Hosting - Do It Yourself

[learninghtml]

Hi,
What would be involved in setting up my own hosting for my website and that of a voluntary group I'm involved with?

I have Windows 2000 Professional and a broadband connection. I would like to support ASP.NET on this host.

Do I need some sort of license or certificate?

If so, how much would this cost?

Would I need a RAID motherboard/system?

Many thanks in advance....

[Sux0rZh@jc0rz]

you would have to install a server... such as WindowsServer(www.microsoft.com <-- do a search under products) or Apache.. and you would have to have a static IP address... and you would have to install asp.net server compiler do-hicky...(i cant remember the correct term. im to sleepy, peofeo will undoubtedly talk to you about getting your hands on one.) and you would need to register a domain name. then go through the pain of setting up your server.

[Sux0rZh@jc0rz]

NOTE: windows server would probably be best seeing as how your using asp.net .. i think you can get discounts or package deals with this.

[PeOfEo]

Originally posted by Sux0rZh@jc0rz
peofeo will undoubtedly talk to you about getting your hands on one.) You are probably right :D
You can do it with iis which comes with xp pro. For best quality yes use w2k3 server, but w2k3 is basically a stripped down windows xp that runs faster w/ iis6 on it. I am running my own server w/ asp and asp.net w/ iis5 off of windows xp. http://24.129.72.170/ or http://quasi-ke.servebeer.com . If you are interested in asp.net you can also use a cassini webserver, but it is very limited and it is not its own os like w2k3. To run asp.net from a server you do not need a licence, I mean cassini is free (though it is so limited most people would not try to use it to host anything other then aps for testing purposes). You only need to have the .net framework. It is free to use asp.net But if you want to use sql server you need a licence.

BTW, since you are using windows 2000 pro, check your install disk and see if it has iis, I am not sure if it does, it should have iis5 though. If so install it then reinstall the .net framework since it needs to detect if iis is on your system to make alterations to run a server. I am using cable internet to run my server and, plan to setup a dedicated server if I get a new processor for this comp. I have a cable line and a 300kilobit upload speed. That should be fine for some low traffic websites. Just go to www.dslreports.com/stest and make sure your upload is not capped real low, I would not try to host a full time site w/ anything inder 200k upload. Most broadband hosts cap it low to prevent people from running high traffic webservers etc.

[learninghtml]

DIY Hosting

You mentioned a static IP address. I know what one is, but how do I get one? How do I choose an address that I know is free?

How many sites would I be able to host?

Would I need a 'RAID' motherboard?

Thanks

[PeOfEo]

You do not need a raid motherboard... I do not have one. You do not need a static ip either. Just setup ur comp to run dynamic dns, its not that hard. If you do not want to do that use a remote dynamic dns like no-ip.com and get the dynamic update agent. Read my last post. I am not on a special motherboard and do not have a static ip or a domain name. Yet I am running a server with asp.net on it and it did not cost me a cent.
EDIT: about the sites. That depends on the volume of traffic and the upload speed of your line. Like I said go to dsl reports.com and do a speed test to find out ur upload. After that you can estimate your max new hits to all of your sites with the total size of you images etc.

[Sux0rZh@jc0rz]

if he is on cable, he should be fine unless he hosts a website with games that attracts more than like 10 peeps at a time. and if he doesnt have movies. but even with movies, peeps can download from him all they like. so long as its only 2 or 3 online at a time. and you gotta think, to have constantly 2-3(max of 10ish if its just a website with some images) he would have to have like... 10,000 hits a month at least. and i doubt that he would get that unless he made a really kewl website.(10,000 non-unique hits)

[Aronya1]

Just be aware that your contract with your ISP is certain to prohibit web hosting from your home computer. If you sign up as a business user, that's a whole different ballgame (with a whole different pricetag).

[PeOfEo]

Many cable and dsl isps cap the upload speed very low, and if they see a constant upload they might cap it lower for you if it interfears with others. Mine however does not. They cap the bandwidth but since no one around me uses cable it is not too low (everyone around me uses dsl so I have all this bandwidth its really nice).