Can you host your website yourself?

[Tasaio]

My computer is on 24/7...could I host my website myself, and save $25 a month?

What are the benefits of getting, say, Dreamhost to host your site?

Thanks in advance

[Adam]

Yes, you can host your site from your own computer... It requires knowledge of web servers and DNS to do it effectively, though... Also, my most common problem wasn't keeping my computer running 24/7, it was the connection to the internet that caused me the biggest headaches, because it was rarely something that I could fix directly.

I used Apache for the server, with PHP and MySQL installed. I don't remember the name of the DNS server that I used to use, though, but it was free unless I got more than a million DNS requests per year, or unless I wanted to have more than 5 domains.

[Mayo]

Sure i'm preparing to do it.

These are good sides:

-You control the machine (i.e. you don't share it with no-one)
-You can test different software on it
-You can install whatever OS you like be it Linux, Windows, OS X, xBSD,....

cons:
-You have to manage it (no tech support, just you and faq's)
-You have to back it up daily if you don't want to destroy your business(transfer your db files to DVD or other disk)
-You need extra computer if your main machine drops dead for some case
-You need UPS system(now you have 1KW no-name UPS for cheap as 50 Euro)
-If you can use a laptop with at least 1GB of ram, laptops + UPS rock! the laptop alone can run for 2-3 hours + UPS (even the cheapest ones) can give you extra 2-3 hours of juice for the laptop power plug -- that is cca. 5-6 hours of power grid failure covered, i had this kind of failure in my street month ago and if i had a service run then i would be fried for that 6 hours, but with laptop + UPS nothing can affect me
-You need to have extra DSL connection from a company that does not have the same fiber optics links, this is where i blow because i depend on one provider with 256kbit UL link, and only alternative for now is a UMTS data "modem" with max 320kbit UL a way to bypass the UL limit is to use Amazon S3 service for the pictures and multimedia clips and your home server as data server that only handles HTML(no need for S3 until your UL bandwidth get saturated..)
-ZoneEdit, DynDNS, OpenDNS, freeDNS, ... for your DNS server (DSL is pain because of the dynamic IP that changes constantly, but it is not major problem)
-also check the ping time to your IP address, if it's too long (above 150ms median) then you could use hosting but it's not a major problem

All in all "Home server" is for people who want to learn all the tings about servers, programming, DNS setting, ....

All i can say that serving content from your home will make you whole entrepreneur, just like Markus Frind et.al. started...

Have Fun! (^_^)

[RT Wolf]

You might consider getting a really cheap or free computer and using that as a server. I wouldn't recommend using your main computer for hosting, cause what if you have to restart the computer (assuming you have windows, they may happen often)?

[kthdsn]

Adam, that DNS service sounds like zoneedit.com, I use them myself, they're really good.

I used to host my own sites, the main problem I had was bandwidth, I got something like 128mb upstream. My sites were very slow at the best of times. I decided to get a VPS instead and haven't looked back.

Self hosting is a great learning experience though, and I would recommend it if you have the time and patience to set it up.

[dor]

Originally Posted by Tasaio

My computer is on 24/7...could I host my website myself, and save $25 a month?

What are the benefits of getting, say, Dreamhost to host your site?

Thanks in advance

$25.00 a month?!

it's fairly easy to find sub $10/month hosting these days. some places are as low as $5.00/month.

[Caveman Joe]

Roughly $1.90 a month from HostingForAQuid, plus if it tanks then it's my reputation on this board at stake. That's your guarantee.
When people ask me if they can host a website on their own computers, my standard response (even before I got into the hosting biz) is to just say "No, no you can't." I would never recommend that someone do something that I wouldn't do myself. Plus, it's a sight simpler than telling them "Well, yeah, it's possible, but you have to consider XYZ and be prepared to do ABC and learn 123, and if you have to ask if it's possible in the first place, then you shouldn't try to do it."
(if you do want to try hostingforaquid.co.uk, enter "pavlina" in the discount code box for a 10% discount)

[SeriousKidding.com]

Google's Gmail gives you a free 100 mg website. All you have to do is get an email account. For me, Gmail is by far and away the best web-based email program out there. I use it exclusively. I think you have to be invited because it's still technically in Beta. But, I can sure turn you on, if you like. Just send me an email if you're inerested.

[Dani]

err no it isn't invite only. Sorry.

As CJoe said, that was how I used to reply to people even though I also did it myself once.

Basically, if you need to ask that question, then your tech skills probably aren't good enough for you to do it without a LOT of study.

As most people have mentioned, bandwidth is the biggest issue. I hosted a server just to play with and learn. It wasn't a business or anything or even a blog. (*sniffs* The good old days, we didn't even have blogs back then)

Then there is uptimes, support, power, connection problems, oh and dont forget that you get people trying to hack your pc! You need to be a bit of a security buff too.

There are free sites out there as was pointed out. But if you want your own domain name then you will need to use a properly hosted site.

Seriously though, is $10 a month (or $4 in CJoe's case) too much? I make more than that from a site I don't update and just has adsense sitting on it.