be a good time for someone new. You can't get any more easier than the howforge version. I will not support anyone with IM and tutorials unless they have the exact computer and network as I do. I hope you get what I mean. Too many variables that I don't know about.

 

One thing I didn't ask, are you dual booting or is this a dedicated machine. If you think this is too much for you, you can always run MAMP for OS X (UB), or this tutorial or howtoforge.com - ubuntu dapper server (real easy)

 

Oh, and one last thing. The hardest part will be the DNS and IP forwarding for both WAN and LAN if you have a dynamic IP.

 

good kuck!

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Ok I've done some looking around and am probably goin to use mamp. For the dynamic ip problem, I think Ill just stratch my domain and use a no-ip domain. Can you walk me through or redirect me to do this?

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Just use your existing domain and the ZoneEdit account you have already set up. All you need now is to port forwad ports 80 to your OS X machine running MAMP.. It's optional to port forward ports 110, 25, and 21.

 

Now download DNSUpdate and configure it and you're all good.

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You should just be able to forward the external port directly into your DMZ server. I've never had a problem with that. Just make sure you get the port right, because some applications use specific ports for outbound and different ports for inbound traffic. If it's just a webserver, 80 should be fine.

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What about a SLED server?

I sense a little indeciveness here. Maybe you need to research a bit more on exactly what you want. Will this be permanent? How much are you willing to learn? How will this benefit you down the line. The easiest way to get a web server up is by using mamp, lamp, or other read-made-servers. There is no shortcut in trying to port map packets in your network. There is a lot of information out there you can read and I don't have the time to retype what has been typed, according to Google, more than about 3,260,000 times. Give or take a couple of million :).

 

You can do what gwprod12 said and set your router to DMZ your OS X IP address. Just remember to set your OS X firewall correctly because you are giving unregulated access to that IP address.

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Demilitarized Zone, on my router, will forward any incoming and outgoing data to one IP address, and will allow incoming and outgoing to all ports on that IP address. In OS X, you will enable the firewall and only allow port 80. All other service ports doesn't have to be open unless you need them.

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