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Website hosting questions

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sparkydave

sparkydave

Jedi Knight
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Wonder if some folks might have some words of wisdom regarding putting up a website. I used to have one when I had cable modem service, so I know the ins and outs of making html and uploading files to a server, but my fiancee and I have DSL now (Verizon, FYI). Well, she wants to start her own business, and would like to have her own website. I would also like to put mine back up. So, here are the questions:

Is it possible to host my own site over Verizon's DSL? I know some about setting up Apache on a Linux machine, but is that even possible through DSL?

Failing that, would it be better to set one up through a service like Godaddy? And if I did, can you have more than one domain name associated with the space available? (i.e.: can her company's domain name point to the main page, and have my own domain point to some subdirectory that contains my page?). Holly's concern is if we did this, she'd rather keep the two sites reasonably separate, so the location bar would show her domain when folks are in her site, or my domain if they are in my site. I'd rather not pay for two plans from Godaddy, since one plan would have way more space than we need.
 
I ran a server on a DSL line at my home for a couple years. It was fine so long as there was not a lot of site traffic. I did notice things slowing down at times. You will want a static IP if you do this. The other down side is that you broadcast your network to the world and therefore invite hackers into not only your server but your other machines as well. I have since switched to a remote server and I'm very happy about it.

You can assign as many domain names as you like to a web space. I have two in mine now and plan to add a third.
 
Basil hosts them right here on BCF for a real nominal price...contact him....bet he has the answer!
 
Is it possible? Sure. In many cases modern DSL is faster than Cable was a few years ago, but that depends on your location and service level. I run an FTP and a web server on my DSL, and the photo lab I work with runs all their stuff on their business DSL with no problems.

You might read through Verizon's acceptable-use policy though, they may not allow servers - which means you might risk losing your connection and account completely, or at least lose access to your server(s). They also might block port-80 for web servers and port-21 for FTP servers. Of course you can get around that by specifying another port, but it complicates things.

Another complication you should look into: does your Verizon account force you to change IPs periodically, or it is a guaranteed static IP? If you don't have a guaranteed static IP then you'll have to either update your DNS settings manually every time your IP changes, or you'll have to invest in a decent dynamic IP monitor program - and a DNS service that will let you change IPs on the fly. I have two setups that I have to do that with (one on a DSL account and one on cable). Sometimes the complications of dealing with a dynamic IP tends to make business sites less "nice" if they're periodically unavailable.
 
I'd recommend looking around for hosting options outside of your house. I currently use Bluehost ( https://www.bluehost.com ), about $7/month. This gives me 5 (I think) different domains I can host, plus email accounts and all sorts of other things. Well worth the cost versus trying to host it all from home, and dealing with all the issues. There are quite a few good hosting providers out there, and that competition has really driven down the costs.

I do seem to remember that Comcast (our cable provider) specifically says you are not supposed to host any servers, though they don't specifically block port 80 (web) traffic.
 
Thanks for the input, I was starting to suspect that remote hosting was the way to go, at least from a security and reliability standpoint. Some other folks in the know were telling me some other local providers will charge an arm and leg to give a static IP since they figure you're trying to run a business. Thanks again!
 
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