Self hosting

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Apr 19th, 2002, 09:11 PM
metalguy

Self hosting

ight, heres the deal, i want to start hosting web pages with a computer. I have a few questions about it thogh. First off, im aiming for something like www.angelfire.com, but without banners and popups and stuff like that, free. who would have thought right? now i have this old computer i could use for a server, its got like 10 GB hardrive and stuff like that, i only intend to host a few sites. Question #1 if i were to do somethng like angelfire, what kind of computer would i need, what kind of connection, and what kind of server? I have Abyss web server for my home computer, and it works pretty well, and its free, would that work? ok, on to question number 2. What would i need to know to do somethng like that, i mean everything, languages, servers, databases, costs, everything. Then on to my last question......
you know how angelfire.com and other hosting sites have those
editors for HTML? well, how do they do that. like you have an online editor, and you you can use the advanced on, where it is direct HTML, or you can use the prewritten pages, well, how would you set somehting liek that up? im talking about everything, the ouput of the code, and setting it up automaticlly, and all that, so thanks in advance if you answer some of my questions and all
Dec 15th, 2002, 07:09 AM
jamieoboth

Well..... If you were hosting a page, and lots of people were acesssing different information from that page at the same time, the hdd has got to constantly move the reading head back and forward, to get all the info. Having 2 smaller hdds which total to the same amount of storage space is better than one, large one, as it will be quicker to retrieve the info. Same goes for processor chips... go for a dual system, if you can
As for connection.... as fast as you can get, really. Lowest speed connection, I would think, would have to be a medium level broadband connection, about 20/25k per second. The server.... Abyss, is, I guess ok, but you may want to consider using something like Apache, which I find better.
Languages needed.... CGI and be able to use MySQL, HTML, PHP are probably the least you should know (I have probably missed something out there...)
Costs depend on what you use. If you're buying new equipment, go through a Traders magazine, not through *shudders* PC World. As for servers, you could, if you splashed out, buy a relatively decent Sun server for about 700 quid (it was that price when I last checked).
As for the HTML editors, I have no idea. Try asking Angelfire etc, or even just try somewhere like

www.supportfreaks.com

I hope that this info is helpful and accurate.

Cheers,

James
Dec 15th, 2002, 12:39 PM
mendhak

Re: Self hosting

I haven't read the above post, I'm going to answer it from what I know:

Quote:

Originally posted by metalguy
[B]ight, heres the deal, i want to start hosting web pages with a computer. I have a few questions about it thogh. First off, im aiming for something like www.angelfire.com, but without banners and popups and stuff like that, free.

who would have thought right?

Lots of people :D

Quote:

now i have this old computer i could use for a server, its got like 10 GB hardrive and stuff like that, i only intend to host a few sites.

Question #1 if i were to do somethng like angelfire, what kind of computer would i need, what kind of connection, and what kind of server? I have Abyss web server for my home computer, and it works pretty well, and its free, would that work?

If the websites are going to have heavy traffic, then your server won't be able to process so many requests at once. If it's going to be a predictably low traffic website, then it should be sufficient. If it's going to be a heavy or potentially heavy traffic website, then get a good processor and multiple hard disks.

You should also have a good internet connection and make sure your ISP will permit this much bandwidth usage.

I have never heard of Abyss webserver, but if it does the job, then good, but if your websites require server side scripting, then make sure that Abyss allows or supports that.

Quote:

ok, on to question number 2. What would i need to know to do somethng like that, i mean everything, languages, servers, databases, costs, everything.

Not much really. It's basically placing the files of each website in its directory, and then specifying each folder for each website, so that any request for a website goes to the proper folder.

