Web Hosting?

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AmiNeo

AmiNeo

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Hey guys, I have been thinking of getting some web hosting for a while now. Being a CS student I can probably use it for a lot of things from web development and testing out applets and such to a backup and storage solution for courseworks. I also wouldn't mind having my own website for something too, although I'm unsure what exactly yet.

I'm not entirely certain what I will need. Does anyone have more experience with this kind of thing?


Opened this thread for purposes of discussion and batting around ideas to fuel the ol' noggin. :thumbsup:
 
AmiNeo said:
Hey guys, I have been thinking of getting some web hosting for a while now. Being a CS student I can probably use it for a lot of things from web development and testing out applets
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Yup, though you can also use a locally-hosted webserver for that. There's a portable Windows version of Apache built for thumbdrives which is pretty good for that sort of thing.

and such to a backup and storage solution for courseworks. I also wouldn't mind having my own website for something too, although I'm unsure what exactly yet.
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Make sure you read the Terms of Service of any hosting provider you sign up with - because lots of them offer massive amounts of storage space that they're banking on your never actually using (!), and some of them insist that any files stored on their servers are linked to from a publicly viewable web page. I guess it's understandable - if they're offering space for your web pages and giving you plenty of headroom, they don't want you taking up the slack by using it as a data vault!

I'm not entirely certain what I will need. Does anyone have more experience with this kind of thing?
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I'd recommend registering your domains with a different company from your actual webhosting - that way you can be absolutely certain that there'll be no nasty surprises when you outgrow your current webhost and want to switch to somewhere else.

Personally I use 123reg for domains, and fastvision for hosting but there are plenty more options around.

Bear in mind that if you're on shared hosting - which you will be unless you're paying a lot - database-driven applications won't be amazingly fast.
 
I don't work for them, but have a few sites hosted with Vidahost.com

UK based, and a service second to none (even got a reply to a support ticket at 6.30pm XMas day last year!)

Good prices and fully supported. Cannot recommend them enough.
 
Apache setup and configuration is a great transferrable skill to acquire. Windows also has the IIS web server built in if you prefer to code for Microsoft ASP type web sites. Just needs to be enabled in "Turn windows features on and off" in Control Panel. I think there's a version of ASP for apache too now?:unsure: but I've not tried it.

I've just moved my Brother's web site to a new hosting company and it's nicely uncomplicated with a control panel to do most things.

Easiest and cheapest way is to set up apache on your PC. Maybe try the MySQL database and PHP which are also free, if you're into those.
 
AmiNeo said:
Hey guys, I have been thinking of getting some web hosting for a while now. Being a CS student I can probably use it for a lot of things from web development and testing out applets and such to a backup and storage solution for courseworks.
Click to expand...

best thing is to do it locally and put it on the net when one has something to contribute.

Personally I manage a couple of webservers at work, but still prefer to use my linux box at home for hosting. I can do anything without anyone caring.
 
If you have a static IP on your broadband connection then you definitely could run a server from your home and with the static IP link it directly to a domain name.

However, maintaining your own server can be a sharp learning curve and time consuming.

If you want something to start you off with, then take a look at Bluehost. They only offer shared hosting, meaning your account will be sharing space on a physical server with lots of other accounts (maybe up to 70). However for the price you really can't go wrong when just starting out to play around and learn the roles. They provide a full version of CPanel to administer the hosting account so you get to play around with one of the industry standard server admin panels. Their accounts also offer support for most languages and server protocols. You can even activate SSH so you can access and administer the hosting account from a shell with Linux commands via Putty.

The only limitations of Bluehost is that unlimited doesn't actually mean that, which is to be expected for any such hosting package. However when I was using Bluehost I had over 30GB on the account without any problems. The one thing that Bluehost and any other shared hosting account is limited on is database size and usage. With Bluehost you can install and run whatever you want with mySQL databases. However, if the sites using them start to grow in size the shared MySQL database servers won't manage to cope and will start to go down often. So such packages are ideal for small sites and even for CMS (Joomla), Blog (Wordpress) and small starting out forums (phpbb3, vBulletin etc), but as soon as any such site grows to attracting 50+ members daily and 1000+ visitors you would need to start looking at upgrading to dedicated hosting. For what you seem to need however such a package should be more than fine.
 
if your with virgin, they give you free webspace..
Oralteast did was only a few MB though..

should be something like.
http://freespace.virgin.net/YOURvirginACCOUNTname
its not a good service though, just basic htm no database to work with

you can then register a domain name to that although there are free redirect progs.

i would definatly recomend avoiding any free web hosts.
I used to have like 30 1-20Gb free hosts hosting my files and my freespace was doing my html but of course they are free for a reason and the files just get deleted when they feel like it.

