hello,

i recently purchased a dell server, i am intending on colocating it and selling web/game server hosting.

for the webhosting side, what do u recomend i do?

i dont have enough experience in linux to host using it, so i want to stick with something i know, windows.

what programs do u recomend to use? i want to be able to host multible domains .

thanks!

-tj

I'd recommend sticking to what you (most likely?) know:

NTFS for directory permissions
IIS for hosting multiple domains (it has this functionality built in).

Was there something more specific you were looking for?

Dan

Uhhh WinXP for hosting? I think you should try Windows 2000 for that. It is much more stable and is just overall better.

WinXP is just as stable, theres no advantage over win2k when it comes to hosting though :)

WindowsXP is not a server operating system. Yes, it is just as stable as Win2K (I'll stay away from which one is 'better'), but it is still a workstation environment, and therefore has limitations when it comes to hosting with it.

Use Win2K Server for hosting, or wait for Windows Server 2003.

> Use Win2K Server for hosting, or wait for Windows Server 2003.

What are the main differences between the two?

The biggest difference, is Windows Server 2003 is still not 'final' code, which would be the biggest reason to not use it in a production environment.

Aside from that, IIS 6.0 has been completely renovated. You can read about the new IIS here:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/evaluation/overview/technologies/iis.mspx

We are running a few Win2K3 servers in our lab, one of which is set up as a web server running IIS 6.0, and have mixed views of it. A few of our guys had to be helped along when it came from migrating from NT4 to 2K, so we generally are slow to adopt.

There are a lot of changes and improvements - probably the most significant is the tight .NET integration (troughout the entire OS, not just IIS). XML is everywhere. There's no question MS is going to continue pushing their .NET product, and Win2K3 server is definitely the next step in that evolution.

I've heard outstanding reviews of .NET server (I think that is what they are calling it, but I could be wrong). I have a few friends that work at MS, and they said .NET server is rock solid. Very promising, considering it's only BETA right now.

I really can't wait to see how nice it is. I really hope it is as stable as I have heard. although I am not looking forward to paying for the upgraded licenses. :(

It's now called "Windows Server 2003". Yeah, it's VERY stable. I've been running it on one of my development machines at work since RC1 without a problem. Then I just upgraded it to RC2 in place. I haven't tried a newer build though (oh the joys of working at Microsoft). Most of the new servers in our group now run it as well and it is also on the clusters running Microsoft.com.

I'm looking forward to it being released. It seems to be a nice improvement over 2000.

hi
i had use win2k to run my server before it's better than win xp pro which i've been using , and i think i will get back with win2k or either windows server 2003.

I suggest learning linux....

p.s. - The reason being is that windows and game servers DO NOT work well...

Originally posted by banner
It's now called "Windows Server 2003". Yeah, it's VERY stable. I've been running it on one of my development machines at work since RC1 without a problem. Then I just upgraded it to RC2 in place. I haven't tried a newer build though (oh the joys of working at Microsoft). Most of the new servers in our group now run it as well and it is also on the clusters running Microsoft.com.

I'm looking forward to it being released. It seems to be a nice improvement over 2000.

I like the name .NET server better. :D

That's great to hear! I'm very excited for the release. Can't wait to be able to see how stable it is 1st-hand!

Problem: I need to host some amount of really low-budget web-sites (basically just for people's own fun, no money involved), I have a reliable connection, but don't want to spend money on this. I got my old PIII-800MHZ which has WinXP on it (I also have Win2K available). I don't really need IIS (I think), I would opt for free Apache + PHP + mySQL package, and I don't know beans about Linux, so does it makes any sence to set up the package mentioned on Win2000/XP? Also, is there anything like sendmail freely available for Win2000/XP? Basic use would be some PHP/Perl portal software (like PHP-Nuke, PostNuke, etc.), forum software (phpBB, InvisionBoard, Aurora etc.), e-mails and e-mail lists...

I know it sounds weird, but I thought it's worth asking anyway, especially at the forum where people are pretty much pros at hosting...
Maybe I'm writing to the wrong topic, correct me then...

If you ever want to learn linux, you need to start sometime. I would STRONGLY suggest that If you want to learn linux, the best way would be to start with a Low-Grade server setup (like what you are doing) Something that isnt critical to maintain, but one you can actually use for real-world experience.

If you want to go with a begginner linux distro, try Mandrake, you can download the ISO's for free, and it is a pretty easy install. You can install Apache, Mysql, and PHP in the main install, or install it via RPM later. If you have problems configuring them, there is a HUGE community of users that can help you, plus a TON of documentation. Setting up Apache on linux is almost as easy as setting it up on windows, the configs are almost identical, so If you can afford to take a day or so to get used to the Linux environment, I would recommend you go that route.

