Your own webserver or not

[alphaomega]

I came across an article tonight that should make anybody who would like to have a web-server hosted from home think twice. Hosting on your own server means you host your DNS as well. Here is an article explaining how DNS server are hammered by hackers. Read bellow. (Article from Techrepublic.)

Link to original website: http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/sec...28?tag=nl.e036

Detect and mitigate a DDoS attack against your DNS server

By John Joyner
September 19, 2011, 6:00 AM PDT

Takeaway: John Joyner recently observed a real-world DDoS attack against an on-site DNS server. Here’s how you can protect yourself against these types of attacks or at least mitigate the threat.

If you host the Domain Name Service (DNS) on your own servers, you need to be aware of the very real threat of a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack. If your DNS service is subject to a DDoS attack, you can expect, at minimum, a loss of email and web server services. If your DNS host is located on- premises, sharing the Internet connection of your users’ web browsing activity, a DDoS attack is equivalent to a complete loss of Internet service to your organization. This could be true even if the DNS service you expose to the Internet is just for testing or other limited purposes. ...

Read the rest here: http://www.techrepublic.com/

[monstercoder]

I would discourage the use of running a web server (for commercial use) from home for a variety of reasons. I tried it many years back when I was too cheap to want to pay for hosting. I figured that I had my own dedicated server that I could do anything I wanted. Why would I need to pay monthly for somebody else's server?

What I later found out is that Google knew that my IP address was from a personal cable modem or DSL and would not index my pages. Another problem I had was power outages. Even when I had all of my computers backed up with battery backups, either Comcast, Covad or AT&T Uverse did not have their equipment outside on a long lasting UPS. If the power would go out for 3-6 hours, I was done. Most reputable hosting companies are running out of huge facilities and make the use of large diesel generators and have a room filled with batteries for the instant use of a power outage. There's no way I could afford to get all of that.

I took a tour of Verio in Boca Raton and saw their set up. They have an entire room filled from end to end with large commercial batteries that can run the entire network of computer banks for power on end. And shortly after that power comes into use, the diesel generator kicks on to get power running to all of these same computers, plus gets the air condition running. I was personal friends with the person who started this web hosting company before Verio bought him out and he told me about the infrastructure as it was being built in IBM's old building.

If you're looking to run a web server from home for fun or for personal reasons, or for something that's not made to get a lot of traffic, such as low priority downloads, I'm all for it. If you're trying to run it at home to make a lot of money, I would suggest getting a colo at a reputable hosting company that has a ton of bandwidth to share. Hosting at home is great for learning purposes in the beginning. If you mess things up a lot, you could always re-install the OS and start all over again until you get it right.

[Web Designer]

I think the point on the location of the IP address is a valid one.

Contrary to what most people think, search engines look up the IP Address first, not the domain name. Knowing this gives you a better sense of the value attached to IP Address reputation. One of the key factors when looking at hosting is neighbourhood. Having an IP in a neighbourhood that has no reputation, i.e. at home, could be considered to be just as negative as having an IP address located in a 'spammy' hosting neighbourhood.

From a practical point of view, if your site is with a reputable hosting firm, the search engines know that there is accountability and that the hosting firm knows who its customers are. This goes some way towards legitimising the IP address and thereafter, the domain name. If choosing managed hosting, you might also like to check what other sites share the same IP address as you.

Another downside of home hosting is the fact that most ISP's use Dynamic DNS to allocate IP addresses, so you could find the IP address changing frequently (when you reboot your router for example) unless you arrange a fixed IP address with your internet company.

[deepsand]

From a practical point of view, if your site is with a reputable hosting firm, the search engines know that there is accountability and that the hosting firm knows who its customers are.

Doesn't work that way; there's no such thing a "white list" of known "good" hosts. All an SE cares about is that an IP Address has or has not been reported as "bad" one by way of any number of black lists, etc..

Another downside of home hosting is the fact that most ISP's use Dynamic DNS to allocate IP addresses, so you could find the IP address changing frequently (when you reboot your router for example) unless you arrange a fixed IP address with your internet company.

Why is a this a problem?

