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Now that I am getting a new PC for my wife, her old P3 550 is just crying to be made into a web server.

How do I go about turning this PC into a web server?

What software do I need, what software can I remove?

For public or private use?

I think public..... I would like to have a site for my family. Forums, pictures, and maybe a calendar.

I would also like to move CR to it so that I can use more high-tech web stuff that my ISP's webspace does not support.

Second question.
How comfortable would you be with linux?

Total noob with anything other than the evil Microsith.

Find a good tutorial book about linux, then download it along with the apache server programs.

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There a couple of things you have to consider when hosting oyur own webserver Cyrus.

1. Availability, Can you leave it switched on 24/7/365 if you cant then is it really worth it since people will always be trying to access it when the machine is switched off.

2. Software, If you have a web box, you need to have Web Server Software set up on it, the two biggest ones are Microsofts Internet Information Server or Apache, either would work on Windows. Personally I prefer Apache on Linux (cos its all free) but your noob-ness may make that a bad choice.

3. Security, Once you make a box viable to the internet you open up a can of worms..i'm not saying you will get hacked, but script kiddies are out there and target indisctiminately and can cause lots of damage.

4. Bandwidth, depending on your ISP for connecting to the internet you get different amounts of bandwidth. Most companies give you lots of downstream bandwidth (so you can download lots of things really fast) but restrict your upstream bandwidth, and this would slow down people's ability to see tha pages on your web server box.

For instance, I have 1Mbs cable downstream but only 256Kbps upstream this would do if only a couple of people were browsing your box every now and again....but once you get 5-10 people it would suck all your bandwidth up really fast and stop you from being able to use it.

I'd be more than happy to help you get started if i havnt scared you off completely tho

Hate to say it, please don't flame.

If you don't know it, don't go with Linux. With SWG taking all your free time, you really won't want to tackle that beast. It's pretty easy to set up, it's a huge pain to perfectly set up.

Throw on NT4 with IIS, backup often, get used to rebooting and having down time and being hacked.

(Disclaimer)
Yes, I'm a security professional and have been a programmer for 10 years. And, I run two linux boxes at home. This really is the least painful method.

PATCH AS OFTEN AS NEEDED!

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