Ok so I want to host my own PHPBB forums, and I would like to call it Retrogamingaurora.com but I do not know what is required to host forums or phpbb on your own computer. I believe your computer must support PHP and have either Microsoft IIS or Apache server in order to use and host it, but I cannot be sure. Any help is greatly appriciated.
got a question for you all
Started by godofchaos, Oct 05 2012 08:35 PM
30 replies to this topic
#1
godofchaos
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Posted 05 October 2012 - 08:35 PM
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#2
SpleenBeGone
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Posted 05 October 2012 - 08:36 PM
Honestly, with the cheap cost of hosting now, you probably don't want it on your home computer, that just adds a lot of headache. If you still want to, you need Apache, SQL, a dedicated IP, a good up speed, and a TLD.
#3
godofchaos
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Posted 05 October 2012 - 08:39 PM
now sql is a database isn't it, and what is tld?
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#4
SpleenBeGone
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Posted 05 October 2012 - 09:41 PM
it's a database system that most forums use, you'll also need something like phpmyadmin to help manage it. TLD is Top Level Domain, it's basically your .com, .net, etc.
#5
Guest_ElatedOwl_*
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Posted 05 October 2012 - 10:27 PM
You don't need a dedicated IP; any requests on port 80 should default to Apache (or IIS, whichever route you choose to go) assuming that the port is forwarded for that box and traffic on port 80 isn't blocked (which is usually default on routers to prevent DDoS).
I really wouldn't recommend hosting it from your home connection, though. It's gonna strain that box and cause security concerns. Honestly, you're far better off going through an actual server. If you got decent traffic your ISP would probably cap your up speeds lower than most because of the amount of bandwidth you'd push. You can get PHP hosting for ~$10/month, and a domain costs ~$2/year.
In regards to IIS or a PHP installation, IIS comes default on windows, you just have to turn it on. If you're using PHPBB though I'd recommend just using apache so you don't have to mess with the IIS config - it's treacherous if you don't know what you're doing. I wouldn't want to run IIS as a php engine anyway.
I really wouldn't recommend hosting it from your home connection, though. It's gonna strain that box and cause security concerns. Honestly, you're far better off going through an actual server. If you got decent traffic your ISP would probably cap your up speeds lower than most because of the amount of bandwidth you'd push. You can get PHP hosting for ~$10/month, and a domain costs ~$2/year.
In regards to IIS or a PHP installation, IIS comes default on windows, you just have to turn it on. If you're using PHPBB though I'd recommend just using apache so you don't have to mess with the IIS config - it's treacherous if you don't know what you're doing. I wouldn't want to run IIS as a php engine anyway.
#6
godofchaos
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Posted 05 October 2012 - 11:10 PM
external hosting is not an option for me i'm currently unemployed so thats out of the question.
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#7
SpleenBeGone
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Posted 06 October 2012 - 06:48 AM
You might want to start with a free forum hosting place then. I started with invisionfree, there are some phpbb ones too. If you look in the "getting started" section here, you will find a very nice resource guide.
#8
Wolf
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Posted 06 October 2012 - 08:21 AM
yeah, being broke invisionfree is going to be your only option, meaning no custom url
If you get bored enough, though, there are sites where you can do surveys [halfassed and with wrong information] for paypal cards, could be a start if you have too much free time
If you get bored enough, though, there are sites where you can do surveys [halfassed and with wrong information] for paypal cards, could be a start if you have too much free time
#9
SpleenBeGone
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Posted 06 October 2012 - 08:40 AM
You can actually set up a domain with invisionfree, if you have one.
#10
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Posted 06 October 2012 - 01:26 PM
You can actually set up a domain with invisionfree, if you have one.
Well that's neat
#11
godofchaos
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Posted 07 October 2012 - 04:20 PM
I would still like to experience hosting and setting up my own forums if you know what I mean, just to try it out.
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#12
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Posted 07 October 2012 - 04:55 PM
Without money, that'll be a problem. The majority of free hosts/domain name providers are absolutely awful. If you really want to do it yourself, you'll need money.
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#13
godofchaos
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Posted 07 October 2012 - 10:03 PM
ok I've seen people hots things for free, What exactly is required to operate and host my own servers? i know I'll have to buy a domain name and also get Apache server goin.
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#14
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Posted 08 October 2012 - 09:27 AM
There's a bit to consider. First from a security standpoint: how many computers are on your network? Are you running through a router or straight to the modem? If so, you need to open port 80. This is almost always disabled by default because this makes DDoSing you very easy.
You're going to want to isolate your server. If you're running it off of a single computer, I would set up some kind of virtualization. (VirtualBox, VMWare) Doing so makes a lot of things easier on you. Back ups of your server become multitudes easier (only a single file), if it gets infected it is localized to that machine, if you need to run something demanding on your PC you can turn your virtual machine off a lot easier than you can turn off Apache and SQL, as well as performance benefits. You should really isolate your database as well so you can deny remote connections to it.
