Hi,

I want to run a server at home. It has an 80 GB hard drive, 512 MB memory (it might have been 200 something but I'm pretty sure it was 512), around 2.7 GHz proccesor, and is running Windows XP Home Edition. I know that OS isn't really used as a server platform but I don't know how to work Linux/Unix and can't afford Windows Server 2003.
I plan on running PHP, MySQL, maybe ASP, MsSQL, and of course Apache and have already installed PHP, MySQL, and Apache successfully on the Windows XP OS. It would be on a cable internet connection and is about to be completely wiped so I can reinstall the OS so I can get rid of anything that is unwanted all at once easily and be assured it is gone (it is currently wired high and low with viruses).
I am already pretty sure it isn't my best option and probably not a good idea but I don't have enough money for a paid month to month dedicated server.
Should I go through with it and if I do what are some problems I should expect? I don't keep track but how often does an IP address change on a cable connection? Every time it changes I should have name server problems so cable wouldn't be a problem, right?
I almost forgot to mention this server won't be expecting a really high load or anything. I just plan on running around 7 very small sites on it and maybe running Ventrilo, Teamspeak, and/or Shoutcast on it. All with light use. And will I be able to add domains to it easily? I'm sort of new to setting up my own servers but I have been a developer for quite some time now so I really need to expand my knowledge anyways so it's not only a way to get free hosting but to help me learn more. Hopefully in the near future Linux/Unix after I get everything set up on Windows.

First question is how much could you afford a month? Dedicated servers are expensive but you may not need one (I am not sure about running vent, ts, or shout cast) but small sites take up relatively small amount of rescourses and cheap shared hosting is around $3 a month, sometimes slightly more or less.

Second question; do you know what the bandwidth limit is on your ISP a month? You may exceed it and your sites would suffer because of it. I am running 3 sites right now and they only use about 1.3 GB a month but if I was hosting from home I would far surpass my 10GB limit from my ISP just by gaming not to mention hosting my website. You will also have nameserver problems unless you have a static IP add.

As far as the domain names go you have to register them with Icann. I am not sure if you can register one on your own, I think you have to have a broker (I think that is what they are called)

Hopefully some one else can help you more than me, but I really suggest using some type of shared hosting.

Well I currently am but like I said it is more just to learn what how to run one but at the same time get some small use of it. So Vent, TS, and ShoutCast are bad ideas? I guess they would take the most data transfer.

I am not saying they are bad ideas but I am just not sure of the requirements for them.

I think it's a costly thing running a server at home. Do you have quite enough experience for it?

I've been doing PHP, (X)HTML, MySQL, JavaScript, Ajax (Well.. not really a language but a style), etc. for 4 years. I know how to set up Apache, PHP, and MySQL so besides figuring out Linux I should be able to.
And it shouldn't be costly. I already have all the hardware.

Your biggest issue by FAR will be bandwidth. For anything commercial or serious, I wouldn't recommend it (if you have the hardware, just colocate it somewhere close by that has a decent pipe instead).

If you're home hosting, that's also quite often a violation of your ISP's ToS agreement. It would only take one random idiot complaining and your Intarweb is cut off.

Personally, I wouldn't do this. I have a server myself at home, but it's a production server. I don't do anything live with it.

Is there anywhere that offers a connection with more bandwidth and will most likely be able to provide it where i live? Like some places where you just sign up over the net.

Depends, where do you live ?

Why not to just buy a VSP for $20-30/month? Probably you pay a couple of bucks for your Internet connection and your computer so is it really worth trying to set up 'the hosting' on your own computer? And you just have 512 MB RAM (or 256 MB as you said you may have). I do not get a good feeling about this, your computer is not meant to be a host! Are you really sure you have protected against Internet attacks? Just installing F-Secure or Symantec firewall is not just enough to do when setting up a hosting. I recommend buying a cheap VPS.

Running a server from home is a pain, and not necessarily cheap. You will have to get a 10 mbps connection, ateast(the upload speed will be 3-4 for such connection, which is how it feels from outside). Also you need to take care of the power, hardware, firewall etc. If you need to host 5-6 small sites a normal hostmonster/hostgator account with 7-10 USD per month wil be enough!

I'd not advise you to do it 'cause you'll have much pain and no gain.

I would recommend an unmanaged VPS is perhaps the way to go if you want to learn additional server admin stuff, and have the full control of your server. These are pretty cheap and will probably offer better performance/reliability for you.

Whether or not you have (or can get) the appropriate bandwidth for your home will depend on where you live. As someone else mentioned, many ISPs have something in their ToS that prevent you from hosting stuff via your 'net connection - and this is probably most applicable to those offering enough upstream bandwidth for your needs.

Even if you're not getting much concurrent traffic, you'd still want your visitors to be able to download (even pages) from you at a decent rate - so for example a typical UK ADSL broadband connection has only 256 Kbps upstream, which isn't really enough for any website IMO.

By all means run some sort of development server at home across a LAN etc. but for production (i.e. live - not sure if Adam uses different terminology to me for that, or if he made a mistake in his post), you should use a server with appropriate power (hardware) and connectivity.

Also other important considerations:

• (physical) security - can you afford to lose the contents of your server and have it offline if it is stolen from your house? Can you also afford the downtime etc.
• scalability - can you easily upgrade the server hardware / connectivity if you need to due to growing site(s) - a VPS can usually be scaled with zero downtime, and certainly we can migrate customers to a full dedicated server (+ clusters etc.) without downtime too. Even if a little downtime isn't an issue for your purposes, the inconvenience of moving everything from your home server to some other server may be a problem?

Don't misunderstand me here though - if you have the necessary equipment / connectivity etc. then by all means give it a go. However, make sure that you know what you're getting into and that you've thought through various "what if" scenarios.

With regards to co-locating your existing hardware at a DC, I would suggest that unless you've got a rackmount server this will probably be overly expensive - but it will also vary depending on where you live.

i tried this a while ago, my power bill went up a hell of alot, BUT...

i was making money from the clients i was hosting, so therefore i belive it will be worth it,

Regards,
jonny.

As everyone else said, it's a bad idea and you really shouldn't do it.

Sure, it's easy to set up, but you'll only cause problems later on. Here are some things that could go wrong:

- What happens if your internet drops out? No site!
- What happens if the power cuts out? No site!
- What happens if the house falls down? No site!

All those things are answered if you use a VPS or a dedicated server.. its just not worth it in the long run mate.