suba

since you got a static IP, technically you can run your own web server and mail server! you can even setup your own VPN!

if you dont wanna do it yourself, you can have a domain name register, webspace, emails and other goodies for £19.99 / year including all fees and VAT from hostplus.

edit month to year!!!

[Edited by suba - 9/2/2002 10:18:19 PM]

dsmith

think domain masking is relevant if you are have a url like www.fancyname.com but forward it to www.reallysmallcrapisp.net/username/ There would certainly be no need for anything like that with a single domain name pointed to a single static IP address. There is no difference whether the IP address is at the ISP or at your home if its static.

There is a difference between domain forwarding and a standard www dns entry.

There really is no substitute for going to decent ISP with this. If you choose to run mail etc later there'll be no issue adding more dns records or moving it to a larger b/w hosting if necessary.

Deano
(*cough* Titan *cough*)
p.s. I'd kill for a static IP and broadband



[Edited by dsmith - 9/2/2002 10:57:23 PM]

MarkO

Cool. So what's the URL of your domain then, so we can get some traffic going your way?

The sites I have hosted with Lee are Otway.com, Webreaper.net, Harrietsham.net & X-Type.org



[Edited by MarkO - 9/3/2002 7:16:44 AM]

MartinM

So, I've got:
- ADSL
- a static IP address
- 20MB of web space at, say, www.MartinM.adslprovider.co.uk
- a (allegedly) fancy ADSL modem/router (SpeedTouch 510) with an inbuilt firewall
- a home (DHCP) network

But I fancy running a (very low volume) web server at home (there's nothing in the provider Ts and Cs that says I can't), so that I can:
- have virtually unlimited (well, I've gotta 80GB disk!) web space
- be able to serve database-originated web pages etc
- expose web services, mail servers etc (well they might be a bit adventurous to start with!)

So I'd like a domain name, say www.MartinM.net, that is 'known to the Internet' and will result in my web server at my static IP address being called.

What's involved with this?
- how do I get it?
- through who?
- does it cost?
- what's the gotchas (both running a web server at home and having a domain name)?

TIA
Martin


[Edited by MartinM - 9/2/2002 11:45:46 AM]

ChrisB

You can pay as little as £5 (or less) for a domain name. Check the small print very carefully though - if you become unhappy with the service and wish to move on, you might get hit with a release fee (often £50 or more!).

Speak to Lee @ http://www.titanhosts.net. £10 to register a .uk for a year and no release fee.

Then get Lee to point the www record for your domain to the static IP address you have. Get your server set up on that IP and jobs done.

Running your own server...

You need to keep on top of security patches for the chosen OS and web server. Whilst it's not a big corporate site, rebuilding your box because it was compromised isn't much fun.

Chris.

MartinM

Thanks Chris

titanhosts looks good and seems to be well in with Nominet. Keen prices and a Scooby connection too R u on commission?

I've also looked at www.easydns.com - similar price and a lack of findable small print - but they seem to be some sort of 'alternative' dns

Any views..or comments from anyone else?

Ta

MarkO

Chris isn't on commission. Just a satisfied customer. Like me.

Rusty Festa

I have the 510e and Port Address Translation (PAT) is easy on it.

Go somewhere like www.easily.co.uk and register a .co.uk for 2 years for £9.99. you then get free domain forwarding with masking (so the browser does not revert to the router's IP address ).
Then set up to the routers WAN IP address (assuming it is fixed!) and set PAT to route on port 80 (http) to the private LAN IP address of you windows 2000 profesional desktop which lets you run one website.

I did this whilst developing and asp site with a database as I did not want to spend money on NT hosting whilst doing the development and it worked fine for me (apart from writing the site!) The Alcatel's PAT also let me FTP in on Port 21

Help this is of use, Jon

Ps. email in profile

Rusty Festa

oh, yeah - downsides...

# You have to leave your PC on all day (electricity bill)
# If your PC (site) goes down, you can't phone up your hosting company and whinge
# bandwidth restricted to 256k upload ie when you are serving the web pages to people visiting you

Upsides...

# Cheaper than most hosting companies
# you can tell the mates down the pub
# very easy to do

ChrisB

As Mark says, just a satisified customer of Titan.

My personal domain & web space is with them, whilst we two dedicated servers co-located with them at work.

Chris.

MartinM

Hmm...URL masking - never heard of that.

So without it, someone types in http://www.martinm.net/default.htm on their browser, but when it shows the web page, their address bar changes to http://200.234.78.89/default.htm, or whatever????

titanhosts don't mention it, so do they do it by default?...s'pose I should ask them really, but somene here may know

PS yep, go register martinm.net and then try to sell it to me at an exhorbitant price...its not the one I really want tho'

Rusty Festa

£20/month = £240/year

I would expect that tp be for NT hosting for the database Martin is after?!
I hope so as we do unix hosting including a domain name, dns, ftp, dialup, email, etc for £100/year

URL masking is exactly as you think it is Martin. I use it because I have a £100/year hosting package with my employer and then I went off and reg'd my names for £5/year elsewhere! I then point all my names to sub-directories which would normally look like www.paidforhosting.co.uk/cheapdomainelswhere/index.htm but to get to it you type in www.cheapdomainelsewhere.co.uk and this is what stays in the browser even when you go further into my sites - kind of a cheap mans dedicated hosting

Jon

MartinM

OK

-got my web site up and running (IIS is available in Windows XP Pro)
-set the firewall to translate inbound requests to port 80 on my static IP address into port 80 requests into my XP box on the internal network
-...and it all works!!!

I have a website on the Internet! All I need now is a domain name.

Cool!

Next challenge
- MSN Messenger Audio, Video and Application Sharing thro' the Speedtouch 510. All my STFW activities seem to suggest that despite the ST510 being a UPnP device (as seemingly required by Messenger), no-one has said they've actually made it work
- anyone managed it, or know anyone who has???

suba

my typo on hostplus cost. it's £19.99/year! have a look at oneandone as well for domain name register. dunno if they will forward mx records if you wanna run your own smtp email server.

kimera

www.123reg.co.uk

£6 for.co.uk
£20 for .com

Easily cheapest around, try em, free webforarding etc aswell

MartinM

OK, its sorted!

Wrote a (longish) email to Lee at Titanhosts at about 1140pm. Just about to go to bed a few mins later .. and i got a full reply. Fantastic.

So, I've stayed up a little longer, got the credit card out and now I'm the owner of my own .com domain with proper web forwarding to my static address, unlimited email redirection etc etc

Not connected with Titanhosts blah, blah, blah...just hoping to be a happy customer

Thanks all
Martin