Some questions about making my desktop into a functioning web server
 

Hello:

I would like to try making my desktop into a functioning web server on the web, if this is possible.

The plan is to have web pages attached to a database where data provided by the users will be stored and to have programs that will process this data to generate new pages or PDF reports.

I plan to user FireBird as the database manager and build the front
end with Lazarus, if possible.

My desktop is a small Acer with a 1TB hard disk. At the moment it has 1 partition containing Windows 7 which I would like to keep, for now.

My internet connection is a phone company supplied standard residential high speed.

Here are my questions, if this idea is actually possible:

1. How should I partition the disk or is a root and home partition OK?
2. When I install Slackware, is there anything special that I must do?
3. How do I actually let the web know that this server exists?
4. Are there any Slackware specific sites where I can learn how to do this type of stuff?

Thanks for direction in this,

Okay you need to install the apache web server (httpd) if you did not install that. Then you need to start the web server :

# /etc/rc.d/rc.httpd start

If your web server is wide open to the Internet I would install a software firewall. Eric's firewall generation script is excellent.

http://connie.slackware.com/~alien/efg/

I should use a separate /var
You need a domain name and DNS setup to point to your IP
If you have a static IP, you can use dyndns
http://www.dyndns.com/
Make sure your provider doesn't block port 80
http://www.google.be/search?q=slackw...ient=firefox-a
You need to forward port 80 on your router to the server
And as hitest suggested, you could install a firewall

Kind regards

Thank you.

For me, being a newbie and all, would it be better to install the 32 bit version instead of the 64 bit version on my 64 bit Acer with 6GB of memory or, does it matter?

Thanks,

Well if you run the standard kernel in the 32bit version you'll loose a lot of that memory. See this thread for an explanation. The Slackware64 version is really no harder than the standard Slackware release. If you really want to run Slackware 32 bit then you'll have to recompile the kernel with the CONFIG_HIGHMEM64G=Y set. The thread I linked to has the details.

64 bit o/s and 64 bit web server

repo said that you can use dyndns if you have a static public IP address. You can also use dyndns.com if your ISP changes the public address of your gateway. Dyndns.com has a client that you can run on Linux. Many gateway/routers also have support for dyndns.com. built into them.

Thanks stress_junkie, we used to use dyndns where I worked (until they closed down and turned me into a 'consultant'!!!) and it did the job well.

Hi bgeddy:

Thanks for the guidance and the link.

Thanks for the help, hitest!

Thanks repo, I appreciate your time and links.

Hello:

I hate being a 'pest' but could someone suggest a partitioning scheme for my 1GB disk to be used as a web server. I just don't know what size each should be:

/
/home
/var

Any further suggestions or input would be appreciated.

You can also check out my how-to (just ignore the installation part, if you did a full install of slackware)

I would suggest to consider another partition for database storage.

Ideal solution will be to have 2 or more HD configured in RAID (at least in mirroring mode).

The sizes of each partition You must consider by Your needs. It depends, how much data You'll be storing.
The size of very advanced web application could take up to feaw gigs (I'm talking just about PHP scripts and graphics, I ommits db content), so the size of /var doesn't matter.
If the desktop is heavily used by You in your daily work, so do big /home partition.
System root partition You can make at 20GB - should be good for very long time. All the rest for db partition.

(don't forget about swap partition ;))