Who runs their own show?

[skunkbad]

So, I'm just wondering if most of the pro web designers/developers run their own servers? It bugs me that I pay for hosting, can never take advantage of all of php's extensions, don't always have access to PEAR, don't always have access to the server, have problems with my sites because some admin decided to change things around, etc. I have been running WAMP and LAMP installs for a while, so I have some good experience. I've also read as much as a person should about Apache and Linux, so I feel that I am ready. I got my hardware ready, and just need to put a network cable together tomorrow morning, and I'm ready to install the OS. I wanted to do it today, but no cable means no DHCP auto configuration, and I didn't want to do it manually. So, I hope some of you have run your own server(s), and can share your experiences, hurdles, and headaches with me.

[flick]

it's my full time job working with linux and windows servers but i don't run my own so i cant really give any advice on housing the server yourself, apart from that i wouldn't if i was you. do you have a temperature controlled room for it? have you thought about redundancy if you lose power / the server fails? there are all sorts of things to consider

[skunkbad]

Yes, the room is climate controlled, and I know of and have thought about the potential for power outages and hardware failures. I'm actually not ready for those events, but am using this server as a learning experience. I would not have any customer sites or important sites on the server. I'm doing the install right now, but probably won't be able to work on it for more than a couple hours.

Thanks for your reply.

[skunkbad]

BTW, so far so good! I've got one of my ad sites up and running, and response time seems to be fairly reasonable (considering the server is a 7 year old desktop computer). I tend to make pretty lean websites, so that could be helping in the speed department.

I've quickly learned to use putty and Filezilla3 for SSH and SFTP. I had to chown my www folder or Filezilla wouldn't write, but that was easy. Now I just need a MySQL interface like phpMyAdmin, but I only have so much time to play. Other things I did were... I went through and customized my Apache and PHP headers, set up zoneedit and ddclient, and everything seems to be going smooth. I still need to set up a static local IP, and make sure ddclient is really doing its thing when the dynamic IP gets changed, but I'm fairly certain everything is ok. I made sure to research every move I made.

For those who ever say they are bored, or for those with A.D.D., I highly recommend setting up your own web server. It's fun!

[PhreaK]

Originally Posted by skunkbad

For those who ever say they are bored, or for those with A.D.D., I highly recommend setting up your own web server. It's fun!

Definitely agree with you there, it can be quite a learning experience. That being said I wouldn't recommend running a local server for anything more than a hobby. Running a single server on a commercial basis simply isn't viable. If you are wanting complete control you are much better off purchasing a dedicated server (physical or virtual) in a data centre. That way you are sharing the costs (thus making it cheaper) of a clean and backed up power supply, redundant hardware, multiple high speed connections, climate control, security etc. This will give you complete security knowing that you're not going to have to deal with having physical things break constantly and can just focus on running a clean and optimised server.


P.S. I'm not a hosting provider trying to sell anything, just speaking from experience.

[skunkbad]

Originally Posted by PhreaK

...That being said I wouldn't recommend running a local server for anything more than a hobby. Running a single server on a commercial basis simply isn't viable. If you are wanting complete control you are much better off purchasing a dedicated server (physical or virtual) in a data centre. That way you are sharing the costs (thus making it cheaper) of a clean and backed up power supply, redundant hardware, multiple high speed connections, climate control, security etc. This will give you complete security knowing that you're not going to have to deal with having physical things break constantly and can just focus on running a clean and optimised server.

I agree with you there. I'm still having a great learning experience with this. The hard things to wrap my brain around so far have been virtual hosts and DNS. I've really learned alot since starting this project. I wouldn't say that I'm not interested in web design anymore, but server administration definately turns on the brain.

[elmagnifico]

You don't have to completely run your own server. If you want you can start with like a windows managed vps server. I have from Server Intellect. It has a control panel with DNS configured when I got it. Since it is managed if you have problems or need some support the tech guys are pretty good about helping out. Pretty much the whole server market is moving towards a managed server for the people who want/need their own server. Plus as you stated you can run the beta and extensions you want.

[skunkbad]

Right now I'm at the point of installing an email MTA and pop3 service. I chose Postfix and Dovecot, and all is well except I can't send emails out to people who aren't set as users. I've fiddled with postfix to the point of no return, so I'm wondering if my problem is in Dovecot. I get a 5.7.1 relay access denied error. Other than this, Postfix was a bear to set up, and everything else seemed easy.

I've been checking out other distros in the last couple days. I'm really doing this to learn... and there's a lot to learn!

[jkinz]

I agree, I outsource this to another company who can do a lot more than I can afford on a budget that works for me.

I use HostGator's reseller service because they take care of the servers, etc. and also are hosted on green server (which I like).