Otherwise, have fun with your Windows 2000/xp setup, Im not sure windows will run apache as stabily as it will IIS (as IIS is integrated into 2000 server at least), and Im not sure how well IIS will run on XP, has anyone had any experience with that? I have only run IIS on 2kServer boxes.

~Amish

I run IIS on my both development machines, one XP and another W2K, doing .NET development. Works for me...

Another question - what's wrong with RedHat distribution?

Originally posted by Catbegemot
Problem: I need to host some amount of really low-budget web-sites (basically just for people's own fun, no money involved), I have a reliable connection, but don't want to spend money on this. I got my old PIII-800MHZ which has WinXP on it (I also have Win2K available). I don't really need IIS (I think), I would opt for free Apache + PHP + mySQL package, and I don't know beans about Linux, so does it makes any sence to set up the package mentioned on Win2000/XP? Also, is there anything like sendmail freely available for Win2000/XP? Basic use would be some PHP/Perl portal software (like PHP-Nuke, PostNuke, etc.), forum software (phpBB, InvisionBoard, Aurora etc.), e-mails and e-mail lists...

I know it sounds weird, but I thought it's worth asking anyway, especially at the forum where people are pretty much pros at hosting...
Maybe I'm writing to the wrong topic, correct me then...

WindowsXP and 2K Pro are not server operating systems. They are both limited to 10 simultaneous connections (doesn't matter if you're running Apache or IIS - the connection limit is at the OS level). Even if your sites are low usage/low traffic, you will still be faced with refused connections if you have 10 people connected at any one time. If you have Win2K SERVER you will not have this limitation.

A fairly well-reviewed mail server for Win2K is mailenable: www.mailenable.com

Thanks for responce, I'll bear that in mind. When I said I have Win2K I meant the licence for Win2K Server. Another question then - is there a sendmail or something alike (and free) for Win2K? Right now thinking is of Sambar server as it has integration of HTTP, FTP, POP and SMTP services... I don't really like the idea of using IIS/Exchange... and I need PHP/Perl :)

Originally posted by Catbegemot
Thanks for responce, I'll bear that in mind. When I said I have Win2K I meant the licence for Win2K Server. Another question then - is there a sendmail or something alike (and free) for Win2K? Right now thinking is of Sambar server as it has integration of HTTP, FTP, POP and SMTP services... I don't really like the idea of using IIS/Exchange... and I need PHP/Perl :)

Mailenable (see above) is a full mail server solution for Win2K. The 'standard' version is free. If you use IIS (which you don't need Exchange for), there's a basic SMTP server built right in - if you tighten it up to only accept connections from itself (localhost), you can pretty much secure it against being used as a relay. We run a few Win2K/IIS servers for clients that need to send mail from their web app, without the need for a full-fledged mail server for sending/receiving.

You can also have a look here: http://www.indigostar.com/sendmail.htm - I have never tried this product, but it was the first result of a google search I did for "sendmail windows".

Both perl (ActivePerl) and php are available for Win2K from their respective websites.

My setup is the following and I have no trouble what so ever:

- Windows 2k Server
- Apache 2.0.44 w/ mod_perl and mod_ssl
- PHP 4.3.1
- MySQL 4.0.11
- Perl 5.8.0

Performance is pretty close to IIS running the same setup.

The only real issue is with Perl. While mod_perl vastly decreases the performance hit on your system if you have alot of users actively using CGI, the output of the current version for Apache 2.0 is a bit slower than just calling Perl directly. I am thinking this is a Windows issue since I talk to people running Linux and they say the opposite. Hopefully it will be fixed in future releases.

The mail server you choose is up to you, there are quite a few good free ones out there for Windows. If you want a direct sendmail replacement I would suggest the one from this site:

http://www.spencernetwork.com/CommonGatewayInterface/WindowsProgram/sendmail.exe.html

Pages aren't in english, but it's pretty easy to figure out. Note that you will STILL need an SMTP server, wether on your server or remote, for it to send mail through.

If you are going to all the trouble of running Windows as a server, you should use IIS and its associated features.

Originally posted by etecc.net
p.s. - The reason being is that windows and game servers DO NOT work well...

i agree, ive been down the windows game server path.

Another question (sorry if it's a stupid one) - can IIS and Apache coexist on the same server?

Sure - but you'll need to turn off the IIS Web Publishing Service, and make sure it is set to 'disabled' so it doesn't start up when Windows reboots.