Got 2 servers :P

[thedotmaster]

I have 2 servers. They don't have anything in them but will be fixed up eventually. Ideas on how to use them?

[yourmysin]

Alright, first of all you will need to find a web server service such as apache or microsoft IIS. You will have to install and configure this correctly to handle HTTP requests.

After that assuming you want a dynamic capabilities you will want to either choose PHP or ASP, my preference would be PHP. You will then have to install and configure PHP to work with apache. You may also want some database software such as mysql.

Once you get your server working locally you will have to configure your router to port forward all of the packets with inbound port to your computer. Assuming you have a dynamic IP you would then need to register and set up DynDNS or a similar service to map your dynamic IP to a private IP.

Not to hard actually, hope I didn't give to much away. About links, just google for the software I mentioned.

[thedotmaster]

Ah thanks for that, that's really helpful.

[Agent Pugsly]

It's always fun to use a server as a grossly overpowered firewall! There are quite a few open source *nix distro firewalls (like smoothwall) to play with.

It gets really fun when you get into the more advanced stuff.

I know at MY house we don't just block all ads, we replace them with RSVP readers that display random wikipedia pages.

[JrJarhead]

ok i'm thinking of setting up an old computer as a server and i was wondering if any of you could send me some links or something of the like that you would recommend so that i can know and trust the info

[orwell84]

http://www.apache.org/
From what I've heard, Apache is a good server application. The documentation is here:
http://httpd.apache.org/docs
The you can Google "apache tutorial" or something similar to learn more.

[Mentalikryst]

Ok. First, for setting it up with the Server OS, just download Ubuntu Server, burn it to a CD and pop it into the CD drive. Then follow the easy onscreen instructions until it asks what type of server (or w/e it asks) you want. There should be a few options, like FTP, LAMP, and SAMBA. Choose LAMP (Linux Apache MySQL PHP (or Perl, or any scripting language)). That will give you a basic setup of the basic things you will need. Install the mod_perl package and check to see if MySQL is setup, and then all you have to do is change a few settings (including setting up a static IP, etc.). Once it's setup you will need to transfer your files to it so people don't get a "404" error when they try and visit your site. Even a "This site is under construction" is better than a 404 on index.html (or index.php, or index.pl). This is a VERY BASIC guide. Read more about it before you attempt it. Also some ISPs kick/warn people for running servers (Comcast has a policy to warn you once, then kick you if you do it again).

OS : Ubuntu Server - http://www.ubuntu.com/products/whatisub ... veredition
Server: Apache - http://www.apache.org/
Scripting Languages:

• PHP - http://www.php.net
• mod_perl (Perl interpreter add-on for Apache) - http://perl.apache.org/

Database: MySQL - http://www.mysql.com/

[JrJarhead]

ok well what i want to do is set up a server for an av department so i would want the server primarily so as to save to it and let other users access it could you provide some links to show how to set it up

[djmounce553]

Apache is a good webserver. Just make sure you READ before you go messing with the httpd.conf file. Also don't forget to restart Apache when you make any config changes, otherwise you won't notice a change.

[thedotmaster]

Yeah, I was running Apache servers at the time I posted this (over a year ago now).
The servers are still lying dormant, I need to get some harddrives for them but they're really really expensive.