Setting up server from home computer

[Kami]

I am currently paying for webspace, and am considering setting up my home computer as a server.

Is there a way to assign a domain name to a dynamic IP address, or would I be required to pay extra for a static IP? I heard something about DynDNS ... anyone have any experience?

Also, items such as PHP, MySQL, etc. ... how do I enable my home computer to support these scripts?

Would it be worth the hastle of running my own server as opposed to paying someone else to manage it?

Thanks in advance!

[qball15j]

Here are two good resources I recommend.

http://dslwebserver.com
http://diywebserver.com (Has good forums)

[YeOldeStonecat]

Many home broadband routers have firmware that support DynDNS, such as Linksys router. A heartbeat is kept with their main server, and when your IP changes, their DNS is updated with your new IP quite quickly.

On the flip side, if you have a dynamic IP account, you most likely have a basic broadband account where running services such as web server from your home may be against your ISPs policies. Also realize that if your actual benchmarked upload speed is < 384, website performance for your clients won't be a ball of fire.

[knoid]

dyndns.org is $50 a year or something outlandish. I use www.no-ip.com (http://www.no-ip.com), which is free - you install a small client program on your server PC (which can be set to refresh the no-ip.com DNS servers at intervals as low as 5 minutes) and that performs the 'heartbeat' function that StoneCat mentioned. You should be able to set the DNS entry for your domain to point at your dynamic DNS URL (although you may have to do it as an http redirection instead of entering it as an 'A' record).

I would recommend the Apache webserver as it's default config is rather more secure than IIS. PHP - www.php.net (http://www.php.org), mysql - www.mysql.com (http://www.mysql.com) - both come with excellent documentation that show you how to get them functional with Apache and other popular webservers. Note that mysql functions as an entirely seperate server that is then connected to by your php/perl/etc scripts, so no integration with Apache is required.

If your site is not bandwidth intensive and you don't plan on hosting large files for download then yes, it's worth hosting your own webserver from your house. Just make sure you keep all your server programs up to date so that your server doesn't get taken down by the script kiddies :D.

[JackMDS]

Would it be worth the hastle of running my own server as opposed to paying someone else to manage it?

Thanks in advance!In my opinion Running a full blown Server as you described above from Home does not pay, it does not worth the Hassle.

For less then $10 a month you get a Hosting with all the "Goodies that you mentioned above pre installed, and email for you and who ever you would like to give an account to.

I installed a Home serving capacity but it is in order to enable me to do on line experiments and low key remote control. Otherwise I three domain on an Hosting plan that cost me $10 a month (that is $3.33 per Site).

In any case for simple joy that takes 30minutes to set and does not cost a penny. :D

This link describes the way to get your home Network with ID on the Internet.

Link to: Link to: How can I find My Home Personal Computer/Server on this "Huge" Internet World?(Aka DNS Service) (http://www.ezlan.net/myip.html)

Link to: Simple Serving. (http://www.ezlan.net/serving.html)

:thumb:

[YeOldeStonecat]

dyndns.org is $50 a year or something outlandish. .

I have several clients set up on it, it's free.

[qball15j]

I have several clients set up on it, it's free.
Only the domain hosting costs, subdomains are free with them. If your looking for DNS for your domain you can use www.zoneedit.com , their free. You can use ZoneEdit along with a program called Dynamic Update, which will update your IP address if it changes.

[YeOldeStonecat]

Only the domain hosting costs, subdomains are free with them. If your looking for DNS for your domain you can use www.zoneedit.com , their free. You can use ZoneEdit along with a program called Dynamic Update, which will update your IP address if it changes.

Yeah I'm referring to the DynDNS service, if you have a dynamic IP address, you can always hit it via some name you choose, added to a domain name that they offer, such as <whateveryourhoose>.myhomeip.net

Some routers have firmware which supports this service, or your can download some small software from a long list of free ones that they have. It runs in your systray, and keeps a heartbeat to their servers, updating IP as necessary.

Works wonderfully, use it myself, and just this week I setup two clients with it so they could hit their OWA and I can RD to their servers.

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The Dynamic DNSSM service allows you to alias a dynamic IP address to a static hostname in any of the many domains we offer, allowing your computer to be more easily accessed from various locations on the Internet. We provide this service, for up to five (5) hostnames, free to the Internet community.
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[Joe]

Dont reset your modem and your IP will remain the same if its dynamic... You could then run for instance the apache web server right off it... MS's IIS isnt that horrible but is going to be more vunreable than an apache server. But as YeOlde said.. running a server off of a basic 256-384K upload modem isnt going to be worth a crap especially when more than one user is accessing the server. Now if you just want to mess with PHP and MYSQL w/o purchasing an expensive hosted space id say give it a whirl.

I doubt your ISP will notice the server as your bandwwidth will be eatin up long before it create network slow down for them...

-Joe