In previous articles on the setting up and use of the ADSL router/modem I covered the basics of how to allow inwards traffic - for server programs that require users from the Internet to connect to your computer. One of the most interesting and useful server projects is to run your own Web server. In other words, to host a Web site on your own PC.

Q: Already I have Web space available through Melb PC and WestNet - why would I want to host my own site?

There are a number of reasons:

• You avoid the need to upload files - simply place the files in the appropriate folder on your computer and they are automatically part of your Web site
  
  
• You are free from the limitations associated with using ISP-provided Web space. Your ISP can provide only limited disk space - and that can be quickly swallowed up with the multimedia files that are so common these days. With your own site, the only limitation is the size of your hard drive
  
  
• ISP space rarely provides direct server access (other than to upload files). This prevents you from trying out many interesting and useful features that depend upon such access. Site log-in, database access, messaging, guest book, interactive page displays are just some of the interesting additions that your site can incorporate if self hosted. Some of these facilities can be seen in action on my site at http://rogerbrown.no-ip.org.
   
  
• And last, but by no means least, it's a fun way to learn.

• A reasonably fast Internet connection (broadband)
  
  
• An ISP that allows the connection to be used for servers (WestNet does, but some other ISPs including Optus do not - check your ISP's acceptable use policy)

1. Go to http://www.analogx.com/contents/download/network/sswww.htm and download SimpleServer. It's a tiny 187 KB.
    
   
2. Install the program - the install routine must be simplest you will ever see. Refer to Figure 1.
   
   
3. Create a Web page and save it; you can locate it in any directory. If you don't have a simple HTML editor on your system (the one that comes with Mozilla is ideal), then consider the excellent NVU - see http://www.nvu.com/.
   
   
4. Fire up SimpleServer - it will display the screen in Figure 2.
    
   
5. Click the button at the bottom of the SimpleServer window to set your Web directory. Enter the name of the directory where you created and saved your Web page during step 3.
    
   
6. Click the Start button
   
   
7. Fire up your Web browser and browse http://localhost. Your page will appear, hopefully it will be a little more elegant than my test page. See Figure 3.

• First - and especially if you have more than one PC networked to your ADSL connection - you need to give your PC to a static IP address (ie. the same IP address each time you connect). Note that we are talking about your internal network address rather than your public address. See the first of my router articles, PC Update, October 2004, for an explanation of this distinction http://www.melbpc.org.au/pcupdate/2410/2410article8.htm.
  
  
• To set a static IP address in Windows XP follow the instructions at http://www.hotcomm.com/FAQ/FAQ_staticIPXP.asp The procedure is similar for other versions of Windows.
  
  
• Port forwarding. You may remember from my next article that by default, your router will block all inward connections. See PC Update, December 2004 or read it online at http://www.melbpc.org.au/pcupdate/2412/2412article4.htm.
  
  
• Anyone wanting to view your Web site will be making an inward connection (to port 80 - the HTTP or Web server port) and you need to set the router to allow those connections. This is covered in the December article which you can also read online at http://rogerbrown.no-ip.org/router2.html The image displayed in Figure 4, (which is item 7 from the December article) shows how the forwarding is done - the IP address to which port 80 is redirected will be the internal address of the PC running SimpleServer
  
  
• Set your firewall software to allow the Web server to receive connections. If you are not already running firewall software you MUST do so if you wish to run a Web server. I recommend Kerio Personal Firewall Version 2.15 from http://pricelessware.org/thelist/sec.htm. [Ed: Do not underestimate the security risk in opening up your computer to the world-GT]
  
  
• You need a domain name. The steps you have taken so far would enable others to browse your page but only if they knew your IP address. Who wants to browse a site using a URL like http://202.173.154.234? There are a number of ways you can obtain a domain name but a simple and effective one for personal users is to use one of the free DNS services like http://www.no-ip.com. This service (which I use) provides you with a subdomain name (mine is http://rogerbrown.no-ip.org), handles all the details of establishing and maintaining that subdomain name on the DNS system - and does so free of charge! All the details are at http://www.no-ip.com/services/page/free/dynamic/dns.

Testing External Access

So far, you have viewed your new Web page using the URL http://localhost. That shows it only as it appears on your computer. Any attempt to use your new domain name URL to access the page on your computer will almost certainly not work - that's due to a limitation of your router. So ideally what you want to do is to try and view your page as it would appear on the Internet, and to confirm that your domain name is actually accessible to the world.