How to build a website on a home server PC? [internet information server] [microsoft internet information server]
Q: Hi,
I H?ing was someone I could point to a brief and simple information about setting up a website that allows for boards, and is easy to maintain.
I have the necessary hardware, but what I need is software for setting up a website . Nothing fancy, just clean and simple, I can PHP iCalendar (http://phpicalendar.net/documentation/index.php/Main_Page) into.
What would I need to set up a website to tie my own server? Apache or Microsoft Internet Information Server, which is better? I realize that I would need a DNS host name, among other things well.
I realize that this is a significant time-consuming, and the learning curve will not be too bad . used to do in your site years ago html.
Thank
Best Answer: Add as much memory as you can get away with and turn that old PC into a "LAMP" server (Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP/etc). Go online and download an installer CD of one of the popular Linux distributions. There's plenty of help online for anything you might want to do with a Linux server.
Once you have that going you can configure your router to forward incoming traffic directly to your new server (normally, uninvited data is refused at the router). A small complicating factor will be that the IP address you give the server on your LAN will be different from the public IP address everyone else sees your server at. Don't worry about it much but remember that fact.
Now to make your router findable. If you're paying for a static IP address, you can register your own domain name (GoDaddy.com, etc.) and point it at that IP address.
If you don't have a static IP address, you'll need to sign up for a Dynamic DNS account (DynDNS.com) and rig your router or server to periodically notify DynDNS what your current IP address is because it's changing all the time. Your router will be findable at "yourname.dyndns.org", whatever it happens to translate to. Then you can point your registered domain name at the DynDNS name, which in turn points to your current IP address. A little convoluted but it can be made to work.
I'm all for setting up a home server as a hobby and encourage you to do so. But if you shop hard enough and don't need much you can find some minimal web hosting that does do MySQL for just a few dollars a month, and it'll have a faster connection to the Internet than you can get at home.
Re:Thank you guy
Re:Originally posted by: guy
Any good freebie DNS software out there?
BIND (http://www.isc.org/index.pl?/sw/bind/)
Re:Any good freebie DNS software out there?
Re:Okay, so I've built my webpage, and gotten a free domain name, mainly to test things out. I am ready to purchase a domain name that I want now.
So if I purchase www.EXAMPLE.com do I need anything extra to point that domain name to my server running at home?
This may be a simple question to you, but I just wanted to make sure I was not making any mistakes
Thank you
Re:I found a great tutorial online at Webmasterstop.com (http://ou don't have permission to access /php/php.exe/phpinfo.php on this server.) on how to install Apache, MYSQL, PHP, etc. I've followed the tutorial to the letter, but have run into an issue with the php installation page (http://www.webmasterstop.com/48-3.html) and can not get to the last screen as the author has posted.
I have run into a page that says:
"Forbidden
You don't have permission to access /php/php.exe/phpinfo.php on this server."
I've followed everything exactly as stated from page one… any tips or ideas?
Thank you
The fix was to install some extra code:
<Directory "c:/server/php/">
AllowOverride None
Options None
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
</Directory>
Made a huge difference!
Re:It needs Mysql which is a "module" to PHP which runs on Apache.
Re:Thank you for the help and info
I followed this simple tutorial on Boutell.com of how do I setup a webpage at home (http://www.boutell.com/newfaq/creating/hostmyown.html) and it really got me up and running.
I used Apache and Dreamweaver to get a very rudimentary webpage up and running on my server.
I am looking at PHP, and MySQL, because that free phpbb forum software at least needs MYSQL or PHP.
More reading and learning for now
Re:Originally posted by: guy
also, check sourceforge.net for free utilities – eg: I use the free Coppermine photo gallery and it works great. I wouldn't doubt there's something there for forums.
http://www.phpbb.com/
Re:also, check sourceforge.net for free utilities – eg: I use the free Coppermine photo gallery and it works great. I wouldn't doubt there's something there for forums.
Re:One thing to note is that DynDNS.org updating can generally be handled by your router. I know mine updates my DynDNS.org entry for me on any IP change.
The process is fairly simple overall. Just make sure you install things in a decent order (i.e. I'd do Apache before PHP 
). I know back when I worked with Apache 1.3, it required some editing of the config file to get PHP to work (mainly that you had to tell Apache that .php files were supposed to be handled by the PHP application). I don't know if Apache 2.0 has simplified this process at all as I installed Apache 2.0, PHP and MySQL, but haven't done much testing with their integration on my new server PC.
Re:If you go with popular Linux distro, it will have built-in packages for Apache, PHP, etc. That will cut down the learning curve by a LOT assuming you don't need a custom compile of PHP or something.
Re:http://www.aboutdebian.com
Instructions for doing it on a debian box.
Re:marked for later use.
Re:Apache, hands down.
Basically, you install Apache, PHP, MySql, (whatever else), and install your forum software. Done!
For the Domain Name, I am unsure how to point top-level (i.e. megavovan.com) name to your computer, but you can use no-ip or Dynamic DNS services. They have a program that will update adress like mysite.no-ip.info with new IP of server as soon as that IP changes.
https://www.dyndns.com/
http://www.no-ip.com/
Related posts
Tags: internet information server, microsoft internet information server