What is actually needed to run a server from home?
i.e website/forums etc, the whole lot
The basic server itself, what specs would be recommended?
How fast an internet connection?
Would you recommend FreeBSD as an OS or different?
Ultimately it would just be the cost of the internet connection and any hardware/software upgrades that you want. Is that correct?
What about security, anything extra needed for that?
Hope any of this makes sense!

i wanna know too...

-Elvadar

It depends on how successful you want it to turn out. It's possible to run a website on Windows XP and a 56K modem.

To do it successfully though, you'll need a T1 connection, redundant power supplies, the machine will need to be dedicated, i.e. not your home PC that you'll be using for other stuff, you'll need to know how to manage all the various parts of a server etc. etc. It's not easy or cheap and in virtually all cases it'd be better to get a server from a datacenter.

I've run a web/email server from home for about 2 years without a hitch. It is run on a P4 1.7 Ghz, with about 768 megs of RAM. It is an old cheap Compaq computer, but it hasn't given my any trouble whatsoever....

I have 10 mbit dedicated... like all Swedish BBB Customers have!

Mental note: become Swedish.

I would like to immigrate! Need a roommate?

My God! Is that for both download and upload?

And I thought that my 3M was fast and that is only for download......

TTFN

Alright for some

You can install Apache on a Windows machine, I have Apache, MySQL and PHP on mine. But I use it for testing purposes only - there are so many things that could go wrong that not spending $5 or $10 a month for hosting could come back to bite you in the you-know-what.

There are installers to speed the process - I like XAMPP. From Sourceforge.net:

XAMPP is a very easy to install Apache Distribution for Linux, Solaris, Windows and MacOS X. The package includes the Apache web server, MySQL, PHP, Perl, a FTP server and phpMyAdmin.

on edit - if you anticipate a lot more traffic than a couple of gigs, then you might want to investigate reseller hosting. My organization hosts with <<mod edit: no advertising please>> - they are EXCELLENT. $35/mo gets a nice chunk of space/bandwidth and awesome support.

Also You'd need a static DNS for Your dynamic IP http://www.no-ip.com/

Yes, it's true, we swedes have it good! We can also (speaking of us BBB customers again) get 100 mbit for about 100 USD a month (10 mbit is about 40 USD) but I don't want that since they have capped it to only 300 gigabytes per month...

So I will have to be happy with only 10 mbit! (full duplex, yes)

The good thing about it is that it's not Cable or ADSL, we all have a network outlets in our appartments... so it's just plug and play!

Very nice!!!!!

As my test Skin server I use a 1Ghz (Intel) and a 900Mhz (AMD) Computer. They have brandnew powersupplies, and run a small site. (Nick) Apache, etc.

As for Dan's board, much more powerful system, redundant Powersupply, the works. Linux?
(Dan)

Linux (OS) is really good for running servers, I suggest getting a Mandriva PowerPack as it is mainly for servers.

The server hardware itself shouldnt be too much of a problem, i imagine its a case of finding the most powerful pc/server that can be budgeted for. Same with the internet connection that gets used.

What im most interested in is what software will be needed (in full) and how much will it cost.

Im very new to this kind of project and pretty ignorant as to what will be needed.

I am assuming all i will need are:

1. A decent OS (which is best for running servers?)
2. Server software (Apache, FTP, mysql etc)

On "normal" (paid/remote) hosting you are provided with a web interface to manage sql databases, FTP access etc...

Is there such a thing that i could install for that?

If so, which ones are they, how much are they and can any be recommended by users here?

Cost wise it will have to be fairly cheap because most of the available money will be going on the server itself, although all options will be considered as its important i get a system up and running.

Thanks for responding everyone

Well i use to think XAMPP was good, but as Ark pointed out over time it sucks and it did i recommend:
WAMP for Windows XP
http://www.wampserver.com/en/index.php

Slight different but I run a little server in my work place. A kind of 'co-location' if you like.

Primarly I did it so I could use the likes of Dreamweaver directly without the need for FTP. Call it lazyness

All I run is a Windows 2003 Standard 5CAL edition with IIS, PHP, MS-SQL (the free MSDE works just fine!) and MySQL amongst other little things.

