what would I need to make my own web server? I have a mac g4, so I know I can build a page on it and let people from the net view it becouse I have done it. I also have dsl so its not all that slow, whould I need at least a t3 to play qt movies on it? at first tey were going to be up to 200 mg for an hour video in size but i can keep them down to 100mg and only have 30 minute movies or smaller? let me know your opinions?

thank you
Jason Miller

I don't know much, but you have to make sure that your DSL provider allows you to host w/ your connection.

You also need to make sure you have a static ip, if not it will be more difficult if not impossible to host sites.

If you plan on streaming .mov's you really need the Quicktime Streaming Server software. I think you can http stream .mov's but it isn't really "streaming".

Does that make sense????:eek:

static ip, is that an ip thats always the same? if so yea i have that. would it take less bandwidth to use the qt server rather than just using .mov files? if so can you point me to a freeware program that can do this?

thank you
Jason Miller

Jason,

I think it will use the same amount of bandwidth if a person watches the whole movie. But if a person only watches part of it, the streaming would stop and thus stop the downloading. If you didn't stream the person would have to download the whole movie. If I am wrong someone please correct me.

I think the Apple QT streaming software costs $1,000+. I am not sure what freeware programs are available.

Jason,

Heres a link:
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/products/qtss/

I guess Apple has 2 versions. QuickTime Streaming Server requres an actual Mac to run from. They also have Darwin Streaming Server System which requrest OS X or a Linux system. I didn't see any pricing info on that page so I am not sure of how much it costs.

with just a .mov you can watch it while its loading, you don't have to wait untill its finished, as long as the dl rate is faster than how long the movie is. if you want to stop the dl just click the stop at the top of the browser.

whats a static ip?

Static IP is an IP address that doesn't change. Most dialup accounts have a dynamic IP. They change everytime they dialup and connect to the net. DSL/Cable can vary. Some providers provide static IP's others don't.

Here is another good link.

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/products/tutorials/httpvsrtsp.html

Compares http(no streamign software) and rtp(streaming software)

I read of bit of it and
http equals more bandwidth. You have control over bandwidth with rtp

thanks guys I know more than I did. anyother tips and advice you have feel free I look forward to learning as much about this as I can.


thank you
Jaosn Miller

As someone else said, check with your dsl provider before you start running a web server from home using that connection. I'll add that if you are looking to put a bunch of 50 meg Quicktime files (or even one such file that lots of people are interested in) on your site, you probably don't want to host it on a dsl connection.

If you have a good symmetric dsl connection (same upload as download speed), you might be able to get away with hosting such a site if it receives very little traffic (ie no more than 10 or 20 full movie downloads per day). Those number are really guesses because a 144k dsl (pretty slow for dsl) connection has about 1/10th of the bandwidth that a 1.5 mbit dsl (very fast for dsl) connection has.

Finally, if you decide to host your site somewhere other than at home and it gets popular, you will probably accumulate some hefty bandwidth charges. 100 daily movie downloads at 50 megs each is around 150 gigabytes of transfer per month.

-joe

if i get a didicated dsl line, then I shouldnt have to worry about monthly bandwidth rates right? all I would have to worry about it it running slow now and then when a lot of people are looking at my site?
is this true?

thank you
Jason Miller

Originally posted by Ihoppoet
if i get a didicated dsl line, then I shouldnt have to worry about monthly bandwidth rates right? all I would have to worry about it it running slow now and then when a lot of people are looking at my site?
is this true?

thank you
Jason Miller
Aloha
ya have to ask you isp some will allow it some won't
I am lucky and have one that will but I only use it for some of my own test stuff to play with would never think about using it to host any pblic stuff ever
I do have 2 static IP address's though so I can have one for each of my computers that i use for dev purposes.

if they will allow it, would that be a true statement? If It is, then I can shop around untill I find a provider that does allow it.

thank you
Jaosn Miller

Originally posted by Ihoppoet
if i get a didicated dsl line, then I shouldnt have to worry about monthly bandwidth rates right? all I would have to worry about it it running slow now and then when a lot of people are looking at my site?
is this true?

thank you
Jason Miller

Yes, that is correct. A dsl line generally does not carry extra charges for usage. You just pay for the pipe and use it as much as you want within the terms of service laid out by the provider. You would just have to find a dsl provider that allows servers and your site would be slow if too many people tried to view it.

One other concern would be that dsl lines are less reliable than locating a server in a datacenter. If your dsl line goes down it would not be abnormal to wait a day for it to be fixed whereas a 1 hour outage in a good datacenter would be very rare (and some would argue that there should never be a complete outage in a good datacenter).

-joe