Printable View
I am thinking of hosting my site on my computer and I have some quistions
1will i have to pay for a domain
2will it slow down my internet surfing
3 What security risks are there
4 What do i need to secure the site
5 what risks can not be secured
6 What is the best software to use (server software )
I have windows xp home edition,and 256mb ram
:confused:
I voted Medium, because it all boils down to you, your knowledge, and how you secure your network.
1. Of course you will. www.godaddy.com
2. Depends on the popularity of your site and your net connection.
3. same as any server/computer on the net. If it gets hacked, it might get defaced, used by spammers, made into a porn site, etc.
4. A brain and a deep knowledge of the O.S. you are using. And keep everything patched. Every time you get a chance check for patches.
5. DDoS and DoS. On a home connection they can easily knock you out with about 100 zombies.
6. hmm, Probably apache or ximian. That is if all you want is HTTP.
First off, I used GoDaddy.com to register a domain. I recommend them ;)
Second, I host locally and I pay for hosting (don't ask why).
Now, to answer your questions:
1will i have to pay for a domain - Yes, GoDaddy ($7.99 was the cost for my .com domain)
2will it slow down my internet surfing - As The Grunt said, how many people will be going to your site. If you can afford it, you can try getting a better internet connection (T1...)
3 What security risks are there - Depends on if you keep your software patched, and run your website responsibly. Patch those exploits, or you could get defaced, spammed, etc...
4 What do i need to secure the site - If you can, use SSL (HTTPS). Also, patch that software! Also, do what 'The Grunt' said.
5 what risks can not be secured - What 'The Grunt' said
6 What is the best software to use (server software ) - IMHO, Apache 1.3 or 2.0. I used Apache 1.3 mainly because of a problem with PHP (installation method). (My exact stats: Apache/1.3.29 (Win32) PHP/4.3.5) Also, check out http://www.apache-ssl.org/ if you wish to use HTTPS.
Now, on the situation regarding OSes. A Unix/Linux OS is probably better (PHP even recommends it IIRC) than a Win32 OS. I run Apache on W2K and it seems to run smoothly. When I can afford another machine (or find it), I plan on installing FreeBSD to run a runserver + mailserver.
In summary, have fun and just do everything with a little bit of intelligence
i have braodband
ps about how many people whould it take to start slowing downmy computer
I too have broadband. The real question is how many people will be on your page at one time. It isn't bad if they come and go, but if they all come and one time, you MAY notice a slow down. Personally, for the time I've been hosting on my computer (~1 year) I've never noticed a considerable slow down due to traffic. Then again, I don't receive tons of people visting my website ;)
You have broadband, but what is your up and down bandwidth numbers? Mine is 4mbit/4mbit, and I didn't notice a slow down, when I was essentially slashdotted on a smaller scale, when I had ~10 connections a minute downloading a 1.5MB file. And this 10 connection a minute stuff happened over the course of ~5 hours. In that time, I moved about 600MB of data -- ~30KB/s or 1/16th of my total bandwidth average. Over the next few days I moved about 300MB each day. My bandwidth that month came to 3.5GB. It was a small enough fraction of my overall bandwidth (speed) I didn't notice it at all.
I host myself, and recommend GoDaddy for Domain Name. I use DNSPark for DNS hosting.
I voted not secure, BTW. I voted this because I'd recommend using some spare computer for being the webserver and everything. This prevents user error on your part, such as accidentally opening an unsafe e-mail attachment that had a virus, from messing up your server. It also sorta prevents your server from messing up your computer deep down where it hurts. I know for IIS, I've seen some evidence of scripts trying to format the computer's HDD.
So if you are going to do hosting on your computer, Apache is your best bet. For regular (static) web pages this is great. If you do PHP or PERL, the PHP/PERL puts your computer at risk of more things. So think strongly before running active stuff on your server. BUT NEVER CONSIDER IIS -- Unless you are doing stuff in a corporate network that requires features MS built into IIS, and you are willing to shell out $5,000 for a licence (OS mainly) that only can only come with a $10,000 computer you won't be able to get ahold of a reasonable copy of IIS to use anyways... I'm exagerrating, but choose Apache if you go ahead and do this.
BTW, some ISPs specifically say in their usage agreements that you are not allowed to host servers like webservers, etc., on your Internet connection. You'll want to check that out, or they might revoke your ability to connect to the Internet until you call them and sort it out...
I voted secure because I figure if you want your computer secure you'll put the time and effort needed to learn anything new needed and apply it.
For DNS I would recommend zoneedit.com you can get free service for five domain names if i remember correctly