making a server?

BudBud Chesterfield, Va
edited December 2003 in Science & Tech
im thinking of making a server to use for a forum or maybe a irc chat and maybe a occasional game server (not alot of people at max 16) anyone have some suggestions, please not too expensive either.:scratch:

Comments

  • ArmoArmo Mr. Nice Guy Is Dead,Only Aqua Remains Member
    edited November 2003
    u have to buy a dns
  • BudBud Chesterfield, Va
    edited November 2003
    whats a dns
  • ArmoArmo Mr. Nice Guy Is Dead,Only Aqua Remains Member
    edited November 2003
    a domain name, u pay like $50 for 2 earys for a company to say that www.imbudsserver.com to point to ur ipaddress and load ur page, you can also get it hosted in a building with limited bandwidth
  • ArmoArmo Mr. Nice Guy Is Dead,Only Aqua Remains Member
    edited November 2003
    short-medias ip is 198.64.189.142, if u type that in the address bar it will take u to S-M, but the www.short-media.com is a URL ( pointer ) to the ip address
  • KwitkoKwitko Sheriff of Banning (Retired) By the thing near the stuff Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    That's not true, Armo, you can use dynamic DNS redirect, like www.dyndns.org or www.no-ip.com. Building the hardware for a server really doesn't require much, especially if you'll be running it off of Linux. My personal web server is an Athlon 1GHz, 256MB of RAM and a 40GB HD. This is overkill. I could run the same thing on half the MHz, memory, and HD space and it would still work well, especially on Linux.

    You could build a good server for under $300.
  • JBJB Carlsbad, CA
    edited November 2003
    You dont need a Domain name, as you can go to www.no-ip.org and get FREE DNS service. You can even have it point to dynamic IP addresses. The problem is you need to check with your ISP, most of the time running a server is against their rules. Ive been practicing with my server (only on our campus network) running Debian Linux, so all of the software I am using is free!(right in your price range:thumbsup: ). You could also use Win2K, XP, or W2K3 and IIS, but i am using some older, slower hardware(AMD K6-2 550Mhz, 384MB PC100) and Linux runs a lot faster then Windows. ive found for games you really need some CPU power. I ran a Q3 server on this box(then it only had a 450MHZ CPU/128MB RAM), and when i get to around 8-10 clients connectiong we started experiencing lag/slowdown as the the machine cannot keep up with all the request. So if you want a game server you may need to invest in some speedier hardware. If you just want to host/mess around with fourms, the older hardware is fine, and you could dig up a machine as old as a 486 to use(again, right in your price range:thumbsup: ). Im not sure about the IRC chat, (never tried that) but the biggest thing to setting this up is just knowing what you want and trying it out. Ive been all over the web reading help files/manuals to get my software running, and its just the hands-on experience to truely understand how to set the thing up and get it running. So, in a not so short way, you could build your own box, but look into your ISP contract, or you could purchase some hosting space, as it is pretty cheap and just what you need. For the forum you would need a mySQL database, and PHP support from your webspace provider, which is a pretty commom option. Good luck and have fun!:wave:

    //edited for typos:doh:
  • ArmoArmo Mr. Nice Guy Is Dead,Only Aqua Remains Member
    edited November 2003
    well, looks like he asked the right people :)

    but do u still have to buy a domain name?
  • BudBud Chesterfield, Va
    edited November 2003
    thanks :thumbsup:
  • JBJB Carlsbad, CA
    edited November 2003
    Armogeddon00 had this to say

    but do u still have to buy a domain name?


    Nope! no-ip.com will give you a subdomain pickyourname.no-ip.com!
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    You CAN buy a domain name, it's very cheap... and much cooler than myjagname.someothercompany.com

    Domain names are from $8.95 to $14.95 a year. Any more than that, you're getting ripped off. Armo, domain names were $50 like 5 years ago.

    I get my domains from dotster.com because I like their management tools. It costs $13.95 to buy a domain name for a year.
  • KwitkoKwitko Sheriff of Banning (Retired) By the thing near the stuff Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    I like Go Daddy for domain registration. Their website is a little hard to navigate because they're always pushing some extra service while you register. The price can't be beat though ($8.95/yr) and their domain management tools are great.
  • TemplarTemplar You first.
    edited November 2003
    My experience with running a small webserver: I have Charter Pipeline, and as such, my upload blows. 15kb/s at most. I post an image in any popular forum, it gets raped. Secondly, running any kind of server is against Charter's Terms of Service. You can call Tech Support and ask them if it is. They won't report you or anything or put you under some kind of surveillence (or, they SHOULDN'T). I ran a server for nearly 3 mo. and charter never said anything to me.

