Runing My Own Server...

sajal · March 19, 2005

hello...

im currently running 3 websites (only details of my companies...products...) on another host. i have taken the resellers account to host these multiple domains and and they handle the mail.

1) the webspace(3000 megs) on the server is not enough to accomodate all the pics/videos i wanna put in there (even though its very unlikely someone might actually view it)

2) mail server sometimes gives problems.

3) costs me $19.95 per month.

now i am thinking of setting up my own server to act as web server, mail server, DNS server, file server....and maybe more features....

the webserver doesnt have a lota hits....

the mails would mostly be sent/recieved from within thailand so the sendin/receivin for the end user would be fast...

i really need a desktop to be used as a file server...my notebook (60GB + USB HDD 80GB is already full and i dont want to get another one or keep info on cds or DVDs)...

i am quite experienced in using/troubleshooting computers, but have 0 experience with linux or freeBSD or anything other than DOS or windoze....but am wiling to learn te wonders of open source.

i have a few questions :-

1) what hardware should i get?

2) windoze server 2003

(dun wory abt cost of windoze ) or should i get linux (which distribution) im thinkin of SoL

3) can i host my domain on a dynamic IP or i have to get a static one?

4) will true 2.5 Mbps gurantee me full international bandwidth?

5) is all this effort simple worth it???

any help to point me to a right direction would be helpful...

LivinLOS · March 19, 2005

Without hitting your questions directly...

Webspace could be a lot cheaper than what you are paying.. Running your own server for small purposes is fine but for website hosting etc I find my ADSL drops and or needs the modem rebooted enough that I would not want to go this route fo proessionalism reasons..

Using your own machine as an SMTP server results in quite a few mails being undeliverable.. Thanks to spammers using thier own servers many dynamic IP's are blacklisted even though they are not spamming.

I would just reccomend using a good webhost.. many are down in the sub 7 USD per month range.

Ajarn · March 19, 2005

Powweb.com has the largest storage space for the price ($7.xx per month) that I've seen... 150 gigabytes of transfer per month, too.

buadhai · March 19, 2005

I pay US$35 a year for this company: Aventure Hosting

Much less trouble than trying to host it on your own.

Darknight · March 19, 2005

i'm running a full w2003 server for 88$ monthly

sajal · March 19, 2005

thanks a lot for your replies.

livinLOS: for the smtp server thing, most spam blockers first check the IP of the smtp server which was used to send the email...then check if that indeed was the IP of the actual email server....for example if i send email appraring to be from [email protected] and use my own SMTP server then i have a problem...but if i use my own domain then i dont see much of a problem..in my case 90%(total size wise) of the mails are within the accounts in the same domain.

ajarn and mgnewman: both those hosts dont offer anything close to 3 gig diskspace....

darknight: u mentioned runing w2003 server for $88 a month...

is this dedicated hosting? whats the specs and where is it located?

maybe for the moment i stick with my current host,

but i still require some solution for storing files/backups on the network...any idea?

sniffdog · March 19, 2005

I host my sites at on a reseller account.

Disk space ranges from 2000 MB to 25000 MB with 200-1000 GB of bandwidth.

Prices are US$14.95 to US$99.95.

Fitted for you:

5000 mb/ 300 Gb US$24.95/m

10000 mb/ 450 gb US$44.95/m

No restrictions on content. Automatic backups. Great service.

PM if interested.

Edited March 19, 2005 by sniffdog

LivinLOS · March 19, 2005

livinLOS: for the smtp server thing, most spam blockers first check the IP of the smtp server which was used to send the email...then check if that indeed was the IP of the actual email server....for example if i send email appraring to be from [email protected] and use my own SMTP server then i have a problem...but if i use my own domain then i dont see much of a problem..in my case 90%(total size wise) of the mails are within the accounts in the same domain.

All I know is I am forced to running my own SMTP for a few days / weeks as I am changing providers.. Perhaps 1 in 10 are coming back as failure due to be ing listed as dynamic IP's and spamblockers are not taking ANY mail from a dynamic IP.. As its temporary for me I juist send thos failed ones through a web based mail solution..

Its my understanding this has nothing to do with whats listed in the headers simply ALL mail from IP's listed as dynamic gets refused.

