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Published On: Dec 09, 2003 10:43 AM
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Dec 09, 2003 10:43 AM
Web Hosting on Leftover Equipment
As much as the generic "System Administrator" job
sounds like Hell to me, there are aspects to it that could be fun.
As much as the generic "System Administrator" job
sounds like Hell to me, there are aspects to it that could be fun. This website
is bring run off of a 5 year old "leftover" Gateway computer that's sitting
beside my TV/stereo. (Really, my roommate's TV/stereo.) I set it up initially to
be the file/mp3 server for the house. Then a friend wanted me to design and host
her web site. I told her it may not be prudent, but she wanted me to do it so I
figured out how everything was supposed to
work.
Now I'm actually hosting at least half a dozen small low-traffic web sites, including my own. That's cool. Yesterday Hans mentioned he was considering abandoning his Hotmail e-mail account. I suggested he should look for a service that offers IMAP based mail. Then I decided to play around with Linux and see how hard it would be to actually offer him IMAP email service. Et voila! Now he has IMAP email, served from my leftover Gateway. In addition I configured a webmail server so he could access his email from behind the corporate firewall at work. I also configured a program on his Handspring Treo PDA/phone so it dials in through Sprint and accesses his new email.
And now I feel like a pretty full-function ISP.
It just reiterates how insanely cool Linux is, because you just say "I think I want ___. Let's find out what the Open Source solution is." Then you say "I wonder if that solution is already installed on my Linux server and I just don't know it."
Hans and I are tossing around the idea of offering an all-in-one solution for local people to offer (low traffic) web space, Internet disk space (WebDAV), email, services to cut reels for actors and burn them onto DVDs, etc. I really wonder how many people would bite... If I could get a reasonable number of takers (like twenty) that could pay my tech costs and supplement my income okay.
Ah, the possibilities.....
Now I'm actually hosting at least half a dozen small low-traffic web sites, including my own. That's cool. Yesterday Hans mentioned he was considering abandoning his Hotmail e-mail account. I suggested he should look for a service that offers IMAP based mail. Then I decided to play around with Linux and see how hard it would be to actually offer him IMAP email service. Et voila! Now he has IMAP email, served from my leftover Gateway. In addition I configured a webmail server so he could access his email from behind the corporate firewall at work. I also configured a program on his Handspring Treo PDA/phone so it dials in through Sprint and accesses his new email.
And now I feel like a pretty full-function ISP.
It just reiterates how insanely cool Linux is, because you just say "I think I want ___. Let's find out what the Open Source solution is." Then you say "I wonder if that solution is already installed on my Linux server and I just don't know it."
Hans and I are tossing around the idea of offering an all-in-one solution for local people to offer (low traffic) web space, Internet disk space (WebDAV), email, services to cut reels for actors and burn them onto DVDs, etc. I really wonder how many people would bite... If I could get a reasonable number of takers (like twenty) that could pay my tech costs and supplement my income okay.
Ah, the possibilities.....
Posted: Thu - September 25, 2003 at 10:00 PM