Hosting on Server 2003

[no1youno]

Hi all

I am currently hosting about dozen websites (mostly family & friends) on a desktop running Win 2000 Server.
I recently purchased a Compaq Proliant server that I want to use as my hosting server, and I want to use Win 2003 Sever. Since I will be setting up from scratch, I thought this would be the perfect oppotunity to do it right.

Does anyone have any suggestion on best practices for setting up Win 2003 Server for hosting? For example, should I use Active Directory?

I would really appreciate hearing from anyone who has had some experience with hosting.

Cheers

 

[porkchopexpress]

Well if you get 2003 web edition you can't use Active Directory but it is half the price.

Even if you do go for 2003 standard I wouldn't recommend using Active Directory directly on an internet exposed box.

 

[no1youno]

OK, so no Active Directory. What else?
Does computer name need to be anything specific, keeping in mind that I will also be using the DNS.

 

[porkchopexpress]

The name doesn't really matter a you can register as many alias records as you need in DNS. I have about 20 sites hosted on our IIS server and they all have different records in DNS you can then use 'host headers' to direct web users to the correct site.

http://www.visualwin.com/host-header/

Here is quite a good guide to setting up and securing IIS6 it's worth a read.

http://windows.stanford.edu/docs/IISsecchecklist.htm