Can I run an Internet web server from a Win2K computer?

[Robbie Hatley]

Can I run an Internet web server from my home PC (running
Windows 2000 Professional)? If so, how?

I'm trying to use the web server that comes with Windows 2000
Professional, but I can't connect to it (possibly because it's
intended as an INTRAnet server, not an INTERnet server?).

Here's my current setup:

Computer: Homebrew PC w. AMD Athlon 2800 cpu
OS: Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional
Server: Internet Information Services (part of Win2K-Pro)
Local IP: Fixed IP address for each computer (no DHCP)
Router: Fixed internal (192.168.x.x) and external
(69.108.x.x)
IP addresses; no DHCP; port 80 on server computer
forwarded to port 80 external.


Result: "Web page not found."


I can read my web page by using my comptuter's name instead of
my external address, like so:

http://COMPUTERNAME/

But I want to be able to give an IP address to friends and
have them able to browse the web site on my home PC like so
(hypothetical IP address):

http://69.108.22.117/

If the web server built into Win2K can't do this, is there
some free or cheap (20 or 30 bucks) software I can get
that can handle this job? (If it costs $400, it's NOT
"cheap", at least in my book.)

Any other weird tricks I need to do to get this scheme to
work? (Like port forwarding or other such things?)

Much thanks in advance for any help anyone can give me on
this!


--
Cheers,
Robbie Hatley
East Tustin, CA, USA
lone wolf intj at pac bell dot net
(put "[usenet]" in subject to bypass spam filter)
home dot pac bell dot net slant earnur slant

 

[Simon]

Hi Robbie

You can deffinately run an internet website from IIS on Windows 2000 Pro., I
know because I do.
Be aware though, that there can be no more than 10 simultaneous connections,
but for your homegrown website, I would think that this is not a problem.

Other things you need to know

1. You'll need a static IP address from your ISP provider
2. You will have to set up your broadband router to forward incoming HTTP
connections on port 80 to the computer hosting the website
3. You will have to set up IIS so that the default web site points to
your website folder
4. You will have to make sure that the name of your home page is listed
in the default start up page list on IIS eg "index", "default", "home" etc

Good luck
Simon

 

[Stubby]

Good info and thanks. Can you comment on using Apache rather than IIS?
Maybe you had to make that choice.

Hi Robbie

You can deffinately run an internet website from IIS on Windows 2000 Pro., I
know because I do.
Be aware though, that there can be no more than 10 simultaneous connections,
but for your homegrown website, I would think that this is not a problem.

Other things you need to know

1. You'll need a static IP address from your ISP provider
2. You will have to set up your broadband router to forward incoming HTTP
connections on port 80 to the computer hosting the website
3. You will have to set up IIS so that the default web site points to
your website folder
4. You will have to make sure that the name of your home page is listed
in the default start up page list on IIS eg "index", "default", "home" etc

Good luck
Simon

Can I run an Internet web server from my home PC (running
Windows 2000 Professional)? If so, how?

I'm trying to use the web server that comes with Windows 2000
Professional, but I can't connect to it (possibly because it's
intended as an INTRAnet server, not an INTERnet server?).

Here's my current setup:

Computer: Homebrew PC w. AMD Athlon 2800 cpu
OS: Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional
Server: Internet Information Services (part of Win2K-Pro)
Local IP: Fixed IP address for each computer (no DHCP)
Router: Fixed internal (192.168.x.x) and external
(69.108.x.x)
IP addresses; no DHCP; port 80 on server computer
forwarded to port 80 external.


Result: "Web page not found."


I can read my web page by using my comptuter's name instead of
my external address, like so:

http://COMPUTERNAME/

But I want to be able to give an IP address to friends and
have them able to browse the web site on my home PC like so
(hypothetical IP address):

http://69.108.22.117/

If the web server built into Win2K can't do this, is there
some free or cheap (20 or 30 bucks) software I can get
that can handle this job? (If it costs $400, it's NOT
"cheap", at least in my book.)

Any other weird tricks I need to do to get this scheme to
work? (Like port forwarding or other such things?)

