Building your own server?

[Atomic-Design]

I have a spare 450 MHz computer (256 megs of ram). I want to turn it into a web server, because I have a 24/7 cable connection. I know I should install Linux, and then Apache, MySQL and PHP ... but after I install it where do I go?

[RocketJeff]

Originally posted by Atomic-Design
I have a 24/7 cable connection
This is your first issue - most (if not all) cable companies specifically disallow customers running servers on the connection. I doubt if you want to get your internet connection yanked.

In addition, upstream speeds are usually so limited that it isn't really worth setting up a server.

[(jj)]

Atomic,

Now if you would like to just setup a server for your own use, and don't want to install Linux, there is a small web server called Abyss that will run under Windows and do a decent job. You can check it out at Aprelium.com (http://www.aprelium.com/) They also have a version that runs under Linux if that is what you really want.

It's kind of nice to be able to run SSI, CGI, PHP etc from your own system and do all of the testing before you upload to your domain.

And yes, Abyss is Free :) and they have links to point you to the CGI and PHP enviroments that you need to install.

[satis]

I must agree with Rocketjeff. However, there are still some things you can do, if you just wanna play with a web server.

If you set the port to nonstandard (like 1582 or something else) your provider probably won't find it. They usually scan standard ports looking for standard services. It would take too long to scan the full range.

Anyway, you could then use it for yourself. I password protected mine with .htaccess and used it to stream my mp3 collection to myself at work. :) Most DSL/Cable is capped at either 128 or 256 up, which is fine for 128kbps mp3s.

As far as what to do with your server....why install Linux? Unless you want to learn it, of course. Apache has Win32 binaries...I've used it here and it's great. I've no doubt you can find PhP and MySQL modules for win32 as well.

[Atomic-Design]

Thanks for all your help. I want to get familiar with Linux for future jobs I might be applying for! If I decide the server can accomplish what I want, I'll go for it. I believe my cap is 20k upload a second? Does that sound right?

[satis]

hrmmm...not really. 20kb is horrible. 20KB is pretty good, but they usually do it in 8KB jumps (in my experience at least). Chances are it's 16KB (256kb/sec) which is what I've supposedly got with Comcast. That's not bad at all, considering what most providers hand out. Really depends on what you want to do. A bit of SSH, web server, no problem. If you wanna FTP, host an IRC server or a game server or something, it's nowhere near enough.