Linux guru, I have searched around on the web on my state to find a good place to host my web site. I found alot of companies provide web hosting runing Linux. Their services contain a list like this: " FEATURES Dual Pentium IV CPU's Chat Room RedHat Linux OS SSL (Secure Socket Layer)¹ SSI (Server Side Includes) POP3 E-mail with Mail Manager Apache web server SMTP Mail Server OC3 - OC 192 connections Traceroute Sub Domain manager Mailing Lists MySQL dbase manager PGP Mail² Unique IP Address or IP less FormMail and CGIEmail scripts FrontPage 97, 98, 2000,2002 Ext. Perl AutoResponders PHP4 + BWare Cache E-mail Forwarding Cron jobs Error page editor CGI-BIN Web E-mail Access (NeoMail) Access to Raw Log Files OnLine E-mail Support Major Search Engine Submission Backup facility Webalizer Web/FTP Stat's Web Protect (.htaccess editor) Anonymous FTP SSH Shell access Apache handlers Web based File Manager Bandwidth monitor Network Tools Shopping Cart MIME Types editor Resource Meter Java Servlets E-mail Support FTP manager Real Audio CGI pre installed scripts " Now I wonder how can I set up a simple network that can host my website and people from outside can access via http and see it? Could somebody help me or point some directions? I want host my website on my PC and learn web hosting as well. I have the following hardware on my desk: 2 windows 2000 advanced servers. 1 windows NT 4.0 server. 1 windows NT 4.0 workstation. 1 windows 98. 1 Solaris 8 (intel) PC. 1 Linux 6.1 PC All machine can talk to each other(LAN). 2 modems connect to windows 98 and windows NT PC. 0 router(no router). Both Linux and Solaris have apache, PHP, MySQL runing. My question is how can I set up my hardware so people from outside can see my website? what do I need? How expensive is the ISDN network with router? can I use modem to let people access my web site? DNS server? Any help will be grateful. Chis.

You can use an ISDN line to have people access your computer from the world assuming that you are not behind a firewalled router and dont have NAT (Network Address Translation). Basically you have to have an external IP ADDY. The easiest way of determining this is to have a friend ping you at your IP and see if it goes through. Do you have a static or dynamic IP? This could make all the difference in the world. If you have a static it will be wasy to do online hosting. Dynamic is a little harder Assuming you have an external ip, you will always be able to have people reach you through "http://youripaddy" A DNS server is a pain. If you get a domain name, usually they will forward your web pages. The way they do this is that they put your addy in a SQL database and when a request comes in for it, a frame is created and your webpage is displayed inside of the frame. Used to be a problem but almost all browsers now support frames. To do DNS you would have to have a primary and secondary server that would already have to have DNS addresses (ex. "dn1.mydomain.com"). The SQL based approach works well, but it sort of a pain. Usually the DNS/SQL server on their end will only repond to your addy when the dns prefix is "www." If you go that way and only want the web server to be accessed through domain name that is fine. An ftp server on the same or different machine could still be accessed by IP, but dont think about doing "ftp.myname.com". If you need different prefixes (www, ftp, smtp, etc) you could use a public DNS server: http://soa.granitecanyon.com/ Or you could use it just out of preference. If you usually have a dynamic address (IP) the public dns is probably easier b/c then you wont have to contact the company you got the domain from to tell them that the address has changed ever 2 or so weeks. -ISDN: Be careful with the bandwith, there may not be enough to do everything depending on the useage you want

Thank you very Dale Starr!. I still need more help on this - web hosting. Thank you all, Chis.

best (n easyest to set up running;)) webserver i've ever seen so far: www.clarkconnect.com n best of all... it's free!! :D i simply looove it :)