Much thanks in advance for any help anyone can give me on
this!


--
Cheers,
Robbie Hatley
East Tustin, CA, USA
lone wolf intj at pac bell dot net
(put "[usenet]" in subject to bypass spam filter)
home dot pac bell dot net slant earnur slant

 

[Simon]

Sorry cant help there - no experience with Apache

Regards
Simon

Good info and thanks. Can you comment on using Apache rather than IIS?
Maybe you had to make that choice.

Hi Robbie

You can deffinately run an internet website from IIS on Windows 2000
Pro., I know because I do.
Be aware though, that there can be no more than 10 simultaneous
connections, but for your homegrown website, I would think that this is
not a problem.

Other things you need to know

1. You'll need a static IP address from your ISP provider
2. You will have to set up your broadband router to forward incoming
HTTP connections on port 80 to the computer hosting the website
3. You will have to set up IIS so that the default web site points to
your website folder
4. You will have to make sure that the name of your home page is
listed in the default start up page list on IIS eg "index", "default",
"home" etc

Good luck
Simon

Can I run an Internet web server from my home PC (running
Windows 2000 Professional)? If so, how?

I'm trying to use the web server that comes with Windows 2000
Professional, but I can't connect to it (possibly because it's
intended as an INTRAnet server, not an INTERnet server?).

Here's my current setup:

Computer: Homebrew PC w. AMD Athlon 2800 cpu
OS: Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional
Server: Internet Information Services (part of Win2K-Pro)
Local IP: Fixed IP address for each computer (no DHCP)
Router: Fixed internal (192.168.x.x) and external
(69.108.x.x)
IP addresses; no DHCP; port 80 on server computer
forwarded to port 80 external.


Result: "Web page not found."


I can read my web page by using my comptuter's name instead of
my external address, like so:

http://COMPUTERNAME/

But I want to be able to give an IP address to friends and
have them able to browse the web site on my home PC like so
(hypothetical IP address):

http://69.108.22.117/

If the web server built into Win2K can't do this, is there
some free or cheap (20 or 30 bucks) software I can get
that can handle this job? (If it costs $400, it's NOT
"cheap", at least in my book.)

Any other weird tricks I need to do to get this scheme to
work? (Like port forwarding or other such things?)

Much thanks in advance for any help anyone can give me on
this!


--
Cheers,
Robbie Hatley
East Tustin, CA, USA
lone wolf intj at pac bell dot net
(put "[usenet]" in subject to bypass spam filter)
home dot pac bell dot net slant earnur slant

 

[Robbie Hatley]

Thanks, "Simon" <[email protected]> , for your reply to my message
asking
about how to run a web server from my home PC. I have some responses.

You can deffinately run an internet website from IIS on Windows 2000 Pro., I
know because I do.
Cool!

Be aware though, that there can be no more than 10 simultaneous connections,
but for your homegrown website, I would think that this is not a problem.

That wouldn't be a problem. This would be an ultra-low-volume site to share
news, info, and files with friends. It would not be publicized. The number
of
connections would typically be 0 to 4.

Other things you need to know:
1. You'll need a static IP address from your ISP provider

I have an ALMOST static IP. It changes whenever power is shut off to my
router or DSL modem, or whenever my DSL connection is broken due to
technical problems. So from time to time, i'd have to notify frequent guests
of my site's new IP address. (Either that, or use a fixed domain name,
and periodically update my IP address with a dynamic DNS.)

2. You will have to set up your broadband router to forward incoming HTTP
connections on port 80 to the computer hosting the website

I think I'm doing that, but I'm not sure. My Belkin router's setup has a
"Virtual
Server Settings" page. In it, I'm mapping port 80 on my server machine to
port 80 externally. I would interpret that as meaning that incoming port-80
requests get forwarded to port 80 on my server machine. (There's also other
settings in my router that I don't fully understand called "Special
Application
Ports". I haven't messed with those yet.)

3. You will have to set up IIS so that the default web site points to
your website folder

Yes. I think it's C:\inetpub\webroot if I remember right. (I'm away from
my
home computer at the moment.)

