I need help I want to configure my own server, I've got my PC here waiting to be changed into a server but I'm having some troubles. Where can I get the software, what would you say the min. specs are for a server, ect. If anyone could help that would be great.

Go here http://www.dslwebserver.com and do a lot of reading. The site has all of the information you will need.
Also, check with your ISP. A lot of them don't allow you to run a web server from a home connection.

Thanks Blue! I'll read that in a moment.

Just one question, do you know some ISP's that DON'T accept or DO accept webserver from a home connection?

I don't know any specifically. It may differ from region to region.
My ISP, Eastlink, officially does not allow web servers but when I called them they said they would have no problem with me setting one up for testing purposes.

That is most likely the case with most of the ISPs but some will actually block port 80 to prevent web servers from working.

So the only way to find out is to call the ISP? Anyways, that's fine. Thanks for the tips Blue!

I would believe so, too. In all honesty, I don't think of ANY service provider who allows server hosting off their service. Blue has provided a great explanation, so if I were you, I would go with a more professional setup than a home PC. There is zero quality in that. I have had good experience with ServInt as well.

So I'm better off purchasing a dedicated server, or server getting shipped to my office or house then using a home PC?

I would go with a dedicated server that is located in an established datacenter.

Setting this up in your home, making it efficient, and providing quality service is going to cost a pretty penny.

At the least, you'll end up having to purchase a T1 line from your phone company, in order to actually run the service.

For example, Verizon DSL (which I use at home, and we use Verizon Business DSL in our office) will NOT allow you to run a web server from the DSL line, but will allow you to run a server from their T1 lines. The problem here is, it's going to cost quite a bit to order the T1 line, and then in most areas where a line is not readily available to tap into to fork off to your location, they're going to need to install it (dig, lay line, etc)....guess who gets the bill for that.

Now take into account the cost of buying the server rather than renting it. You're looking at anywhere from a few hundred dollars to $2k to buy a quality server straight out, depending on specs needed and brand.

At this stage in the game, I'm assuming you're still somewhat of a novice, which is cool, but I wouldn't drop a bucket of cash like that, until you learn a bit more about it, etc.

I'd definately go with renting a server from a reputable datacenter or server provider.

Well, yes. I was going to purchase a dedicated server, and pay thru months. I wouldn't lay all the money down immediately. I wouldn't get it shipped to an office building, etc. Probably just keep it in a datacenter. Now, as the T1 line you were talking about. If it's the datacenter would I have to go thru all that? Or is all taken care of?

The t1 line was in reference if you were going to do hosting from home.

The datacenter which you choose already has connectivity. They will more than likely have a DS3 or higher in their datacenter.

You didn't really specify what this server is going to be used for. I assume it is a web server? If you still want to do this from home, after you install your OS/Distribution, you can always opt to install XAMMP or WAMPP, which are bundled packages of Apache Web Server, PHP, MySQL, Perl, FTP server, plus more. They are very easy to set up within minutes.

If you are looking to do some serious web hosting, you should opt to go with a datacenter. Still, I'm not sure exactly what you are going to be doing with this server, so this may or may not be feasable to you.

HTH

Hello,

Also you can check the forums like

forums.cpanel.net
forums.ev1servers.net

these links provide you with the servers configuration before getting your server globally accessble. The best forum is forums.ev1servers.net, since ev1servers is a datacenter and a pioneer datacenter and their forums has got configuration for all the servers.

Thank you.

Regards,