Costs? Are these websites for a friend? Charge them for the electricity bill and the net connection charges, plus the cost of a free pizza for everyday of the month. :D

Quote:

Then on to my last question......
you know how angelfire.com and other hosting sites have those
editors for HTML? well, how do they do that. like you have an online editor, and you you can use the advanced on, where it is direct HTML, or you can use the prewritten pages, well, how would you set somehting liek that up? im talking about everything, the ouput of the code, and setting it up automaticlly, and all that, so thanks in advance if you answer some of my questions and all

If you're planning a large scale, full-blown hosting, such as angelfire or geocities, like you mention, then I advise you to get a better server. The HTML editor you talk about is actually a web app, you probably have to write it yourself using some server side scripting language. This will then require you to have a knowledge of some server side language and databases. How much do you know? I can tell you it's not a one man job.

From this above paragraph, I infer that you wish to create a user control panel also. More scripting.

I hope I've answered most, if not all, of your questions.
Dec 16th, 2002, 10:06 AM
jamieoboth

Here's the code for a SIMPLE HTML editor.... courtesy of Javascript.internet.com





<HEAD>

<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript">





</SCRIPT>



<BODY>

<CENTER>
<P>Instructions:<OL>
<LI>Fill out the table with stuff you want to appear on your page.
<LI>Click on Generate Source.
<LI>Make adjustments if you want in the text area.
<LI>Click on View to check out your page.
<LI>If you want to save the source as a file you will have to cut and paste to a text editor.</OL>
<HR>
<FORM ACTION="">
<TABLE border=2>
<TR><TD>Page Title:<TD>
<input type="text" name="Name" size=30>
<TR><TD>Your E-Mail Address(*):<TD>
<input type="text" name="EMail" size=30><TR><TD colspan=2>Your favorite sites:(*)
<TR><TD>URL:<TD>Title:
<TR><TD><input type="text" name="Fav1URL" size=30>
<TD><input type="text" name="Fav1Title" size=30>
<TR><TD><input type="text" name="Fav2URL" size=30>
<TD><input type="text" name="Fav2Title" size=30>
<TR><TD><input type="text" name="Fav3URL" size=30>
<TD><input type="text" name="Fav3Title" size=30>
<TR><TD><input type="text" name="Fav4URL" size=30>
<TD><input type="text" name="Fav4Title" size=30>
<TR><TD><input type="text" name="Fav5URL" size=30>
<TD><input type="text" name="Fav5Title" size=30>
<TR><TD><input type="text" name="Fav6URL" size=30>
<TD><input type="text" name="Fav6Title" size=30>
<TR><TD colspan=2>Body(*):
<TR align=center><TD colspan=2>
<input type="Button" value="Header1" onClick="AddText(this.form,1);">
<input type="Button" value="Header2" onClick="AddText(this.form,2);">
<input type="Button" value="Header3" onClick="AddText(this.form,3);">
<input type="button" value="Bold" onClick="AddText(this.form,4);">
<input type="button" value="Italic" onClick="AddText(this.form,5);">
<BR><input type="button" value="Paragraph" onClick="AddText(this.form,6);">
<input type="button" value="Break" onClick="AddText(this.form,7);">
<input type="button" value="Line" onClick="AddText(this.form,8);">
<input type="button" value="Link" onClick="AddText(this.form,9);">
<input type="button" value="Graphic" onClick="AddText(this.form,10);">
<BR>
<textarea name="Text1" Rows=8 Cols=60></textarea>
<TR align=center><TD colspan=2><input type="button" value="Generate Source" onClick="Generate(this.form);"><caption>(*=optional field)</caption>
</TABLE>
<HR>
<input type="button" value="Reset" onClick="ResetPage(this.form);">
<input type="button" value="About" onClick="alert('This JavaScript Copyright (C) Tim Helvey')">
<input type="button" value="View" onClick="View(this.form);"><BR>
<textarea name="Text2" rows=8 Cols=70></textarea>
</FORM>
</CENTER>

<p><center>
<font face="arial, helvetica" size="-2">Free JavaScripts provided<br>
by <a href="http://javascriptsource.com">The JavaScript Source</a></font>
</center><p>


:) :) :)
Dec 16th, 2002, 03:46 PM
mendhak

You might want to search for the other scripts as well then. :D