Hey Gloomer: THIS IS A LONG LONG HOW TO
There are upsides and downsides to what you want to do. Downsides - there is a good chance that depending on your ISP you have at home that you'll get #1 - a dynamic ip address - #2 - the HTTP port 80 will be blocked - #3 - your ip assigned by ISP will be blacklisted by spam blockers - #4 - when your stuff is down the only one you can complain to is you - #5 - if you are going to do it with microsoft then the software ain't going to be cheap.
IF you are like me and look past all that - then you are up for the plus side - ITS FUN AND if you've got the software or run free linux then its CHEAP! I mean who else can say they run their website and mail server out of their home?
The main knocks i have about it is Verizon FIOS is blocking port 80. This means I've got a nasty redirect. But we'll get into that later.
First - dynamic ip - goto
www.dyndns.org and register a free domain to keep track of your ip. Download the client software and load it on a server or program it into your router. This will keep you up and running at
www.yourname.dyndns.org.
Second - load up a box - Easiest is Win2k or Win2k3. Do a standard install. Then configure IIS and do a DCpromo to promote to domain controller (we'll need this later for mail server)
Third- run a port scan. Make sure your port 80 and 25 is not blocked from the ISP. Verizon FIOS for home does this. If you are not blocked then forward port 80 and 25 to server ip within router. If 80 is blocked then email me and i'll help you out.
fourth - make a quick easy html file called index.html with text "test" inside it (notepad). Place it in the c:\inetpub\wwwroot\ directory.
fifth - call a buddy and have him goto
www.yourname.dyndns.org - your test web site should appear (I'm skipping ALOT of finer details)
sixth - install exchange (or download trial ver) and install it. You'll have to have AD and DNS configured properly. After installing exchange run the exchange mail wizard and configure it for your domain you registered with dyndns.org. Once exchange wiz is setup go back to AD and setup an accout with email (it will be part of the wiz).
seven- goto your workstation, join the domain you built (domainname.local) then launch outlook. Configure outlook to connect to exchange server (servername). Put in username to connect to AD and built mail acct)
eight - send a message to your buddy from before - have him check his spam bin if he doesn't see it.
after all this if you're happy then register the domain for real (
www.yourname.com) and then just point it to your
www.yourname.dyndns.org domain. You can do this for $10. I got mine on special for $2!!!
I have two servers in my basement that are old boxes of mine. I loaded win2k3 on both. One is hosting website - the other is hosting exchange mail. I registered domain and pointed it to dyndns.org free domain. I DID ALL THIS FOR $2. The interesting tid bit is ms exchange 2003 trail version has been running for over 6 months - i thought it would expire eventually???