setting up a machine as a server

[mojo69]

Can anyone tell me a good source for information on setting up a machine as a server. Now I know I would need to get a static ip but what I need help on is setting up the machine. I have nerver done anything like this before so I would need something with a newbie in mind. Not sure if this is the right forum for this.


THanks

[RobDog888]

You mean a Server as in a Domain Controller or a Server as in a Web Server?

[mojo69]

I am sorry, a web server. Hosting my own site is what I have in mind.

[RobDog888]

What OS are you running? Windows Server or Windows XP? Etc.

You need to be able to run Internet Information Server services.

[mojo69]

Right I know about IIS. I have some experience running IIS. The OS that would be used is win2k. It has IIS installed. That works as I can set it up to run locally.

I was just reading about Apache, that is normally associated with Java correct? Would that be better to use than a microsoft product?

[mojo69]

Do I develop the site, drop it in wwwroot and there it is. As long as I have a static IP? What are the configs for IIS to allow outside traffic to reach the wwwroot folder?

[RobDog888]

Its not really my area but I like Ms products when running other MS products.

Basically if you want it for public hosting of a web site then you need a static IP, decent connection speed, like dsl, and IIS configured to your local website in your wwwroot folder.

[mojo69]

Sounds simple enough. I have cable right now but plan on checking out dsl, seeing how charter has decided that they are not getting enough money out of me!! I would think that cable would be getting cheaper not more expensive since it is less and less costly to maintain. But I digress. Do you think I can find the settings(configs for IIS) on MSDN? Not even thought of looking there yet.

[RobDog888]

I think visualAd has a tutorial on setting up something concerning webservers. I dont think IIS was complicated at all. It was just like a wizard to step through each step. You should be able to find visualAds thread or search on MSDN. ;)

[Hack]

Here (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&c2coff=1&q=%22setting+up+a+web+server%22) is a bunch of information on setting up a web server. Some of it is old, but the principles remain the same.

[Kasracer]

I was just reading about Apache, that is normally associated with Java correct? Would that be better to use than a microsoft product?
Apache is an open-source web server. It has nothing to do with java (thankfully).

Apache has been in use longer than IIS so it has matured and the majority of websites are operated with Apache.

You can use Apache with Windows, however; it's better to run Apache on FreeBSD, Linux, or Unix where it was developed rather than the port for Windows which can have some problems.

So, basically, use IIS if you're on Windows. Use Apache if you're on anything else or if you want to use other technologies like PHP or MySQL (don't know how well they work with IIS, or if they even work with it but it's a breeze to setup with Apache)

[tr333]

Using Apache with Microsoft Windows - Apache HTTP Server (http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/platform/windows.html)

Netcraft: Web Server Survey Archives (http://news.netcraft.com/archives/web_server_survey.html)
- 70% of web servers run Apache, while 21% run IIS.

[k1ll3rdr4g0n]

Its not really my area but I like Ms products when running other MS products.

Basically if you want it for public hosting of a web site then you need a static IP, decent connection speed, like dsl, and IIS configured to your local website in your wwwroot folder.

Acctually I disagree :p, if you have a dynamic IP you can setup dynamic DNS with a free service such as dyndns.org or freedns.afraid.org (I'm sure if you google free dns youll get a lot more).

[RobDog888]

Yes, thats true but thats why I posted "Basically". I didnt want to get into every possible solution. :)