Putting server on the internet or not

John Summerfied debian at herakles.homelinux.org
Thu Dec 15 16:31:56 UTC 2005


Edward Dekkers wrote:
> For the first time ever, with my new account I will get a static IP 
> address and high bandwidth (no more dial-up finally!!!).
> 
> I've purchased a domain which is waiting to have IP addresses tied to it 
> (currently parked).
> 
> The question is - is it worth pointing the IP addresses directly at my 
> server, and hosting my mail and http directly from this server, or would 
> it be considered smarter to have everything hosted at the ISP still?
> 
> Bear in mind my web-site has always been hosted at my previous ISP, and 
> I've always fetch mailed and masqueraded sendmail via my ISP's SMTP 
> server before. This direct way would be completely new to me.
> 
> In the benefits I see that I have full control over my mail, adding, 
> subtracting users, forwarders, auto responders, scripting, etc. that I 
> never had before. However on the other side of the coin I guess I'd have 
> to batten down the hatches for hackers.
> 
> With the web site also, if I hosted this myself, I could finally do some 
> dynamic web pages (php, mysql, whatever...), whereas previously I'd be 
> stuck with standard .html pages at my ISP.
> 
> How easy is it for me to set up? I've never done this before. I know I 
> need to set up (reverse) DNS, MX records from reading this list over the 
> years, but I have absolutely no idea how to actually DO it, and what 
> steps to follow.
> 
> Most important question - to me it seems worth it, but is it unsafe for 
> someone of my experience to do?
> 
> Regards,
> Ed.
> 

I knew your name seemed familiar. We exchanged email a couple of years 
ago. As I recall you have a business vaguely a little south of Perth.

I'd not use Fedora: I personally would probably use a clone of RHEL 
which has longer supported lifetime and is less prone to misadventure.

A good alternative is Clark Connect. Read the licence, it's changed sine 
I used it about 1.0 or a little earlier. It's built for SOHO 
environments and should be pretty safe.

If you'd like to bring the box over to Bellevue, we could have a chat 
about it.






-- 

Cheers
John

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