I recently bumped into a friend of mine who is hosting his web site from home. And he does not have a static IP at home !!! How does this work

1) You take a dynamic IP service at home (DSL / Cable / Forget Dial up). Set up a Computer to run all the time hosting your web application. What a beauty, you can play around with your site any way you wish !
2) Sign up with a Dynamic DNS service provider who normally give the service for free. For example (www.dyndns.com)
3) Choose a domain name from DNS provider and then attach your subdomain name to it. For example you can choose the domain homeip.net and attach MySite subdomain to it. So your website address becomes MySite.HomeIP.net . (I don't know whether you can have dynamic IP for a domain name)
4) Install a third party IP address updater tool on your PC and keep it running (Example http://www.dyndns.com/support/clients/).

Vila, you have your own web site. Plus if you have FTP and other ports enabled on your home computer you can use those services too.

- Anil

Does he use any hacker proof tools?

There are some disadvantages to hosting at home. First, the connection isn't as good as dedicated hosts. Unless your connection plan is for hosting a server, it'll probably go down every once in a while. Also, if your server attracts a lot of visitors, you'll need a lot of bandwidth to give them your files.
Second, your own computer isn't as good as dedicated servers either. If you're using programs that take up a lot of [acronym=Random-Access Memory ]ram[/acronym]s, you'll affect the experience of your visitors (I don't know how; Maybe you'll slow down the loading time?). If you're using Windows, you may have to restart every once a week.
Third, dedicated hosts usually have technicians. They can recover files if your server becomes corrupt, and they know how to do all the complicated installations. Most importantly, they can prevent hackers from attacking your server, as PocketChange has mentioned.

I think it's fine to host a server with your own computer if it's only a small site. In fact, that is exactly what I'm doing. However, if you're trying to create a popular site, it's not a good idea unless you have the proper equipment and training.

I'd rather just let Astahost deal with all the technical-side things, like keeping hackers out and maintaining server uptime *grins*

But I can see how this is an attractive option for people who have the time and resources available to dedicate to the task.

Hosting a site at home has its ups and downs.

Ups:
-You're the only one on the server and so you can use as much disk space as you want
-You have full control over the server and can install exactly what you need (if you know what you need that is )

Downs:
-DSL lines have great download speeds but upload is terrible. My download speed is roughly 2 Mbps but uploads just hit 34Kbps which means if you have a 10 MB file for download on your home-hosted site, it can only upload to clients at a rate of 34Kbps, regardless of their download speed. For me, I normally download at 320Kbps. My download rate would take over your connection if you had files for download.
-Cable lines flux in speed too much. If your greedy file sharing neighbor is pirating Windows Vista, Windows XP and downloading other huge files, there goes your bandwidth...
-You must be tech savvy! You have to know how to operate the server (or use Windows XP and IIS... anyone with 1/2 a brain cell can run IIS, but it opens more security holes) and keep it safe. You also have to keep it fully functioning 24/7/365 to the best of your ability. Assuming you don't have an instant automatic stand-by generator, what will you do when the power goes out?
-You have to take technical control of the machine and OS... you need to keep it patched, upgrade hardware, etc.
-You have to keep your network secure and operational.

As you can see, there are more drawbacks than positives so you might as well pay or let Astahost host your site for free. Unless you are willing to learn, that is.

[N]F

I agree with you folks that the person opting for such a setup has to be tech savy. However if you are writing a web app that is not in plain old HTML, one is expected to be technical anyway. So that is not a draw back plus you get the added advantage of setting up your own environment. One should not do too much customization because that will cause problems once you think of moving to a hosted site. Think in terms of PHP or J2EE modules only, nothing outside.

The main two draw backs I see is not having a domain name (need to settle for a subdomain name) plus the upload time. The DSL upload mentioned above seems real bad. My DSL provider gives upload speed of 384 to 512 Kbps. Plus the other thing to note is that cheap hosting services have a monthly bandwidth usage limit which u don't have with home ISP.

This is ideal for folks who r toying with an idea of a website and want to share it with friends around without making significant investment. Also if u r planning on demoing your work you can use this as a back up. Plus you can access resources on home computer from anywhere.

Another advantage is that if you haven't decided on ur web site name yet, u can pick up something for free for subdomain name and think of a real domain name for ur baby later on.

Once u need more bandwidth and reliability who is going to stop you from moving onto a real hosting service ?

Another reason why I had suggested this option is because I am a Java guy and I find very few Java hosting services around which are cost effective. Java is used mainly in the high end.

Hence such a low cost setup back home will help people use their own App Server when development changes are more in number.

To keep away the hackers u can use personal firewalls. Use Microsoft firewall or Sygate Personall firewall.

- Anil

This post has been edited by Anil Rao: Apr 30 2006, 09:01 PM