    I was getting some weird requests from some of Charter's routers or whatever they have and decided to shut down incase they were snooping around :\ I used a simple Apache package for Windows that ran in the background. It was useful for what I used it for (image hosting, and maybe files for friends). Just make sure to check with your ISP if you care about having your internet connection pulled for 2 years or so (Charter's punishment, but I have a DSL line here also that dad's company pays for, so it was a simply move the router and some cables trick and I was back up again. Heh).
  • ClutchClutch North Carolina New
    edited November 2003
    Another plug for Godaddy.com I used them when I ran my business, very good people, 24.7 support, good prices.
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    For that you could use something very low end such as a P2 266mhz or so, as people have already recommended. You dont need anything special for those basics.

    Next you are going to need an OS for the machine, if its high end then it can be anything, if it's low end then it will need to be Windows 2000 (in some form) or Linux.

    Buying a domain is only going to work if you have a static IP address, otherwise you will need to use no-ip aswell, and you end up forwarding to a forward to get to the site, which is a complete mess.

    Also how do you connect to the internet?

    NS
  • BudBud Chesterfield, Va
    edited November 2003
    i use a cable modem but its not static
  • WuGgaRoOWuGgaRoO Not in the shower Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    i never KNEW hosting is sooo damn easy.... i gotta try this out myself one day
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    WuGgaRoO had this to say
    i never KNEW hosting is sooo damn easy.... i gotta try this out myself one day

    If it is on a machine with modem, all you need to do is install Apache and it will work. If you have a router then it is that plus forwarding the port on the router.

    I'm not aware of a way you can use a Domain truely without it being just a redirect if you aren't on a static IP address..... also, se if you can set up an RDNS with your ISP, then when someone resolves your IP to an........ no, wait, won't work, you aren't static.

    Yeah, no-ip seems to be the way to go then, you have to keep a little program running that updates their site and tells them where the address needs to point.

    NS
  • ClutchClutch North Carolina New
    edited November 2003
    Just call up your isp and ask how much it would be to get a static ip. I work for a isp in my town and all of our dsl customers are on static ip's by default.
  • TemplarTemplar You first.
    edited November 2003
    WuGgaRoO had this to say
    i never KNEW hosting is sooo damn easy.... i gotta try this out myself one day

    It's great to see people asking for upload space when they're sitting on a 512kb/s connection ;D

    Just make sure you don't leave your server's ass open to the intarweb :)
  • CobaltCobalt Connecticut
    edited November 2003
    Templar had this to say
    It's great to see people asking for upload space when they're sitting on a 512kb/s connection ;D

    Just make sure you don't leave your server's ass open to the intarweb :)

    So true. :thumbsup:
  • BudBud Chesterfield, Va
    edited December 2003
    k i was looking at http://www.dyndns.org/ and confused i was gonna use pegasus mail but how do i configure http://www.dyndns.org/?
  • test_tube_tonytest_tube_tony Dallas TX Member
    edited December 2003
    I went all out and payed a little extra for a static ip adderss, and just made a dns server. It makes things really easy once you get it up. I went to www.dot.tk for my domain name because it is so cheap, and the name I wanted wasn't taken yet.
  • SlottechSlottech
    edited December 2003
    dyndns is real easy to setup the only things you need is a domain name and your current IP address

    now start by adding you domain name

    add host

    mydomain.com (TTL=60) (type=A) (DATA= IP address) then
    www.mydomain.com (TTL=60) (type=CNAME) (DATA= IP address) then
    mail.mydomain.com (TTL=60) (type=A) (DATA= IP address) then
    ftp.mydomain.com (TTL=60) (type=A) (DATA= IP address)
    Now you will need to go to your registry co ie:Godaddy.com and add ns1.mydyndns.org ns2.mydyndns.org ns3.mydyndns.org up to ns5 if your registry allows it

    you should now be setup and it could take up to 24hrs to take effect

    If you are on cable you may not be able to do this as most all cable co's WON'T let you run a server unless you sign up for a business account with a static address (more money in there greedy pockets)
    Need anmore help pm me
  • BudBud Chesterfield, Va
    edited December 2003
    k guys anyone know of a site that explains how to set-up http://www.dyndns.org/ cause im still lost
  • kanezfankanezfan sunny south florida Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    not to be rude, but if you can't get dyndns going, you're gonna have a hard time running your own server
  • t1rhinot1rhino Toronto
    edited December 2003
    no-ip.com is not too bad because they have software that updates their database if you dynamic ip changes.
  • SlottechSlottech
    edited December 2003
    Bud,
    dyndns has an excellent how to guide to setup your service
    Have you already signed up? The instructions I gave you were simple and to the point, you should've been able to setup from that.
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