Self-Host Server Build

[Spartan468]

Hello guys. I might need a server.
I want to put some stuff on-line, but hosting is going to cost as much as the server anyway, and having the actual server will give me 100% control, so I consider it.

To the stuff now:

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Server. I want to host a simple web-site. Nothing heavy-traffic like videos or file hosting. Just tutorials, reviews, blogs, etc.

Plan B is to use it as a game server if for whatever reason I buy it and build it, and then find out that for whatever reason I cannot use it as intended


2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
You can say 300-400 USD without taxes. I am not in the US but this is a good analogy.

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Greece.

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
Well... EVERYTHING !!! I do not know about servers. Well, ok:

CASE
PSU
Motherboard
CPU
CPU Cooler (I do?)
RAM
Optical Drive
HDDs

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Nothing except maybe my Corsair TX650 PSU which now resides inside my gaming PC. I might use this as an opportunity to upgrade my gaming PC with a 800W PSU and maybe get a second GPU if I have the money later on.

6) Will you be overclocking?
Maybe? I do not know. I guess not. Do servers need overclocking?

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
1080p, 21 1/2 inches. I might use a different monitor tho.

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC? When I have all the parts.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
No idea. I want one for server use.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
I will be using Linux. The penguin is cute.

 

[Dangman]

What hosting options are you looking at?

I ask because even here in the U.S you wouldn't be able to build a solid server that would be on the same level of quality/performance that some online web hosts can provide for $400.

 

[Spartan468]

I had a look at "Host-Gator (?)" primarily.

I know about the big server in big server-boxes in rooms with many such boxes and the staff to keep them up and running, but for a simple website like the one I plan to make, this is not necessary I believe.
Also, I am nobody. Really. So no heavy traffic is expected. Not even medium or low traffic is expected to be honest and realist.

If I ever have heavy traffic, it will mean that I make some money from abs and such, so moving to a Host won't be a problem, but for now I expect like four, maybe five people...?


Anyway, I do not have enough data to compare professional and private servers. How bad is a 400$ server going to be?

 

[Spartan468]

Come on!

Servers can't be that hard!!!


By the way, a local store gave me an offer, but I think they overkilled it a little bit and that they did not understood what I asked them for... Here it is:

CPU: Intel Xeon E5405
RAM: 8GB
6x LFF 3.5'' SAS/SATA (don't know what this is)
8x PC2 5300 DIM DDR2 Socket (don't know what this is either)
GIGABITE LAN (maybe motherboard?)
2x 800W P.S (probably PSU)
HDD: 1TB

Note: This is how everything is written on the paper they gave to me. Any mistakes are not mine

 

[Dangman]

Yeah thats too old.

What online computer hardware stores are you buying from?

 

[Spartan468]

Local computer stores, and bigger chains like Public, Plaisio, Kotsovolos, etc. These are Greek store brands.

 

[LightningCrash]

You could get an older workstation. A name-brand Xeon X5570 24GB workstation should run around 400-450 USD.

Based on your description it sounds like a lot of the content is going to be static content. You could probably host the whole thing on Amazon S3 with Octopress/Jekyll and spin the comments out to Disqus. This will make your hosting bill a few dollars a month for a small site.

 

[Spartan468]

Thanks for the replies!

Although I can build computers, I know almost nothing about servers...

I found this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6r60JjAil0
I do not know how correct it is, but for me it makes a lot of sense.

If I am correct, my 24mbps connection will be able to handle like 10 simultaneous clients with ease, but it wont be able to handle 1000+ clients, which might be extreme even for well known websites, but the power bills and the upkeep of the server is going to cost more in the long term than buying a web-host service.
Note that I cannot have a dedicated connection for the server, and that connections in Greece cost like 50$ every second month. Power is also very expensive.

Now, the server hardware alone is worth as much as 2-3 years of hosting and probably more.

So, lacking the connection and funds, as well as the space to build an actual server, I decided not to build one.
I am still interested in building a server for gaming tho...

Anyway, what I am going to do is make a small server for testing, probably out of an old PC, build my own website and then move everything to a web-hosting service. This is going to be a pain in the butt for a long time, but it will give me total control and everything will be to my liking.
From the time being I will use a free blog hosting service for testing purposes. All the other stuff is in Steam already and I am going to put content there anyway.


Had to write all this just in case someone out there considers self-hosting, and also because the following questions are raised.

1.Any good web-hosting services that are not very expensive?

2.Any good HTML/CSS/PHP tutorials or forums?