what i need in order to run a 24/7 domain home server?

[Cartoon Corpse]

First, can I ask why you wish to host your website on your own home PC? It will tie up your bandwidth and make the machine unsuitable for much else; it won't be able to cope with any large demand; it will use up electricity; it will pose a potential security risk. With cheap hosting readily available I just can't really see why you would want to, unless it's for a private site?

my new neighbor, whom i don't know has 8 CATV lines going into his house. i wondered if he was running a website.

i run 3 tv's and my internet from 1 CATV line.

why would someone have 8 CATV lines running into their house?

 

[Frank]

just type "chmod 666 name_of_dir"

 

[JCLW]

Not sure if your'e still looking, but I run an FTP server using:
- Cerberus FTP server (http://www.cerberusftp.com/) (free)
- DynDNS (http://www.dyndns.com/) (free)
- Linksys WRT54G's internal DynDNS client (but you can get other free ones if you already have a router)

I use it to access files when I'm on the road, and in addition my dad and I each have redundant file servers and grant each other FTP access to back up our stuff "off-site" (we live 3hrs apart).

It works really well. No downtime at all. OS is WinXP. Computer is set to turn itself back on after power outage.

 

[Maintank]

If you are willing to shell out some money for Server 03 I suggest getting SBS 2003. It includes exchange which is nice.

As for uptime, the only time I have to reboot the 2K and 2003 servers is for patches. Otherwise they just keep running and running and running. I think Windows being an unstable OS that requires a reboot is an opinion carried over from the Win95\98 days where there was a legitimate OS problem that required a reboot every x amount of days.

From 2000 on uptime and stability of Microsoft OS's has been pretty good imo.

 

[Frank]

I don't think Exchange is "nice". It eats up all performance and resources, and it is not fun to manage. I like exim much better.

WAMPServer is very nice for Windows, but it doesn't include an email server.

 

[Maintank]

I don't think Exchange is "nice". It eats up all performance and resources, and it is not fun to manage. I like exim much better.

WAMPServer is very nice for Windows, but it doesn't include an email server.

Fileserving doesnt require much power, and chances are his web server wont either.
As for managing, I have to admit it was a lot easier to do that I thought. And while it likes to eat ram I wouldnt say it is a killer, especially for what he is doing.

Not to mention it integrates ridiculously easy with AD.

 

[YeuEmMaiMai]

Well I'd go for some kind of linux if it shouldn't need a reboot every couple of days (which WILL happen with any kind of Windows).

I have an intel book PC that runs NT 4 as the PDC and I have not had to reboot it since I moved to my new house over 1 year go. It runs 24/7

 

[Frank]

I have an intel book PC that runs NT 4 as the PDC and I have not had to reboot it since I moved to my new house over 1 year go. It runs 24/7

As long as you don't change anything, Windows can be a good server. But if you like to fiddle around, you will have to reboot it regulary. Not to mention that you do have to turn off automatic updates, as those will require the occasional reboot as well.