Finished overhauling myhometheaterpc.com

[damage]

I actually have no idea what it takes to host your own website. Wouldn't you need a static IP address, doesn't that cost more than the regular DSL service?

you just need dynamic dns and point your domain to the dynamic dns name

edit: haha i was too slow

 

[drvnbysound]

I actually have no idea what it takes to host your own website. Wouldn't you need a static IP address, doesn't that cost more than the regular DSL service?

No, you do not need a static IP address. You just need an application which updates your IP address. DynDNS offers free DynamicDNS services: DynDNS Free Dynamic DNS Service

To accomidate a dynamic IP address they have a free tool to update this information - and they even have free domain names (if you use one on their list: 88 Free DynDNS Domains). You could make something like: realHA.doesntexist.com If you use a custom domain name, the DynamicDNS service for this is about $40/yr (Custom DynDNS Service Information, but you still profit from having server space thats only limited by your HDD, rather than the amount of space you are willing to pay for from a hosting service.

I have actually setup a "test" site on my secondary PC at home just to see how this works. I have had friends pull up the site, etc. to make sure they can actually pull it from the PC properly and it works.

EDIT: Im too slow as well

Again, Im not talking about starting a YouTube alternative where one would need a crazy amount of bandwidth - simply something along the lines of what IVB just created. Im comparing the cost of paying for it to be hosted off-site over a period of something like 5-10 years, compared to having it hosted at home on a PC thats already running anyway. Maybe Im just a jew (no offense) and dont want to pay for hosting a personal site thats just meant for information to be shared freely, rather than being payed for. Certainly, if I wanted to host a profitable site, where I intended to have clients paying for (or even donating) for information I may host it elsewhere as needed. But if Im talking about a site where I only expect 20 hits a month from friends and other, I dont see there being a issue with upload speeds.

 

[damage]

I follow your electricity statement if you dont already have servers running for other HA stuff. If you already have them running, I dont see it making a difference anyway.

I have paid ~$40/yr for 500MB of server space (only about 150MB of which has actually been used), not counting domain name charges (assuming you are using a custom domain, rather than a free DNS name). Personally, I feel if Ive already got a PC running, which can support MUCH MORE than 500MB of space, why not use it for free, rather than paying for server space elsewhere?

i would never host my public web server on my HA server or anywhere on my LAN. it's a security concern. it sits in the DMZ all by itself.

 

[Sacarino]

I actually have no idea what it takes to host your own website. Wouldn't you need a static IP address, doesn't that cost more than the regular DSL service?

No, you do not need a static IP address. You just need an application which updates your IP address. DynDNS offers free DynamicDNS services: DynDNS Free Dynamic DNS Service

The problem with this is your ISP could be blocking inbound connections on certain ports, like port 80. I had to deal with that with RoadRunner in Orlando and now my local IPS in Atlanta. You can get around it by throwing the port on there, of course, but then people need to know that ahead of time. Plus www.myhostnamehere.com:8000 isn't quite as fluid to say as www.myhostnamehere.com, you know?

The games they play to lure you towards those business accounts...

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

What Sacrino said. You might be violating the terms of service with your provider.

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

Looks good but the font is way to small for me, but I'm getting old...

This does seem to be the in-vouge thing though with a lot of sites these days.

Try it again, i just enabled the "make font bigger" tool, you'll see it on the top right.

Also, you need a "usefull links" page.

Ok, done.

Nice adjustment on the font option!

The links page also looks good (though I think the link to "CocoonTech" should be moved to the top) h34r:

 

[Neurorad]

Looks great, IVB!

Though I do miss those cartoon graphics.

 

[roussell]

I've been considering something similar to what you're wanting to do IVB. Question, do you need hi-res video, or will hi-res stills suffice? I'm thinking of taking two cameras - 1, a cheapo usb webcam and 2, a middle-of-the-road digital camera and pointing them at the same area. The webcam will be monitored by either Motion on Linux or WebcamXP on XP and upon detecting motion within a pre-defined area will begin recording AND launch an external application. The external application will be a "trigger" program that will cause the digital camera to snap a photo or series of photos. This will give me both a low-res view of the scene and some high-resolution multi megapixel still of the area. As a test I took my daughters $150 Kodak digital camera and took a few pictures of the area in question, the resolution was great and I could easily read headlines on a newspaper that someone was holding.

I think the biggest challenge will be finding a (cheap) digital camera that will support a remote shutter trigger. I would preferably like something that could trigger through the USB conenction so that I could both trigger the shot(s) and download the images through the same cable.

I was going to start on this in a few days but the Ford guy just called me and my truck's repair bill is up to $3000 (diesel) so it looks like it will be on hold for a while...

Terry

EDIT: Sorry, wrong thread... too many tabs open...

 

[damage]

I think the biggest challenge will be finding a (cheap) digital camera that will support a remote shutter trigger. I would preferably like something that could trigger through the USB conenction so that I could both trigger the shot(s) and download the images through the same cable.

http://www.gphoto.org/doc/remote/

 

[drvnbysound]

I follow your electricity statement if you dont already have servers running for other HA stuff. If you already have them running, I dont see it making a difference anyway.

I have paid ~$40/yr for 500MB of server space (only about 150MB of which has actually been used), not counting domain name charges (assuming you are using a custom domain, rather than a free DNS name). Personally, I feel if Ive already got a PC running, which can support MUCH MORE than 500MB of space, why not use it for free, rather than paying for server space elsewhere?

i would never host my public web server on my HA server or anywhere on my LAN. it's a security concern. it sits in the DMZ all by itself.

Are you worried that someone is going to breach your HA server and turn on lights in your home? Or that they may access and begin downloading your TB sized collection of movies?

NOTE: I certainly would NOT enable the DMZ and allow access to all ports.