Of course you could take a more expensive static IP ADSL service but thats probably more than the cost of a good webhost on its own here in Thailand

sajal · March 19, 2005

All I know is I am forced to running my own SMTP for a few days / weeks as I am changing providers.. Perhaps 1 in 10 are coming back as failure due to be ing listed as dynamic IP's and spamblockers are not taking ANY mail from a dynamic IP.. As its temporary for me I juist send thos failed ones through a web based mail solution..
Its my understanding this has nothing to do with whats listed in the headers simply ALL mail from IP's listed as dynamic gets refused.

Of course you could take a more expensive static IP ADSL service but thats probably more than the cost of a good webhost on its own here in Thailand

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

thats the reason im thinkin of registering with dyndns.org.

i already use their free service where they give you xxx.dyndns.org, this one would encounter the problem you mentioned above.

im not sure if this service is free or not but they can get your own domain xxx.com forwarded to your current IP, i guess that wont be blacklisted by spam tools as in that case the IP is not listed under dyndns.org and the spam blocker doesnt know wether its a static IP or a dynamic one.

any idea how much does static IP cost?

any urls?

Darknight · March 19, 2005

thanks a lot for your replies.
livinLOS: for the smtp server thing, most spam blockers first check the IP of the smtp server which was used to send the email...then check if that indeed was the IP of the actual email server....for example if i send email appraring to be from [email protected] and use my own SMTP server then i have a problem...but if i use my own domain then i dont see much of a problem..in my case 90%(total size wise) of the mails are within the accounts in the same domain.

ajarn and mgnewman: both those hosts dont offer anything close to 3 gig diskspace....

darknight: u mentioned runing w2003 server for $88 a month...

is this dedicated hosting? whats the specs and where is it located?

maybe for the moment i stick with my current host,

but i still require some solution for storing files/backups on the network...any idea?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Dedicated hosting

your own machine , i have a pIV 2.8 512 ram

win2003 , and i put on sql server as well.

full T3 connection (downloads of about 850kb/sec)

1000 gig download bustable

located in LA

http://www.calpop.com/index.asp

buadhai · March 19, 2005

ajarn and mgnewman: both those hosts dont offer anything close to 3 gig diskspace....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

They'll sell it to you. Just ask. It isn't expensive.

LivinLOS · March 19, 2005

All I know is I am forced to running my own SMTP for a few days / weeks as I am changing providers.. Perhaps 1 in 10 are coming back as failure due to be ing listed as dynamic IP's and spamblockers are not taking ANY mail from a dynamic IP.. As its temporary for me I juist send thos failed ones through a web based mail solution..

Its my understanding this has nothing to do with whats listed in the headers simply ALL mail from IP's listed as dynamic gets refused.

Of course you could take a more expensive static IP ADSL service but thats probably more than the cost of a good webhost on its own here in Thailand

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

thats the reason im thinkin of registering with dyndns.org.

i already use their free service where they give you xxx.dyndns.org, this one would encounter the problem you mentioned above.

im not sure if this service is free or not but they can get your own domain xxx.com forwarded to your current IP, i guess that wont be blacklisted by spam tools as in that case the IP is not listed under dyndns.org and the spam blocker doesnt know wether its a static IP or a dynamic one.

any idea how much does static IP cost?

any urls?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think you are slightly miss understanding me.. When you run your own SMTP server at home and send mail the receiving server will see it as coming from an IP of xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx etc.. It wont see any references to you using dyndns or any other dynamic DNS service which helps you maintain inbound packets to your moving IP.. I use (or used) these kind of services to offer up FTP files off my own home machine but they will not mask where your SMTP server is sending from.

When the inbound mailserver sees the sending servers IP of (dynamic) some of them check a list.. If your IP is on that list the mail is refused.. Nothing to do with peoples personal SPAM filtering also..

Try setting up a simple windows SMTP server and mailing your contact list.. You will quickly see what I mean.. Errors such as these become common..

Direct delivery fail! Mail from 203.155.227.39 refused. Please refer to http://www.mail-abuse.com/support/lookup.html for an explanation.

Direct delivery fail! 5.7.1 mailgate01.barclays.co.uk Sorry, this system does not accept mail from hosts on the Realtime Blackhole List. See http://maps.vix.com/rbl for more information.

