Hi guys,I am an IT consultant in a company and they have this 1Mbps leased line recently.
I was instructed by my boss to setup a webhost service with that connection and a P3 computer so that he can let other companies in the building buy the webhosting service.

I was dumbfounded guys.Please help me out.
I need to know what software to install on the company's computer to start the webhosting service and how to create many FTP accounts for the other companies.
PLEASE HELP ME !!!!!

Oh dear.



Firstly, what does your PIII box have pre-installed? Linux (if so, what version?)? Win NT? 2000? ?!?

We only have windows 2000 installed!!
Please help me!!!

You will need Windows 2000 Server Edition if you plan to use Microsoft Windows for web hosting. You will need to make you have IIS (Internet Infomration Service) installed, this is included with Windows 2000 server edition CD, if it was not selected you need to install try the control panel. Once it is installed, and the services are running, you can add websites and ftp accounts from the Console Management Screen, just snap-in IIS. Also make sure you download the latest service pack from Microsoft or you'll get hacked.

Do you have Windows 2000 Server installed? Unfortunately, telling you how to setup and run a web hosting operation is beytond the scope of this board. There are simply too many aspects involved.

That being said, here are some tip and questions you need to think about?

If you have Windows 2000 Server (not professional) installed, you have a program call Internet Information Server. You can use IIS to define web space, install FrontPage Extensions etc.

How many IP addresses do you have assigned to that server? Are you going to share IP addresses or assign the same IP Addresses to different accounts?

I don't think Windows 2000 comes with any built in quota features, so you may need to watch disk space usage.

You will also need to get a program that will allow you to create zone files for domain names on your server. I am not sure if Windows 2000 comes with Microsoft NameServer, or if that is sold seperately (with the Small Business Package).

You will also need to think about how you are going to handle mail. You can get Microsoft Exchange Server and get that running to accept mail for your clients, and create pop3/imap accounts.

These are just some of the things you have to think about. I would do a search through Google for information on how to do web hosting on Windows 2000, you should be able to pick up some information that way, and maybe head down to borders and get a couple of books. In a couple of months, you should be ready to start.

I din know I can get so much helpful response in less than 12 hrs!!!!
thanks a lot guys!!!!

IMHO: (and if I understand your situation)

You are not going to sleep in the office, right?

Your connection reliability is going to cause you problems if uptime is at all important. Your are setting yourself up for failure and a bad reputation. I would think you would do much better with a reseller account somewhere with redundant, high-speed connections. Some place with 24/7 supervision, a good control panel for your clients, etc. This is really cheap and very suitable for a few clients.

Use your almost T-1 for access. Sell this high speed access to the building but put the sites somewhere where a hosting environment already exists. Do this even if the line was installed specifically to support your server. Even if your boss forces the issue insist that you host elsewhere until you learn and configure the local server.

Gary

Yes.....I also thought the connection is not very suitable for hosting.But guess what I am now sort of getting interested in the knowledge aspect of webhost start-up.I think I will try to convince my boss to sell the internet connection instead of doing hosting.But I will still continue to learn how to set up webhost for knowledge sake!!!!
thanks for getting me addicted !!!

Anyway what is IMHO that u mentioned at the beginning of the message?

Originally posted by haryanto

Anyway what is IMHO that u mentioned at the beginning of the message?

IMHO = In My Humble Opinion

Originally posted by haryanto
I will try to convince my boss to sell the internet connection instead of doing hosting.

It does not have to be instead of. Even if you only have one client your learning curve will be really focused. And by actually hosting, the same curve will be much steeper than if you just read about it. Even if you don't host other companies' sites set up a dummy business. You will quickly come to opinion about which feature are valuable, which are not (at the personal level). These and other opinions will be worth money. Set up the local server as a development server. Your boss may not be able to hold on to you. I did not intend to back you up, just to suggest another track.
Gary

If you're anywhere in the New York City area or NJ, I'd be happy to take care of this for you.

Thank you charles for the offer of helping me.
I am in Asia right now...;-(
but my boss sort of dropped the plan to set up the host thing.Im still learning how to setup one though.