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In This Chapter
Alternatives To Home Web Hosting
Factors To Consider Before Hosting Yourself
How To Migrate From An External Provider
© Peter Harrison, www.linuxhomenetworking.com
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We have assumed you want to host your website in your home or home office using a topology similar to that in the diagram below. Before you do, you should at least weigh the merits of such a move.
Network Diagram
Alternatives To Home Web Hosting
It is easy to find virtual hosting companies on the Web which will offer to host a simple website for about $10 per month.
The steps are fairly straight forward:
· Sign up for the virtual hosting service. They will provide you with a login name and password, the IP address of your site plus the name of a private directory on a shared web server in which you’ll place your web pages.
· Register your domain name, such as www.my-site.com, with companies like Register.com, Verisign or RegisterFree.com. You must make sure your new domain name’s DNS records point to the DNS server of the virtual hosting company.
· Upload your web pages to your private virtual hosting directory.
· Test viewing your site using your IP address in your web browser. It takes about 3-4 days for DNS to propagate across the Web, so you’ll probably have to wait at least that long before you’ll be able to view your site using your domain, www.my-site.com.
The virtual hosting provider will also offer free backups of your site, technical support, a number of email addresses and an easy to use web based GUI to manage your settings. For an additional charge, many will also provide an e-commerce feature which will allow you to have a shopping cart and customer loyalty programs.
Factors To Consider Before Hosting Yourself
Virtual hosting is the ideal solution for many small websites. There are a number of reasons why you may want to move your website to your home or small office.
Home Based Websites
Pros
o Cost: It is possible to host a website on most DSL connections. A website can be hosted on this data circuit for the only additional hardware cost of a network switch and a web server. You should be able to buy this equipment second hand for about $100. If your home already has DSL there would be no additional network connectivity costs. So for a savings of $10 per month the project should pay for itself in less than a year.
o New Skills: There is also the additional benefit of learning the new skills required to set up the site. Changes can be made with little delay.
o Availability: Reliable virtual hosting facilities may not be available in your country and/or you may not have access to the foreign currency to host your site abroad.
Cons
o Lost Services: You lose the convenience of many of the services such as backups, security audits, load balancing, DNS, redundant hardware, data base services and technical support offered by the virtual hosting company. For the home based website these are usually not big issues.
o Security: One important factor to consider is the security of your new server. Hosting providers may provide software patches to fix security vulnerabilities on your web servers and may even provide a firewall to protect it. These services may be more difficult to implement at home. There is a chapter on the iptables Linux firewall and general security policies for Linux servers to help you overcome these shortcomings.
o Technical Ability: Your service provider may have more expertise in setting up your site than you do.
Small Office Based Websites
Pros
o Increased Control: You will be able to manage all aspects of your website if it is hosted on a server based either in-house or within your control at a remote data center.
o Availability: Reliable virtual hosting facilities may not be available in your country and you may not have access to the foreign currency to host your site abroad.
o Cost: The cost of using an external web hosting provider will increase as you purchase more systems administration services. You will eventually be able to justify hosting your website in-house based on this financial fact. In order to determine the break even point of the proposal, you will have to consider the following:
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In-house Web Hosting
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Savings
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Costs |
Risks |
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· Monthly out sourced web hosting fee · Elimination of the cost of delays to implement desired services. |
· New hardware & software · Possible new application development. · Training · The percentage of IT staff’s time installing and maintaining the site · Potential cost of the risks (% likelihood of failure per month X cost of failure) |
· Likelihood of a failure and expected duration · The cost of both the failure and post failure recovery (Hardware, software, data restoration, time) |
Cons
o Lost Services: You won’t have access to the services provided by your old service provider, which may have been highly desirable and cost effective.
o Security: Always weigh the degree of security maintained by your hosting provider with that which you expect to provide in-house. Proceed with the server migration only if you feel your staff can handle the job. The chapter on the Linux iptables firewall should help make the decision easier.
o Technical Ability: You may have to incur additional training costs to ensure that your IT staff has the necessary knowledge to do the job internally.
How To Migrate From An External Provider
The chapter on DNS has a detailed explanation of the steps involved in migrating your website from an external hosting provider to your home or small office. You should also read the sections on mail and web server configuration to help provide a more rounded understanding of the steps involved.