Anyone own a server?

[bornl33t]

I was just curious. I was thinking about doing some websites and though it would be pretty cool if I were to just buy my own server and host the websites too... does anyone do this? How hard is it to set up multiple domain names for the same OS? Since I don't have a line going to the house I would pry have to set it in someone elses nest but from what I hear that's pretty normal.
I mean I'm not in it for the money... YET. I just wanna have some fun, do some friends a favor, it would be totally non-profit initially... unless I actually accel as something in life and make something that is actually worth selling.... you get the point..ok...it's 7 am and I just got off work... give me a break.....
Can anyone ....ya know.... give me some "experiance" about this type of venture. PWEASE?

[_tMAN]

well I have tried something like that. I made some ok money in the process, but I found out I couldn't really keep up with some of the servers.

but I'd say go for it, and let us know in the process

[Miscue]

You don't need a special computer to be a web server.

Multiple domain names is a matter of setting up DNS and such.

[Dryden]

The difference is whether you want to own a server or administer a server.

If you want something that is hands off, you would want to talk to a mom & pop ISP in your area that offers colocation services, where you build a PC (or buy one of theirs) and then have the ISP install it in their server rack. They administer everything for you, though you would probably be allowed Telnet/SSH access in the event of a Linux/Unix server or something like pcAnywhere or VNC in the event of a Windows server.

If you want to adminster the server and learn hands on, you could probably get by initially with a cable or DSL modem and register your domain names with DynDNS. You won't be able to handle a ton of traffic, but you'll be free to do just about anything you want. This route has a very steep learning curve though, as you'll have to learn all the gory details of SMTP, POP, HTTP, FTP, DNS/BIND, and IP addressing. And that's just the simple stuff!

[Miscue]

The difference is whether you want to own a server or administer a server.

If you want something that is hands off, you would want to talk to a mom & pop ISP in your area that offers colocation services, where you build a PC (or buy one of theirs) and then have the ISP install it in their server rack. They administer everything for you, though you would probably be allowed Telnet/SSH access in the event of a Linux/Unix server or something like pcAnywhere or VNC in the event of a Windows server.

If you want to adminster the server and learn hands on, you could probably get by initially with a cable or DSL modem and register your domain names with DynDNS. You won't be able to handle a ton of traffic, but you'll be free to do just about anything you want. This route has a very steep learning curve though, as you'll have to learn all the gory details of SMTP, POP, HTTP, FTP, DNS/BIND, and IP addressing. And that's just the simple stuff!

Yup, that's the tip of the iceberg. Then on top of this you have to worry about live streaming of barely legals in dormrooms. It gets complicated really fast.

[Dryden]

If you really want to know how much bandwidth you have, wait until a subscriber decides to host porn or MAME ROMs on your server because they didn't read the Terms of Service.

You'll think you're being hit by a DoS attack.

[bornl33t]

I already know my isp will not let me run a server. In the past I've had both a linux box and a windows servers running and it was a day and night fight to keep the isp from "knowing" about it. The line is a 3 mb line but upload speeds are capped @ 16kb to top it off I pay 60$ a month for this crapy upload speeds and so I highly doubt that they will be anywhere near reasonable with a better connection. I don't want to change services at this point because I will be moveing in less then a year. OH yeah, and the IP is dynamic. So registering a domain would be a waste of money.