clonetrooper9494 Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 I want to eventually have my own web sever, instead of using a host. I have some money, but I need to know some stuff before I go out and buy a computer...I need some help with it all:1. Do I need to hook anything up, so people can use my site?2. Where would I get a domain?3. If I need to buy a domain and other stuff, what is the cost? (other than the computer/memory)4. Is there any way I could download cPanel for my computer? (I don't know how to put in sub-domains/indexes)5. If I can't get cPanel, where is a good site where I could learn how to put in sub-domains/indexes?6. I have some info on an SQL on my old host... how can I get that over to my sites SQL DB?7. Should I buy a windows XP for my sever?if any one could answer any of these, please. If I have any other questions, I will edit this post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boen_robot Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 1. Do I need to hook anything up, so people can use my site?A power cable, and an internet cable, obviously. There is some additional hardware like load balancers (when they receive a connection, they pass it on to a server behind them, selectively chosing a server that isn't very loaded at the moment), NAS (network attached storage - an additional computer that will only be accessed by the main server for files) and the like, but they are all optional, and become needed only for larger sites. You should first learn to control one server.2. Where would I get a domain?On any domain register. Hosts are often domain registers too you know, so check them out.3. If I need to buy a domain and other stuff, what is the cost? (other than the computer/memory)Depends on the host and the desired TLD, but a single dot com domain, with unlimited subdomains included would probably rarely cost less than $20/year. Just goolge it.4. Is there any way I could download cPanel for my computer? (I don't know how to put in sub-domains/indexes)5. If I can't get cPanel, where is a good site where I could learn how to put in sub-domains/indexes?Creating subdomains is controlled at the domain register. There you specify the IP for which your domain would match, and could select another IP for which a subdomain would match, or alias all (or some) subdomains to a particular IP.cPanel is used if you're a host offering subdomains and other server adjustable functionality. cPanel allows your users to contact a script on your server, which will then force your server to contact the domain register's site, making adjustments as needed. In other words, it's targeted at hosting users, not hosting administrators.6. I have some info on an SQL on my old host... how can I get that over to my sites SQL DB?Your host should allow you to do that. Ask them if they do and how. If they don't allow you to, I'm afraid you'll have to think up of some way to query all of your data and save it in a file. Not only that, but store it in a form where you could later reparse that file into an SQL injectable data.7. Should I buy a windows XP for my sever?If you can't handle Linux, or another *nix system (I sure can't), then Windows 2003 Server is probably the best OS you can buy for a number of reasons, though the name pretty much says it. If the price feels too much, XP is a good choise as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newseed Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 My answers in bold: Note that the answers are very brief. You can find more info by searching the net.1. Do I need to hook anything up, so people can use my site? YES2. Where would I get a domain? From a online domain registar3. If I need to buy a domain and other stuff, what is the cost? (other than the computer/memory) DOMAIN=<$10 You will need server software whether Apache or ISS. Read THIS ARTICLE 4. Is there any way I could download cPanel for my computer? (I don't know how to put in sub-domains/indexes) YES. Just google for 'open source cpanel'5. If I can't get cPanel, where is a good site where I could learn how to put in sub-domains/indexes? You set your domain's dns to point to your server's IP and then you can create your sub-domains on your server.6. I have some info on an SQL on my old host... how can I get that over to my sites SQL DB? If you are talking about data tables, export them using phpMyAdmin and then you can import them to your new server. If you are talking about the SQL software itself, you be best off using the latest and greatest and not an old one.7. Should I buy a windows XP for my sever? You don't have to. You can use a Linux OS to run your server.You can find more info about servers software by doing a google search. WAMP5 will have all the software you need (except cpanel) to get a server up and running. Of course you will have to make some sercurity modification to protect your computer.If you are going to just host your own site, you will probably find that it's more work than it's worth especially when it comes to protecting your server. To me, I would need about 100 clients current with my affiliating hosting before I try it on my own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boen_robot Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 You set your domain's dns to point to your server's IP and then you can create your sub-domains on your server.What? Really? How? As far as I've been able to see, I've always needed to at least instruct a registar's DNS to alias all subdomains to a single IP, thereby making the illusion it's the server that created the subdomain, but in practice, it's still the registar's DNS that performs the name-to-IP translation.[edit]@jesh, you are talking only about IIS, right? This limitation doesn't apply to Apache, correct? I mean I have a web server at work that uses Windows XP and Apache. It's local, serves of about 60 people, but I'd hate to realize there's a 10 concurrent connections limit.[/edit] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jesh Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 7. Should I buy a windows XP for my sever?If you only want to have a single website with multiple virtual domains set up in IIS, then XP would work for you. If you wanted to host more than a single website, you'll want to use Server 2003 instead. XP has a limitation of one website. There is also the limitation of 10 concurrent connections which, unless you don't expect much traffic, can completely cripple your website.XP works just fine for a development environment, but not for a web server. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffman Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 Just adding my $.02 about security. If you simply can't imagine security becoming an issue, then cheers, have fun with your server.I teach at a college that has 4000 clients, grades and payroll information all with web portals, and our IT guys tell me we are constantly under attack by crackers trying to exploit every known hole. Every time a new hole is discovered, IT has to download another patch and hope it doesn't break the system. It's a huge commitment.FWIW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newseed Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 What? Really? How? As far as I've been able to see, I've always needed to at least instruct a registar's DNS to alias all subdomains to a single IP, thereby making the illusion it's the server that created the subdomain, but in practice, it's still the registar's DNS that performs the name-to-IP translation.[edit]@jesh, you are talking only about IIS, right? This limitation doesn't apply to Apache, correct? I mean I have a web server at work that uses Windows XP and Apache. It's local, serves of about 60 people, but I'd hate to realize there's a 10 concurrent connections limit.[/edit]I stand corrected about the sub-domains. My bad! Thanks for the catch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jesh Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 @jesh, you are talking only about IIS, right? This limitation doesn't apply to Apache, correct? I mean I have a web server at work that uses Windows XP and Apache. It's local, serves of about 60 people, but I'd hate to realize there's a 10 concurrent connections limit.Yes, IIS only. I am not aware of any limitations with Apache. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justsomeguy Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 When I set up a new subdomain for our server running IIS, I log into the control panel for our DNS and add a new subdomain entry to our zone that points to the IP of our server. Then on the server I create a new site and set it up so that it looks for the subdomain in the "host" header to send the user to that site. The whole thing takes about a minute, I can access the new subdomain immediately. So I have to update the DNS records and then update the server to check for the new host. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clonetrooper9494 Posted February 8, 2008 Author Share Posted February 8, 2008 Thanks everybody! I may be doing this in a couple of months or so, and if I need any help, I will post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synook Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 By the way, if you are thinking of setting up a server inside your home / business you have to be careful of what internet plan you have from your ISP - some of them have limitations against using your connection for a web server (many even block port 80), and of course if you get lots of traffic to your server on a pay/MB plan you may end up spending a lot more than you expected! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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