4. You will have to make sure that the name of your home page is listed
in the default start up page list on IIS eg "index", "default",

"home" etc

Yes, default document is "index.html".

I can read my site through my LAN by typing the computer name in a
browser, like so:
http://COMPUTERNAME/ (works great)
or
http://COMPUTERNAME/index.html (also works great)

But it doesn't work if I type in the external IP address (I'm using a
hypothetical IP address here for security reasons):
http://203.108.37.3/ (doesn't work)
or
http://203.108.37.3/index.html (doesn't work)

So the site is there, and the server is up and running, but when I try to
access it remotely, something gets lost in the translation.

Any hints on how to troubleshoot what's going wrong?

--
Cheers,
Robbie Hatley
East Tustin, CA, USA
lone wolf intj at pac bell dot net
(put "[usenet]" in subject to bypass spam filter)
home dot pac bell dot net slant earnur slant

 

[beatme101]

I am such a home web server host, with a connection similar to yours
with the frequency of IP address changes. I use EasyPHP (an Apache
bundle, http://www.easyphp.org/) rather than ISS, as it's ALOT more
flexible (also easier to set up than Apache is normally outside of the
bundle, and it was easier for me to set up than ISS).

If people can't access you from the outside, it could be that you
haven't set up your router properly
(http://www.portforward.com/english/routers/port_forwarding/routerindex.htm
can help you forward ports, or your router's documentation) or it could
be that your ISP is blocking access to port 80 to prevent you from
hosting a web server. In this case it's a bit tricky, you have to find
out how to configure your web server program to serve on a different
port, I don't know how to do that for ISS, but for Apache it's in
conf/httpd.conf where you see a line like "Listen 192.168.0.2:80" you
change ":80" to, for example, ":8080". Then it will listen on port 8080
instead of 80, to access the web server on this port you have to add
:8080 at the end of the IP address or domain name when you type in the
address to the site, so for example http://yoursite.com:8080 or
http://1.1.1.1:8080. You'll also have to configure the router to
forward port 8080 instead of 80.

 

[Simon]

Hi Robbie

It seems to me that your IIS is all configured well.
I think that your problem is simply that you cannot get a connection out
through your router onto the internet and then back in on your static IP
address.
I have the same problem with my installation. From inside the network I have
to use the local computer IP address, but from outside the network it works
using the static IP of the ISP.

I suggest that you ask a friend to try it over the internet. you may find
its all working

Good Luck

Thanks, "Simon" <[email protected]> , for your reply to my message
asking
about how to run a web server from my home PC. I have some responses.

You can deffinately run an internet website from IIS on Windows 2000
Pro., I
know because I do.
Cool!

Be aware though, that there can be no more than 10 simultaneous connections,
but for your homegrown website, I would think that this is not a problem.

That wouldn't be a problem. This would be an ultra-low-volume site to
share
news, info, and files with friends. It would not be publicized. The
number
of
connections would typically be 0 to 4.

Other things you need to know:
1. You'll need a static IP address from your ISP provider

I have an ALMOST static IP. It changes whenever power is shut off to my
router or DSL modem, or whenever my DSL connection is broken due to
technical problems. So from time to time, i'd have to notify frequent
guests
of my site's new IP address. (Either that, or use a fixed domain name,
and periodically update my IP address with a dynamic DNS.)

2. You will have to set up your broadband router to forward incoming
HTTP
connections on port 80 to the computer hosting the website

I think I'm doing that, but I'm not sure. My Belkin router's setup has a
"Virtual
Server Settings" page. In it, I'm mapping port 80 on my server machine to
port 80 externally. I would interpret that as meaning that incoming
port-80
requests get forwarded to port 80 on my server machine. (There's also
other
settings in my router that I don't fully understand called "Special
Application
Ports". I haven't messed with those yet.)

3. You will have to set up IIS so that the default web site points to
your website folder

Yes. I think it's C:\inetpub\webroot if I remember right. (I'm away from
my
home computer at the moment.)

