Have you ever considered installing a server and hosting your website in a spare room, a media nook, or somewhere else that strikes your fancy? If you’re like me and have pondered how to set up a server at home without spending hours reading posts by self-proclaimed “tech gurus” who complain about how clueless newcomers are, you’ve found the right place. After that, you should buy a lottery ticket because who knows? In this piece, I’ll demonstrate how easy it is to set up a home server and publish a website using only the equipment you already own.
Before beginning any installations, please ensure you have read this entire guide and fully understand it. To avoid making a wrong decision, do nothing. This material should only be used for research and training purposes. Any financial, software, hardware, personal, or commercial losses incurred following this article’s advice will not be covered by any indemnification provided to me or any persons, associates, or references mentioned in this post.
Use a portable or stationary computer.
Use an old, trustworthy desktop computer that can stay on constantly without risking your business or personal data. Not even a mainframe like Grandpa used to have. Invest in a desktop computer powered by a Pentium 3 or 4 processor. Instead, you might utilize a portable computer. It is all that matters as long as it is compatible with Windows 2000 or XP. You shouldn’t rely on it for critical business purposes because it lacks backup systems. This item is intended for testing a home server that will not be used in a live environment. My platform was a “headless” (no monitor, mouse, or keyboard) Shuttle PC running Service Pack 3 for Windows Media Center. In the end, a server is just a piece of software. A bit of hardware is only considered a server because it can execute software written to use its unique hardware configuration and run services around the clock every day of the year. If you install the server software on your computer, it becomes a server, but without hardware redundancy, you shouldn’t use it for mission-critical operations. If you’ve already installed Linux on your computer, you’re probably just reading this for fun. Get out of here before you start thinking I’m a rookie. If you use Windows as your computer’s operating system, I genuinely feel for you. I kid, I kid! We must proceed. Windows 2000, XP, or 7 (AVOID VISTA if possible) are all supported. If you’re reading this on a friend’s computer, it’s assumed that you already have access to the Internet through a router and have a basic understanding of how personal computers work. In essence, get ready and return to this spot whenever you are.
2. Get WAMP for your Windows computer and set it up.
In the past, to get a web server running on a Win-tel platform, we had to install and set up IIS, Apache, and the database software. For the Win-tel (Windows-Intel) PC, you can now download a package that performs the installation and configuration. Windows-Apache-MySQL-PHP (sometimes just “WAMP”) is the package for doing this. If you’re using Linux, you probably already have LAMP set up (“L” stands for Linux, while Windows is represented by “M”). Get WAMP installed on your Windows PC right away. WAMP is available for download at Wampserver. It’s as simple as looking up “Wampserver” online.
Now is the time to watch the high-definition video on YouTube about installing WAMP. Paste this link into YouTube to watch: QSd2widgYP0.
Step 3: Get Joomla Setup
Once you’ve installed WAMP, a sample “index.html” landing page from the Apache web server can be found in the WWW root directory beneath the WAMP folder. Simply typing “localhost” into Internet Explorer’s address bar will bring you to the same website. You now have the functional equivalent of a Web Server on your personal computer. It’s just inaccessible from everywhere online at this time. Before putting your Web Server “ONLINE” or accessible to the internet, let’s give it a makeover. A system known as a “Content Management System” (CMS) is what I’ll be explaining to you now. With this content management system (CMS), modifying your website for your server is easier and more professional than ever before. Goodbye, outdated websites that took an eternity to remodel and recode! One such content management system (CMS) is Joomla, which is free and comes with
complete support from an active user community. Watch this high-definition YouTube video tutorial before setting it up on your WAMP server PC. Keep all Login Names and Passwords the same throughout web construction to avoid confusion and difficulties, and remember to build your MySQL database for your Joomla website initially. At Windows, the WAMP systems tray icon is located at the screen’s bottom left corner and is used for all configurations. Additionally, the Joomla files must be unzipped straight into the /WAMP/www-root folder if you want your website to load immediately when you type localhost from your browser. Note that there are many automated ways to install Joomla, but if you want to understand how it works, you should install it manually, as in the video below.
If you’re using a Windows PC, you may learn to manually install and configure Joomla by watching this video. To see this video on YouTube, enter this: YJsdj7NtYyo.
You need to be able to connect to your Test house Server and Website from outside your house or LAN (Local Area Network). To do this, you’ll need to set up port forwarding on your home router to direct HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) queries to your home server and a Domain Name Service (DNS) to link a domain name to your home web server’s IP address. Get the username and password for your router first. If you don’t already know it, it’s probably the username and password that came with your router. The username and password for your router’s administrative interface are listed below. Notate the default details. Now, on your home server, go to the “Start” menu, click the “Run” button, and then type “CMD” into the Run window. Type “ipconfig /all” into the command prompt and jot down your web server’s IP address and your default gateway’s IP address. The next step is to try to access your router’s admin page by entering the Gateway IP address into your browser’s address bar. If you haven’t modified the defaults, you’ll be requested to provide your Login Name and Password.
The IP address your Internet service provider has given your router is the following information you’ll need to log in. A 192. x.x.x prefix is NOT appropriate. Remember that you’ll need to provide it to DynDNS when you register your domain name. The next step is to follow DynDNS’s instructions to associate your router’s ISP-assigned IP address with a Static Domain Name for your web server or home server. Most routers have a particular spot set aside for using free DNS service providers like DynDNS. Check your router’s settings to see if they support it, and set them up if they do. Finally, your router must have its HTTP ports forwarded to your home server’s internal IP address. The IP address of your home server should be statically assigned. Still, you should be alright if your router’s DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) server always gives your home server the same LAN IP address. Please note that this IP address must be static. If you want to assign a permanent address to your home server, open the Network and Internet Connections section of the Control Panel, click the “LAN Area Connection” icon, and then right-click “Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)” and “Properties” from the context menu that appears. Selecting this option and then populating the “Use the following IP addresses” section with the same dynamic information will open a box where you can assign the Dynamic IP address as a Static IP address. If you want a DynDNS account and DNS name, you may find complete instructions on how to do so by clicking here.
The following video is worth a thousand words of explanation, so enjoy. To watch this video on YouTube, just put this link into your browser: wXKATNBgOpo
5. Use your domain name server (DNS) to test your home web server
You’re on your way to being immortalized online if all goes according to plan and Murphy’s Law doesn’t strike you down. Celebrate by buying two lottery tickets or having a beer. Use a FREE DynDNS domain name to try out your new home server. DNS names must be entered as sub-domains of existing DynDNS domains. Type “yourdnsnamefromdyndns.whateverdyndnsdomainname.com” if you’re using Dynamic DNS. If someone makes an HTTP request to your domain name, your home router will forward that request to your server’s local IP address, and your server’s Apache web server’s index page will load because it is equipped with PHP scripts and a MySQL database, making it a fully functional Content Management System. Congratulations!In my opinion.
CD Grecia has proven its expertise as an EzineArticles writer. He also works with Perpetual Ads as a publisher. To read more articles by him, check out his blog at
Read also: Manual on Building a Gaming Computer.
