Some people are so smart and they want everything can be controled by themself. They don’t like outsource.
If you choose this option, and want to try it, finish this article below fully.
You can host your own web site at home, and I’ll tell you exactly how! But it might not save you much money, and it definitely won’t save you time. So give it serious thought before you proceed… unless your goal is simply to learn about the technology and have fun!
Warning: running a server of any kind at home is a security risk. Security problems are sometimes found in server software, and these can be exploited to gain access to or damage your files. Your computer must be kept absolutely up to date with Windows Update or the equivalent for your operating system if you intend to run a web server on it. If you choose to run Apache instead of Internet Information Server, you’ll need to keep your version of Apache absolutely up to date too. This doesn’t eliminate the risk — it only minimizes it. You run a server at home entirely at your own risk. If you do choose to run a server at home, I recommend finding an old PC on the curb and setting it up as your home server, reducing the danger to your own computer.
Here are the steps to follow to set up a web site hosted entirely on your own Windows PC. First I’ll present the general steps, then I’ll break down the details for you:
1. Make sure you have cable modem, DSL or another high-speed connection. A dialup telephone modem is NOT good enough.
2. Get a DNS hostname for your home Internet connection.
3. Get a static local IP address for your computer within your home network.
4. Configure your router to correctly forward connections on port 80 (the HTTP port) to your web server. If your ISP blocks port 80, choose an alternative port number and forward that (or get a better ISP that welcomes web sites at home, like Speakeasy.Net).
5. Configure Windows Firewall to allow your web server to communicate on port 80.
6. Get Apache, a free, high-quality web server program. If you have Windows XP Professional, you also have the option of Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS), which comes standard with Windows XP Professional.
7. Test your web server from your own computer.
8. Replace the default home page with your own web page. Now the site is your own!
9. Test your web server from a computer that is NOT on your home network to make sure you followed all of the steps correctly.
And that’s it! Now I’ll present detailed information about each step.
Step One: Broadband
Get cable modem (from the cable company) or DSL (from the phone company and various other companies). If you can’t do that, you’ll have to host your web site in some other way. to grapple with video and audio files anyway. You don’t necessarily have to go with your phone company’s DSL offering — Check out broadbandreports.com for independent reviews of cable modem and DSL companies. Upload speed, not download speed, is the most important feature for hosting web sites at home.
Step Two: Dynamic or Static DNS
Other people can’t talk to your web site if they don’t know the address… and if you have a typical cable modem or DSL connection, your address changes often. You can solve this problem by using a dynamic DNS service. Even if your IP address doesn’t change, you still need someone to host a DNS server for you, unless you are willing to put up with giving users a URL that begins with a string of numbers. This is a common requirement both for hosting web sites at home and for hosting torrents, so I’ve written a separate article explaining how to get a hostname for your computer at home.
Step Three: A Static Local IP Address
If you have a router… and you do, if you have WiFi (wireless access) or more than one computer… then your computer receives a new local address on your home network, or Intranet, every time it is powered on. But to forward web browser connections to your computer, you need an unchanging address to forward those connections to. This is also a shared requirement both for hosting web sites at home and for hosting torrents, so I’ve written a separate article explaining how to give your computer a static local IP address.
Step Four: Forwarding Port 80
If you don’t have a router (and you know by now, if you have been following these steps…) then you can skip this step and move on to the next. IF you have WiFi, or more than one computer, you definitely have a router and must not skip this step.
Now that you have chosen a static local IP for your computer, you’re ready to configure the router to forward web traffic to your computer.
Again, this step is needed both for web hosting at home and for BitTorrent hosting. So, once again, there is a separate article explaining how to forward ports from the Internet to your computer via your router. Just follow the steps in that article to forward port 80.
Step Five: Allowing Web Traffic Through The Firewall
More firewall issues? Didn’t we already do this? Only in part. Yes, your router serves as a firewall, but your computer also has a built-in firewall. You’ll need to configure that firewall to allow traffic through on port 80 to reach your web server software. This step is also common to both web hosting and torrent hosting… so check out my article explaining how to allow traffic on specific ports through your computer’s firewall.
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