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nucklearknight

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I have a spare computer that I want to host my website. It's just one website that won't take much bandwidth to run.
I have At&t DSL and the computer is connected via a router that is a 2WIRE 2701HG-B.
I have Windows XP Professional SP3 installed on it.
My domain name is registered on Godaddy.
I have tried to do this already and with no luck. I installed IIS and when I type "http://localhost/" into my browser, I can view my test page that I set up. I also have a static IP set up for the computer.

I'm willing to reformat and install linux if somebody is willing to give me a complete guide on how to set it up to host my domain that I bought on godaddy.

I would prefer to figure out this IIS situation though because I want to be able to access the computer remotely.

Any help would be appreciated.
 
So you can see it internally (if you type the static address from a different computer on the same network) but you can't connect to it outside your network?
 
Well, the computer has a static IP 192.18.1.xx that is the private IP given to it by my router. It used to change but I made it static. The router also has a IP address that I can see from www.whatismyip.com and it doesn't seem to change. I've been checking it for the past week and it has remained the same.
 
Well unless you order static for your privet, it is a dynamic.

However since your ip hasn't changed, I would say to make sure the port forwarding is forwarding port 80 to 80 and i would also turn off the firewall on the computer.
 
192.18.1.xx is the local network, that has nothing to do with your external IP or how your computers/server are accessed over the internet. To be sure you have a static IP (which is doubtful), restart your modem and see if your IP is the same. If it's not, then simply go to www.dyndns.org and register for their free service, which installs a program on your server that reports the current external IP address to DynDns, which then updates their records so your actual hostname could be something like mynetwork.gotdns.com, and then it wouldn't matter if your IP changes.
 
Well I can now access my computer's test page from any computer by entering my IP address. Yes my computer does have a static IP address, I set it to have one. I had forwarded the port 80 on the wrong machine via my router.

So now how do I point my domain at my server/ip address?
 
You can't choose to have a dynamic or static IP, you're getting the internal 192.x.x.x IP confused with the modem's external IP.
 
I probably am. I just know that the internal IP of my computer used to change. And I don't think the external IP of my router does since it has been the same for about a week or two. But my site works now which I'm glad of.

Is there a way I can SSH into it? You know with something like WinSCP.
 
First we need to get the IP issue straitened out. If you have a static internal IP set on your computer/server, then yes that will not change unless you do so manually. However most likely your external IP does change, but it only happens when your modem restarts.

So restart your modem, then go to the whatsmyip site and see if it's the same.
 
Well I don't have a modem. I use DSL so it's just a phone line to my router. AND my router never get's reset. On the rare occasion that there would be a power outage or something else that would cause my router to be reset, I can just change the ip in the godaddy config.
 
nucklearknight said:
Well I don't have a modem. I use DSL so it's just a phone line to my router. AND my router never get's reset. On the rare occasion that there would be a power outage or something else that would cause my router to be reset, I can just change the ip in the godaddy config.
Click to expand...
Yes you do, you NEED a modem to connect to the internet, it converts the phone line or cable line into a usable connection for internet access. Your router is probably a modem/router combo.

Honestly, it's just much simpler to setup a DynDNS account at www.dyndns.com, where you install their client software on your server and when/if your IP changes, the client software will send an update to the DynDNS servers. Also, that way you wouldn't have to remember an IP like 12.24.240.12, you just need to remember something like mysite.gotdns.com.
 
first off... it should be 192.168.1.x

Why host at home?
IIS on XP is limited to 10 web connections.
You could install apache, or a server class windows OS.
Check the windows firewall .. if port 80 is not open, open it. A good test is to try it from another pc on your lan. If you want the firewall on, make sure its set to "any"
Does your ISP block port 80? many do
 
bilbus said:
first off... it should be 192.168.1.x

Why host at home?
IIS on XP is limited to 10 web connections.
You could install apache, or a server class windows OS.
Check the windows firewall .. if port 80 is not open, open it. A good test is to try it from another pc on your lan. If you want the firewall on, make sure its set to "any"
Does your ISP block port 80? many do
Click to expand...

