Registered: Apr 2001
Location: Prison
Posts: 421

This goes out to anybody who has ever hosted a web site on their own server. I am about to launch a site on my OWN server for the first time ever, and I have some questions.

1) On a site like VisorCentral.com , what would you assume to be a "good" overall per.second transfer limit? (not per user)

2) IS a special kind of internet connection required to use your computer as a server? (My software is integrated.) I'm having trouble getting outside I.P. addressed computers to access mine while it is connected & running. While I work fine on say, Napster with file transfers in both ways, I had a recent conversation with a Napster moderator who was unable to "trip" my connection (force me off of Napster) , due to what he assumed to be a firewall that my ISP had. (*Note: I had asked him to do this as a test.) Could this have something to do with it?

3) OSX users may understand this best. Is it required that I specify an IP address & port #'s in the "Network Settings" panel?

Thank you very much!

__________________
<b><font size=1 color=teal>"Sorry about the whole thing about losing your life savings, but that Palmpilot is property of Enron, so please give it back"

Registered: Dec 1999
Location: Chandler, AZ
Posts: 289

Hi...
I currently run web/ftp services off several computer systems, so hopefully I can answer some of your questions..

Regarding a good overall per-second transfer rate, this really depends on a number of factors. Ideally it is nice to have atleast a similar connection to others accessing your site (some type of broadband .. 256k DSL, cable modem, etc..) as this will provide quick access to pages located on your server. If you are wanting to develop a community such as the visorcentral site or host many websites on your server, then most likely you will want to get more bandwidth (ie 768k DSL or higher..) Of course, if your site is insanely successful, you will probably find that it is more cost effective to setup your server under a co-location plan at one of the larger web-hosting providers.

As far as a connection is concerned, technically any computer hooked into the internet should be able to send and receive information and as such should be able to become their own web, ftp, etc server. However, this is obviously not always the case and there could be a firewall that is prohibiting certain ports to be accessible, there could be a router and your system is not assigned its own internet IP address, etc..etc..etc... You may want to try and simply download web or ftp server software and run it and have some people try and access the site.

Assuming your using OSX (which is what I have gathered), if you already have access to the internet on the computer, there shouldn't be a reason to change your network settings (unless it has a built in firewall, then you may need to allow accessibility on certain ports).. Going back to question #2, I am pretty sure OSX comes with the Apache web server, so you may want to install that and test your conenction using that software.

Joe

Registered: Apr 2001
Location: Prison
Posts: 421

Hey Thanks!

Hey, thanks a ton for the help! My connection for UPLOADS is 768K a second.

(P.S. Yes, I am finally back!)

But here's the one problem I'm having, and I'm not quite sure why.
My address for web pages is http://ipaddress/~username . My server rejects any connection (WAN, LAN) if I have the ~username part. If I just have the IP address, it will load it. Yes, my web sharing is on, and yes, I'm sure that the page it is giving me IS on my computer.

Oh well, I'm revamping my home network soon, and this will most likely change everything.

__________________
<b><font size=1 color=teal>"Sorry about the whole thing about losing your life savings, but that Palmpilot is property of Enron, so please give it back"

Registered: Dec 1999
Location: Chandler, AZ
Posts: 289

I take it at http://ipaddress is your home page and you want to setup user accounts at ~username and no go? What server software & operating system are you using? You may want to try doing this: http://ipaddress/username and see if that brings it up ..

Joe