Setting up and running website/blog

I

InorganicMatter

[H]F Junkie
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Oct 19, 2004
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Alright, I've got a standard cable modem connection. My IP is dynamic, so I'll be using DynDNS to take care of that. I'm looking to do all this with Freeware/GNU stuff from the Clarkconnect Linux distro. The CC box is my internet gateway right now: DHCP, DNS, Firewall, etc. Once I get my domain name, I want to add email, FTP, VPN and a personal website with a blog.

So what do I need to do this? I don't know anything about this stuff, but am willing to learn. What all do I need?
 
InorganicMatter said:
Alright, I've got a standard cable modem connection. My IP is dynamic, so I'll be using DynDNS to take care of that. I'm looking to do all this with Freeware/GNU stuff from the Clarkconnect Linux distro. The CC box is my internet gateway right now: DHCP, DNS, Firewall, etc. Once I get my domain name, I want to add email, FTP, VPN and a personal website with a blog.

So what do I need to do this? I don't know anything about this stuff, but am willing to learn. What all do I need?
Click to expand...


Email I use postfix (but you will need either a POP3 or IMAP service to read mail remotely)
alternatives are a dime a dozen. Exim/Sendmail/postfix are all SMTP programs

FTP: another slew of programs. I just use ProFTP

VPN: openswan or something similar

personal website: Apache


Just be sure that you secure your SMTP....
 
InorganicMatter said:
CC box is my internet gateway right now: DHCP, DNS, Firewall, etc. Once I get my domain name, I want to add email, FTP, VPN and a personal website with a blog.
Click to expand...

I can only suggest that you not use the same machine that is your firewall/gateway as the machine you plan to use as a blog. While DNS, DHCP, VPN are all fine choices I personally have seen too many bugs in blogging software to trust it running on a machine responsible for firewalling functions. If you just plan on running Apache with some template for a blog, sure... but the one click blogging setups are full of holes.
 
Just as a suggestion, nothing more, you might want to read the AUP of your cable modem's provider. Most, if not all of them, don't allow you to run HTTP/FTP servers legitimately off your connection, and if you're caught doing it, you can typically lose your connection outright. That's why most of them offer hosting space on their servers, albeit a measly 10MB per email account. Sometimes it's enough, most times not, but this is something you should take into consideration - heaven forbid your site/blog turns into a monster of popularity and then suddenly it's dead because the ISP pulled your plug.

Just my $.02
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ClarkConnect should be fine for this. Most of the LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySql, Php or Perl) components, which are needed for most blog software, comes with or is easily installed.

I would, as the above poster mentioned, check the policy of your ISP for such things. I know mine won't even allow incoming connections to the ports needed to host a site (at least without some fiddling).
 
First check with your terms of service with your internet provider.

You would setup VPN on the Clarkconnect box, but then have everything else (SMTP, Pop, HTTP, FTP, etc) on another box.

Apache for Web, Exim for SMTP, ProFTPD for FTP. Those are pretty standard.
 
InorganicMatter said:
So what do I need to do this? I don't know anything about this stuff, but am willing to learn. What all do I need?
Click to expand...

I would strongly reccomend even a cheap go-daddy hosting plan over using your cable internet. 5GB storage, 250GB/month bandwidth is the lowest plan, which should be far more than what you need.

Though if your just doing this to learn about networking and web-hosting, doing it at your home on your own pc is the best way to learn :).
 
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