I host from home for a few reasons:
1. I enjoy messing around with computers and doing things myself.
2. I used to have free web hosting but it was highly unreliable and now if there is a problem I can fix it myself.
3. I only want to host one site, my own.

And I don't need to type in my ip address or try to remember it.
www.iamalbert.com
That's my website, hosted from home. Sure it may be a little slow, but it get's the job done.

I'm going back to college after my winter break is over and I'm going to leave my server computer at home. I'll remote desktop to it when I need to work on it but I need to know how to add files using WinSCP or something like that.
 
Ok. So I followed these directions exactly and I cannot connect. Does anybody know why?
*****************

you will need a static address for your computer. Fortunately, you don't need to pay anything if you use a free service like DynDNS which gives you a hostname (like your-name.homeip.net) which always points to your computer. They just have a lightweight app which runs on your computer and updates their IP address record when your IP changes - so your family would connect to your-name.homeip.net.
http://www.dyndns.com/services/dns/dyndn...

Click Get Started, create an account, then add a new your-name.homeip.net hostname (anything you want) and click Use auto detected IP address. Click Support, then Download Now to get the updater. You will need to configure the updater with your DynDNS username and password.

Next you'll need an easy FTP server. I use FileZilla because it's nice and simple.
http://filezilla-project.org/download.ph...

Download FileZilla and install it with the default options (it will run at Windows startup). After installation it will give you a Connect to Server box, click OK.

Go to Edit - Groups. You can create a single group to put all the users in instead of changing the settings for everyone.
Click Add on the right and enter a name like "Friends."
Click Shared Folders and add any folders on your PC that you want to share.
If you want them to be able to add new files, enable "Write" and "Create Directories"
Click OK.

Now let's set up the users.
Go to Edit - Users.
Create a new account by giving it a username and choosing the appropriate group.
Click the checkbox next to Password and type a new password.
You can give each user access to additional folders if necessary on the Shared folders page.
Do this for all the people you want to access your files (or they can share an account if you want that).

If you have a router you will need to log in to the router and enable port forwarding to your computer on port 21 (Google "port forwarding" plus your router model name for instructions).

Now you're up and running and it's time for them to connect.
Have them download the WinSCP Installation package.
http://winscp.net/eng/download.php#downl...
Once the installation is complete they can run WinSCP and type the host name your-name.homeip.net (whatever you chose with DynDNS), and their username and password.
Change File protocol to FTP.
Click Save.
Click OK.
Double-click the new connection and it should connect to your FTP server.

**********
This is as far as I get
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Last edited:
nucklearknight said:
I host from home for a few reasons:
1. I enjoy messing around with computers and doing things myself.
2. I used to have free web hosting but it was highly unreliable and now if there is a problem I can fix it myself.
3. I only want to host one site, my own.

And I don't need to type in my ip address or try to remember it.
www.iamalbert.com
That's my website, hosted from home. Sure it may be a little slow, but it get's the job done.

I'm going back to college after my winter break is over and I'm going to leave my server computer at home. I'll remote desktop to it when I need to work on it but I need to know how to add files using WinSCP or something like that.
Click to expand...


I would suggest your dump the home server and get a dedicated or VPS server. Save yourself the hassle. Plus since it is your server you will still have full access to the machine at admin level account. I would recommend Serverintellect.com as they have managed servers and vps. I am going to be honest here, if you cant set up a forward to static ip at your house I wouldn't recommend hosting the server yourself. What your attempting to do is quite simple but your confusing yourself.

The simplest way is get your static ip address, then use something like No-ip.com and forward to your home pc. And make your home PC DMZ full open so all request and ports arnt blocked.
 
Also, ISPs are known to block incoming port 80 requests because they don't want you hosting unless you pay for it.
 
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