Personal Web Server

[Ryltar]

Hey, I am looking into creating a web server but what is the best to use? I tried a windows based Apache server, but am not able to access it from outside the home network. Anyone know of a good Windows based webserver that doesn't cost anything? THanks!

[Badman3k]

Well the best thing to use for a webserver is probably Linux, but for a decent version this will cost money.

However something like XAMPP (http://www.apachefriends.org/en/) (which is a windows based apache server, and it's free) can be run outside your home network as long as you configure you're router to direct all port 80 accesses to the computer running the server, and don't forget your firewall to allow apache to communicate on port 80 or it won't work.

Then to access the server, you'll have to enter your IP. If you have a dynamic IP then you could look into getting a free account with http://www.no-ip.com and this will enable you to use a standard URL to access the server (as long as the Dynamic IP updater is running).
If you have a static IP you could just buy a domain and get it to point to your static IP.

I'm using the XAMPP with a Dynamic IP and it works fine for me.

N.B.: XAMPP also includes PHP4 and PHP5 and MySQL, so it's just as good as most servers.

Hope this is helpfull,

[4xz]

Hey, I am looking into creating a web server but what is the best to use? I tried a windows based Apache server, but am not able to access it from outside the home network. Anyone know of a good Windows based webserver that doesn't cost anything? THanks!

Your problem is not solved with another webserver. Apache, IIS or whatever webserversoftware will encounter the same problem. You need to have a static IP or hostname pointing to your 'home' (or some workaround like the one mentioned above). In case you have that, you would always be required to make sure requests from the outside are allowed to pass your firewall/router etc. The last is probably your problem..

[Spookster]

You also need to configure Apache correctly to allow public access of your site.

[4xz]

You also need to configure Apache correctly to allow public access of your site.


That goes without saying ;)