Newbies wants to understand how to host/create a basic website

[NickFitz]

I really did not want to go with external hosting because the website traffic will only be me and just a way to further develop my knowledge of how it works and how I can use my database skills with the web. So this will teach me more about the whole infrastructure rather than relying on a hosting company.

You can use the machine you're on at the IP address 127.0.0.1 or the host name localhost (e.g. if you're using a Mac, go to System Preferences>Sharing and enable Web Sharing, then go to http://localhost/). The IP addresses of other machines on your network may be static if you have configured them that way, or may be dynamically allocated by your router, most probably in the 192.168.x.x range. If you configure them individually with an IP address in the range your router uses (and configure your router not to give that address to anything else) then you can treat your local network as a kind of miniature Internet, allowing you to do things like run the database server on a different machine to the web server.

By looking for information on the hosts file (which works the same way on Windows, Mac, or Linux) you can find out how to make a given machine use aliases to those other machines - for example, make dev.example.com be 192.168.1.2 while db.example.com is 192.168.1.23. (Or to point them to the same machine, if you prefer.)

I thought nowadays there was no need to use static IP's since there are ways of getting round that?..... some kinda domain name resolving process?

As others have mentioned, services like DynDNS support this. Your router may well have a configuration page for setting this up. You then need to set up the router to do port mapping, to tell it which traffic should go to which machine on your network. So, you might have traffic for port 80 (the default for HTTP, i.e. the web server) sent to 192.168.1.5, while port 3306 is the default port for traffic for the MySQL db server, so you send that to 192.168.1.3. Your router's manual should go into more detail about what exactly you need to do, and there are plenty of generic how-to guides online to help you get your head around the basic principles.

The main advantage of this is that you then have access from outside your internal network, although you then also need to be more aware of security as suddenly your home machines (at least the ones you've port mapped, and potentially the others by leapfrogging from them) can be reached directly over the Internet: using "fred" as the password for your local database root account is no longer an option. I tend to enable port mapping only when I know I'm going to be using it, and turn it off again afterwards.

It really isn't that complicated once you get into it; conceptually, it's no harder than hooking up a TV plus HDD Recorder plus Freeview box such that all the signals go to and from the right places in the right order. The IP addresses are the colour coded connectors, and the names are the labels you attach to the connectors because it's easier than having to remember what yellow means.

[css_jay99]

Ok these mac mini ideas and synology options are looking like what i need for now.

Will I be able to use the domain name i bought from 123reg on them?

css_jay99

[escapeUK]

Its one of those things where people say can you do this, and you can think yes you can, but why would you bother?

Tsohost do brilliant hosting from £14.99 a year. Do you really want to open ports on your firewall to the internet at large to save such a small sum?

[v8gaz]

Your Synology will already be able to provide DDNS updates and web hosting. Look at the control panel.

Install Joomla on the synology, and you have a web site.

Lemon Squeezy.

[Sysman]

You don't necessarily need a static IP... just use a dynamic DNS service like dyndns.org, which repoints your url to your ip whenever it changes. You can even program this into most routers these days (I have it in my free router from O2)

WHS.

I was successfully running a server using dyndns.org for a couple of years.

Where I live I can't get a fixed IP address unless I go for a business package and that simply costs too much.

But as chef said, there is nothing to stop you running a web site on one of your permanently on systems.

Your Mac Mini already has the capability of serving up simple web pages: System Preferences -> Sharing -> Web Sharing On, and when you click that box it will give you a site URL and one for your personal web page (the files for the latter are in the Sites folder of your user account).

[MrRobin]

You don't necessarily need a static IP... just use a dynamic DNS service like dyndns.org, which repoints your url to your ip whenever it changes. You can even program this into most routers these days (I have it in my free router from O2)

[chef]

If it's just you using it for teaching purposes then why not just create web pages on your laptop and view them through your browser using your local address?

[css_jay99]

I really did not want to go with external hosting because the website traffic will only be me and just a way to further develop my knowledge of how it works and how I can use my database skills with the web. So this will teach me more about the whole infrastructure rather than relying on a hosting company.

I thought nowadays there was no need to use static IP's since there are ways of getting round that?..... some kinda domain name resolving process?


css_jay99

[fullyautomatix]

What you need is a static IP. Some ISP's do provide a static IP as part of the package but it might cost more.

With a static IP, you can effectively host a website on a web server on your laptop. BUt it needs to be constantly on.

[Peoplesoft bloke]

From my limited tech knowledge.

The "speed" of your infinity connection is irrelevant as that's the download speed YOU (might) get - if you want a site serving others, that'll depend on your upload speed.

You need a static(ish) IP address and a proper DNS server - but you can get cheap/free space somewhere and set up the domain you own to point there.

You can use IIS or similar to "practice" serving up web pages on your home network then upload them to your actual webspace, although if they are just plain pages without any clever scripting, you can preview them in a browser on the machine where you code 'em anyway.

[css_jay99]

H all,

I have a home network that consist of Synology Nas, Mac mini and 3 other laptops ... the 1st two are permanently switched on.
I come from oracle database programing background so my networking skills do not go beyond setting up a home network.....
I use BT infinity which is a 40Mbit connection but not s attic ip address

I bought a domain name from 123reg and have done nothing with it. ....

I am trying to get a feel of creating a basic sites that probably is using static pages

Can I create this website on my NAS?, could it use the domain i bought from 123reg?

please let me know any other steps/things that i have not taken into consideration as well

cheers

css_jay99