Web Hosting Issue

shariful · December 5th, 2011, 07:36 AM

Hi Imar
Is it possible to use my home laptop as the host to publish my websites?
If yes, then what hardware and software I required to install into my laptop?
If no, then what are the different options I have to publish my Site?
Please help and suggest as you always do.
Many thanks.
Sharif

Imar · December 5th, 2011, 11:56 AM

Hi there,

In theory you could, as all it requires to host a site is a Windows machine running .NET and IIS, which means Windows XP and up.

In reality, you probably want to use a remote host though. Your laptop won't be online 24/7, and thus your site won't be accessible. For more info about deployment, check out Chapter 19 of my book Beginning ASP.NET 4. In addition, take a look here for hosting companies: http://www.microsoft.com/web/hosting/home

Cheers,

Imar

shariful · December 6th, 2011, 06:35 AM

Hi Imar
Thank you so much for your valuable information and the link to hosting companies.
Youâve mentioned that to host a web I just need a machine with Windows running, .Net and IIS. My home laptop has Windows Vista Business, .Net and IIS installed. I have deployed my website by following the Chapter 18 of your book Beginning ASP.NET 3.5. So it works fine in my laptop. If I type âhttp://localhost/' in Internet Explorer, it loads fine. However, when I use my other laptop that is also on the same network and type the address 'http://localhost/', it can't find the page. That means it doesn't work. Is there anything needs to be configured in my first laptop so that I can see the website from my second laptop? Secondly, can I give the web address name something similar to 'http://www.PlanetWrox.com'?
Your any help is highly appreciated.
Thanks again
Sharif

December 6th, 2011, 06:54 AM

Get the best learning tips and ASP .net practices by bringing excellent notes for php like wrox

shariful · December 7th, 2011, 07:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by awebdesk

Get the best learning tips and ASP .net practices by bringing excellent notes for php like wrox

Hi
Many thanks for responding my message. However, I am not sure how your answer correlates to my question. Could you please be as specific as possible? Thank you.

Imar · December 7th, 2011, 01:27 PM

Quote:

However, I am not sure how your answer correlates to my question.

I think that message was a spam attempt, so you can safe;y ignore it.

Quote:

and type the address 'http://localhost/', it can't find the page. That means it doesn't work.

Well, it *does* work, but differerent from what you expect. localhost always points to the local machine. So if you try that on a different machine, it would look for a web site in that specific machine, not yours. Try http://machinename instead where machinename refers to the name of your laptop that runs the web site.

Quote:

Secondly, can I give the web address name something similar to 'http://www.PlanetWrox.com'?

Yes, but it's not that easy, and one can wonder if it's worth the trouble for a site that's not online most of the time. If you want to continue (which I would not recommend), do something like this:

1. Make sure your network has a fixed IP. Your ISP needs to support that
2. Register a domain name and configure it to point your IP from 1.
3. Open up the firewall to allow http traffic and set up the site to listen to the domain name from 2.
4. Optionally, if you have things like a broadband router, forward incoming traffic on port 80 to the local ip of your laptop on port 80.

All in all, not that easy, and I can't help you with it over forum posts. You'll need to do some digging and googling yourself. But again, I would recommend hosting the site at a professional hosting company.

Cheers,

Imar

shariful · December 8th, 2011, 09:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Imar

I think that message was a spam attempt, so you can safe;y ignore it.

Well, it *does* work, but differerent from what you expect. localhost always points to the local machine. So if you try that on a different machine, it would look for a web site in that specific machine, not yours. Try http://machinename instead where machinename refers to the name of your laptop that runs the web site.

Yes, but it's not that easy, and one can wonder if it's worth the trouble for a site that's not online most of the time. If you want to continue (which I would not recommend), do something like this:

1. Make sure your network has a fixed IP. Your ISP needs to support that
2. Register a domain name and configure it to point your IP from 1.
3. Open up the firewall to allow http traffic and set up the site to listen to the domain name from 2.
4. Optionally, if you have things like a broadband router, forward incoming traffic on port 80 to the local ip of your laptop on port 80.

All in all, not that easy, and I can't help you with it over forum posts. You'll need to do some digging and googling yourself. But again, I would recommend hosting the site at a professional hosting company.

Cheers,

Imar

Hi Imar
Thank you so much for taking your time to explain the hosting issue. At least I know now that it's not as easy as I thought before. Although you gave me the link of some hosting companies; would you please recommend just one company that is very good in web hosting?
Thanks again
Sharif

Imar · December 8th, 2011, 09:46 AM

Quote:

would you please recommend just one company that is very good in web hosting?

I can't really, as I hardly use them. In the past I have worked with Brinkster and a few others. Right now, some of my sites run at Orcsweb. Whether they are "very good" depends on your requirements and budget.

Cheers,

Imar

shariful · December 8th, 2011, 12:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Imar

I can't really, as I hardly use them. In the past I have worked with Brinkster and a few others. Right now, some of my sites run at Orcsweb. Whether they are "very good" depends on your requirements and budget.

Cheers,

Imar

Thank you Imar for your recommendations.
Sharif

Colton · December 16th, 2011, 07:57 AM

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