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View Full Version : A few questions about hosting...

notix
9-1-03, 02:04 AM
I have been hosting for powweb for quiet some time now, and they have been great. I will soon add one of their banners on my website once I finish my new layout. I believe I am soon going to be getting cable and I think that I would learn more if I was hosting my own web site from my computer at home. I am pretty sure I know how to do it, just setup apache and php, and then install a mysql database, but what I don't know about is the e-mail program. Do I setup a pop3 server or something on the computer? How does that work? If I got cable, and got the e-mail working, is it possible to switch over so I would host it from my house? I just think that I would learn more that way, I am not that sure if I could do it with cable though, it might lag or something. Any suggestions? Comments?

Thank in advance!

P.S. I am planning on setting it up on the linux (mandrake) box I just setup. And I should be getting cable within the next month...
Rick_E
9-1-03, 10:38 AM
It would be possible to do it from home as a learning experience but most ISPs limit your upload speed to 128 or so, so your users would get slow delivery of the pages, especially if you have more than just a few hits.

Also, your ISP may have restrictions against running a server (read your Terms of Service) and they may not like your high use of bandwidth.

You'll also have the security issues and probably would want to use a separate computer to do this, not your personal computer.
B&T
9-1-03, 11:51 AM
You also will likely not have a static IP address (unless you pay more) with a cable modem service.
bdoc
9-1-03, 02:42 PM
Your ISP may also block port 80 to prevent you from hosting on your site - now there are workarounds to that, but are difficult and timely to setup.
Rick_E
9-1-03, 08:34 PM
You can solve the non-static IP address problem with dynamic DNS redirection from places like http://no-ip.org.
notix
9-2-03, 12:39 AM
Wow, never thought about that... I thought on cable you have a static IP address? Dial up was the dynamic one...

Thanks! I need to check my cable provider - if I get it, before I get it.

But about the others things, e.g. pop3 email... how would I transfer that over?
B&T
9-2-03, 12:44 AM
Most cable services let you pay extra for a static IP address. Usually about double the regular rate.

Just like dial-up, with cable you get an IP when you start-up. When you re-start you may get another one (or you may not). You don't re-start as often with a cable modem, but you still do (power outage, temp service outage).