Building your own web server...
 

What is the difficulty level of building and installing software for your own web server?

I want to build a standard webserver with Apache and PHP installed. I am sick of hosting with companies.

Any advice, manual links, suggestions, etc will be greatly appreicated.

Hardware : http://www.supermicro.com - great machines at a nice price

Software : download an OS like Red Hat Fedora, get it installed and install a control panel like Ensim or Plesk on top of it. It will help you maintaining your sites, but the server WILL still need some administration through the shell, so you'll need some Linux knowledge.

Good luck !

...advice... if u have to ask, you prolly shoud go with the hosting companies... another way is to just hire someone who doesn't have to ask...

So are you planning on running your website server from your office connection?

its easy

To be honest, this is correct. If you don't know how to do it, then its not worth trying in my opinion. Unless for some reason you can already get around in a linux environment, but judging by the question, I don't think you can.

Nonetheless, Supermicro all the way, just get some off Ebay.

Installing software is very easy...
Hardware shouldn't be a problem as well....
The problem can be installing Linux or Free BSD OS, because the most of WebServers are running on those Operating systems...
Configuration is difficult, if you don't have any experience...otherwise it's simple :)

It's easy but a pain in the butt to manage. You have to find a colo and rent rackspace which might even end up more expensive then getting a dedicated server......... :Oh crap

So I'm starting to think that I should just hire someone to come out and build/install one for me.

I do plan on running it on my company office connection. I have 2 T1's running in here and a cable backup. One T1 is just used primarily for the phones and the other for the network.

If you are not familiar with servers, especially linux I would not suggest building and maintaining your own server.

What type of connection are you planning on getting? If you are thinking of putting it on your dsl or cable line from your office, this is not smart. Most ISP's do not allow it and will shut you down. Downloads will also be slow.

My suggestion is to go with a trusted, well known host. If you don't want to deal with the hosting company too much pay a well known server admin to do all the leg work for you.

I have built and admined servers for almost 7 years. I don't do it for work it was more of a hobby.

Ask any questions and I shall answer :)

Very easy to do.

How much would you charge me to build one?

I had my own servers on 2 T-1 . Was slow as hell, had to add a hardware firewall etc ...

The T-1 hads limited banswith, so always carefull about stuff to put on ...

Co-Location : ends up more expensive to rent the space PLUS bandwith than a dedicated ....

( PS: I have to very nice 2U boxes for sell ...)

Dedicated ( box & bandwith supplied by the provider) is the way to go: cheap. re;ioable, upgradable, etc ...

The only down: you never get to physically touch the servers ...

It depends on what you want. I also build computers for friends / family and am known for making kick ass cheap systems.

What type of specs are looking for?

Will cost you anywhere from $300+ depending on what specs you want in your server.

you can buy a $400 dell install freebsd even.

I wouldn't recomend hosting anything on a normal dell unless you mean a dell server.

Agreed; their desktops are only good for what their name says, IMHO...

But yeah, it could even be cheaper if your just looking for something to handle a few thousand hits

I got a used Raq3 from Ebay for about $129. Then I installed Raq4 software and added MySQL. It has PHP and Chilisoft ASP built in.

Now I have a compact , easy to manage box , quite capable of handling a quite few sites.

Disadvantage is that you are using an older verison of Linux and Sun no longer officially supports it....


http://static.zoovy.com/img/liquid8/-/cobalt3s.jpg

a $400 dell with 512 ram will handle more traffic then you can push out of a t1 unless your running some fucked up scripts.

I know found a cpu/mb/512 ram combo for $145 shipped add a $30 case and a $70 hard drive and your done :)

I wouls atleast colocate if you don't want them to manage it, I'm sure you have heard it amillion times but some hosting companies are allot better then others.

The reason is bandwidth is so much cheaper when sharing a large connection and better since in most cases there is only one pop before the provider.

If you run it from your house there will 4 maybe even more pops before it reaches you causing issues for low grade isp's and people far away.

If you do go through with it then try red hat on a HT pentium 4, they have everything you need for your server built in.

New egg has some great deals on this sort of hardware.

Good luck,

-Charles

don't run a server off your T1 dude

fact is, a lot of people using Comcast Cable Internet have faster connections than a standard T1...and running a server off a comcast connection would be a stupid move...if you get more than 10-20 people surfing your site all at the same time, they are in for a slow experience...and I know your sites get more than that

a t1 is fine for low traffic sites, if theres any video involved forget it.