is being a webhost harder than I think?

[Naer]

I think its a few clicks and boom you're a webhost
Is it?

 

[massmedia]

customer service and such could be a real issue that makes life hard as a web host

 

[Naer]

customer service and such could be a real issue that makes life hard as a web host

Even if you're just hosting your own stuff?

 

[VirtualLarry]

Even if you're just hosting your own stuff?

Then you wouldn't be a web "host", you would just be a web server.

 

[Naer]

Then you wouldn't be a web "host", you would just be a web server.

How do you get a domain name as a web server?

 

[Naer]

Is being an OK web server harder than I think? If I use wordpress

 

[imagoon]

It can be. Most of the big hosts use specialized monitoring to watch for the fairly consistent hacking that goes on. When I was running a forum with a peak of about 5000 users, it seemed like every week some new some new systems level issue would pop up. The one that made the web front ends in to open relays via an vBulletin exploit was fun... dealing with people linking our images, dealing with defacing when the inevitable zero day php issues would pop up etc.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Call Yahoo or GoDaddy, talk to a sales rep, and you'll have your own website in no time, all for around ~$15 a month.

Just remember to approve any security patches that WordPress puts out.

 

[QuietDad]

If your going to host it in your house, you need to check that your ISP A) allows it in their terms of service and B) doesn't have ports blocked for web hosting. Most of them DO. You'll need a static IP if your going to use your own domain name. It can be super simple to throw in a Widows or Linux DVD/CD and make a web server. Getting on the net is a little more complicated.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Hosting a single web server for your own personal stuff is not that hard. Hosting it as a company or a very popular site on the other hand is harder, and more expensive as you need DDoS mitigation and have to constantly be on the ball about security issues and watch logs like a hawk. You'll spend the majority of your time tracking down hackers and trying to figure out how they got in etc. A single bad php script will make the whole server vulnerable to attack, that can be a user's old forum or anything like that.

If you host it at home it makes stuff easier as you can setup any type of infrastructure you want without having to pay extra per month like you would with a dedicated server provider or colo. Unfortunately most ISP's don't allow it, which I think is BS, but what can you do, nothing.