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Geek Culture / Turn a normal pc into web server ? - is it possible and how if it is ?

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Dodic
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Posted: 30th Jan 2006 15:49
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Is it possible to put a "normalpc (by normal i mean not like those server mashines that cost a loooot of money) , let`s say a small server with 2 hard drives of 196gb`s and a loats of ram , good motherboard , and other things , how can i set it up as a server and can i do that at all with a normal pc ?

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Richard Davey
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Posted: 30th Jan 2006 15:55
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If you're running XP Pro just install IIS (if it isn't on there already) off your Windows CD. Voila. Your PC is now a web server.

Or download Apache, install that. Voila. One web server!

Servers are typically just 'normal' PCs with more fault tolerant components.. but having said that at the ISP I used to work for lots of the servers were just standard desktop PCs with the case sides removed for air flow! (oh yes.. quality hosting there)

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Dodic
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Posted: 30th Jan 2006 16:06
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Can you give me a link or something to that software ?

-i think i`l be making my own web server , i have the comp anyways , and it just stands there , it`s usseles , but at least it will work for something..

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Richard Davey
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Posted: 30th Jan 2006 16:51
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Google is your friend.

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Undercover Steve
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Posted: 30th Jan 2006 16:55
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What your thinkiing of is a cluster Dodic. Meh, I have a php 5 webserver running Debian Sarge. It is ok, but I would rather have a t1 line than cable

We have fallen Into an abyss! Dear God captian! There all Bars.
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Mikey P
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Posted: 30th Jan 2006 16:58
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Quote: "Servers are typically just 'normal' PCs with more fault tolerant components.."


I was reading a news-site this morning while I ate my breakfast, and it was talking about how Google started, and mentioned how they didn't have enough computing power, and ended up using standard pc's, and found out they worked perfectly .

(This sounded relevant in my head...)

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BatVink
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Posted: 30th Jan 2006 16:59
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You'll also need a static IP address and a permanent connection to t'internet. Otherwise your server will keep disappearing and/or changing address.

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Mikey P
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Posted: 30th Jan 2006 17:03
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Quote: "You'll also need a static IP address and a permanent connection to t'internet. Otherwise your server will keep disappearing and/or changing address."


If he really needed to, he could use one of those services specifically for non-static IP's, I've seen a few about, when your IP changes, your PC tells their servers, and it updates... But they're usually only subdomains, so y'know.

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Undercover Steve
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Posted: 30th Jan 2006 17:09
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Thats what I do. I use it for testing and showcasing to friends though.

We have fallen Into an abyss! Dear God captian! There all Bars.
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Richard Davey
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Posted: 30th Jan 2006 17:20
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If he doesn't have a static IP he could get one from www.no-ip.com (I used to use them, very good indeed) - you can have your own domain name, not just a sub.

Google do indeed use 'standard' components, but not desktop PCs. Also the differene is that while they have thousands and thousands of servers, queries are routed in such a way that a bunch of the servers could blow up and the query will just get re-routed and still answered! Then some guys go out and replace whatever blew. It's quite awesome really if you think about the scale of it. But they reckon it's cheaper than some uber-monster server which typically requires its own dedicated power lines

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Codelike
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Posted: 30th Jan 2006 20:12 Edited at: 30th Jan 2006 20:21
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Abyss Web Server X1. http://www.aprelium.com

It's free, it can use PHP & CGI/Perl scripts, & can be upgraded to ASP, as well, at a price. If you haven't got XP Pro, it's useful for site testing under XP Home. Easier to figure out than IIS, as well.

If you're still running Win98 (anywhere?!), you could look at MS PWS, a hidden freebie on the Win98 disk.

I have an XP3000+, 1.5gb DDR333, a 6600GT and I'm programming 3k text-based exe's?!
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Nicholas Thompson
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Posted: 30th Jan 2006 20:28
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Anyone with a brain cell can figure out Apache - if not there are a million help sites on the web for it!

If you seriously want a "home server" get a linux install. I personally like Redhat. I got Fedora Core 4. Dumped it onto my own PC, setup an FTP server on it and did an FTP install to the machine (it only has a CD drive in it + FTP is MUCH quicker). 15 mins later, I have a fully working linux box with SSH enabled. I SSH in and install WebMin. I can now leave the box in the corner with only power and ethernet in it. I can completely control this box over any machine on my network. I go to Servers > Apache and click Start. I have a webserver with Apache 2.0.x.x and PHP 5 (I think). I go to MySQL And click Start.. I now have a box with MySQL server and I am pretty sure I didn't even need to setup Apache to work with it.

Every night I have a cron job run Yum (Red Hats version of Automatic Update) to update all the packages. The results of that and all other important stuff are arcued by LogWatch and at about 4am I get an email in the root mail box summarising everything important thats happened on the box in the last 24 hours, such as install packages or kernels (I have turned kernel updating off so I can do it manually when I want to), failed login attempts to SSH (reports the IP too.. I've restricted it so only 1 account can log in and its not root - I have to 'su' to get root access). It also keeps an eye on hard disk space for me.

This machine is also my print server through cups. It means if I need to change anything about the printers such as IP or anything, I only change it in 'cups' and all machines follow that.

This machine is my old 1Ghz P3 with 512Mb SDR RAM and an 80Gb Maxtor drive I picked up for £35 from a computer fair 6 months ago. It also hosts the music collection so I can listen to whatever I want whether I am on my laptop using WiFi or my own PC.

Windows will do exactly the same job, but I dont know if Webmin will be an option.


http://forum.antiblog.com, http://thingy-ma-jig.co.uk/new/
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Dodic
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Posted: 30th Jan 2006 21:14
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i have xp pro installed there and i`m ready to pay up to $200 but i`m also not really experince for that.