All it is 1.4Ghz AMD with 512mb and it runs perfectly and handles 7-8 sites, some of which will push 20-40GB in a week

Here she is:

Click to view attachment

Well this comp runs a small server for private use

Its a Compaq with Windows XP Home Edition SP2 and its got Cable

I have an old computer under my bed, I think it's 300Mhz and 64mb RAM - something daft like that. It runs an IRC server on a small Linux OS distro just great!

It can just about handle HTML pages too, but PHP is deadly slow.

Not sure about other panels, but with Plesk (www.swsoft.com) you can run 1 domain on it without buying a licence.

Plesk is a really decent panel for Linux and doesn't require daily patching (unlike cPanel for instance). You would be well advised to go with Linux (probably Fedora)/Plesk/Apache/MySQL etc.

With Windows you have licencing issues (unless you "obtain" a copy from somewhere) and then you will also find you will drain things a bit 'cos of the UI which is largely unnecessary for a server of course.

emigrate, dude, emigrate

Does XAMPP keep up-to-date versions of the packages?

XAMPP 1.4.13 published.



The news:

XAMPP 1.4.13 now with new versions of ...

PHP 5.0.4 + PHP 4.3.11,
MySQL 4.1.11,
FileZilla FTP Server 0.9.6a,
phpMyAdmin 2.6.1-pl3,
OpenSSL 0.9.7f,
libmcrypt.dll,
and more ...

Get XAMPP, its the best imho. I am using it for almost a couple of months now and never ever had any trouble.

Dont you emigrate out of somewhere adn imigrate into somwehere.

So either would be valid really..

Hate to spoil the fun of discussing all the technical issues (me want a swedish dsl, too).

But in 2001, when I started serving a data base that replicated our 1951 high school yearbook and allowed it to be updated by users from from my Verizon (USA) connection, they shut it down Didn't even send me a notice. I only learned about the shutoff when it went off line. When I contacted them they said it was a TOS violation - and that's what the fine print, which I had not noticed, confirmed

Since that time, Verzon sales people probably wonder why I simply hangup, without a word, when they call pushing their service.

So just be sure, before you go through all that trouble, that your ISP won't do a VGerizon on you.

I've had quite a bit of experience with running a server at-home and I dont recommend it... A cable/dsl connection cannot handle much traffic.... I tried running my own web service when I was in high school... And let's just say I leared my lesson when it comes to hosting... Cable/DSL vs T1 is like a drinking straw vs a sub-way tunnel...

If you want to host a server for private use, like for development, that's ok... But it really sucks when you have so much traffic (and really not much traffic at all) that clogs your connection so much you cant ping out.

Plus most ISP's (cable, dsl, etc..) say in their TOS you can't host a public server on your connection. When I did it I never got caught, but if you do it could result in termination or a severe cap on your connection. It happened to one of my friends before...

Whilst you are going to run the server from home, the bottleneck is fallback and connection more then the OS. So choose the OS you know the best.

Many DSL providers do not care as much, as the line is not shared with other users. With cable internet, multiple people share the same line, so when one is hogging the bandwidth, they will get kicked off.

At my office we have all our servers around us in the rack's..

They are mainly 3.2 x 4 mhz CPU's and 5gb ram

They use linux and Cent os and are mainly used for client managment systems like Modenbill..

This is just one of our small servers that run's www.mondarkbilling.info.

I also have made my home pc and laptop i home server, just installed basic control panel ( zPanel) apache, sql and perl and it works great and i think my pc is only a 2.8 athlon and 1gb ram works alright.

When we get our 3meg connection I might set one up. We have a 128mb RAM computer with a 5gig hard drive lying around somewhere. It is difficult to get something large especially when you have a budget of next to nothing (I am 13).

I've got a 1.8GHz desktop with 512MB of RAM and an 80GB HDD running Fedora Core 3. I'm working it as an internal server, however, since my ISP doesn't allow fileservers over the internet.

I'm running a small DNS server from my office room. Its a PII 500 with 128 Mb ram on a 4 Mbps line (untill BT guy sort out our leased connection next week), it works like charm for past 3 years I had only 1 power supply failure in long time.

As soon as i get my leased installed I'll sort out a very nice IBM server for my private forum.

You have the same computer I have.

Anyways, a good tool to use is Apache2Triad. It's a small server that installs Apache, PHP, MySQL, and other tools along with a control panel (similar to cPanel) of its own.

heeh thats one of many i have