I want to set a server up in my house?
 

Whats the best way to go about doing this?

Start small

Unless you have a lot of money to play with this is probably not a good idea.

How much could it cost?

Most ISP's like Comcast or SBC DSL will not allow you to set up a server on your connection.

Here's a quick tutorial I wrote for you:

Step One - Get permission from Mom and Dad

Step Two - Get money from Mom and Dad

Shut your ass up whore! :321GFY


BTW: They said yes!

Yes you can setup a server, but why?

All you need from the ISP is a dedicated IP address. So now you got your server with an upload speed of 256 or 512 kbps. Not gonna make very many surfers happy with that.

The only server that makes sense would be an email server for a company.

Not really your ISPs biz if you serve. What does Kaza do? One of its funtions is to be a server of sorts.

Your lucky mine said no, when i asked dem :D

Don't ask. The person that you talked to at the ISP was just stupid or knew it was a dumb idea which it is.

Now if you have that IP address and want to serve a real domain name, you'll need DNS. You canhire that done or do it your it yourself.

What server should I buy to start?

There is another reason to put a server up on the public IP and that is to learn something. Would enable you to manage a distant server better.

This is from the Comcast Acceptable Use Policies document.

ii. post, store, send, transmit, or disseminate any information or material which a reasonable person could deem to be objectionable, offensive, indecent, pornographic, harassing, threatening, embarrassing, distressing, vulgar, hateful, racially or ethnically offensive, or otherwise inappropriate, regardless of whether this material or its dissemination is unlawful;

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;

Many other ISPs have similar limitations.

its against most TOS to setup mail/web/ftp. unless you are with roadrunner and you buy business class dsl.

you will have to setup linux or freebsd. or if you want to run windows with just a web server, you can install IIS, with win2k. or you can just install apache for windows. takes about 10 mins to install pretty simple actually. but if you have a static ip with your dsl/cable. not a problem. but even if namecheap provides dns services. so you could point the domain at your home ip to your server so the domain will be your home address. but if you are doing it just for a small project. it wouldnt be so bad. i have done it just for some small files to share. but if you are hosting anything big.

just remember if 10 people connect to you and your max upload is 100kb/s its gonna split that into 10. and if its a big file its gonna hog.

so thats why i would only use it for small projects. not adult websites or anything.

but yes its pretty simple to setup

http://www.apache.org

get the win32 release.

read the readme.

If you have to ask this question, something tells me that your are not ready yet.

You have to decide on hardware. Any PC can be a server for the most part. I didn't say good server.

You have decide on an OS. Windows Server or Linux or Free BSD to name three. Prolly easier with Windows, but less secure.

Easy for who? This person is just starting out. And there are concepts that will prove to be a little tuff to grasp at first.

As I look at my logs I see Microsoft type attacks on my servers all day log. So we need to talk about security and firewalls etc.

well i pretty much explained it.

apache for win32 is just an install file.

namecheap dns you just point to your home address.

I got it, but geeze to tell someone to do IIs..... They have to be able to setup the rest of the computer, bet it takes 'em days. Do they understand DNS etc. They will have to assign a public IP. Know what a default gateway is and a mask. From the sounds of it, these are going to be complex issues for this person. Take a class. Take several classes.

Would you put IIs on the net, I wouldn't. I'd put up Exchange, the only reason to have a MS box on the net.

Tell 'em to set up BIND, now you'll have a grasp of the concepts.

Damn, your sig pukes

microsoft on the net for a beginner are you crazy ? Go with some flavour of linux like fedora, something easy to install/admin. Select server setup, enable the firewall, run yum to update the system with all the latest packages and you're all set. Shouldn't take more then 10-15 minutes :2 cents:

You can do it. I did it about 5 years ago. But, it is not a good idea. Spend $10 a month on a small hosted account instead. Let the pros worry about security, software fixes and upgrades, etc.

I'd say it's not a good idea. There is so much good cheap hosting that would serve your needs much better than a homeside server.

Is it really worth the trouble? Unless this is a development server, or you just want to learn linux... don't waste your time.

don't do it if your hosting websites. that would be dumb

what do I do or what does Kazaa do? I am Caza or Ycaza, but as a network engineer i have 2 servers at home. neither of em do anything public, just back up here. at my other home office i keep a mail and web server, where i host mostly my own domains. it sits on a 10 meg pipe. here i have timewarner. 5 meg down 512K up. Time warner is cool, they don't block ports, and you can get business level service from them too. just costs a lot more. I can get you a T-1 to your house for about 400 bucks, but thats is only 1.5 up and down (real world it'll actually do 2.1 Mbps) but the point is your line won't be that fast, your electricity is not backed up, your cooling system in the house will be inadequate.....etc. I turn on my servers and the whole place heats up. ugh, icq me, ask for or send me a server. every server gets a power connection thats on dual grids, every server gets a remote power rebooter - so you can reboot the power from anywhere, every server gets a network where you don't just have 2 connections to the internet, you get 17. Dude, come into the cold, of the colo. :) its so comfy for servers to be here. They love it, they get fed and cooled and exercised. Its a servers favorite place to be. lol, contact me anytime and i can tell you all about BGP.