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Becky
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Posted: 30th Jan 2006 22:50
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If you like your web servers to be really simple: http://www.bansheestudios.com/stuff/VisionExtreme.html

I recommend a low RPM hard disk and underclocking the CPU slightly, alternatively if you can afford one of the new Asus motherboards that overclock/underclock automatically based upon CPU load that would be ideal.

You dont need a very powerful machine to run a basic web server, you only need to splash out big bucks when you run a big website.
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Undercover Steve
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Posted: 31st Jan 2006 01:00
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@Nick: Really? I have always prefered Debian Sarge and Just normal Debian for low spec systems. Check it out, it can install a gui or no gui! Really small distro, and it is what Knoppix is based off. I think you may like it better than Fedora or Redhat. (Depends, Fedora is really cruddy imo, and Redhat is to old to support anything good, unless you want to search a lot around for everything.) I have been tempted by Mandriva as of late, but I am probably going to stick with SuSe 9.3 for a while.
Anyway:

DEBIAN FOR SERVERS

(my opinion)

We have fallen Into an abyss! Dear God captian! There all Bars.
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TKF15H
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Posted: 31st Jan 2006 02:14
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Get PHP Triad. It's a combo that's easy to set up and work with: MYSQL, PHP, and Apache.

DC emulator code size: 2.97B, 232,320 lines... yes, that went down. 15% done.
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ionstream
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Posted: 31st Jan 2006 02:45
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Gentoo, baby! You'd get a ton more speed if you didnt run a window manager.


Then set up Apache, PHP, and MySQL. Its a winning combonation.

And some of those dynamic IP DNS sites can have you download software to alert there servers when youre IP changed.

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Undercover Steve
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Posted: 31st Jan 2006 03:35
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Boo! Debian Text based all teh way Speed isnt the issue with debian, nor software. It usually is partition corruption. I installed 2 linux's on it, and the debian died. Not a big loss, but it kinda was shocking. I have learned to install other stuff first, and then make the debian partitions first, and install Debian. I might try Gentoo later

We have fallen Into an abyss! Dear God captian! There all Bars.
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Dodic
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Posted: 31st Jan 2006 20:21
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I need a little help about basing a web server that supports HTML , and possibly XML (doesn`t hafe to support xml..) , and also i hafe to ask you how does the domain thing goes ? I mean i would like to have a web server that i can "call" from internet explorer.

I mean i would like to be able to call the data i set on my server from ie , so how... ?

i can afford any hardware needed for my server (except those server machines that cost a "bit" more..)



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Dodic
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Posted: 31st Jan 2006 20:23
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i tried vision extreme , but i don`t understand , it just says "server on" and nothing else...



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Chris Franklin
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Posted: 31st Jan 2006 20:25
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Quote: "I need a little help about basing a web server that supports HTML "
Any pc supports html

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JoelJ
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Posted: 31st Jan 2006 21:21
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You will have to forward port 80 on your router to that machine

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NeX the Fairly Fast Ferret
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Posted: 31st Jan 2006 21:21
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My guess is that it hosts the directory in the ini, Dodic.


At least farting ferrets are better than stinky stoats.
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NeX the Fairly Fast Ferret
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Posted: 31st Jan 2006 21:29
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I've got this vision extreme thing working on a loopback, anyway of extending the loop?


At least farting ferrets are better than stinky stoats.
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NeX the Fairly Fast Ferret
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Posted: 31st Jan 2006 21:55
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Wow, that abyss server is pretty cool.


At least farting ferrets are better than stinky stoats.
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Dodic
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Posted: 31st Jan 2006 22:43
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WHERE does it host the directory from ini file ?



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Becky
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Posted: 1st Feb 2006 13:12
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Quote: "I've got this vision extreme thing working on a loopback, anyway of extending the loop?"

It's broadcasting over TCP/IP on port 80, just like any web server. If you have a TCP/IP network then it will broadcast over that network - but like all network communications it can be foiled by a firewall or router if you are not set up to allow port 80 communications.

Quote: "WHERE does it host the directory from ini file ?"

Open the settings.ini file in notepad and edit the text to point to the directory of your choice, the default is D:\Web\Content.

I dont check these forums often - only when it's quiet at work - so if you need a speedier response you can use the Banshee support forums: http://www.bansheestudios.com/forums
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The Big Babou
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Posted: 1st Feb 2006 13:48
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XAMPP is another great package, including php4 and php5, MySQL, phpMyAdmin, Apache 2.2, an FTP Server (for Windows it's FileZilla server) and some Mailserver too. Really useful.

Take a look here:http://www.apachefriends.org/en/

... they call it a royale with cheese ...
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Dodic
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Posted: 1st Feb 2006 14:11
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Quote: "It's broadcasting over TCP/IP on port 80, just like any web server. If you have a TCP/IP network then it will broadcast over that network - but like all network communications it can be foiled by a firewall or router if you are not set up to allow port 80 communications.
"


And how can i acces the data i`m hosting over Tpc/ip ?



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Becky
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Posted: 1st Feb 2006 17:28
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Quote: "And how can i acces the data i`m hosting over Tpc/ip ?"

The same way internet servers do it - sort of.

QUICK ANSWER
Type the IP address of your computer into the browser from any other machine on the network/internet.

EXPLANATION
When you type a web address into your browser that information is then checked against big directory machines called DNS servers (Domain Name Server). If what you have typed matches a name in the DNS servers database it gives you the IP number of that machine. Your personal PC wont be registered on a DNS server (unless you pay a few quid to register it), but you can bypass this step by typing an IP address directly into the browser address bar.
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