What can I do with my Web Server?

Web servers can be applied to many different areas. One of the most common applications is to create a static or dynamic home page for yourself, also known as a “personal web page” or a “personal home page.” Personal home pages can be created with HTML editors or many other applications, but that is out of the scope of this tutorial.

Another use is to create a “forum” or “message board,” similar to the one found here on PC Mechanic. A lot of people use Calendars or Groupware pages on their website. How do they add these dynamic pages to a seemingly static server? Through scripting. The most common form of web scripting these days is PHP scripting, and you can find many PHP scripts for all purposes at http://www.hotscripts.com/. Again, the scope of this tutorial is only to explain how to setup a server, but you can easily find instructions on how to setup these scripts all over the Internet. Remember, the server has already been setup for you, so if a tutorial gives instructions on how to setup a server, disregard those.

What can I do with my FTP Server?

FTP servers are generally used to serve files to the public. However, you can setup FTP to serve files to your friends and family, or just to your friends or family privately. If you wish to setup a public FTP server, add a user in Filezilla whose name is “Anonymous” and use no password. Usually, when setting up a public FTP server, you should only give Anonymous users permission to Read files. However, if it is a public “Dump” server (where users can actually post files), you can set the server up to only allow users to read and write, but not delete. However, if you have a set of family or friends that you trust to edit the server, you can set it up to allow certain users to use any or all permissions.

Groups are also often used to define individual users with group characteristics. For example, let’s say you want to have a group, “Guests,” which include “John,” “Jane,” and “Mary.” Instead of setting John, Jane, and Mary’s permissions individually, you can set a group called “Guests” which have those permissions on a certain folder. Then, when you create John, Jane, and Mary, and specify that they are Guests, they will inherit the characteristics of Guest accounts. Likewise, this can be applied to other potential groups, such as “Admins” or “Contributors.”

How does a User Access an FTP Server?

Typically, FTP servers are accessed through FTP clients. Windows actually includes a (poorly coded) built-in FTP client. To access the server, you would type in the “Run” menu:

ftp://user:password@server.address.com

and replace user, password, server, address, and the extension with the appropriate values.

How can I point a “.com” to my Web Site or FTP Server, or both?

First, you will need a domain name. GoDaddy offers domain name registration for only $7.95 these days. Once you register a domain, you should “point” the domain to your computer’s IP address.

Make sure that if you are behind a router, your internal IP is pointed to from Port 80 and 25.

…Moving Beyond

This tutorial only covers the very basics of server technology. Be sure to read up on PHP, FTP permissions, and domain names to find out more about servers and how they work today.