Help needed for making a web page.

T

trusnoop

New member
Hello.
I think im posting this in the right place. I was curious if one can host a webpage from their own personal computer. i.e., i'd like to post a couple of pictures and some content on the web wihout having to buy some hosting package from say, yahoo or something. For FREE that is :-)

If possible, do I get to choose a unique webpage address? Also, what tools do i need to host the page.

I'm not a very experieced person when it comes to software related stuff, so sorry for any misunderstanding cause up there.

Thanks.

tru
 
First of all, check with your ISP. Most of them provide a few megs (5 or more MB usually) for their users to do with what you want.

However, it's technically possible to run a webserver (or any type of server - ftp, IRC, game servers, telnet server, etc) from your own PC and it's not that hard to do. For a webserver all you really need is webserver software. There's a free webserver that comes on the Windows CD called PWS (Personal Web Server) which is not that hard to setup and you can install ASP along side it to give your website a bit of dynamic content if you want. However, I recommend Apache from www.apache.org. It's not as easy as PWS but it's free and way way more powerful (Apache is what powers most of the Internets web servers). You can also setup things like PHP and MySQL (both free) to give your site truly dynamic content (this forum is running on PHP and MySQL).

You just setup the server, put your content in the necessary directories and give people your IP address. If you want a readable domain name then you really ought to have at least some type of permanent internet connection like a cable modem or *dsl. With that you'd also probably want a static IP (one that doesn't change) so you can register a domain name for your server or use of of the dynamic DNS services available throughout the internet.
 
hmmmm... you've peaked my interest rachet. I'm currently paying for hosting, but will soon have a spare T-Bird 800 lying around after I upgrade my machine in a month or so...

what kind of site would i be capable of runnning on a machine like that with a cable connection? would any kind of medium sized site kill its bandwidth? would it jsut work for small sites, personal stuff, ect? or would it be capable of more?
 
The Mighty Whitey said:
hmmmm... you've peaked my interest rachet. I'm currently paying for hosting, but will soon have a spare T-Bird 800 lying around after I upgrade my machine in a month or so...

what kind of site would i be capable of runnning on a machine like that with a cable connection? would any kind of medium sized site kill its bandwidth? would it jsut work for small sites, personal stuff, ect? or would it be capable of more?
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You can do anything you want with Apache/PHP/MySQL (all free) on that 800 or even a slower rig (my server is on a P233). There's nothing technical holding you back from creating the best most dynamic site on the internet other then your own web skills.

What kills websites (I'm sure you know) is traffic. That's why Rage slows down from time to time and why Anand and HardOCP have huge servers which they are constantly upgrading.

If you only expect a thousand hits or so a week then that 800 with a healthy dose of ram will easily do the job, no matter how dynamic a site you create. Just make sure you're aware of any transfer limits your ISP might have put on your connection before you start offering up ripped DVD movies and the like :)
 
Ok this has me interested too. so its possible to host any kind of webpage from a home server such as an E-commerce website?
 
HybridHB said:
Ok this has me interested too. so its possible to host any kind of webpage from a home server such as an E-commerce website?
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yeah you don't need any special hardware, just bandwidth and software.
 
i found dis in the microsoft's site

Windows XP Home Edition does not include or support any versions of Microsoft Personal Web Server (PWS). Windows XP Professional doesn¡¯t contain PWS either, but it does contains Internet Information Services (IIS) version 5.1. IIS 5.1 includes Web and File Transfer Protocol (FTP) server support, as well as support for Microsoft FrontPage¢ç transactions, Active Server Pages, and database connections. Available as an optional component, IIS 5.1 is installed automatically if you upgrade from versions of Windows that have PWS installed.
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Ratchet said:
Just make sure you're aware of any transfer limits your ISP might have put on your connection before you start offering up ripped DVD movies and the like :)
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LOL... thankfully, rogers doesn't do that yet... just Bell :p

then that 800 with a healthy dose of ram...
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Currently has 384 MB of PC 133 Ram... would you recommend more?

There's nothing technical holding you back from creating the best most dynamic site on the internet other then your own web skills.
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I'd better get workin on those then!!! :D:p
 
The Win32 Version of Apache is good, yes, but may be hard to set up for the novice user. (There are pre-setup packages available though) I personally run IIS on a Win2K Server install, but not everyone has something like that... For Apache I do recommend Linux though.
 
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