Windows Server 2008 Web Edition

PhilGQ

PhilGQ

PhilGQ

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Joined
10 Sep 2007
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683
I want a run a web server from my house, I don't expect many hits and don't plan on doing much in the way of high bandwidth content.

I was wondering if Windows server 2008 Web edition is a good choice, The standard and enterprise additions are very expensive and I probably wouldn't use much of the stuff. I know it is probably better to just by some space from a provider but I would like to host it myself just because I can.

Ive seen that leopard server could do this but you have to buy a mac which makes it a bit pricy for me.

Using Apache is not an option because I don't do DOS/BASH/Powershell or any other command line (i know its apparently much better to pay an IT guy 35K per year so you can get a bit more efficiency out of a server that costs £1000 rather than having two £1000 servers which will last 5 years).

Web Edition seems only a little expensive and I gather everything can be done graphics, has anyone used, it is any good should I bother.

If anyone has an alternative suggestion I would be happy to hear them (provided they don't include learning command line stuff).
 
Well to be fair, the command line is THE way to administer a real system and you'd learn a lot for not much effort. That said, you certainly don't need to fork out for Win Server 2008 whatsoever. Just download Apache for your current licensed Windows system and run that.

The Windows Apache server is 100% gui based, just install and it's running. You can then copy your html files into the htdocs directory. Simple. There's a text file you can edit in Notepad if you want to tweak things but again that's really easy.

TBH if you want to run a server, I'd say crack out a Linux live cd and get learning - if you're the type of person who'd enjoy running a home server you'll enjoy the process if you actually start it ;)
 
Ok thanks.

I did run the windows version of apache but couldn't figure out what to do with once it was running! I'll look at those files you suggest. Is it then just a case of using my routers port forwarding to direct HTTP traffic to the PC with the site on it?

I do like Linux too, I've been using it for over 5 years, but I have always avoided the command line where possible, I had bad experinces early on where I would follow instructions exactly and I would ALWAYS got error messages and these days you pretty much do anything on the desktop side in the GUI. Sudo nautilus is about my only regular visit to the shell.

Thanks for the info, will try doing it graphically in windows for now.
 
That's why I only use open standards Caged ;)

Phil, it seems you got stuck on how to actually use Apache. No worries, it's an easy fix. Once the app is installed you'll get a try icon near the clock. Now if you've already written a web page or three, open up:

C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Apache2.2\htdocs

Paste those html files (your web pages) into that htdocs folder, and voila - Apache is serving them. You're correct in saying that you'll need to forward the router to port 80, but don't forget to tell Windows Firewall to allow traffic in on port 80 too! :D
 
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