| So you think you want to run your own web server? Perhaps you work
for a company and you want to create a corporate web site, or maybe you
just want to put up your own pages without the hassle of going through
a host provider.
There are many, many things that you need to think about and be aware
of before you take the plunge.
Putting up your own web server is not as simple as it sounds - you
have to pick a machine, an operating system, a web server, determine what
you want to run on the server, put in security to keep it from being destroyed,
perform backups, be prepared for disasters and so on. And worse yet, you
have to think about and perform these and many other tasks on a day-to-day
basis.
On the other hand, you have complete control over the environment. You
don't have to search for months to find a host that will let you run CGI,
PHP or ASP pages, you have direct access to the server log files, and you
control the maintenance schedule.
If you go ahead and do this, be prepared for an adventure. It can be
frustrating, and it can be rewarding.
At the end you will wish you had done things differently, but if you
are diligent, intelligent and more than a little lucky you will have a
working, usable web server. |
