Hi guys, I done writing my php website this month and I want to install my own web server and host my website from home. Can someone direct me about what is the good hardware and a good operating system for my web server to use. I want to install a linux web server. please help. Thank you.
If you will be using linux I prefer red hat.. Linux host are more faster than windows, than win server 2000 (well in my experience actually). Currently Im using Linux Ubuntu.. The performance of my site is good. While im using LAMMP for localhost.. About the hardware specifications.. if your using Linux, probably you might need to use or upgrade the HDD for more memory, im not sure if this is important, but im using dual boot OS..
Purchase a dedicated server and tell to your hosting provider that you want a linux server as your platform. If you're rich enough then go for the highend type(dedicated server). Usually, only big companies wants to do that. As for configuration etc etc, it is already pre-installed and you all have the access to reconfigure etc etc and most of your task are management and to make sure that your server is always up.
install xampp but you can't host your website thru local pc/host(unless you want to use dedicated server from a hosting provider). This will be only your development server and you can learn a lot.