Do it yourself server and website?

[Ficcion]

I have read the articles on PC Mechanic on how to build servers, networks, etc. but I am still unclear on how to associate my domain that I registered at register.com with my my soon to be setup server.

Practically speaking I want to setup a server in my home to host my dental practice website "nameofmypractice.com".

When someone types the address "nameofmypractice.com" how do I get that to route to my home server?

If this is a trivial question I apologize but my knowledge of web hosting is limited.


Secondly, any comments on the ideal setup for web hosting?
This is my set up:

P-3 933
Asus cusl2-c
20 gig IBM
128 mb
cable modem

P-2 233
LX chipset
2.5 gig Quantum
32 mb
networked to cable modem

The latter is the computer I would like dedicated to serving the web site as the former is for personal use.

Thanks

[HAL9000]

It's quite easy really. If you have already registered at http://www.register.com, log into your account, then assign your web server's IP address to your domain name. This way, when somebody types in your domain name, it gets redirected to the IP of your server (Note: you must have a static IP from your ISP).

Your P2 system should be more than adequate to run as a web server, although with RAM prices the way they are, dump in at least another 64Mb.

[Ficcion]

Static IP is obtained directly from my @home service?

Something I read mentioned that cable modem IP's are changing all the time?

[HAL9000]

Static IP's will depend on the service that your ISP has. My cable modem uses a static IP (dynamic is not available from my service) while ADSL in my area uses dynamic, a static IP can be obtained for an additional $10/month, so check with your ISP.

[Ficcion]

Appreciate the info...Thanks.

[K A Hall]

Better read your @home terms of service agreement before you proceed.

[audiyoda]

I'll say-- @home forbids the use of thier home user contracts for home server applications. They do not bend at all on this issue either. There is plenty of documented cases all over the web of people totally peeved at @home for killing their service.

As I understand it, @home uses a snooper bot to detect traffic to IP's. They investigate and kill your account if they determine you have set up any sort of server using one of their IP's. It all happens in a matter of hours.

-Craig

[glc]

Yep - you would be much better off spending $9.95 a month for a dedicated web host - and also that would put the security responsibility on them, not you.

We use http://www.webaxxs.com - the starter $9.95 package gives you a LOT of goodies for the price, and if you need more, they have plans to fit all needs.

If you tried to host a domain on an @Home residential account, I would give your account a life span of maybe 2 days. A dedicated host would be a lot cheaper than the additional cost of @Work, which would allow you to do what you want to do.

If you still want to host your own domain, some DSL providers do allow this, but again, it's not cheap. Hosting a domain on a dynamic IP is possible, but a big pain.

Unless you want to play with Linux, you would need Windows 2000 and IIS to host the site - and this isnt cheap either. We looked at doing our own hosting (our DSL provider allows it) but after looking at all the ramifications we went with Webaxxs. Keeping up with all the security patches you need these days to keep from getting hacked is a full time job.

[Edited by glc on 02-27-2001 at 05:57 AM]

[mairving]

I will second my agreement that trying to run a web server on a cable modem is a bad idea. In addition to all the other stuff mentioned, you would have to use Linux. Windows 2000 is not going to run on a P233 w/32MB or RAM. Plus it would fill the whole hard drive. I use <a href="http://www.hostmatters.com" target="_blank">HostMatters</a>. Their basic plan starts at $6.95. If you really want a web server at home, you will need to have a T1 line brought in. Way too expensive with all the hosting choices out there.

[Ficcion]

Yeah, after reading the @home user contract I realized the pure stupidity of my original idea.

I appreciate the "heads up" on this issue.

A web hosting service is looking better all the time.

Thank you all for your replies.

[HAL9000]

OK. throw that idea out the window. Now I know why I hear on message boards the complaints about @home. Heck, my cable company doesn't care what I do with one exception. I cannot resell bandwidth, in otherwords, I can't use my cable modem to setup an ISP of my own. I agree with mairving on using Linux for the smaller machine. I currently run a 533 Celeron on my web server and my cable line seems to be doing fine for the load that I receive at the moment (T1 isn't necessary).