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How to Host a Web Site

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by triathlete1981

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We have today purchased a new server to host three websites our company has. The server is going to run Windows Server 2003 and be connected to the DMZ port on our router.

Although there are tons of sites on how to pay someone to do site hosting for you, there's not much on how to actually host a site yourself, especially using Server 2003.

I saw one site about using Apache installed on the Server 2003 NOS. This seems a viable option.

Does anyone have any recommendations on better hosting software? Or, any recommendations on an OS other than Server 2003 Enterprise Edition that could be better? Someone recommended a Linux flavor (forget which one) but I'm not too comfortable with Linux. In fact, to use Apache, I'm following instructions from a web site.

10 replies

by deity_chooch

I prefer to use the Apache web server on a GNU/Linux machine, but if you want to use Windows that's fine too. You can install Apache on a Windows machine or use Microsoft IIS to host your web sites. In IIS, you will need to create the web sites and edit their properties from the IIS applet in the Control Panel. I'd do some searching on IIS if this is what you'd like to do.

by cg it

go to microsoft's Technet site and read on IIS 6.0 which is what you will use to host web sites. Also read about using host headers as you'll have to use this as well.

other than that, putting a web server on a DMZ port exposes the server to the internet with no firewall protection. Suggest you don't do this.

by triathlete1981

I have one of the websites already up using IIS 6.0 and the DMZ port. I was going to put in Apache on this server because I thought it would add more protection. The DMZ port on my router protects from standard DOS attacks and I'm putting Symantec Endpoint Protection on the server to protect it from viruses.

I have to read up on the host headers as you said. About DMZ ports, don't I need to expose the server to the Internet to host the site? What would you suggest other than the DMZ port? It is separated from our internal LAN port on the router. If you were doing the hosting, aside from buying a new router, what would you do to protect the server and the site?

Also, one of the sites has 8 registered domain names. But, the names were registered by the company who currently hosts our web sites. Since we're going to stop paying them to host our sites, they're being less than helpful with a lot of things.

These 8 names are going to point to one public IP address. The other sites don't have this issue with multiple names pointing to one site, but I still need to find out how to map the name to the public IP. How do I go about doing this?

by thumbsup2

I can't help with the hardware setup for the server, but I can help with the domain name registration questions.

If the hosting company that you currently have has registered the domain names under their ownership (many do), you MAY have to buy the domain names from them. Many of these outfits offering cheap domain registration give you a break on the domain name registration because they retain ownership of them IF the hosting account is transfered to another host, which is now going to be you. And, if they retain ownership, they can sell the USE of the names to someone else if you move the hosting account.

What you can do though is to go to NetworkSolutions.com, open your own account and TRY to transfer registration of the domain names to your newly created account. This may take several days to complete, so don't get into a big hurry. Network Solutions will contact the current owner of the names and ask permission to take control. Your current hosting company will have to answer, yes or no.

If the hosting company has not set the domain names to "private" -or- "no transfer", then Network Solutions can help to "grab" control of the ownership. Don't be afraid to ask them for help. Once you are designated as the "owner" of the domain name, you can change your own DNS settings from within your Network Solutions control panel so that the names point to your newly created server's public IP address.

Once again, this all depends on who has been set as the owner of the domain names. If you are designated, it will go quite quickly. But, usually it's all a very long and complicated process. The main thing to remember is that you need to take control of ownership of the names.

by cg it

host headers is the way IIS determines which web site to send packets to.

if you put your web server on the DMZ port of a perimeter router, there is no firewall to protect it. If you put the web server in a DMZ section which is behind the perimeter router and before the LAN router, it's protected by a firewall. You then forward port 80 traffic to the web server. Port 80 would be the only unprotected port.

If you bought domain names, then they are yours. you can move them to another registar if you want.

DNS is the way in which you map your public IP address to domain names. the domain registar has a section in which you specify authoritative name servers which will resolve internet queries of the domain names.

by triathlete1981

I went to godaddy.com to check on one of the 8 names. The registrant is my boss, Operations VP, but the administrative and technical contact are our current hosting company. So, I would simply ask that the current host make me, or the company, the admin and tech contacts, correct?

The registrant would be what you meant when talking about the owner of the name?

by thumbsup2

[i]The registrant would be what you meant when talking about the owner of the name?[/i]

Yes, that is correct. So, it appears that your hosting company has done the right thing by putting your BOSS down as the "owner" of the name. It shouldn't be a big deal then to change the DNS pointers as well as change the administrative contact and the technical contact information to your own information. And, you don't have to move to a different Registrar if you don't want to. GoDaddy is very reputable and even offers the site security certificates that you may eventually need. It's good to have all services located at the same place. Being registered through GoDaddy though, I'm not exactly sure of their procedures. But, there should have been an account established in your BOSS's name and he/she should have complete control over who is the admin/technical contact for the account. He probably received an email notification when the account was created and didn't realize what it was, so he/she tossed it. Unfortunately, in that case, you'll have to get that login information from your current hosting service.

Afterthought: Don't forget that when you change your DNS pointers, it will take an average of up to 72 hours to propogate throughout the entire world. So, you'll need a little overlap in service provided by the hosting company if you don't want to have your site "unreachable" for a short period of time. The move won't all happen in an instant where one minute you're domain name points to the hosting company and the next minute it points to your own server. When I move a web site to another server, I always give the old host at least a week of overlap, a time period which you'll be paying for service that you may not need. And, some hosting companies want at least a month's notice of when their services will be terminated. You might want to read the contract for this one.

by triathlete1981

Last question...

I was going to set up the web server with three different public IPs. We have a few dozen available that are not being used. Then was going to assign a different IP on the server NIC to different websites. What would provide better performance?

The order for the routers you suggest is, from the outside in:
1. Perimeter router
2. DMZ section
3. LAN router?

The router I am using now is a Sonicwall Pro 300. Unfortunately, it's in end of life and we get no more firmware updates, but an upgrade is about $2500, $2500 of which my boss doesn't want to spend. I had to twist his arm to get this new web server. He wanted to host the sites on an old Poweredge 400S that I use as a test server and in which one of the capacitors is leaking! Exorbenant funding I have not.

Point is - the Sonicwall acts as both router and firewall. So far, it's done a good job, but web hosting is of course going to bring more traffic. Would you still recommend adding a firewall device? Which one would you recommend?

by cg it

All you ask is basic information that is readily available on the internet if one does a little web searching and comparison.

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