Considering Hosting my own web site

[Bry Man]

Hey,

Ive been thinking about this for a while now and thought that it would be kinda cool to host my own personal web site and have a few freinds and damily etc visit it and what not over the web. I know its a difficult thing to accomplish for someone who is just starting out but you gotta start somewhere so I figured why not. Ive read a little about it and have found a site with several useful links and such to help but I am looking for more info and opinions from people who are already accustomed to doing this sort of thing.

Im not entirely sure of jsut how much is required to run a fairly good host but I suppose I dont really need a super computer seeing that Ill be the only one using it for hosting. So ill give you a run down of what I have at hand, dont rip me to bits if it seems kinda....lame or w/e. I have a modded Xbox that runs linux, I figure 'Hey, it can run halo it can run a website'. A fairly decent internet connection of 3mbps and a high knowledge of various internet languages. I do know how to use phpmyadmin and mysql, but as far as the actual configuration of the server ive got little to no idea.

So if anyone here has any input or links or w/e please post them here =)

[Antoniohawk]

I was thinking of doing the same thing until I found out that you would need to purchase a static ip from your isp. If you're willing to do that, here's a site that might help. [http://www.dslwebserver.com/]

[Bry Man]

Hmm i dunno about that, my Ip changes but rarely and I dont really have money, because im a jobless 17 year old, also im kinda unsure of the actual costs of running it will be. Id love nothing more than to have my own web host but it seems like its kind of a dream. First off I dont really know linux, I dled a live cd of Helix but had no idea what to do I couldnt even start it lol. Then im not very savy to counter a hacker, the cool thing about hosting it on my xbox would be I could jsut unplug it lol. Perhpas some insight from a expirenced hoster could either help me kill off the want for a web host or fuel it even more...

[Bry Man]

One of the things im concerned about is that my ISP doesnt allow servers. I have comcast's 3mbps cable and its something like 60 bucks a month to use...I would think it would be extremely lame of them to not allow you to run a web server esp when you dont get free run of the whole 3mbps, I believe they do try to not allow you to suck up alot of bandwidth tho, I was downloading a few isos over night at the same time and when i woke up in the morning my modem had to be unplugged to get it working again, however when I leave my pc on all night with just a program taht loggs into an account checks a few things and then logs out it had no problems. Also I was reading that site adn it kinda seemed like by static Ip they ment static LAN Ip, I didnt see anything about your real ip having to be static

[raf]

if your "real IP" isn't static, what are you then gonan point your domainname to?

There are a lott of services that you can use to have your domains point to a dynamic IP (--> run a google).

I'm not realy sure what you wanna run your own server... if you just wanna run a website then there a a lott of free webacounts you can get... Running your own server means 'lott of work' instead of 'cheaper'.

[Bry Man]

I just want to host it for the sake of saying ' Hey I host my own website ha ha ha ha ha' I think that would be cool and I would like to try it out,but I dont think comcast allows you to have servers =S

[sweenster]

your ISP would only notice you were running a server if there was an exceptional amount of traffic going down your line. Since any website you'll have (lets be honest here) will have maybe only a handful of hits a day there is unlikely to be a lot of traffic

[Bry Man]

Well ive googled 'Comcast TOS' and found nothing about comcast having a TOS and/or people complaining they dont have one, but I also found out that they do not allow web servers, according to what people say though. But They also pointed out what you did, how are they gonna find out unless ive got tons of bw being used up over a prolonged ammount of time, like when I was downloading iso's over a period of about 24 hours, I dont know exactly how much bw that would consume but I dont think that my site would consume that much, and so far the worst thing ive had to do after i guess the detect me is reset my modom, I get no notices or anything related to 'Hey your screwing up'. I figure at maximum on a good day when all the moons align I will have at most 2000 hits a week, the site im wanting to host is for a clan I belong to for a game and we have quite a few members but the current site doesnt even get 200 a week so i figre thats a good estimate

[Jason]

what you really should pay attention to is your upload speed, otherwise there are ways to get around the whole dynamic IP problems. A simple and small script could be written to update your DNS to change to the new addy...but if your upload sucks then hosting can be a problem for visitors especially with lots of content.


Jason

[Bry Man]

Well Like I said 'supposedly' im on 3mbps cable, but as with most hosts you dont get the full run of that 3 mbps its just a lure....unfortunately, I would imagine the max Upload rate would be 512kbps ive gotten 1mbps but that was an extremely rare thing as its never done that again =). But if there is a script would you happen to know it?

[squirellplaying]

http://www.dyndns.org/
Very helpful since you have a dynamic IP. I've used the free sections of it and it works pretty well. It can take a few hours for your IP to get changed if you set up the client to check the IP every Xseconds, of coarse setting another program to check for the IP to change more often and then have that program will take the time down. (The client I had atleast wouldn't let me check more often then every 3 hours.)

[Celtboy]

http://www.afraid.org/

another dynamic dns site....but better. It's hosted dns...ahhh...


Isssues:
1) Several ISP's run port scans on all customers. Many are moving towards "auto-disconnects" if they detect the popular ones (like ports 80, 21, 110). I don't know where Comcast stands on this, but always something to consider. You *could* run your webserver on a non-standard port (like 8080), but then whenever someone connects to your website, they have to enter :8080 in the url every time. Ugly. And annoying.

