OSX Web Server? [Archive] - AppleNova Forums

Akumulator

2004-06-15, 21:24

My sites hosted at 1and1.com have been sloooowwwww too many times this last month or so. Rather than switching webhosts, I was wondering how hard it would be to host my site myself. Anyone know anything about this?

I could buy OSX Server, that's no problem. But what about bandwidth? Are most webhosts on a T3 or something? I just have Earthlink DSL... would that handle it? Also, can I use my computer as normal with it serving sites?

Are there any other things I need to know about?

:confused:

Paul

2004-06-15, 21:57

if you are going to host it yourself you won't need OS X Server...

how big is the site and about how much bandwidth do you expect to use?

what is the site used for?

Akumulator

2004-06-15, 23:02

Yeah, I thought so.. but I haven't looked into it much. But after I posted this I went to Apple.com and realized that OSX server is $500.... too much anyway.

My website is artdorks.com... a PHP website that requires a database and mysql.

I have no idea how to do any of this, although I admit I haven't researched it yet... I'm just wondering if it's fairly easy.

Another thought I had was maybe using an old 7600 that's in my closet and setting up a server in OS9. Any thoughts?

About bandwidth.... I don't know. My site currently doesn't use much I don't think. But it's only been up for a week, so I don't know. I also wonder if the throughput of a DSL router would handle a lot of visitors at once (if that were to ever happen).

I guess my main question might be.... If it's doable, why don't more people do it? Why waste money on webhosts?

staph

2004-06-16, 01:56

Another thought I had was maybe using an old 7600 that's in my closet and setting up a server in OS9. Any thoughts?

You'd be better off sticking Debian on that machine. This also has the advantage that software installation (e.g. Apache, mod_perl etc.) is relatively easy with the dselect system (not to mention the light system requirements if you run it without a gui).

I've run websites off my home OS X machine before (nothing complicated, however)... the built-in apache already has support for cgi and perl (and php, I think � don't quote me on it), although you'll need to configure it a bit to get it going properly.

DMBand0026

2004-06-16, 02:31

If you do plan to host your site off your box, make sure it's okay with your ISP. Many of them do not like Apachie servers at all and will cut you off, usually for excessive bandwidth usage.

Towel

2004-06-16, 04:13

Hosting a simple site on OSX is really astoundingly easy. You drop your files into ~/Sites, then click the "Web Sharing" button in the Sharing control panel. There is no step 3.

PHP and MySQL are a little trickier. MySQL now has official OSX binaries, and installing them is a breeze. You'll probably want to learn just enough SQL to feel comfortable maintaining your database, but it really isn't difficult, and MySQL is wonderfully documented. I haven't tried PHP, so I can't comment on that. All in all, as long as you're willing to get your hands just a bit dirty, it shouldn't be all that tough and you'll learn quite a bit of useful stuff.

Your ISP is more of a concern, like DMBand said. Most residential ISPs will frown on your running a web server with any sort of significant traffic. But they'll surely sell you a "professional" service that would officially permit it.

Eugene

2004-06-16, 06:17

PHP is simpler than MySQL since it's already supplied. All you have to do is uncomment a few lines in your httpd.conf and restart the Apache httpd.

Kickaha

2004-06-16, 10:47

Your ISP is more of a concern, like DMBand said. Most residential ISPs will frown on your running a web server with any sort of significant traffic. But they'll surely sell you a "professional" service that would officially permit it.

speakeasy.net is your friend.

No limits on what you can run, what ports you can use, or quotas. (Preset quotas that is - they reserve the right to say "Um... 50GB this month? We need to talk..." according to the license, but that's pretty standard.)

Not only are not Mac-haters, they're almost all Mac fans. "Oh, you've got a Mac? Sweet, this will be easy." And they've always been extremely helpful and nice on the phone. Heck, one day one of their techs helped me troubleshoot my DNS problems because he was bored.

Not the absolute rock bottom cheapest around, but then again, neither is Apple. ;) I'm a very very satisfied customer.

Akumulator

2004-06-16, 11:16

SpeakEasy looks pretty good. 6 mbps :eek: ...but that's $99/month. The $50 option is about what I have now, but Earthlink might be more apt to have a bandwidth limit. I'll keep thinking about it. I'd have to dish out $100 to break my contract with Earthlink.

I'll keep thinking about all this. I know one thing's for sure, I'd have to get a power backup because my power here goes out too often for a few seconds.

Paul

2004-06-16, 11:35

that WiFi Share option looks pretty cool...

I wonder if I have willing neighbors...

wouldn't mind getting a T1 up in here ;)... :eek:

thuh Freak

2004-06-16, 11:52

running a webserver from your personal computer is very easy. keeping in mind the issues others brought up, like bandwidth and such, you can setup a website in minutes. i tend to run a www, ftp and several other servers from my normal computer, and i still use it as my primary computer. if your site is popular though, it will probably lag you noticeably, particularly during popular times. when no one is accessing the site (or relatively few people) you won't notice them at all, unless you are reading live log files.

Kickaha

2004-06-16, 11:55

that WiFi Share option looks pretty cool...

I wonder if I have willing neighbors...

wouldn't mind getting a T1 up in here ;)... :eek:

Yeah, it's a sweet company that not only doesn't try and block you from using WiFi *in your own house* (BellSouth, I'm looking in your direction, you pinheads), but instead *promotes* it with people that they don't have a direct contract with! Unbelievable! :)

Of course, they're based out of Seattle. Love that area. (We don't claim Redmond. It was farmland before 1985, and some say it hasn't changed much... well, except from raising cows to raising sheep...)

bassplayinMacFiend

2004-06-16, 13:29

I think the DSL companies are more likely to let you run servers than cable companies. I don't know if Comcast still blocks port 80 but they were at one point due to Code Red or whatever that worm was called.

Heck, try it and see what happens. If they give you crap about bandwidth, try and worm your way out of your contract without paying the $100 cancellation fee.

Akumulator

2004-06-16, 18:51

Ryan

2004-06-16, 19:24

So it's a lot easier than I thought... especially for a basic html site. But what about security? Especially with a database? I also don't have a static IP address. How do you get your domain name to it... I could forward it with my webhost, but what if I cancel my webhost? Will the domain name still be pointed at my IP address?

For a dynamic IP with a domain name, you should check out DynDNS.org's (http://dyndns.org) Custom DNS service. It lets you use a domain name.

I use their free Static DNS service with my server. Now that I have a PB, my Cube is a dedicated server.

By the way, in the Bay Area, check out Sonic.net as an ISP. In Feburary, they offered 6000/608 DSL for 45/month! No restrictions on use.

Res

2004-06-24, 02:16

Running a web server under osX is easy. I'm running one on my powerbook, with mysql, perl and PHP, I can test out complex website without having to upload a single file.

Most ISP will not let you run servers with your normal DSL/Cable account. Speakeasy is the only ISP that I know of that lets you run webor gaming servers off regular accounts.

One thing to remember is that it is your upload speed that is impotent when running a server not your download speed. Back when I was running servers on speakeasy I had the 1.1mb SDSL package and it worked great. I was still using speakeasy until I moved s few months ago (I can't get it where I'm living right now).

staph

2004-06-24, 02:35