Building web server on ubuntu server 9.10

[buranda]

Hi, I've been doing lots of googling about building a webserver using ubuntu server 9.10 but I got notthing. I mean, a lot of info I read was helpful but it does not work under my circumstances at all. So I want some help from Ununtu geeks. Just reminder I have'nt grasped the concepts of the web server and I am new to ubuntu and I hardly know the linux coomand!

My question is "HOW TO BUILD A WEB SERVER ACCESSED BY ANYONE FROM OUTSIDE USING UBUNTU 9.10".
I have purchased a domain (lets say "abcd.com") and I have a desktop with Ubuntu server 9.10 installed and from here, I am totally stuck.

As far as I know I need to make the IP static and have to change DNS, as well as firewall settings for my router etc. Could anyone tell me how to do this step by step please?

Post script) if possible, please instruct me in a great detail. I mean someone explained on how to set a static IP as following:
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.1.100
netmask 255.255.255.0
network 192.168.1.0
broadcast 192.168.1.255
gateway 192.168.1.1

But I have no idea what the addresses are from. Is that what you made up or this is according to my IP and Internet connection setting?

Thanks in advance.

[satishsood1]

Hi Dear,
I am also a beginner in Linux/Open Source/Ubuntu.
As per my understanding:-
Web server means you would host web pages on the server and the server must respond when you type its name or IP address in a web browser.
Default web page on Ubuntu Server is in /var/www/ folder. Default web page is index.html
Assume that IP address of your web server is 192.168.1.3
If your server has been installed correctly and you type 192.168.1.3 in the web browser then this page would respond something like this:-

"It works!
This is the default web page for this server.
The web server software is running but no content has been added, yet."

You may now modify contents of default web page /var/www/index.html or you may replace the page as such but the name must remain as index.html.

Col SC Sood(Retd)
professor

[bbriand]

First off check your hardware. Do you have a router?

What kind of inet connection do you have? Is it cable or DSL. Cable you have a static IP which means it never changes even if your cable modem reboots. DSL means everytime your modem reboots or has to relogin using PPPoE that your IP changes - this makes it much more tricky to keep your domain name pointed to the right IP

You can use a service like ZoneEdit thats free to register your domain name on a DNS server. This means that Zoneedit can be used to keep abcd.com's IP current and up to date. You can get your external IP by visiting a website like whatsmyip - google it.

If you have a modem between you and the outside world you may have a problem forwarding port 80, the standard HTTP port, from the internet side of things to your local machine. you can try to hit 192.168.1.1 in your browser and see what comes up. If you're lucky there might be a config option to use port forwarding.

If you have a router many more options open up for you as you can usually set your modem to bridge mode and use your router to do the port forwarding. If you have a linksys and certain other types of routers you should look into DDWRT. Google DDWRT Compatibility List to make sure your router is on the list. Do this at your own risk. Any newer router should be able to port forward HTTP requests anyhow.

So you would point abcd.com to your external IP address obtained by visiting whatsmyip site. Then update zoneedit to point abcd.com to that IP. Then you need to port forward the HTTP port (usually 80) to your Ubuntu machine, 192.168.1.100

As long as your local machine has a webserver running you should now be able to hit your website from the internet side of things. I would suggest installing APACHE. If you want other features available to you I would suggest using the package manager and installing the LAMP component.

Good luck!
Bill