Setting up my own linux server?

john_howard_fisher

hi all

first time on this forum part of MSE.

need some help please. i want to setup my own linux server to host my own site. anyone done this before? how long does it take? how hard is it?

anyone point me in the right direction? an easy step-by-step guide would be much appreciated.

thanks

asbokid

john_howard_fisher wrote: »

hi all

first time on this forum part of MSE.

need some help please. i want to setup my own linux server to host my own site. anyone done this before? how long does it take? how hard is it?

anyone point me in the right direction? an easy step-by-step guide would be much appreciated.

thanks

• Download a suitable Linux distribution (debian is probably one of the best for this)
• enable and setup apache, the open source webserver
• register a domain name (johnhowardfisher.com is still free)
• configure the nameserver record with your domain registrar
• point the www subdomain to your (static) home broadband IP address, and
• host away!

you might also want to run your own mailserver to manage your own email. exim is one of the best open source mail servers. it was developed at the university of cambridge.

steve1980

Don't forget to leave your computer on! Turn it off and lose your website!

paddyrg

I am going to possibly appear slightly patrnonising for a second, do excuse me if I do, but do you really want to set up your own Linux server just to host a website? Is 'host a website' what you are trying to achieve? If so, use one of the many, many cheap or free web hosts and they will manage all the linuxy bits, maintenence, power, connectivity etc for you. The margins on that are tiny, self-hosting will not compete even in terms of leccy!

Now, if it is a learning project, go right ahead...but in addition to the above, I suggest you check with your ISP that you have a static IP before starting - most will give you a dynamic IP or even just NAT you, in which case you have added problems (the world has now run out officially of IP4 namespace addresses, IP6 is still poorly supported, so you may have to pay extra for a static IP).

Also, if you are wondering what hardwae to use, have a look at 'plug' hardware, why not? Under $100, lookiing like an adaptor plug with a few extra ports, these are small, modestly powerful servers with linux/apache and you can add USB storage, add a wired network cable, and have a home server in a heartbeat. They use negligible power and run silently, a big plus compared with having a whirring blade spinning away!

bingo_bango

Check the terms of your broadband contract also.

I did similar to you a few years ago as a home project. I'm on VM and I was able to trace a number of DOS attacks back to the VM servers. I rang them and was told that they had no issue with my running a home server, and had not taken any action against me, but the logs told a different story. It got to the point where the server was flooded and normal requests were going unanswered, so I just gave up.

Not worth the hassle IMHO.

john_howard_fisher

thanks all

steve1980 wrote: »

Don't forget to leave your computer on! Turn it off and lose your website!

thanks for advise, many a time people fail on the most obvious things

paddyrg wrote: »

I am going to possibly appear slightly patrnonising for a second, do excuse me if I do, but do you really want to set up your own Linux server just to host a website? Is 'host a website' what you are trying to achieve? If so, use one of the many, many cheap or free web hosts and they will manage all the linuxy bits, maintenence, power, connectivity etc for you. The margins on that are tiny, self-hosting will not compete even in terms of leccy!

Now, if it is a learning project, go right ahead...but in addition to the above, I suggest you check with your ISP that you have a static IP before starting - most will give you a dynamic IP or even just NAT you, in which case you have added problems (the world has now run out officially of IP4 namespace addresses, IP6 is still poorly supported, so you may have to pay extra for a static IP).

Also, if you are wondering what hardwae to use, have a look at 'plug' hardware, why not? Under $100, lookiing like an adaptor plug with a few extra ports, these are small, modestly powerful servers with linux/apache and you can add USB storage, add a wired network cable, and have a home server in a heartbeat. They use negligible power and run silently, a big plus compared with having a whirring blade spinning away!

thanks for advise. no you are not patronising. the site is getting larger and we are hitting PHP limits on virtual hosting. this means we cant implement additional features that we need to improve the site.

what is "plug" hardware. tried googling it but comes up with electrical plug. links appreciated.

bingo_bango wrote: »

Check the terms of your broadband contract also.

I did similar to you a few years ago as a home project. I'm on VM and I was able to trace a number of DOS attacks back to the VM servers. I rang them and was told that they had no issue with my running a home server, and had not taken any action against me, but the logs told a different story. It got to the point where the server was flooded and normal requests were going unanswered, so I just gave up.

DOS attacks are illegal. you could sue them for that? i have heard of stories of VM using underhand techniques.