Direct delivery fail! (RTR:DU) http://postmaster.info.aol.com/errors/554rtrdu.html AOL does not accept e-mail transactions from dynamic or residential IP addresses. Connecting IP: 203.155.227.29

Yahoo AOL etc all seem to do this blocking these days.. Paying for a fixed IP v a cheap TOT ADSL deal was about 7500 baht per month starting price (v 1k per month for the fastest TOT consumer / dynamic package)..

I really find it hard to think that the issues with downtime, mail sending, etc make running your own server a viable proposition for anything other than the fun and learning of it..

sajal · March 19, 2005

hello livinlos,

thanks a lot for the clarifications....it was an eyeopener...

now will definately not use SMTP on dynamic IPs...static IP is the answer then...

maybe for now i wait for sometime before hosting website and mail on my own server,...

i still need the following.

- file server

- fax 2 mail solution

ill be having a computer spare lying around....p4, some sheap $h1t mother board, 10 GB hard disk, CD rom drive(doesnt work), 10/100 network card...just a question for linux guys, how can i turn it into fax to mail and file server?

LivinLOS · March 20, 2005

Fax to mail is easy with services like eFax and J2 (same people behind the scenes).. I have had and used a free J2 voicemail and fax number for many years, as I travel my faxes always drop into email.. I only have personal fax needs so use a free system but they are geared to running corporate solutions..

File server is not so tough.. Hanging a box from an ADSL line and dyndns type services (my router has an auto ping dyndns system that sounds smart but never had a need to use it).. You could do this with linux but my advice is if you need to ask its gonna be a steep learning curve..

sniffdog · March 20, 2005

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Powweb.com has the largest storage space for the price ($7.xx per month) that I've seen... 150 gigabytes of transfer per month, too.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Another way to fool your customers... it's not 150 gigs a month, it's 5 gigs a day!

autonomous_unit · March 20, 2005

This may sound more complicated, but there is no need to consider this an all or nothing decision... I think you need to do some back-of-the-envelope calculations of desired performance, availability, recurring maintenance hassle, cost, etc.

You could get a hosted service for email and even the doorstep of your website, and still run a cheap server for the bulk data you wish to host (it's the web, so link from one server to another!). You might not be bothered by the hiccups of dynamic IP addresses. Also, depending on where and how often you are producing this data, it might be more convenient to be able to walk up and transfer data locally to the server rather than transferring it slowly over your ADSL to a remote server, etc. This all depends, of course, on what you really meant by saying the data might never get accessed. It's all about the bandwidth, in the end.

I don't run websites, but for my peculiar service availability requirements and budget, I have opted for a hosted email service with secure IMAP and SMTP service to retrieve and send email. I run my own personal Linux "server" hanging off residential ADSL/cable modem to actually retrieve email, run spamassassin, and run another IMAP server where I actually point my client. This gives me abundant software RAID storage, and a friendly enough environment to get a host rebooted or hand-held once in a while. At the same time, I worry about my own backup and geographic redundancy so that I am not too upset if the remote server goes south for a few days.

I've actually put one such server with friends in North America, and have plans to keep one at home in BKK. I keep procrastinating because the remote one already has reduced my worries enough that I am taking the risk w/ my laptop here. I've had to work off mirrored data and directly access my hosted email once via laptop, when the remote server somehow wasn't served a gateway router address when it rebooted via DHCP (crappy SOHO routers...). That did take about 36 hours to sort out from 12 timezones away...

Firefoxx · March 20, 2005

From what I can see, you have a nice host already and just need more space for files that are rarely accessed. What you can do is keep your current host for the major parts of the web and then use a home host (with dyndns) for the large files that are rarely accessed.

Remember that True's ADSL service has an upload capped at 512k, no matter what home package you're using, so you won't have much upload bandwidth. You can get a static IP with corporate packages, but it will cost much more than the home packages.