A friend and I recently had a similar conversation regarding wireless home network security. He had sent me a link where doing 1 of 6 things alone (ie. hiding your SSID, or MAC address filtering) was absolutely pointless that a war driver could easily hack your network. Maybe its just the fact that I live in the southern hospilaty state of FL, but its not often that I see anyone actually war driving and trying to hack into a network around my house. If someone wanted to hack my network it would be because they were specifically targeting me. If they simply want a internet connection, its just as easy to drive over to StarBucks or the local hotel parking lot where there is open access points and no restrictions. I am not saying that I dont have any protection on my network and dont care about it, but its rare that you are going to find the rouge wireless hackers parking in your driveway while you are not home trying to hack into your system. Maybe its just because im in the redneck riviera and there are so many people who dont even understand wireless networking at all.

 

[drvnbysound]

I actually have no idea what it takes to host your own website. Wouldn't you need a static IP address, doesn't that cost more than the regular DSL service?

No, you do not need a static IP address. You just need an application which updates your IP address. DynDNS offers free DynamicDNS services: DynDNS Free Dynamic DNS Service

The problem with this is your ISP could be blocking inbound connections on certain ports, like port 80. I had to deal with that with RoadRunner in Orlando and now my local IPS in Atlanta. You can get around it by throwing the port on there, of course, but then people need to know that ahead of time. Plus www.myhostnamehere.com:8000 isn't quite as fluid to say as www.myhostnamehere.com, you know?

The games they play to lure you towards those business accounts... <_<

As far as this is concerned, I havent had the problem personally, but I could see where this would be a concern / issue for some cases. Personally, I simply plan to either link the site to friends over IM to check out, or have it hotlinked in my sig, so I really dont care if I have to add the port extension to the HTML code to have it linked. Again, this is all in favor of saving some $$ from paying for hosting, compared to hosting on a PC thats already running w/o MB sized space limitations - likely 1GB at the MOST. I would probably not do this if I was trying to provide some sort of commercial product, etc.

 

[damage]

I follow your electricity statement if you dont already have servers running for other HA stuff. If you already have them running, I dont see it making a difference anyway.

I have paid ~$40/yr for 500MB of server space (only about 150MB of which has actually been used), not counting domain name charges (assuming you are using a custom domain, rather than a free DNS name). Personally, I feel if Ive already got a PC running, which can support MUCH MORE than 500MB of space, why not use it for free, rather than paying for server space elsewhere?

i would never host my public web server on my HA server or anywhere on my LAN. it's a security concern. it sits in the DMZ all by itself.

Are you worried that someone is going to breach your HA server and turn on lights in your home? Or that they may access and begin downloading your TB sized collection of movies?

that would be the least of the worries - once they're on your LAN anything is fair game - keyloggers, malware, id theft, backdoors, data corruption, etc. they are more likely to come through your open ports than via your wireless lan - buffer overflows on your web server to gain admin access, etc etc

 

[drvnbysound]

that would be the least of the worries - once they're on your LAN anything is fair game - keyloggers, malware, id theft, backdoors, data corruption, etc. they are more likely to come through your open ports than via your wireless lan - buffer overflows on your web server to gain admin access, etc etc

How easy is it for someone to hack an Apache webserver and get through a firewall (if not multiple, i.e. Windows, router, Norton)?

Im certainly not a hacker so I wouldnt know. Im sure it probably possible.

Assuming it is indeed tough to do (as it should be) and taking it a step further, what are the odds that a hacker is going to pick your puny site/domain to attempt to hack?

Example: After seeing IVBs site, would a hacker actually attempt to hack his server over something more worthwhile like an ecommerce site that may actually net account information from many people?

Is it even possible to "know" if a particular site is hosted on a server farm in a California based web hosting company, or my home's personal computer? I assume this is transparent, but again I have no idea.

 

[damage]

that would be the least of the worries - once they're on your LAN anything is fair game - keyloggers, malware, id theft, backdoors, data corruption, etc. they are more likely to come through your open ports than via your wireless lan - buffer overflows on your web server to gain admin access, etc etc

How easy is it for someone to hack an Apache webserver and get through a firewall (if not multiple, i.e. Windows, router, Norton)?

if apache is on your LAN, they don't need to get through your firewall. you've already opened a door for them. there may be no known vulnerability in apache that can lead to a problem...it just hasn't been found yet or may be introduced in a future version. (
some apache vulnerabilities: http://httpd.apache.org/security_report.html )

Im certainly not a hacker so I wouldnt know. Im sure it probably possible.

Assuming it is indeed tough to do (as it should be) and taking it a step further, what are the odds that a hacker is going to pick your puny site/domain to attempt to hack?

Example: After seeing IVBs site, would a hacker actually attempt to hack his server over something more worthwhile like an ecommerce site that may actually net account information from many people?

these attacks are all automated by scripts. they are looking for particular software installed on servers that have easily exploitable vulnerabilities. they don't care where the server is or what's on it. they are scanning blocks of ip addresses and can cover thousands of ips in minutes. there are probably botnets set up to do just that. my web server gets several dozen probes a day. i have gotten probes looking for joomla on my server, so yes, IVB's site may be of interest to someone somewhere ( http://www.google.com/search?q=joomla+vulnerabilities )

Is it even possible to "know" if a particular site is hosted on a server farm in a California based web hosting company, or my home's personal computer? I assume this is transparent, but again I have no idea.

it's trivial to script up a whois on an ip address to get an idea of what's on the other end - corporate, home user, etc. ISPs dole out IP addresses from known ranges. (see also http://www.google.com/search?q=ip+geolocation )

 

[Helheim]

I run a local hobby forum that no one would care about but it's been hacked before by automated scripts looking for vulnerabilities in phpBB, nothing is safe when it’s exposed to the net.