Hi Guys

 

I have decided the next web server I want to host onsite. I wondered if there are any good broadband providers out there, who will give a static IP and provide good quality broadband for around £20 per month.

 

Kind Regards

 

 

Lee

Not worth it. You won't get the upstream bandwidth you need, plus unless you've got AC and multiple redundant sources of power your server will run much hotter and be more prone to failure.

and won't most ISP's have some sort of small print about running a website off it?

I'd agree with the not worth it, your electricity bill will probably cost more than some hosts?

Running a 'home' server is do-able, though most ISP's are not keen on the idea partly for the same reasons that most webhosts don't allow unsavoury or illegal content. Upstream bandwidth as R-D points out is the big limiting factor, whilst your server/connection could almost certainly handle a basic site however streaming media such as flash video is posibble but it could not cope with many watching/downloading at the same time. There are some workarounds but these are beyond the scope of a shortish answer.

 

Incidently you don't actually need a static IP on the line there are providers that will redirect web traffic to your routers IP location such as http://www.no-ip.com/ If I recall correct it's free up to so many thousand vistors a month after that they want some money.

 

Servers: Had lots of success with old iMac G3's, being convection cooled and almost silent in operation combined with the fact folk are litrally giving them away these old PC's make for good pet projects. Laptops, particulary those with damaged screens are also worth keeping an eye out for as the cost of replacing the display is often prohibative many people will again give them away. They will require additional cooling fans to be fitted for extended operation but you do get the benefit of a built in battery backup system.

 

Power consumption is a bit harder to pin down but however you slice it the results are not good. I've had old Pentium III towers working down at 250watts but something newer is going to be certainly over 400watts. Roughly the equivelent of a 2kw fan heater being used 5/6 hours a day. Ditching the hard drive in favour of running from a USB memory stick or entirely in RAM if the site is not that big will save some power.

I have thought long and hard about doing this too but it worked out cheaper to just hire a VPS with unlimited bandwidth, static IP, 2GB ram (4 bursable) and much more!!!!

Plus the provider pay for any hardware/software failure

 

 

DONT DO IT!!!!

Gotta go with what everyone else is saying here. It's really just not worth it in the long run. You have to much to lose. You have one point of failure and the costs will be high.