Web server suggestions

[MelGrahm]

I am thinking of setting up a server to be used mostly to host some of my own pages. Hopefully it can grow from there. Can you give me any suggestions as to what is good to know / have as far as software, hardware, and knowledge?

Thankx to all.

[HAL9000]

I run my own using a Celeron 800, 160Mb RAM, running on Linux. Keep up with security updates and make sure that your ISP allows you to set up a web server (I actually remembered this point this time). Many do now allow it in thier contracts, so double check. If it is allowed, you will need a static IP address and a registered domain.

It will also probably be suggested for simplicity to just find yourself some free, or cheap web hosting instead of running your own server.

[mairving]

It depends on what you want to do. If you are wanting to host over the Internet, then you will have to check with your current provider. The two biggest issues are how you are connected and security. You would more than likely have to get a cable connection for business or setup your own with a T1 line. Neither is real cheap. You will have to have this machine running all the time also. You will also need to setup security to keep the baddies out.

The best thing to do is to setup a local webserver with Linux(BSD)/Apache and run your server until you can learn well enough to set up shop on the Internet. Personal opinion is that it is so cheap with hosts now that it is almost not worth setting up your own server unless you have a large to medium size company.

[MelGrahm]

Thankx for the replies.

I am undecided as to where I want to go with this all. I am in the beginning phases of learning HTML and am looking into where I want to be in the (distant)future. We currently have Ameritech DSL, small buisness package that has the static IP. I am a person who likes to tinker and for the time it might be just something to learn on. I am mostly looking for suggestions so that I may see the whole picture (right now it is all dreamy and wonderful). I also have my roommate who is dying to just jump into this, like, yesterday.

What / who would you suggest for a host to start with? (Already out there, that is)

Is there a reason why you perfer Linux as the OS? I have a LOT to learn there, as I think I have seen Linux once!

Thankx again for the replies.

[HAL9000]

Linux for one is probably one of the more secure OS's out there and comes with the hefty price tag of free, so it's pretty hard to beat. The Apache web server, again, easy to use, and hold on to your wallet, free. Now for stability, My Linux web server was fired up for the first time in November. I haven't had to reboot it yet. Mind you, I haven't exactly done a whole lot with it yet either, but it sits in the corner, churning away, doing its thing and I don't have to worry about it. Heck, if you can do a bit of HTML and know how to read, you can load up Mandrake and get it going as a web server. I had some minimal prior knowledge with Unix, but was VERY rusty at it at best.

[Statica]

I disagree, Linux is not secure enough as a webserver OS, use BSD! It rocks!!


PS: Linux is also too bloated for a pure webserver. Go with a BSD and you it wont be the same.

Of course BSD is harder to work than Linux, but given a choice between userfriendliness and robustness (if there is such a term) go with Linux

[HAL9000]

I stand corrected. I've never looked at BSD, but maybe I'll have to give it a try as well.

[MelGrahm]

What is BSD? I tell you, things are changing so fast. Last I heard the Front side bus was running at 133MHz . . .

Anyway.

I also had another question. What concerns are there when having your own web server?

Thanks!

[Statica]

BSD is essentially a free UNIX like OS. Based on the BSD kernel, there are a few options available to you for a BSD, the most popular being FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD. They are similar enough to be basically the same, but the few differences between them cause them to have different people advocating usage.

There are a lot of concerns in having a webserver some of them are:
1) Is your basal operating system stable and robust, free of any memory leaks, able to deal with a large amount of data passing through it.
2) Is your webserver fast? Theorotically the only bottleneck you should have is in the speed of your link not in your hardware or software layer.
3) Is your webserver and OS secure? This is probably the aspect that gets a lot of notoriety, because there is very little that is absolutely secure, its all shades of black, and absolute security is a feeling that will doom you as it is pretty much a myth.
4) Is your webserver compatible with the most popular modules available, from database engines to scripting languages to ...
5) Is your sysadmin capable of keeping it together, staying on top of patches and gotchas.
6) Is your hardware capable, as simple as a flaky NIC can doom you

Keeping all these in mind, a UNIX like environment is the best. Of course some might argue that looking into a perfect webserver for an x86 platform is futile, but the fact is that a UNIX-like environment is as close as it gets. Win2K is not worth the cost or the trouble.

Again, the ideology is to get the RIGHT tool for the RIGHT job. If all you want to do is keep a small page with little or no commercial implications on a rarely going to be used website and you dont know how to run a NIX then it would be overkill. Go for the cheap alternatives. But if you want something substantial that will fit your plans of proposed escalation to a full blown webserver then you get what you put in.

Resources:

www.bsd.org
www.openbsd.org
www.freebsd.org
www.netbsd.org
www.linux.org
www.apache.org


PS: 133Mhz FSB is old, the Athlons with DDR are at 2x133Mhz

*-cheap relates not to cost but to strength of the package!