How to setup your home web server with Windows Server 2008

Setting up your home web server is a fairly easy thing to do and deals mainly with port forwarding. However, there are a few settings to be configured and programs to install before your web server can be up and running.

If you're running Windows Server Enterprise 2008, there's a few settings you need to make on the operating system. But first thing first, you want to register your IP address with a domain name. There's plenty of free DNS services offered for this, but one of the most popular and widely used is DynDNS.org.

To do this visit DynDNS.org, create an account, and create a new host. Make your hostname and choose a domain name for it. Check the "Wildcard" box and choose "Host with IP address" for Service Type. For your "IP Address" click the link right under it that says "Your current IP address is: xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx" to automatically link your IP address to this hostname. Once you've completed those steps, click Activate to .. activate your hostname. The next step is to download the DynDNS Updater. This program automatically updates your hostname with your connected IP address, because every so often your IP address changes, and will require a manual IP update without the DynDNS Updater. You can download the program here: DynDNS Client Updater.



Before you install the DynDNS Client Updater on your server, make sure you configure the DDNS settings on your router. To do this, log into your web GUI (http://192.168.1.1) and navigate to Setup > DDNS. Fill in your information and use the username and password of your DynDNS account (not the routers). For your "Hostname" use the domain name (URL) connected to your IP address that you've just registered for at the DynDNS website.



















Now that you've setup a domain name for your IP address, install the DynDNS Client Updater on your web server. When the installation is completed, you will need to login in order for you to enable the client's DynDNS service. Once you've enable the service on the web server, you want to configure some settings on your device's name.

To do this, open up your "Server Manager" and click "Change System Properties" under "Computer Information" to the right. You will not need to change your Server's/PC's name but you will need to add the DNS Suffix to the end of the server's/pc's name.  You will need to restart your server upon this change, but before you do that, you can save some hassle by inputing your server's IP address into it's IPv4 settings.




















Finally, after your server has restarted and you've logged back in. Open your router in web GUI (http://192.168.1.1), and navigate to QoS/NAT > Port Range Forwading. Name your application (in this case, I just named it toshiba-http) and forward ports 80 to 80. Protocol should be set to "Both" and IP Address should be set to that of your LAN IP server's address. Once, you've done that, select Enable > click Save > Apply Settings.




















I'd say give it about 5 - 10mins for the settings to apply and then use the server's full name in any browser, and you should be directed to it's localhost files. In this case, the OS Windows Server Enterprise 2008 uses the platform IIS7.

Tags: Tutorials , web server , windows server 2008