Want to Host my own web site on home system

[JohnBates]

Hi everyone -

I will be buying either a desktop PC or a workstation soon. This will be my only
computer at home.

Will have a Pentium 4 1.3 GHz with 256 MB RDRAM, Ethernet 10/100 running
Windows 2000 Pro

To be able to host my web site, can I do that on a PC or must I use a
workstation or server ??

Note: Whichever I get, it will be my only computer, will not be on a network.

Thanks for your feedback.
John

 

[Shocker838]

well, as long as u have an internet connection you should be good. preferably a cable modem or DSL or faster...something with a static IP is best...since ur not on a LAN you should have the modem directly into your PC or whatever, so in windows 2000 pro..install IIS 5.0 in the ad/remove windows comps...windows 2000 server is best, but pro will do. then u just load up IIS and configure it...if u need explaination reply to this. once u have IIS configured then in the web browser people just type in your IP address like

http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx

and your page will load if u have it set up correctly...though if u are gonna host a serious web site u may want to use windows server, and get a T1 line or something...so its up to you.

now if u want to get fancy u can buy a domain name and give your IP, so when they type in like

http://www.something.com,

u will get ur page.

its really late though, so i dont know if i explained that very well, hope it helps some, good luck "Less work more network" (HP) -- its so catchy

 

[paulwood]

First check your ISP allows it, many won't because of bandwidth issues. Then check out

http://www.tzo.com/

for instance (there are others) to use dynamic dns for a dynamic ip address. If you do use IIS make sure you apply all the patches.

 

[JohnBates]

Thanks paulwood and Shocker838 -

This is just the kind of feedback I need.

I will have a DSL connection and have registered a domain name.

If I understand both of you correctly, I WILL be able to host my web site
on a beefy Desktop.... workstation/server will not be required ??

Yes, I will check with my ISP (which is a regional Bell co.)

Thanks again, John

 

[paulwood]

Sorta depends on the traffic you're expecting, realistically with a DSL connection even up to 2Mb, you will soon overload the ISP if you get large amounts of traffic. Also the site will run quite slowly with more than a few connections, commercial websites have very big connections to the outside world. As your only machine, you will find working on it a little slow as well.

In summary (at last!), you could run a website on anything that will run NT4 or win2k server with IIS installed, or any of the Linux variations. It will not be ideal for commercial hosting because of the DSL connection and the fact that you want to use it as a regular machine as well. One last thought, the DSL connection would have to go through a network card if you used NT as it doesn't support USB.