4. You will have to make sure that the name of your home page is listed
in the default start up page list on IIS eg "index", "default",

"home" etc

Yes, default document is "index.html".

I can read my site through my LAN by typing the computer name in a
browser, like so:
http://COMPUTERNAME/ (works great)
or
http://COMPUTERNAME/index.html (also works great)

But it doesn't work if I type in the external IP address (I'm using a
hypothetical IP address here for security reasons):
http://203.108.37.3/ (doesn't work)
or
http://203.108.37.3/index.html (doesn't work)

So the site is there, and the server is up and running, but when I try to
access it remotely, something gets lost in the translation.

Any hints on how to troubleshoot what's going wrong?

--
Cheers,
Robbie Hatley
East Tustin, CA, USA
lone wolf intj at pac bell dot net
(put "[usenet]" in subject to bypass spam filter)
home dot pac bell dot net slant earnur slant

 

[Robbie Hatley]

to my message about getting a web site running in remote-
accessible mode from an IIS server on a Win2K computer on a LAN
connected to the Internet through a router and a DSL modem:

It seems to me that your IIS is all configured well.
I think that your problem is simply that you cannot
get a connection out through your router onto the
internet and then back in on your static IP address.
I have the same problem with my installation. From
inside the network I have to use the local computer
IP address, but from outside the network it works
using the static IP of the ISP. I suggest that you
ask a friend to try it over the internet. you may
find it's all working.

Wow, you hit the nail right on the head! Thanks very much
for your reply! Yep, when I had a friend look at the web
site on my computer from a remote location, he could see it
just fine. Apparently, not only is the local IP usable only
locally, but the remote IP is usable only remotely. I very
much wonder why that is. I should think that the remote IP
address would be global, and would work the same from inside
my LAN as from a remote location. But apparently not.

Now that I think of it, though, there was a similar situation
at a company I used to work for, where their Microsoft Remote
Desktop program (running from Win2K Server), when accessed
locally, would ONLY work with a private IP (10.x.x.x); but
when accessed remotely, would ONLY work with a public IP
(203.x.x.x). So apparently this is a common network issue.
I wish I had remembered that earlier incident.

Anyway, thanks for your message, and sorry about taking a few
days to get this reply out; I've been busy with work.

--
Cheers,
Robbie Hatley
East Tustin, CA, USA
lone wolf intj at pac bell dot net
(put "[usenet]" in subject to bypass spam filter)
home dot pac bell dot net slant earnur slant

 

[Enkidu]

to my message about getting a web site running in remote-
accessible mode from an IIS server on a Win2K computer on a LAN
connected to the Internet through a router and a DSL modem:


Wow, you hit the nail right on the head! Thanks very much
for your reply! Yep, when I had a friend look at the web
site on my computer from a remote location, he could see it
just fine. Apparently, not only is the local IP usable only
locally, but the remote IP is usable only remotely. I very
much wonder why that is. I should think that the remote IP
address would be global, and would work the same from inside
my LAN as from a remote location. But apparently not.

It's a routing thing and the way that networks work. A packet is routed
by its destination IP address. So if the packet sets off from your PC it
either a) goes straight to the destination machine, or b) goes to the
default gateway if the address is NOT a local one.

All machines on your local network belong to the same 'subnet'. For
instance, if your machine has an IP address of 192.168.2.7 and the
netmask is the default (255.255.255.0, don't worry about it), then
anything starting 192.168.2 is *local*. If you connect to 192.168.2.99,
then this is a local address and the packet goes direct.

If you send to an Internet address (what you call remote) then the
packet is NOT destined for a local address so it goes to the default
gateway. The gateway's interface IP address is an internal IP address.
When the packet is received there the destination IP address is compared
to the interface's IP and they are found to be different. The packet is
therefore sent on to the gateway's default gateway, the other side of
the gateway and is lost. It doesn't ever get checked against the
outgoing interface's IP address - nothing ever is with TCP/IP.

That's it, briefly. I left out a lot of detail.

Cheers,

Cliff