[Web Designer]

There is such thing as host reputation, and

One of the key factors when looking at hosting is neighbourhood

, and there is such thing as being with a host that has a lot of "blacklisted" domains, this is what I was referring to as a bad neighbourhood, I didn't mention "white list" just reputable hosts. Also, there are examples of hosts that sell services in one country but allocate an IP address in another country, This can be important for SEO as Google does take into account the location of the IP address from an SEO perspective.

It is widely accepted that having a static IP is better because crawlers can cache DNS data and it can take a long time for them to catch up sometimes a month or more, this can lead to indexing problems and back-linking problems. As most sites like to be indexed relatively quickly, particularly business websites, there is an argument that having a static IP is better for the reasons set out above.

[deepsand]

There is such thing as host reputation, and , and there is such thing as being with a host that has a lot of "blacklisted" domains, this is what I was referring to as a bad neighbourhood, I didn't mention "white list" just reputable hosts.

You miss the point that there is neither a need, desire, nor reliable means for determining reputation in advance of observations of behavior. I.e., and SE makes no attempt to prejudge a host, but merely reacts to reported bad behavior.

Also, there are examples of hosts that sell services in one country but allocate an IP address in another country, This can be important for SEO as Google does take into account the location of the IP address from an SEO perspective.

This is a very old myth that should by now no longer need to be rebutted.

It is widely accepted that having a static IP is better because crawlers can cache DNS data ...

Regardless of what may or may not be widely accepted belief, the fact is that crawlers simply request a file, store that copy in a queue for handling by the indexing engine, and move on to the next file that they are commanded to fetch. There is no need for any DNS data to be cached for future use.

[Web Designer]

No reasonable professional would suggest that having an IP address in Asia for a local retailer in say Paris would be beneficial to a site, or even neutral, and there is a weight of advice from industry insiders advocating static IP addresses over Dynamic. Or do you think that, with the introduction of IPV6 we'll start to see hosts offering dynamic IP address allocation over static, once the shortage of IP addresses under IPV4 is no longer an issue. I wouldn't count on it.

This is a very old myth that should by now no longer need to be rebutted.

This is one of the reasons Google introduced geo-targeting for websites in google webmaster tools, so that holders of IP addresses in different locations could tell Google which country they are targeting.

Regardless of what may or may not be widely accepted

Widely accepted refers to standard practice, which sets the benchmark for others. And the experience of 'monstercoder' above seems to contradict your assertions.

[deepsand]

No reasonable professional would suggest that having an IP address in Asia for a local retailer in say Paris would be beneficial to a site, or even neutral, ...

Really? The whole point of the web is that geo-location is irrelevant.

This is one of the reasons Google introduced geo-targeting for websites in google webmaster tools, so that holders of IP addresses in different locations could tell Google which country they are targeting.

Acknowledges the fact that geo-location of server is irrelevant.

... and there is a weight of advice from industry insiders advocating static IP addresses over Dynamic.

Widely accepted refers to standard practice, which sets the benchmark for others.

Practical considerations that are immaterial to matters re. SEs.

And the experience of 'monstercoder' above seems to contradict your assertions.

Anecdotal evidence re. an isolated instance neither confirm nor deny anything.

[AciveLite2k]

I came across an article tonight that should make anybody who would like to have a web-server hosted from home think twice. Hosting on your own server means you host your DNS as well.

IMO this statement is false. A DNS server can be hosted anywhere and there are many 3rd party DNS companies that will host your DNS with control panels. A popular one that is free comes with Domains purchased on GoDaddy. Many companies are told to change their name servers to one that is locally controlled by the web hosting servers DNS (a DNS that is stored on the same server as the Web Server and controlled by a local control panel such as cPanel or DirectAdmin). Generally this is done for streamlined convenience, but the truth is, you can host on any secure 3rd party DNS, and point your A record to your web server.

Some third party DNS companies even protect against DDoS attacks. Do a simple google for Managed DNS...

[UCZ]

I have thought of having my own and hosting from home, but you need to know a lot and be able to do things quickly like how to mitigate DDOS, keep software up to date, hard drive free from viruses and lots more. Its just easier to pay rather than all the work it takes to host your own.