I have just taken ownership of a dedicated Windows 2000 server which I'd like to use for hosting some websites. I've installed Netshield Anti-Virus and Server Alive Monitoring, but can anyone recommend some firewall software? Someone said that I could just as well use a piece of personal firewall software such as Zone Alarm Pro - would this be sufficient for a server hosting websites?

What you need to do is completely lock down the server. This includes setting many many permission restrictions and disabling services you don't need. At least you must run the IISlockdown tool from MS, and install all service packs, hotfixes etc. A good firewall is absolutely a must, preferably a hardware firewall as thats an extra border for a hacker to knock down.

Agree, hosting web sites is way different that a personal pc. Get a good hardware firewall, Watchguard makes good ones, but ther are others. And lock down and close every port that you can, I lock all down and open only as needed.

Thanks guys for the comments and I understand that a hardware firewall solutoin would be best, but as I don't have direct access to the server (it's housed with some ISP miles away) the only option I have is to use a software firewall solution. Any ideas on what I could use?

you want to buy a hardware one, a stateful firewall,, Linux based one are alomost all free.