DIY Hosting

There are not many compelling reasons to host yourself these days. Web servers are faster than ever, web hosting prices are the lowest they have ever been, and the vast majority of internet sites use such a small portion of a web server's resources that a large number of web sites can be hosted by a single server without any negative side effects. However, if you are thinking about hosting yourself, you should first make sure that you can meet all of the following requirements:

• You are technologically savvy individual.
• You have a basic understaning of securing a server.
• You have access to a fast broadband connection for the server.
• You have enough spare time to dedicate to the project.
• You have excellent problem solving skills.

If you believe this pretty much describes you, then hosting your own server may be a reasonable solution. However, if you do not meet these requirements, we suggest that you skim through this information and continue on with Web Host guide. Chances are setting up your own server would only be an unnecessary headache.
Server Requirements

There are many things to consider when setting up your own web server. We have a compiled a short list of a few key items.

Reguirements

• A computer that can be dedicated as a web server (i.e. not your own laptop or desktop).
• An network card (NIC) and a broadband connection (upload speed is most important for self-hosting, if you have ADSL check your upload speed will be sufficient).
• A computer that will be powerful enought to keep up with server requests. Processor intensive dynamic web sites will require a higher specced machine than a web site that only has a few static HTML pages.
• An ISP or that allows you to host your own web server and supports web traffic. A lot of ISPs will not allow users to run a web server unless they pay an additional fee. You should contact your ISP for more details.

Most of these items should be easy enough. You must also have a suitable operating system and web server software such as Apache or IIS.