Not worth the hassle IMHO.

perhaps. can't implement features due to shared hosting limits.

victor2

Maybe you just need a more powerful hosting service. Many hosting companies offer different levels, including dedicated servers if you really need it.
Takes a lot of the potential problems away from you like having insufficient bandwidth, backup connectivity and backup power.
Of course you pay for those extra things, but that's business.

paddyrg

Plug computing...

http://www.plugcomputer.org/
http://www.marvell.com/platforms/plug_computer/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GuruPlug

But if your sole motivation is a better scaling on your web host, talk to your host. They will have a route to give you more power for an upgrade price, or alternatively you could even look at an EC2 instance from Amazon AWS (a virtual non-shared machine, on a shared backbone - scales wonderfully with demand).

One last thing to consider - is your php badly written? It is not the most powerful way of building a web app, and inefficient code (wasteful loops, or more db access than necessary, etc) will give you grief. It may be that the server/hosting package is perfectly capable if the app has a redraft to clean it up? Just a thought :-)

Linbox

If you just want a web presence, Like others have said speak to your provider. Get a dedicated virtual server, it will provide more through put than one connected to you broadband connection - unless you are running a T1 or better connection or are in a educational environment with their top rate connections.

If you still want to set up your own server goggle "setup web server on ubuntu" or look on howtoforge
It would be far more hassle than getting a better host, cause youd have to do all the set up, maintenance and all the programming and web development your self. As you are asking for help -" need some help please. i want to setup my own linux server to host my own site. anyone done this before? how long does it take? how hard is it?"
I doubt you have the experience or expertise to get the protect up and running easily; just like the rest of us.

Best of luck

kwikbreaks

john_howard_fisher wrote: »

the site is getting larger and we are hitting PHP limits on virtual hosting.

What exactly do you mean by that?

If it is scripts timing out that is likely to be because they are badly written and inefficient.

If you mean there is a lot of traffic overloading your hosting then certainly putting it on a home server is going to fix that because most home broadband has an abysmally slow upstream so the traffic will be so limited virtually no processor power will be needed at all.

If it's something else then what?

john_howard_fisher

paddyrg wrote: »

Plug computing...

http://www.plugcomputer.org/
http://www.marvell.com/platforms/plug_computer/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GuruPlug

But if your sole motivation is a better scaling on your web host, talk to your host. They will have a route to give you more power for an upgrade price, or alternatively you could even look at an EC2 instance from Amazon AWS (a virtual non-shared machine, on a shared backbone - scales wonderfully with demand).

One last thing to consider - is your php badly written? It is not the most powerful way of building a web app, and inefficient code (wasteful loops, or more db access than necessary, etc) will give you grief. It may be that the server/hosting package is perfectly capable if the app has a redraft to clean it up? Just a thought :-)

thanks for plug idea will look into it. it seems interesting.

EC2 instance from Amazon AWS looks good. what do they mean by "instance"? we would be running a wordpress blog with maybe a few subdomains and forums etc.

how do prices compare to competitors? are they good value for money?

Linbox wrote: »

If you just want a web presence, Like others have said speak to your provider. Get a dedicated virtual server, it will provide more through put than one connected to you broadband connection - unless you are running a T1 or better connection or are in a educational environment with their top rate connections.

If you still want to set up your own server goggle "setup web server on ubuntu" or look on howtoforge
It would be far more hassle than getting a better host, cause youd have to do all the set up, maintenance and all the programming and web development your self. As you are asking for help -" need some help please. i want to setup my own linux server to host my own site. anyone done this before? how long does it take? how hard is it?"
I doubt you have the experience or expertise to get the protect up and running easily; just like the rest of us.

Best of luck

thanks for advice.

kwikbreaks wrote: »

What exactly do you mean by that?

If it is scripts timing out that is likely to be because they are badly written and inefficient.

If you mean there is a lot of traffic overloading your hosting then certainly putting it on a home server is going to fix that because most home broadband has an abysmally slow upstream so the traffic will be so limited virtually no processor power will be needed at all.

If it's something else then what?

they site is a wordpress blog. we tried installing a cache plugin to help but ran out of PHP limit.

we hope to use another plugin and modify the blog to a more community type forum type blog but that takes alot of PHP.

no idea about badly written PHP. have checked other users comments and no one seems to have said that.