For the longest time I have been fascinated with web hosting and serving. The whole idea of setting up accounts for friends to use, allowing them and myself to host web images so I don't have to rely on others.

I have FileZilla both the server / regular versions. I have this plus tightVNC set up on my server rig that I just had laying around. The rig is currently running windows xp..yes I know i know. But this is just to dabble in really.

So my question is *besides getting a domain name* how do you interface the server into lets say a website. Where on the website that I could create and design I could have it prompt for user account/pass and they could dump files whenever they wanted wherver they wanted.

I will worry about security and what not later since I don't really have anything of importance or people using it now.

Thank you~
Tyler aka Twinscroll

You might try installing XAMPP, it's Apache, PHP, and MySQL all in one handy box.

You'd then need to configure a nameserver to correctly resolve your domain name to your server's IP address.

Finally, you'd need to change the nameserver values for your domain name so they point to the nameserver which knows the right IP address for your domain name.

Quote: Originally Posted by Hak Foo You might try installing XAMPP, it's Apache, PHP, and MySQL all in one handy box. You'd then need to configure a nameserver to correctly resolve your domain name to your server's IP address. Finally, you'd need to change the nameserver values for your domain name so they point to the nameserver which knows the right IP address for your domain name.

Ahh, reminds me of pointers in C++. But okay, that does make sense. Configuring a nameserver though? Most have to go to a company and pay like what I think it's 10/month or something small like that to get a domain name or is there a way to do that on your own.

I have FileZilla set up successfully. I have created accounts and my friends use and set them up with directories that they can read/write to and only they can view etc. I have them the FireFTP extension for FireFox to interface with the extra rig I have here in the room. My next question is do any of you know of any step-by-step tutorials for implementing the server side.

Thank you Hak Foo!

~Sincerely,
Tyler aka Twinscroll

I know I'm coming to the party 3 weeks late on this one, but...

Another alternative for the web server would be to run IIS. Windows XP Pro includes it free, though I don't believe it installs by default. To install it, go to Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs > Add/Remove Windows Components button (on the left), then check the box for Internet Information Services (IIS). You'll need the Windows disc for it.

In IIS, the web root by default becomes C:\InetPub\wwwroot (So C:\InetPub\wwwroot\mypage.html becomes http://www.mysite.com/mypage.html or http://123.45.67.89/mypage.html or whatever, depending on DNS). Basically anything you put in there is visible on the website. So you'd probably create subfolders in there, one for each friend. Then in the FTP server program, set each user's home directory to their respective folder in wwwroot. And voila, anything they upload is visible on your website, in their subfolder.

I imagine Apache works similarly. If you plan to get into making websites, and maybe switching over to a web host someday, I'd suggest going the Apache/PHP/MySQL route (though I'm less familiar with it myself). ASP.NET (running on IIS) is great for large-scale, precompiled web applications, but IMO certainly don't shine for everyday website tasks.

Hey replies are always welcome! I appreciate that! I have tried to use the IIS and naturally windows does not install it with the operating system. I have started using XAMPP which includes apache, like you and several others have suggested. Do you work a lot with pre-compiled headers? Just curious...some of this is new to me.

Edit:

Oh and by try i mean i installed it messed around with the root folder and what not got it all working but it was just way to much of a pain, like you said, for the smaller web tasks.