How to Build a Home or Office Web Server

By Stuart Gregory

Learn how to build a home or office web server. With an easy to follow guide you can ...Configure your home network Assign static IP addresses Select and build hardware Build a virtual private server (VPS) Build a dedicated server Install CentOS from a DVD Rom Create a bootable USB pen drive Install CentOS from a USB pen drive Use open source software Install &configure software Install & configure cPanel Configure & install server security Assign Domain names to your server ...Plus Much More

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jun 5, 2014
• ISBN: 9781291907209

Book preview

How to Build a

        Home or Office Web Server

By Stuart Gregory

Learn how to....

Configure your home network

Assign static IP addresses

Select & build hardware

Build a virtual private server (VPS)

Build a dedicated server

Install CentOS from DVD Rom

Create bootable USB pen drives

Install CentOS from USB pen drives

Use open source software

Install & configure software

Install & configure cPanel

Configure & Install server security

Assign domain names to your server

And much more

How to build a home or office web server

ISBN: 978-1-291-90720-9

Copyright © Stuart Gregory 2013

The right of Stuart Gregory to be identified as the author of this

works has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78

of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1998.

Condition of sale

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not,

by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or

otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other

than that in which it is published and without a similar

condition including this condition being imposed

Acknowledgements

With thanks to my loving wife and daughter for all the help and support enabling to write this book.

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Static or Dynamic IP addresses

Choosing your Internet Service Provider (ISP)

Configuring your home network

Networking equipment

Hub configuration

Configure hub 1

Configure hub 2

Network port switch

Chapter Two

Virtual private servers (VPS)

Virtualisation

Host server

Dedicated servers

Chapter three

Server Hardware

Main server hardware

Pre built systems

Using an old PC

Additional hardware

Chapter four

About CentOS

Downloading CentOS

uTorrent

Image burn

CentOS bootable USB Pen Drive

Windows Bootable USB drive

Chapter five

Installing CentOS 6.3 from a DVD Rom Disc

Installing CentOS 6.3 from a Bootable USB

Create custom hard drive layout

Configuring Internet Access

Chapter six

Building a dedicated server

Building Virtual Private Server

Installing the host operating system

Disabling sleep mode for Windows 8

Installing Virtualisation software

Creating a Virtual Machine (VPS)

Installing CentOS 6.3 from a Saved Image

Auto start VPS on server boot up

Chapter seven

Configuring CentOS

Adding additional IP’s to a VPS

Adding additional IP’s to a dedicated server

Chapter eight

Installing cPanel

Configuring cPanel

Adding a domain name

Chapter nine

Creating a wheel user and disabling root access

Changing your SSH port

Installing server firewall

Chapter Ten

Optimising MySQL

Change full text search min word length

Chapter Eleven

Technical support

Chapter Twelve

Software

Winrar

WinZip self extractor

ISO2USB

Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool

CentOS x86 64bit

Windows 8 64 bit Bit operating system

uTorrent

Image Burn

Putty: a free Telnet/SSH Client

Oracle Virtualbox

cPanel

Chapter One

Static or Dynamic IP addresses

In order to run a web server no matter if this is from home or a datacenter the World Wide Web needs to know where that web server is. This is done with an IP address. An IP address is like the phone number of where your server can be found.

Dynamic IP address change each time your router is turned off and on again. If your were to run a web server on a dynamic IP address then each time your router was turned off and back on you would have to configure your server, name servers and domain name to the new IP address. This would then result in new DNS propagation being needed and your web site and server could be offline for up to 24 hours while new DNS propagation takes place.

There are a few services on the market that lets you use dynamic DNS management to point your domain name to your home dynamic IP address; a small monthly fee is normally required. With these each time your routers IP is changed it will update and start the processes to point your domain name to your new dynamic IP. These services still result in some down time but most of the configuration is produced automatically.

If you wish to install cPanel, which is a server interface that lets you add and manage domain names on your server, then you will require a static IP address. The cPanel licence is only granted to static IP addresses.

A static IP address means that no matter how long or how often your router is turned off, when it re-boots your IP address will always be the same.

Some internet service providers offer single or multiple IP addresses for a small monthly fee. Most virtual private servers, (VPS) use only a single IP address, whereas most dedicated servers have at least two IP addresses assigned to them.

When hosting a website it is better to use static IP addresses as this means you are not sharing your IP address. Another person or company could have been using the dynamic IP address and sending out lots of email spam causing the IP address to be on a blacklist.

For the small charge and stability I would recommend using static IP addresses. For the examples in this book I have used an internet service provider (ISP) which has assigned 5 static IP addresses to my broadband connection. This will allow me to create 3 virtual private servers each with a single IP address and a dedicated server with two IP addresses assigned to it.

Choosing your Internet Service Provider (ISP)

Choosing your internet service provider is the first part in building a home web server. Careful consideration needs to be implemented before signing up to an internet service provider. Once you have signed up you will be in a 12 or 14 month contract so choosing the right company first time is essential.

For the purpose and examples in this book I have chosen BT Business broadband. They offer fast fibre broadband and static IP addresses. BT Business broadband is happy for you to run a web or gaming server from their equipment and offer some support in configuring their router to allow this.

You don’t need to have business premises or be a business to have BT Business broadband installed as these can be installed in your own home. I have changed to have this installed in my home for the purpose of writing this book.

With BT Business broadband they offer a free business hub, I have two of these for this example but only one is required. I have also opted for the 5 static IP addresses.

Configuring your home network

Once you have your broadband active and your static IP addresses assigned to your line you are ready to start configuring your hub ready for your home web servers. Their support only shows how to configure the hub to allow one web server to run with one static IP address assigned to that web server. In the examples we show in this book we are going to run multiple web servers and a dedicated server with multiple static IP addresses assigned to it; for this we will need to configure the hub and network differently to the way they show.

Networking equipment

The networking equipment I am using in these examples are listed below. You may wish to use the same our substitute with your own equipment.

Two BT Business hubs

Network port switch

Multiple cat5 (Ethernet) cables

Only one BT Business hub is required for the servers but as I want to connect my home PC to this broadband line and have it protected by the routers firewall, I have the second hub