How To Set up a Web Server

Wondering how to set up a Web server? If a hosted server is too costly, or you can't find one that meets your needs or provides the level of support and uptime you desire, you may want to set up your very own Web server.

Take strong security precautions before you set up a Web server.
A hosted server provides a level of protection you don't get when you set up a Web server at home. Use a separate computer as a Web server; don't use your home desktop, as setting up your computer as a Web server can compromise your computer, as well as other computers on your network.

Make sure you're running a powerful anti-virus and anti-spyware suite on your computer, and use a good firewall to protect any open ports on your machine. Keep your anti-virus and security patches up-to-date. Don't run a home Web server unless you're dedicated to security or you wouldn't miss the computer if it gets toasted.

What you need.
To set up a Web server, you need a dedicated computer, an active Internet connection and server software. You'll need an always-on Internet connection, and preferably one with a lot of speed.

Install server software.
The most common server software for a home Web server is Apache HTTP Server. You can download it for free; simply run a quick Web search, and you'll find the installation files. You can use a different server software, but Apache is solid and easy for a home user to configure. Make sure you shut down firewalls, anti-virus programs and any other server applications while you're installing, and then re-start these services once Apache is successfully installed.

Enter your e-mail address when prompted, and a name for your network domain. You can't use just any domain; you must register your domain name with a domain name service and point it to your IP address.

Configure your server.
Your server configuration will depend on the server software you use. If you use Apache server software, you'll need to go into your Apache2confhttpd.conf file. If you install to the default directory, you'll find this file in C:Program FilesApache Group.

Open the httpd.conf file in WordPad or Notepad. Go to the line that starts #DocumentRoot and add a line immediately following with the directory where you want to store your Web hosting files. These two lines should look like this:

#DocumentRoot "C:/Program Files/Apache Group/Apache2/htdocs"
DocumentRoot "C:/Matt/Site"

Substitute the name of your file directory in quotation marks in the second line.

Next, go to the #

#

Finally, go to the AllowOverride line and replace the None with the word All.

Restart your server software, and you should be able to access your Web hosting folder. Test it by going to http://localhost/ in your Web browser. You should be able to see all the files in your Web hosting folder.

Additional options.
Once you've set up a basic Web server, you can password protect your documents, take advanced security precautions or even add options to your Web host. Think about what server solutions could enhance your Web hosting capabilities, and a quick Web search can turn up how to configure many advanced options.