2) Security of the webserver. Running linux, I'd suggest apache. Run a very minimum config, allowing only the directories / extensions you absolutely must have.

3) Bandwidth: Probably a mute point.

4)The livecd....you burn the iso to a cd, place the cd in your computer and reboot, making sure that in the BIOS "CD-ROM" is higher in the boot order than your hard drive.

5) Accessability: You can either reach your website via your IP address, or via a domain name of some sort. How you set this up is your choice.

-Celt

[Bry Man]

hmmm, from what ive been gathering comcast is a really bad choice for an ISP if you wnat to run a server because of their elusive TOS for one, I could try it out for a hilw to see if I can get thru but the risk has me concerned if I were to be auto-disconnected I would be at a loss

[Celtboy]

ewwww. Their TOS is beast.

here's a snippet:


# IP Addresses: Comcast will provide you with dynamic Internet protocol ("IP") address(es) as a component of the Service and these IP address(es) can and do change over time. You will not alter, modify, or tamper with these dynamic IP address(es) or those of any other customer. You agree not to use a dynamic domain name server or DNS to associate a host name with the dynamic IP address(es) for any commercial purpose. You also agree not to use any software on or in conjunction with any computer(s) or network device connected to the Service that provides for static IP address(es). If applicable, Comcast will release and/or recover the dynamic IP address(es) upon disconnection, discontinuance, or termination of the Service or this Agreement.

they also have clauses giving them permission to monitor/analyze any data flowing through their networks, and specifically (in at least 2 different paragraphs) say "NO SERVERS"..... wow. [url=http://www.comcast.net/terms/]Evil[/evil].

-Celt

[Bry Man]

Ya i just found that as well and it is one helluva beast

(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;

Im already violating it by having a lan set up that uses the modem to access the internet, but you wanna know what the funny part is, they want to charge you 50 bucks a computer for netowrking and an extra 5 bucks a month for extra ips LOL. clearly they are extorting you a bit there, they also demanded a 100 dollar setup fee just to hook the dang cable up to my computer in the first place! my mom refused to pay it because they had told us that the setup fee was only if we werent comcast customers, which we have been for a while. Perhaps I can do some fenagling to get us moved over to a more leanient ISP that allows servers =) since money is tight and downgrading to DSL would help maybe it can happen :D

[scroots]

our college network policy is like that, they can ban/supsend/remove your account for no reason if they so wished.

scroots

[sweenster]

# IP Addresses: Comcast will provide you with dynamic Internet protocol ("IP") address(es) as a component of the Service and these IP address(es) can and do change over time. You will not alter, modify, or tamper with these dynamic IP address(es) or those of any other customer. You agree not to use a dynamic domain name server or DNS to associate a host name with the dynamic IP address(es) for any commercial purpose. You also agree not to use any software on or in conjunction with any computer(s) or network device connected to the Service that provides for static IP address(es). If applicable, Comcast will release and/or recover the dynamic IP address(es) upon disconnection, discontinuance, or termination of the Service or this Agreement.

setting your own personal website up using the connection as a server does not seem to me like commerce....

[Horus Kol]

Bryman, I think you are misinterpreting that paragraph:


(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;

There is nothing here against sharing the internet connection through a LAN in your house - what this paragraph is prohibiting is you running a public service from your house to the rest of the world over this connection...

[Bry Man]

Not in that paragraph no it doesnt say that you cant have a lan netork, but in another one it made it pretty clear that you were to have one and only one computer going through the ip

[Horus Kol]

surprising.... most ISP's are glad to allow home networks, and even offer advice on how to do it... you can't have more than one computer directly connecting, but if you have an intermediate switch there is no problem...

[Bry Man]

(x) connect multiple computers behind the cable modem to set up a LAN (Local Area Network) that in any manner would result in a violation of the terms of this Policy or an applicable Service plan;

This is the paragraph, I guess that a lan that violates the tos or policiy is one that you didnt pay them to setup.

[mpicklesimer]

If you haven't mad a move just yet, you might be best off waiting just a little longer. I can't remember all of the details, but I do remember reading a article recently talking about how Verizon is currently testing Fiber to every door with up to a dedicated 30/30 Mbps (that's up- AND down-load speed!!). Very nice, they plan on starting access at 5Mbps. Don't quote me on a price, but check out January '05 (I think) issue of Maximum PC. For some reason, the copy I just got 2 days ago has already vanished. Anyhow, if I remember correctly, I think they'll be rolling out access nation-wide before June. Drop me a line and I'll get more info if I can.

[Horus Kol]

(x) connect multiple computers behind the cable modem to set up a LAN (Local Area Network) that in any manner would result in a violation of the terms of this Policy or an applicable Service plan;

Again, this paragraph says that having a LAN itself is not a problem - only where the us of it violates any other part of the policy...

[Bry Man]

Ya I read about Fiber Optics in Pc World, supposedly its already out in Texas. Another cool thing that Pc world mentioned was an internet connection that came through your power lines, through the socket in the wall. Hopefully it comes out soon because I hear it should cost about the same as what we are paying now for cable =)