stinkeypete said:
Aguila- my ISP provides a static IP address. I am not speaking theoretically, I used to host my own content from a laptop server I set up in my basement office. In my case, I was hosting 3D gaming content.
Practically- I am telling you I really did it. To learn how to run the hosting software took me a couple of days to figure out and I am not a computer science major.
Your post is like saying one can’t reload their own ammunition because you need to buy the right powder and when you grab stuff at random off the shelf it’s always the wrong stuff.
I'm unclear what your point is. I didn't say that nobody can host their own web site. I just said it's not as easy as just waking up one morning and deciding to install a web site on your home computer.
Aguila Blanca said:
If it were that simple, I would have my own web site. What you are overlooking is that running a web site requires that your server be connected to the Internet with a static IP address. When you just get "Internet" from your phone company or cable company, you don't get a static IP, you get a dynamic IP. That means every time you reconnect, their system assigns a new IP at random. When your IP changes, the Internet can't find you.
You can get a static IP, but it's more expensive, and it may require some arguing to get it. I have a friend across town who has his own server -- and he's in IT, so his server isn't an old laptop, it's a rack of redundant servers in his basement. He was stuck with a very slow DSL connection for years because the cable company that has the monopoly to serve our town couldn't (or wouldn't) do a static IP. They finally came around and just last year he was able to switch to the cable company and get better speeds. But ... to get a static IP connection he had to buy a commercial account -- they won't do static IP for a residential customer.
The biggest sticking point is the static IP address. When I was on a DSL line, the telephone company would have charged
significantly more for a static IP -- and, even then, it wouldn't have really been static. I worked for a small firm that hosted its own site. Any time there was a power outage accompanied by loss of telephone service, when the power and phone service came back our IP address had changed. The IT guy would then spent an entire day -- on average -- on the phone with the telco getting the IP reset to what it should have been as soon as the power came back on.
And, as I wrote, now that I'm on cable for Internet a static IP is not available to a residential customer. The cable company will do it, but they will only do it if you upgrade to a commercial account.
What you originally wrote, and what I initially responded to, was this:
stinkeypete said:
All you need is a crappy ancient laptop to run as your own server, the software required is dirt simple, we used to do it all the time back in the day.
In short, a crappy ancient laptop is not "all you need."
