

Do you host a web server at home? - cantbecool

I'm considering hosting from home and interested in HN community's thoughts.
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mmx
I currently run an entire startup in my garage, this includes routers,
webserver, database servers, UPS's, etc, all hand built by the way. I work on
it with 3 other guys who live 45 minutes to 4 hours away. We've bootstrapped
this thing in a way that I'll have to write about once we're funded. I'm
currently located in Virginia, and there is a mountain behind my house thats
on fire about two miles away. I've been battling smoke for the last 48 hours.
Operating out of your own house is amazingly convenient and a large
undertaking at the same time. I both love and hate it, but most of all I've
learned from it. Also, I'm running everything off of a Comcast Business Class
connection, which was able to handle a LifeHacker post (10K visits in about 5
hours), so if Comcast frowns on my setup they haven't mentioned anything yet.

~~~
cantbecool
Awesome, I'm going to run it off of Comcast's network as well. I hope the fire
shortly stops, mmx. Sounds like you're in a rock and a hard place right now.
We just need Mother Nature's intervention.

~~~
jff
I mentioned my setup in another post; I'm running on a residential Comcast
line, and since my traffic is low I can get away with it. YMMV :)

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runjake
I did. Just save yourself the heartache and buy a cheap VPS from prgmr.com or
similar (linode? slicehost? arpnetworks?)

~~~
cantbecool
I might do that if my homemade web server was handling 20+ simultaneous
connections.

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jameswyse
I do, but just for web development and in-house apps.

It's possible to run a website from your home but there is a lot to consider..

\- Does your ISP allow this? \- Do you have enough upload bandwidth to deal
with your expected load? \- Do you have a static IP address (otherwise you can
host your DNS elsewhere and use a Dynamic DNS program to update it)

So it's possible but unless it's something that's not that important, I
wouldn't bother. You miss out on a lot of the standard features of dedicated
hosting providers such as redundant power, multiple redundant uplinks and
hardware support.

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jff
I do. I've run FreeBSD on a SunFire and on an old Thinkpad, and I currently
run a Go web server under Plan 9 on that old Thinkpad. It's easy, just start
the server and point your domain name at it. Since I've got a dynamic IP, I
have a cron job to update it every day--it's just a personal page, so it
doesn't really matter if it's unavailable for a little while every few months.

~~~
cantbecool
Nice, I'm thinking about running it off an old laptop too. I was going to set
up a cron job also to fix that whole dynamic ip issue.

~~~
jff
The good thing about a laptop is that it has a built-in UPS :)

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mafro
I've run a server at home for years. Mostly for SSH access to my old catalogue
of email and to do some remote coding when at work. It also served as a
website host for small scripts.. Which is about all you can do on a home
connection.

For the handful of hosted sites that I manage and a version of Roundcube that
connects to my mail provider - I use a VPS. Gandi is good.

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codeonfire
For development, yes. For paying customers or a business, no way.

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dirkdeman
I used to, but shared hosting is less than 20 euros a year, a Decent VPS is
use costs a little more: about 60 euros a year. For this kind of pocket change
I can worry about other things than setting up and maintaining a web server.
Doing it myself was a fun and good learning experience, though!

~~~
cantbecool
That's exactly what I was thinking. At work I'll set up production servers all
the time, but I'd enjoy knowing I have a personal web server running in my
closet.

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akr
I host my Blog on a SheevaPlug from home. Additionally it runs an IMAP Server
and some development stuff. In combination with the ARM Port of Archlinux it
works pretty well - even with the small uplink my 2Mbit connection offers.

~~~
cantbecool
Awesome, I'm getting pretty reasonable response times from your blog too, and
I found out about Conky from your last blog post.

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allanscu
I used to do it. I've played with both static IP and dynamic DNS. Hosting from
home works fine for a web server that doesn't expect a lot of traffic.
Otherwise, save yourself the headache and fire up a VPS in a few minutes.

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llaxsll
I have a low-key server at home. Ubuntu + dyndns. I even host some of my low-
key sites on it. I've found it is a pretty good combo. It has come to be a
very useful tool over the months.

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pastaking
I'd be interested to find out how to host from home. All these VPSs are
getting expensive and I've noticed most of my side projects don't need all
that.

~~~
cantbecool
Yeah, that's exactly what I'm thinking too. A coworker set up a home web
server on an old C2D Dell machine, and when I ping it, it's responding quicker
than the host I'm using.

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mirceagoia
Does your ISP allow you to have a web server at home? Some don't unless you
pay more.

~~~
cantbecool
I'm certain it, Comcast, allows incoming port 80 get requests, but it is
certainly frowned upon.

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debacle
It's so cheap to get a VPS from a good company (I use linode). Gone are the
days that hosting from home is really necessary.

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octopus
Have you considered the cost of a fixed IP ? Depending on were you live this
could vary from 10$/month to 100$/month.

