I have a fast internet connection (DSL plus Broadband satellite two way) - can I just host my own site? If so, what is the first steps for creating my own hosting place ?

You could however it would be really slow for everyone else and you would need to keep your computer on 24/7. It is really something that is not possible from dsl or cable because of how slow it is. You would also need to figure out how to set it up with your router it would probly create some slow down within your connection speed. I would suggest just buying some cheap hosting there are plenty of cheap ones out there.

If your using it as a test server then by all means its fine you can use this tutorial to help you setup a webserver on windows for example with php and mysql support.

http://www.chauy.com/2005/11/php-mys...-introduction/

You would need to find if your ISP is willing to give you your own IP address. If not, its going to be very hard to host your self from your own computer.

silly think too do when hosting is cheap as chips these day's in this competitive hosting era

You must have a dedicated IP, otherwise it would change at regular intervals and then you will have to point your website to that new IP everytime the IP change.

As mentioned above, would probably be too slow for outsiders anyway. Plus, if you upload speed is capped by your ISP, you'll be limited not to your incoming speed but whatever they cap your upload at (as you would be "uploading" data to them to fulfill the request).

Dynamic IP can be handled with one of the many services just for this reason, however I still don't think this is a great idea anyway.

Nobody mentioned the potential for your ISP's TOS stating that you specifically cannot serve web pages (many state this) and the fact that they may block HTTP/FTP/etc ports as many do this.

All around I think it is a bad idea.

It would be such a waste of electricity to keep your computer on 24/7

How about upload speed? Do you have static IP address?

Covered, and not answered:

That would be alot of work to host your own site and a big pain. I would suggest you utilize one of the million hosts who are currently out there for a shared hosting account that will only run you about $10 a month with a decent provider!

It is not very viable to use your own computer as a server even though you have a fast connection. It will be much expensive to rent a fast server from a data center. Plus, it will be very hard to keep a high uptime and upload speed will be low as DSL is based on high download and low upload bandwidths.

Unfortunatly I fall into that bracket i have at least two on 24/7.. and they are just for personal use... anyway I heard we found more coal so we should be okay for another 100 years .lol

Your DSL upload speed must be very high, as download speed of server is not very important on servers. Plus you will need high speed CPU and lots of RAM for being a server that hosts multiple web sites.

In most cases, it would be better idea to rent a dedicated server from a data center to host your web sites.

You would be better off using a co location or dedicated server. At home hosting companies nearly always fail. No back up generators, etc.