Hello, What is the bare minimum that I need to make a webs hosting on my own computer? I have a web server software like Apache installed but how can I make it so that users can sign up and they get their own space on my computer etc?
Well, you'd need to install PHP, SQL, download some sort of web hosting software such as WHM. Oh and you have to get a domain name.
To just run your computer as a server? If I remember right Microsoft actually has a peice of software for a small home network server. http://www.microsoft.com/oem/en/products/servers/Pages/sbs_overview.aspx Unless you're trying to actually run your home computer as a server in which you're planning on hosting a website that you plan to have a lot of traffic. In that case, you'll need to buy a more powerful server. Be best to rent from a datacenter, or just pay normal prices monthly for regular hosting. You can get that very cheap... ahem.
No, I was thinking more of a Hosting company where users can sign up for their own hosting accounts. I want to host it myself on my Linux computer... How do I make it so that users can go to my website and sign up for their own hosting account on my computer?
Ah I see. It's not as easy as it may sound at first. A few of the things you're going to need are WHM, it would help to have a website to sell your deals on, would also help to have some software to help manage it (whmcs is a good one). As for actually getting the server ready to host on, there is a good guide here: http://www.webmonkey.com/2010/02/set_up_a_home_server/
And the things I mentioned above if you want to do it on a professional level, and across the internet. You can use cPanel, but there are many good alternatives. Who are you planning to market to? Just wondering.
I won't suggest you to run with your own pc , you can get a host for rent from data center.To sell hosting accounts to others you need software such as WHM ...
I'm actually doing this for educational purposes.... just would like to know how it's done, in case I move into the hosting biz some time in future
Even my sites are online for a long , I am also new to this hosting business.I just setup my hosting 2 days ago ..You can see it over www.hostinate.com...Your feedbacks are welcome
No, sorry I was talking about his currency. What are you doing with your home server then.. You said educational... Type of classes?
well, right now I'm using it for my job. I'm a web developer so it's just set up so people can access my stuff... (via my IP address)
Oh ok I see... Why don't you just buy a domain for starters then! lol... ip address... 24/7 support for us works like this: I cover support tickets during night hours because that's when i'm usually up, and the other team members do their shifts respectively. The team members aren't "hired". We're all partners. We're working on getting a live chat integrated into the site sometime in the very near future. But for now it's just the ticket system.
Running your computer as a server is fine, but using your computer as a web hosting server can be an entirely different story depending on your ISP. I had the same idea a few months ago because I have an "unlimited bandwidth" package through my ISP. I checked their terms of service before going ahead with my plans, and it clearly says that using my internet account for providing web hosting services would violate their terms and be grounds for account termination. They did list package options for doing this, but of course, at a much larger monthly fee. If you do go ahead with using your computer as a server, you'll need to get your ISP to assign you two "static" IP addresses. Most ISP's provide you with only one static, or one dynamic IP address unless you pay extra. You can't use your computer as a server if your ISP only offers dynamic IP addresses.
You need server and Cpanel or alternatives. If you want to start your hosting company buzz me at PM, have solutions for that.