For a low-volume server, pretty much any hardware will suffice, even a P2.

sajal · March 21, 2005

ok guys...thanks a lot for your replies....

one reason i wanted the server is i could reduce the load of files on my notebook on some networked device which can be accessed easily...specially when i am in the same lan...

maybe for now i wait for ADSL to get more competative and higher uplink bandwidth is availabe for lower costs...

anybody know of a good server co-locator at singapore? thailands connection to singapore seems quite strong and the fact that ppl abroad who may need to access the server all stay in SE asian countries who all have direct connection to s'pores stix backbone......

co-location in bangkok is too expensive....

dedicated servers starting from 11,000 for a celeron box...

i like firefoxes idea where i keep the larger files on a home host....even is one or 2 concurent users want that file 512 kbps should be enough...

phuketsiam · March 21, 2005

devil dog, you are getting into a minefield here, if i understand you correctly you do not have the experience or skills or manage the server yourself. Forget it and use one of the suggested hosting companies instead. the unreliable internet connection in Thailand make your idea unworkable anyway.

Not criticising, but this is an area I have a lot of experience in, am only trying to give you good advice.

Phil Conners · March 21, 2005

You might want to consider a virtual private server. For example these guys offer one for about 1200bt/month.

sajal · March 21, 2005

hello madsere : wouldnt trust a company when opening http://www.webscorpion.com/ gives me the red hat linux test page...

on tryin http://webscorpion.com gets me their site but filled with dead links....

Phil Conners · March 21, 2005

Nor would I ... but ... Red Hat test page? Dead links? I think you might have a problem with your browser or internet access ...

Both links go to the same page when I try - and I don't see either Red Hat test page nor a single dead link. Where did you see that?

Edited March 21, 2005 by madsere

phuketsiam · March 21, 2005

guess it proves my point, not the skills to set up and maintain this

sajal · March 21, 2005

Nor would I ... but ... Red Hat test page? Dead links? I think you might have a problem with your browser or internet access ...
Both links go to the same page when I try - and I don't see either Red Hat test page nor a single dead link. Where did you see that?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

now both those links give me the following :-

this is the only site showing up like this. all others show up correctly.

pls confirm that the IP of the site is 67.15.7.155 ....if not then its a problem with my isp...(e-go on 1222)

PS: the page opened correctly on my pda (DTAC GPRS)

seems like phuketsiam has never had any ISP or browser problems so can u help me out?

phuketsiam · March 21, 2005

yep ip address is correct, i have had loads of browser problems, and even more wth thai isp's, but not this time, have you a host file for IE?

Phil Conners · March 21, 2005

If I go to 67.15.7.155 I also see the website perfectly. There is no way I can get it to show that test page. I think it must be something in your (or your ISP's) cache somehow.

Anyone else see a test page?

sajal · March 21, 2005

yep ip address is correct, i have had loads of browser problems, and even more wth thai isp's, but not this time, have you a host file for IE?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

This is strange.... even goin to http://67.15.7.155/ gives me the same test page...

in th afternoon i could open http://webscorpion (dot*) com/ where half the images werent being able to download and all the links gave me 403 error...now even http://webscorpion (dot*) com/ gives me the test page.

ive got a host file but not set it up or done anything. to it...

# Copyright © 1993-1999 Microsoft Corp.
#

# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.

#

# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each

# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should

# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.

# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one

# space.

#

# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual

# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.

#

# For example:

#

# 102.54.94.97    rhino.acme.com # source server

#    38.25.63.10    x.acme.com # x client host

127.0.0.1    localhost

* PS: as per george, this site gets -ve ranking on multiple links to a domain on the same page....

Edited March 21, 2005 by devil_dog

phuketsiam · March 21, 2005

ok - try this, open your command promt and type

ipconfig /flushdns and press enter

and then

ipconfig /displaydns

it looks like a dns server somewhere is wrong, it may you or your isp

sajal · March 21, 2005

it cant be a DNS error as pign webscorpion (dot) com returns me same IP as madsere and he can view the page perfectly...

its probably that some ancient page has got stuck in my ISPs proxy....

http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:tOEjcdx...ion.com/+&hl=en gets me what i got in the afternoon page with no images and all links givin me forbidden error.

phuketsiam · March 21, 2005

so try using firefox browser, and holding down F5 when you refresh, to clear all cache, it may clear the isp proxy. missed the post from madsere - sorry, but my connection its so slow this afternoon i think its stopped

TiT eh

btw, you could try using your own proxy, search this forum for useful links to free proxy servers, but now you see the quality of Thai ISP's do realy want to host behind their connections and dns servers

as my better half would say

up to you

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