How to host a web site
aka Cheap web hosting
The purpose of this article is to describe how to host a web site on
your own MS Windows computer.
Leveraging your own hardware is a cheap way to set up a web site
particularly when using off the shelf, free software available on the internet.
It is not particularly difficult to set up a web host once you know
what software to use and how to configure it.
However, it is not always easy to know where to start when you haven’t
done it before.
I am assuming that you have some form of permanently connected broadband
access and that your broadband router/modem is able to pass through traffic on
port 80 (the default web server port). I
am also assuming that you have a registered domain name that points to your IP
address and have generated some basic web content for your website.
This website is hosted on an old laptop of mine, now considered
reasonably under powered. It is a
Pentium III, 933 MHz, with 256MB RAM, and 20 GB HD. This computer gives perfectly acceptable
performance for web hosting and for running additional services such as
databases and scripting languages.
Choosing the Operating System for your web host
There are many other websites that describe how to set up a web host on
Linux, however very few describe how to set up on Windows.
I would recommend using Windows XP Pro, Windows 2k or Windows NT. I would not recommend Windows 9x, ME or XP
Home. These tend to be less robust and
their security features are limited.
Whatever OS you choose to use, always ensure that you have the latest
Service Packs from Microsoft.
Please note: on newer versions
of WinXP a firewall is included. Please ensure that this has port 80 opened
to allow it to talk to your web server.
I would also recommend that you have a virus checker (eg: Symantec/Norton Antivirus – purchase from www.symantec.com ) with automatic updates
on and an anti spyware program (eg:
Windows Defender, formally known as AntiSpyware –
download from www.microsoft.com ) with
automatic updates on.
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