I really want to host a website. So far, these are all that I got...

PC with AMD Athlon XP 1500+, 256 DDR RAM, 40GB HD.
Broadband line with no Static IP ( 384d/128u)

I don't want to register a new domain name because I want to test it before with my old-free website. Here are all the list of my web site that I register for free....

1) http://planet.time.net.my/BukitBintang/goodstuff
2) http://planet.time.net.my/SunwayCity/neoxfiles
3) http://planet.time.net.my/SunwayCity/Cs225

The big Q is can I host this three website altogether? I'm planning of running an Apache web server on Windows XP platform to host this site. Some people say I need a static IP for this task, well... should I? FYI the sites doesn't involve in any need for SSL application; just simple form and data retrieval from MS Access database.

ps/ Special thanks to all who send their reply... I really appreciate all of them! :)

You don't need a static IP you would just need a client program to update your IP with the DNS you are using. I used http://www.dyndns.org/ when I used to run a server at home. I would say your line speed is really slow, I hosted my site on my cable connection 1900/350 and it was ok, but nothing spectacular.

Ops sorry, I forgot to add that my average visitor per site is about 300 hit per week. Would the spec of the Pc and the connection be enough to handle the job or will it crash?

ps/ Thanks 3mbc!

300 Hits a week isn't too bad.

I've been hosting my site on my cable modem for a bit; your 128kbps upload is essentially your 'max' -- I get 3Mbps+ download, but it doesn't help a bit, since a webserver, by nature (unless you have REALLY small files or something) sends more than it receives. Still, 128 kbps should be fine, although I wouldn't try hosting any huge sites. 128 kbps is noticably slow, though, if you're used to fast connections, and moreso if your connection already has traffic on it.

The one thing that makes me a little nervous is the XP/Apache combo. I know that Apache runs on Windows, but I've always thought of Apache as a "UNIX" tool. My personal choice would be to put Linux on it; Linux would also let you kill all the unnecessary garbage stuff that a server wouldn't need, which would further optimize it for speed. (Windows, on the other hand, has a GUI and stuff that you can't "turn off").

If you really want XP, then stick with Apache, but if you're just doing XP because that's what you're familiar with, I'd venture to guess that you'd get more from Linux.

Another thing to consider is what you're hosting, and how your ISP feels about it. My ISP strictly prohibits running any sort of server at all; I just host my personal page, which really doesn't get any hits at all, and I've had no problems. But if your site becomes really popular, or you're doing commercial hosting, your ISP might kick you off. (Depending on their policies.) Some ISPs even block port 80, which would make hosting more painful.

The windows distros of apache are pretty stable now...

Don't know what it's like under XP though. Works fine via 98 though..

with 300 hits a week you should be fine