What kind of set up do you think would be required to run a dedicated web server out of my home?

The hardware I have available is a P4 2.8, 1G ram, 80gb seagate. What else should I consider?

Software, I wish to try and stick with Mandriva, but if needed I'll learn a new distro. What sort of security should be needed to keep my network secure?

I am in the process of obtaining a Static IP from my ISP.

I really don't know where to start, so if anyone has any readings for me, that would be great!

Thanks,

Hi Gelan,

You are definitely on the right track. You have plenty of hardware muscle for the job, assuming it's not going to be a production-type site you're running. You will want to run Apache, will come bundled with almost every Linux distribution out there.

Here is one document I found discussing the basics of Apache: http://www.unixreview.com/documents/s=8989/ur0401g/ Ypu can find other/better documents using Google and searching for "apache mandriva" or some such thing.

I'm not sure which service it is with Mandriva, but with Fedora, it is the httpd service, and enabling the web server is as simple as

You can test to make sure the web server is operational by navigating to http://localhost I would recommend playing around with it a little bit and then posting again when you're stumped.

There's some very good tutorials on the LQ website right here, and also at Linux Home Networking that guide through step by step, adding in different features depending on what you want to achieve and also discuss the security aspects. Mandriva, whilst good for desktop use, wouldn't be my choice for a webserver, but I'm sure you can simply remove the software + services you don't need to cut it down. Otherwise, many webservers in use will be Debian/Slackware/FreeBSD due to the built-in security + stability of them. Try sticking with Mandriva if that's what you're comfortable with for now and get things up and running, then a few months down the line you could switch to something depending on how much the server is being used.

I've hosted my own web stuff for home use for the last few years. I've had it on hardware as little as a Pentium 133 w/ 64Mb of RAM. So yes, you have plenty of hardware.

Great guys! thanks. I have considered switching to Slackware, but had issues with my mouse, but I don't think that would be a big problem, since most of my configuration would be from the CL.

I'll try and set it up this weekend.

I can recommend fedora.

Just setup a server in the office using fedora for and a 1.8gig processor.

Setting up apache, php and mysql was very simple, and then all I did was stop the gui from loading at boot to save on memory.