Setting up a home web server ?

[XplosiV]

Hi all,

I have an aim to turn my home pc into a sort of server. I found and follwed a tutorial at www.webdevtips.com which basicly said i would need Apache, mysql, php, phpBB & pearl. well thats alot of stuff i konw nothing about.

Not alot worked, I did get as far as the hello world example so i know the Apache server works, But Pearl would not install no matter which download i tryed.

Basicly my aim is this.

To make a folder available to collegues and myself (remotely while at work) for upload / download.

All i want to be able to do pretty much is click on a link that links to my home IP, asks me to log in, and then presents me with an explorer type window in such that i can see my files and then download them. Obviously i want this to be secure, hence logging in, but also to be able to set access permissions for different user id's.

Any help would be greatly appricated, Im not evan sure what sortware i need as the above seems a bit overkill. Is there an easy way of achieving my goal - without FTP ?

Cheers all in advance.

 

[office politics]

prolly be much easier to setup a vpn server and use file & print sharing to access your files.

you have xp pro? http://www.onecomputerguy.com/networking.htm

look for windows xp vpn client/server guides

 

[XplosiV]

That look's easy enough, I'll try that for a few weeks and see if it does the job.

Is there any way of having an online / offline indicator of some sort ?

Thank's again.

 

[office politics]

i used to have a messanger with a dummy account setup to start on boot and autologin.

your gonna wanna register for a dynamic dns address.

www.no-ip.com

www.dyndns.org

take your pick, they'll register a name address for your server and have you run a updater app to update dns with you ip address. You'll enter the name for your client config.