Since money is an issue you're going to want to go with a linux distro for your VMs OS. I haven't played around with very many server distros so I can't speak too much here.
Things to keep in mind: this is going to tax your PC, hard. Websites aim for 24/7 uptime, leaving your computer on constantly with processes running on it is going to up your power bill and decrease the overall lifetime of your components. Your website is going to be tremendously slow. If you're a low capacity site speed should be ok, if you grow beyond that it's going to be an issue. Your ISP may cap your speeds because of excessive data usage (this really depends on your ISP, though).
Assuming you do this I would make a very big point to *not* piss anyone off. You're leaving your home network fairly susceptible and exposing your box.
You're going to want to isolate your server. If you're running it off of a single computer, I would set up some kind of virtualization. (VirtualBox, VMWare) Doing so makes a lot of things easier on you. Back ups of your server become multitudes easier (only a single file), if it gets infected it is localized to that machine, if you need to run something demanding on your PC you can turn your virtual machine off a lot easier than you can turn off Apache and SQL, as well as performance benefits. You should really isolate your database as well so you can deny remote connections to it.
Since money is an issue you're going to want to go with a linux distro for your VMs OS. I haven't played around with very many server distros so I can't speak too much here.
Things to keep in mind: this is going to tax your PC, hard. Websites aim for 24/7 uptime, leaving your computer on constantly with processes running on it is going to up your power bill and decrease the overall lifetime of your components. Your website is going to be tremendously slow. If you're a low capacity site speed should be ok, if you grow beyond that it's going to be an issue. Your ISP may cap your speeds because of excessive data usage (this really depends on your ISP, though).
Assuming you do this I would make a very big point to *not* piss anyone off. You're leaving your home network fairly susceptible and exposing your box.
#15
godofchaos
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Posted 08 October 2012 - 11:52 AM
I definitly knew the security risks that come with operating a server from home, is there any good firewalls and/or anti virus thats really good for the linux distro?
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#16
godofchaos
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Posted 08 October 2012 - 11:55 AM
also when you mean isolate the database would that mean have it on a different hard drive on the same system?
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#17
Guest_ElatedOwl_*
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Posted 08 October 2012 - 12:00 PM
I'm out of the loop on linux, but years back (and the "best" AV can honestly change in a period of a few months) we used to use ClamAV. For a firewall I believe most go with IPTables.
I have to warn you that linux isn't my area of expertise and you should research this stuff further, but this should be a sufficient starting point.
edit: A separate hard drive would be preferable for performance, but I meant OS. Your web server (ie apache php engine) is outward facing, anyone from anywhere can connect to it. Your SQL server should be local traffic only - no remote connections (ie, it should not be able to connect to the internet). To do that properly you want it in a separate machine/VM.
I have to warn you that linux isn't my area of expertise and you should research this stuff further, but this should be a sufficient starting point.
edit: A separate hard drive would be preferable for performance, but I meant OS. Your web server (ie apache php engine) is outward facing, anyone from anywhere can connect to it. Your SQL server should be local traffic only - no remote connections (ie, it should not be able to connect to the internet). To do that properly you want it in a separate machine/VM.
#18
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Posted 08 October 2012 - 12:11 PM
Interesting, now when you talk about a virtualbox would that mean for an example if i'm running Windows 2000 Server that it would be another emulated server software?
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#19
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Posted 08 October 2012 - 12:15 PM
Now I know that for an example my Windows 2000 Server os is physically on my hdd, and I assume virtualbox is an operating system enviroment and an emulator. Sorry If i'm asking so many questions this is all new to me.
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#20
Guest_ElatedOwl_*
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Posted 08 October 2012 - 12:21 PM
Yeah, it emulates another box. You can set up as many as you want without having to partition your drive or have another physical drive. You can set how much RAM it can consume, how much hard drive space its allowed to have (or let it grow as it pleases), which processor cores to let it use, should it throttle the processor, etc. Files are still stored on the hard drive, however most VMs just pack it into a single file. (think of a ZIP file) When you're in the VM it doesn't realize that it's inside of a VM, it acts just like it's a separate machine.
Starting them and stopping them is extremely easy, backing them up is easy as well, and if you need to ghost it you can take snapshots to restore to etc.
This also allows you to keep things restricted, for example your SQL box wouldn't have access to the internet, only the local network.
Starting them and stopping them is extremely easy, backing them up is easy as well, and if you need to ghost it you can take snapshots to restore to etc.
This also allows you to keep things restricted, for example your SQL box wouldn't have access to the internet, only the local network.
