Home Server to Serve Websites & Files

[boodaddymac]

Anyone know how hard it would be to set up a server to host a website, and to send links to clients of videos to view the project I am working on?

I would also like to have it serve my domain name email. I have a computer with the following I would like to set up for the server. I think I got to install Windows Server on it. Is that correct?

There is a local company that said it would cost me $10,000 to have them do it.

AMD X2 4200 Processor
Asus A8N-SLI Premium Motherboard
2 500gb Western Digital Hard Drives
4GB Corsair Memory
Don't know if the rest matters. CD-Rom/DVD/Video/ So On...

Thanks for any help.

[optimus_prime]

i don't know what is the situation where you live but usualy isp providers frown upon hosting servers on your home line.

why don't you just rent a virtual server from an isp and buid your site there and if traffic demands it rent a dedicated server?

[S!X]

I think you're better off to just get yourself some good web hosting, it's not all that expensive.

[boodaddymac]

I think you're better off to just get yourself some good web hosting, it's not all that expensive.


The only thing that scars me is the computers now go through Outlook and have all there emails with that. The email is being accessed from a local computer company we use, and they are using there servers for the emails. If I go with the web server online I could keep the same email names but would I loose all my current emails that are stored on that server, or is there a way to back them up?

Thanks for the help!

[tesco]

Apache+php+mysql
No need for windows server. Can install apache to windows xp/vista/linux.
Not sure about which program for the smtp server though, you'll have to google that.

[rippinitup4fun]

Give Xampp a try. As rossco said there is no need to use windows server. The newest Xampp windows installer is very easy to install (pretty much click, click, finish) and contains:

The distribution for Windows 98, NT, 2000, 2003, XP and Vista. This version contains: Apache, MySQL, PHP + PEAR, Perl, mod_php, mod_perl, mod_ssl, OpenSSL, phpMyAdmin, Webalizer, Mercury Mail Transport System for Win32 and NetWare Systems v3.32, Ming, JpGraph, FileZilla FTP Server, mcrypt, eAccelerator, SQLite, and WEB-DAV + mod_auth_mysql.

Also many add-ons can be got and there is a "lite" version containing only:

XAMPP Lite is a very reduced version of XAMPP with Apache 2.2.6 + PHP 5.2.5 + MySQL 5.0.51 + phpMyAdmin 2.11.3 + OpenSSL 0.9.8g + SQLite 2.8.15. For lovers! For the lite versions exist no upgrades or addons. XAMPP Lite is an only "Take-Run-Delete-Forget-it" package.

But since you want it to serve your domain name email I would suggest the full Distro as Mercury mail is included and it "Includes POP3, SMTP, IMAP modules".

http://www.apachefriends.org/en/index.html

Or
http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp-windows.html

[boodaddymac]

Give Xampp a try. As rossco said there is no need to use windows server. The newest Xampp windows installer is very easy to install (pretty much click, click, finish) and contains:

The distribution for Windows 98, NT, 2000, 2003, XP and Vista. This version contains: Apache, MySQL, PHP + PEAR, Perl, mod_php, mod_perl, mod_ssl, OpenSSL, phpMyAdmin, Webalizer, Mercury Mail Transport System for Win32 and NetWare Systems v3.32, Ming, JpGraph, FileZilla FTP Server, mcrypt, eAccelerator, SQLite, and WEB-DAV + mod_auth_mysql.

Also many add-ons can be got and there is a "lite" version containing only:

XAMPP Lite is a very reduced version of XAMPP with Apache 2.2.6 + PHP 5.2.5 + MySQL 5.0.51 + phpMyAdmin 2.11.3 + OpenSSL 0.9.8g + SQLite 2.8.15. For lovers! For the lite versions exist no upgrades or addons. XAMPP Lite is an only "Take-Run-Delete-Forget-it" package.

But since you want it to serve your domain name email I would suggest the full Distro as Mercury mail is included and it "Includes POP3, SMTP, IMAP modules".

http://www.apachefriends.org/en/index.html

Or
http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp-windows.html



That Looks Awesome!!! I'll give it a try for sure. Thanks for the help. I really appreaciate it.

Thanks Again

[4play]

Is this machine going to be a dedicated box for serving a site with video content ?

how many people will be accessing the site and how big are the videos ?

what kinda bandwidth do you have where your thinking of placing the box ?

If your just making static sites that stream video without needing mysql then you can pretty much saturate a T1 connection with a pentium 1 166mhz machine.

postfix (http://www.postfix.org/) on linux is the way to go for email by the way.