LOLOLOLOL.

it's kyle people. wake up

OMG that NOC is sick. i would put boxes in there with that TROLL on staff.

ROFL

I agree 100%. I have a local server to test out scripts and store backups, however, it is more like a local backup to my master backup.

Test servers are very important if you are going to make websites for a living. It's also a very good way of learning.

most ISPs will also disable mail servers from your connection (reduces complaints). However any good dynamic dns provider will also add in port forwarding so it can get past the ISP port 25 filters.

You're not in the same world as the person asking the question. There could a ton of reasons for your own private server on the net. I have a couple of servers up here. But not for public access. Hey one of them is even Novell. Talk about old school.

In resposne to above comments. If you have your own IP addres, you are a biz account. There are work arounds, not going into them.

T1 - a bit on the expensive side and really that is still not enough bandwidth. Esp when you can get a hosting so cheap.

Being a network engineer makes a world of difference. As such you may not understand what people really don't know about.

Anyway, we've beaten this one into the ground.

Hey like I said, I got my own home servers, a Unix, a Mac and a win 2k3, I use amll for testing, but if you want to serve websites or anything else form home, its not a great way to go. now I think its officially buried, lol.

I have run a little home server for the past 3 or 4 years. Use it to handle mail, dns, some web sites (nothing commercial), and as an ftp server.

It runs on an old P3 box and it has never had any problems.

I'm running viking server http://www.robtex.com/viking.features.html which is very unix like but it is not quite the same as apache

Have a good friend that runs sites from home using apache inside of windows and has had no probs there either.

I would not run any high traffic commercial sites from home.

I have statics from swbell dsl but only got them because I wanted to run the server.

I learned a shit load through setting it all up

Yep on the testing. Resolve it on your own private net before you fuck things up on your public server.... Had a Mac for awhile, even a MAC Server.. that was awhile back.

Which is better use of time? GFY or fucking with your network?

I've had Apache on a P2 Win98 machine for years and never had a problem. I reboot it like 3 to 5 times a year in fact. I'm not running any commercial sites on it though, just low traffic personal stuff.

It is my understanding that processing power isn't an issue if you are merely serving stuff and not doing heavy PHP and the like. I know of people running sites on P1 166 boxes.

its not hard, just expensive.
I had put three DS1's (point to point, not fractional) into my house when I started, paid $1600 per month for each one, then i had to buy a cisco router and stay at home incase something needed rebooted. did this for like 3 years.

oh ya, my first server I had was a duel pentium pro 200.

sbc has several plans starting at 200 a month for a few ips and a fast upload.

I did it about 5 or 6 years ago also... and you are right it's not worth it.... Now days you have more to worry about also...

you are right, heck Verio even has some plan now that's less than $10.00 per month i think

that is funny as heck :1orglaugh

I'd be interested in seeing the math there, since the bitrate of a T1 is fixed and specifically defined in the standard. The *raw* speed of a T1 is precisely 1536bps, or it's not a T1 (or it's broken). Subtract overhead of IP packets, and you're down to 1.3Mbps or so. And that's only if you're running HDLC or something; run frame relay or ATM as the LP and it sucks more out of it.

Just wondering what you're looking at here, since you've already gained respect from me as a fellow net admin based on other stuff I've seen you saying here...

yes typically its exactly 1536 k, but in the new world its a little different. a ds3 should only be 45.36 megs but actually its now 1/3 of an oc3 or 155 megs. 51 2/3 megs is what it becomes. strip out overhead in the ethernet transfer by usin a t-1 to ethernet transceiver instead of a typical mux demux set up and whammo i actually got it up to 2.3 once. if you like i can show you this.

:1orglaugh


Wow this is too funy :1orglaugh

I heard from a ynot poll about 3 years ago 6% still run server from their house.

Awesome, thanks! Will take a raincheck at the moment, tho, too much other stuff on my plate right now. I'd already planned to look you up at a show if/when I start heading to 'em. Thanks for the brief explanation; it actually might explain some things I've been seeing in the last two T1's I put in.