Home-Hosted HTTP Web Server!

[CalcProgrammer1]

I thought I'd post a little how-to on setting up your very own HTTP server to host a web page on. I was interested in a use for an ancient PC that didn't do much and ran Windows 95, so I decided to try running a Web server, and sure enough, it worked!

First, I found my PC of choice. You'll want something capable of running the software, but this isn't hard to come by. My PC is an HP Pavilion 5030 with a Pentium 133MHz, 40MB DRAM, 2GB hard drive, PCI Ethernet, and Windows 95. Then, you need Web hosting software. For this, I used Aprelium Technologies' Abyss Web Server, which can be found here: Aprelium Technologies - Abyss Web Server . Then, you need to install it. Once it's up, you should be faced with a control panel inside of a browser. Change your server's settings and then click Start.

 

[CalcProgrammer1]

You'll want to know the IP (local) of the computer, so that you can connect to it with another computer. Test it by entering http://<192.168.x.x> (where <192.168.x.x> is the local IP of the server PC) in another PC's browser. You should see a test page.

Now, your server is set up...but wait! You more than likely will want your page to go on the Internet. That means you'll have to forward port 80, the HTTP port, to the local IP of the server PC. Do this by going to your router's setup page (http://192.168.1.1 or NETGEAR Support Home Page or http://192.168.0.1 ) and finding the Port Forwarding option. Enable both TCP and UDP, and enter your server's local address as well as port 80.

Now, you should be able to connect to your server by doing http://<your.internet.ip.address> in a browser. If this works, you can then go to No-IP - Dynamic DNS, Static DNS for Your Dynamic IP to get yourself a free domain name (like <your site>.servegame.com, <yoursite>.servehttp.com, etc).

Now, your site is up and online, the only thing missing is the site itself...but there's an issue. Most HTML editors provide a way to upload web pages to the server using FTP. However, your server only hosts HTTP, so you're doomed, right? Wrong. Get War FTP Daemon 1.6 (1.7 is buggy and 1.8 doesn't run on Win95) at Jgaa's Internet - Software and Internet technology and install it (War FTP 1.6 should be installed by first making a folder called "warftpd" in Program Files, copying the downloaded .exe to that folder, then running it).

 

[CalcProgrammer1]

Configure users by clicking the folder with user icon, then selecting New. Type your username and password which you will use to upload pages to your site. Then, under Folder Access, allow your username to access C:/Program Files/Abyss Web Server/htdocs with full permissions. That way, you can upload Web pages right to your server using HTTP.

Finally, edit your Web page using a program like Macromedia Dreamweaver or (the open source) Nvu (http://nvudev.com/index.php). Configure your editor to upload to ftp://<your local IP address> and your username and password for your FTP. Since FTP uses port 21, it cannot be accessed outside of your local network unless you add it to the forwarding list...but since you probably don't want the public editing your server, it's best to leave the FTP side only for your LAN.

With just some old junk hardware and some free software, you can have your very own Web server hosted out of your own home. This page will allow you to access file or information anywhere in the world. Combine your HTTP with a separate PC running a dedicated FTP and you'll have your own little server center. This goes to show that though old and outdated, old computers still have some potential....my P133 server is running Abyss Web Server, War FTP, Tight VNC Server, and Windows 95 tasks all at once, and is having no problem doing so.


Sorry for triple posting the stupid thing had errors trying to type too much on one post but I wanted to make a thorough tutorial.

 

[Yek]

Cheers, nice to see a simple tut on setting this up, iv now got my head around some bits i was having probs with!

 

[Black Falcon 921]

Looks very cool might mess with this in some spare time, thanks for the information.

 

[Yek]

I seem to hav ran into a few problems http://www.techist.com/forums/f49/setting-up-abyss-webserver-162193/

Cheers!

 

[Tech-man]

How's the Speed of ur ancient web server.. curious to know as server is too old.. thanks btw for ABYSS web server..Looks easy to configure..

 

[Tech-man]

Tried right now.. excellent program It's up in a minute.. Though port not forwarded...

 

[CalcProgrammer1]

If you want to see how the speed works, give it a try.

CalcProgrammer1's Web Page

(Yeah, the page is kinda stupid, there's not much there, but it's a good speed test). That page is hosted on the Pentium 133MHz 40MB RAM Windows 95, Abyss Web Server.

 

[Tech-man]

Loads Web-pages.. fast.