Hosting Your Own Website

by charlie.nourse

15K4119

Intro: Hosting Your Own Website

It's great to have a website, but most hosting services are outrageously expensive. If you are reading this on the internet, then you can easily host your own website for free! Here's how to do it.

Thanks to sparks4289 for clarifications.

EDIT: If any of you care to see my website, it is at http://173.53.67.217/index.html. It is not quite done yet! By the way, the login scripts on the page are made of the PHP and MySQL from Wampserver, just to show it works. 

STEP 1: 2. Preparations

To host your own website, you are going to need to do a few things. 

PICTURE 1
Log into your routers web page (this is usually http://198.168.1.1)

PICTURE 2
Find both your real IP(What everyone else uses) and your local IP(only you use this one). Be sure to write both of these numbers down.

STEP 2: 2. Download the Server Program

To actually HOST the site, you need a good server program. I recommend Wampserver, a program that contains services such as Apache, MySQL, and PHP. First, go to http://www.wampserver.com/en/download.php and click on "Download Wampserver 2.0i" and follow the instructions. When done, click on the task bar icon and you should see a menu like the one in picture 2.

STEP 3: 3. Write the Website's Code

Write your website's code (HTML, PHP, etc.) and place it in the www folder. This can be accessed by clicking on the www directory icon on the task bar menu.

NOTE: This can take a while even if you are skilled in PHP/HTML. Don't expect it to be easy.

STEP 4: 4. Put Online!

Actually putting the website online is the easiest part. Just click on the "Put online" icon in the task bar menu. To find your website at home, type in your 192.168.1.x IP address. To find it anywhere else, type in your xxx.xxx.xx.xxx IP address. Your website will always be up as long as your computer and internet connection are on.
EDIT: In some cases, you will not have a 'static' IP address. This means that your IP will change every time you go online. In this case, you may need to pay your ISP for a static one. 
CONGRATULATIONS! You now have a fully functional website!

19 Comments

sparks4289 13 years ago

your 'private' IP address as you call it is really just your 'local' IP address. The IP your router assigns to your computer for it to function on the network. The 'public' IP address is going to be your real IP and what your ISP provides to you, which depending on your type of service can fluctuate and change regularly. Some ISP's even require you to pay an extra fee to have a fixed, or static IP. Your local IP address can also change, depending on the settings on your router.

charlie.nourse 13 years ago

Thanks for the clarification! I'll edit this.

robindallaway 9 years ago

hosting packages are really cheap these days far cheaper than buying a computer and running the power, but great explination.

Sorunome 10 years ago

um, for me the router page is usually 192.168.0.1

austech 10 years ago

Just gonna throw this in here, most ISPs will eat you alive for hosting a large server from home

tzq33tdq 11 years ago

how do i get MySQL?

xhacks 13 years ago

I've been hosting my site for a while now

http://modbotix.com

and a friends site which is under construction rite now

http://smokenpictures.net

also if ur isp blocks port 80 outgoing then u can forward any port from the WAN side to ur Local side (ie. port 1337 to port 80)

schumi23 12 years ago

It asks me fir a username/password when I try to go to modmotix
(And smoken just doesnt load)

xhacks 12 years ago

modbotix.com should be up now

xhacks 12 years ago

srry about all this as my computer crashed and i replaced it but now smokenpictures is no longer up and modbotix is now hosted by a service however now i have to reconstruct it and i am redesigning it for a diferent purpose

______ 13 years ago

Your website must not work i tried going to it but it said a fire wall is blocking it

RedMeanie 13 years ago

Thanks! I have 3 full size dell servers ready for a video server type site I want to set up so I can monitor a few DVR systems I have at different locations. I have software for setting up the DVR monitoring and enough drive space with a whole bunch of drives so I can upload video if I need to. Its just hard to make that leap into doing it! LOL it seems hard when you think about it, but your Instructable has explained allot of the stuff I was afraid of. Thanks!

charlie.nourse 13 years ago

Thanks! I'm glad to see that someone got as much use out of this as I did.

Ranie-K 13 years ago

Any idea on how to get it through my router's firewall? I've made perfectly fine websites that will only be visible within my own apartment but my D-link DL-624+ will prevent anyone outside reading it..

charlie.nourse 13 years ago

Make sure that forwarding on port 80 is unblocked. That's what got me.