is 2K server right for me (webserver)

[Jeremey]

Hello,

I only have one computer. I want to host my own webpage. I already have it running, but am curious as to how safe it is to be in Administrator all the time. Should I create a user account with less than Administrator priveledges? If so can people still access my site? Can people access it if it is locked or logged off? I am very familiar with other windows operating systems, but this one is driving me crazy. Every once in awhile (from 15 minutes to 15 hours), my internet connection will be lost. I can't ping my ISP's gateway, and my network status shows I am sending thousands of packets that wont quit until I restart my computer. If I just disable it and restart it still continues. I know there is a lot of questions in here, but this is the only place I think I can find out whats going on. Should I just put XP Pro back on here?

Thanks a lot,

Jeremey

 

[ahalecitrix]

Jeremey,

It sounds like you may be receiving a denial of service attack. If you're sending that many packets for no reason something is wrong. Make sure you have all the latest Windows updates applied to the server.

Also go to Microsoft's website and download the IIS lockdown tool. This is very helpful for securing a publicly accessed Windows web server.

 

[Jeremey]

Ok, I installed the IIS Lockdown tool, and was able to stay normal for a little over two hours before it happened again. DOS I assume. Thousands of packets and about 400 listings in my Network monitor in about 5 seconds. I virus scanned and found nothing. What causes this and how do I prevent it?

 

[ahalecitrix]

Maybe you have a really popular website!

Make sure you apply all of the Windows Updates from Microsoft.

Also run the Network Hotfix Checker utility. Serach for it on Microsoft's site and download it. It is a command line utililty. This will verify you have all of the current hotfixes, which is especially important on an IIS box since it is so vulnerable.

I still suspect your server may be getting attacked in some way.

I don't administer a lot of web servers. Does anyone else out there have any insight into what might be going on?