I made a web page for my wedding on a free site. uploaded all the stuff had it looking just how i wanted.. and they deleted it no reason for it at all..
So my recomendations..

pay for a server. then get a redirect url to point at it. or actualy buy a domain name if you want to waste money. and then register that domain name with your web host.

just to add to what harrison said.
you dont need a static ip.
Theres a free program called DUCip or "noip"
you run it on your pc. and it updates a server with your new ip anytime it changes. this is then atributed to a url you chose..
for instance i have quite a few and one is.
"dontneed.no-ip.info"
so you caqn do
http://dontneed.no-ip.info
and that will link to your ip address.. and if your running a program "really basic here" like wwwfilesharepro. it will open one folder on your system (you chose which) and then that acts like youe server..


oh and i forgot to mention lol..
id start off with html. then go on to php if your 100% new to these things.
Also if your a bit lazy you can use programs like dreamweaver to make your pages.
although i always had fun writing out the html in note pad.

hope it helps
 
Already pretty well versed on HTML and even dabbled with some HTML5 recently on a project, so no worries there. I refuse to touch Dreamweaver in spite of having it, it's just not the same as coding it yourself, I prefer notepad++.

I'm just in the middle of Javascript and soon to learn PHP while doing my second Java app (thanks moijk for the help and tips on my first!) and then were moving onto C# at uni in September! :lol:
 
Yes you can use dynamic ip assigning, but this uses a proxy server for the redirects, which is not ideal and some more advanced scripting becomes more complex with this setup. Especially if you want to use cookies or serverside sessions.

However some newer router like the billion 7800n actually have dynamic ip service support, allowing you to directly use a dynamic ip redirect service, so you don't need to install any software on your pc as the router does it all seamlessly for you once setup.

Personally I prefer having a static ip.
 
How much do ISPs usually charge for static IPs. Right now we only have a standard home ADSL service (SKY) but it would definitely make things easier. I could leave my PC on at home and retrieve files on the fly. It may be a decent solution until I have use for a proper server.
 
i dont think they offer a static ip on adsl. you would need cable i think.
im prety sure that adsl will randomly connect to a server (could be one of many) and that server has a block of ip addresses that you can use.
When you disconnect and then reconnect the chances of getting the same server and then the same ip is very minimal. you could request the ip for one specific server i guess and then only have one block of ip's to contend with But the chances of getting the same one again is still next to nothing.

Even with cable if you disconnected everything from the service after a while you will get a new ip. however this takes a period of time.
 
Nope, static IP on an ADSL connection has always been available (if offered by ISP).
 
Yup, its doable regardless of the connection type. It's simply a matter of the ISP registering your routers MAC address and assigning it a permanent IP address on the DHCP server / nearest POP Router configuration. Not all ISPs offer it to home customers however. I may need to register as a business user or something to have access.

Is anyone with SKY that would perhaps know anything further?


EDIT: POP as in Point of Presence, not Post Office Protocol ;)
 
Reviving this thread. I'm a student, broke, and bored. Bad combinations and I'm in need of a project! lol. What I'm after is basically some server space I can register a domain name to and have a tinker about with. Having some subdomains and email addresses wouldn't be bad too. I plan on using it to expand my knowledge of web technologies and as an accessory in my learning of web development.

Willing to jump on a VDS/VPS server if anyone knows any companies with cheap deals, perhaps £40 a year or less preferably... You may ask why I'm willing to pay 40 if I'm broke???... well I can assure you that without a long term project to do I'll end up spending a heck of a lot more than that! :lol:


...Anyone? :unsure:
 
You can buy a bog standard VPS for under a tenner if you really want to. You won't get much for it, but it'll be a VPS on which you can start running stuff.

As for static IP addresses at home, that's perfectly feasible. Any half-decent ISP should be able to offer you a static IP. My ISP gave me six, so my computers at home have independent globally static IP addresses.

:thumbsup:
 
:lol: Nice!

Trouble is my current ISP isn't in my name so will have to have a word with the account holder. Unfortunately he's in his mid 70s so getting him to comply may be a bit difficult :picard

Would it not be feasable to have the router on the static IP and set up port forwarding to a NAT IP? On saying that I'd probably need a more advanced router too! Sky's routers seem to be a little too restrictive for my tastes.

Andy, any idea where I could get that VDS from? Pref someone you've had experience with?

I have a friend who has a cousin that runs a web hosting business, but I've been waiting 2 weeks on an email response from him. :whistle:
 
If you get a single static IP, it will always be assigned to the router. Doing NAT and port forwarding is exactly how you'd have to get around that...
 
Well look at that, seems you're within the borders of Europe... lets see here, and how about this?

Check out http://www.sdf-eu.org/
Not only do you get unix shell access with the underlying tools and gadgets, you get some other fun stuff too... how about space for homepages, mail, gopherspace and the likes? all for free.

Theres plenty of FAQ's and tutorials available on the site to get you started, so...
I have only good things to say about SDF... theres my two cents
 
Nice FogWraith! I'll look into that :thumbsup:
 
I've used NSDesign for two web sites now and the service is very good and reliable. They respond very quickly to any questions or problems I have. http://www.nsdesign.co.uk/webhosting/linux_standard

The amount of space they supply isn't a lot compared with some other hosting companies but that hasn't been a problem for me. Depends what you want to do.

Add on £8 - £10 for a two year domain name registration and your are ready to go. I use 123-reg for the domain registration.
 
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