Host your own website and dns server

I pay big money yearly for all of my website hosting, domain registrars, etc.

My IP is dynamic and my provider allows different http ports. On my local webserver, I have access to my websites like this: localhost:80 - first website, localhost:81 - second website .. etc.

What I want to do is to host low traffic websites (such as company pages, etc) from my own computer, and reduce all the costs that I mentioned above.

Questions:

1) Is it possible to host my own DNS server and multiple websites (from multiple local ports) even with a dynamic IP?

Or should I buy a dynamic DNS service like DynDNS, NO-IP?

Note: You can give solution with any OS (Linux, Windows doesn't matter, I'm ready to install).

2) Let's say I have a static IP. I want to host a webserver and DNS server from my own PC. I registered a domain name with a registrar like Godaddy, etc. What do I need to do next?

Thanks in advance.

Tural Ali

Posted 2012-01-12T07:42:31.577

Reputation: 1 893

Setting this up yourself is a lot more of a pain than there is to gain! – BloodPhilia – 2012-01-13T00:18:53.260

Answers

My only advice is NEVER host company websites from your home no matter how low the traffic is. I'd rather choose the following options to host low traffic sites such as:

Or, just subscribe a single Linode 512 which will only cost you USD 19.95 a month and setup your virtual hosts for all your sites. YMMV.

For hosting the DNS, you can create free accounts from HE or FreeDNS. YMMV.

bintut

Posted 2012-01-12T07:42:31.577

Reputation: 54

If you want to run your own DNS and web servers, you need to install the required software and configure them appropriately.

Under Linux, you can run apache2/nginx as web server and bind as DNS server.

Under Windows, you can run iis as web server. For the DNS server, Windows server versions have DNS service.

You need to point your DNS domain to your public IP which should be forwarded to your configured DNS server. The DNS server will tell your clients about your web server IP (it can be the same IP).

If you want your domain to be for local use only, you don't need to register it with any registrar. You can just run your own DNS server/web server on your local machine(s).

This is what I can say given the provided information.

Khaled

Posted 2012-01-12T07:42:31.577

Reputation: 649

How about running multiple websites on windows server? – Tural Ali – 2012-01-12T07:52:56.473

This is possible using apache as it supports virtual hosts. For IIS, it seems possible also. Have a look at this post: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/302968/iis-equivalent-of-virtualhost-in-apache

– Khaled – 2012-01-12T07:58:35.030

Confirm very much possible under IIS as well. – tomfanning – 2012-01-12T08:06:09.197

If you are intersted in running a SQL/PHP/Apache based website or website(s) (using apache virtual hosts) on windows, take a look at 'wamp-server'. It is a single installer package that installs Apache, MySQL and PHP on windows cleanly. I use it all the time for development/testing, but I agree with the above response, you really shouldn't host a company website at home, there is just no way to ensure reliability.

a really good free dynamic dns service is provided at Afraid.org, which can handle all your DNS needs for a dynamic connection without wanting money like dy

user1146281

Posted 2012-01-12T07:42:31.577

Reputation: 1