[Oberon] Web servers

[J ö rg Straube]

Hi Douglas

> I have some very primitive questions about 'servers' that are triggered
> by HP's recent announcement of a $600 'home server'.
> I currently pay $40/month to Verio.
> o They handle my domain name GreenwoodFarm.com .
> o They host my web pages.
> o They handle my email.

> Now for the questions:
> o Can I have a box at home that does everything that Verio does?
>   If so I can eliminate Verio and save $40/month.
>   I should also have a gob more disk space so I can greatly
>   expand the number of web pages I currently show.

Yes. Personally, I use Apple's Mac mini as my home server for 2 years now.

> o How do I become my own ISP (is that the correct thing to ask)?
>   Is this legal or will the 'net' object.
>   I currently am accessing the web via a wireless connection to one
>   of several free wireless nodes here in Menlo Park, CA USA.

Aubrey said you'll need
1) connectivity
2) an IP address (dynamic or static)
3) a FQDN (greenwoodfarm.com)
4) permission

My remarks
1) Keep in mind that ususally (at least here in Europe) your
home connectivity is asymmetric: the downstream bandwidth from the
internet to you is higher than the upstream bandwidth from you to
the internet. For surfing the web the DOWNSTREAM is important, for
hosting a server the UPSTREAM is important.
Normally, symmetric bandwidths are more expensive.

I'm using a wired connectivity. I never thought about connecting a
server to a wireless connectivity as you mentioned. But if it's
reliable and always-on, why not...


2) If you have a dynamic IP, you can't address your server by means
of an IP address you HAVE TO use the FQDN instead. With a static IP
you can address your server with both methods.
Normally, static IPs are more expensive.


3) A DNS service links your FQDN to your IP address. If you have a
dynamic IP (=your connectivity provider/ISP from time to time assigns
an other IP address to your server) your server must update the
DNS service with the new IP address. There are free DNS services
and clients for your server that do exactly that. --> e.g. dyndns.com


4) permission
My ISP has no restrictions how I am allowed to use my connectivity:
surfing and/or hosting. But obviously, I have to live with asymmetry
and dynamic IPs. (see above)
Normally, ISPs offer more expensive "hosting" packages that offer
higher UPSTREAM and static IP.


> o I assume that there are several ways to use AOS/BlueBottle to act
>    as a server (I don't want to get into the details of how to do that
>   right now but only need to know if this is true).

Unfortunatly, I have no experience with AOS/Bluebottle as server OS.
On my Mac mini I'm using Debian Linux as OS.
My Mac mini acts as
- web server
- mail server
- file server
- VNC server
- firewall for my home computers
- wireless base stations for my home computers

br
Joerg