game servers

[azminisk8r]

everybody keeps talking about turning their old comps into game servers and kvm switches, ???? huh????

plz help im dumbfounded

[Zephik]

This website is on a server. Without that server, which is just a computer(s), this website wouldn't be here. Same things applies for... everything. When you log onto a game and you pick a server, you are logging onto THAT server. That server you just logged into is a computer, like yours but usually much more powerful. But you can turn your computer into a server for your own personal use. Such as hosting your own websites (meaning you don't have to pay a company to host it for you.) or hosting your own game server (which can be a tad bit complicated).

If your not confused, then I assure you that you are because I'm pretty sure I just confused myself. lol here's the wiki, although its probably even more confusing than me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Server_%28computing%29

[Drum Thumper]

KVM stands for Keyboard, Video, Mouse. Such a switch allows 2 or more computers to share the same basic input/output perhiprials.

[azminisk8r]

aha i see now can someone tell me how to host my own http if i put a server up and how to change a comp into a server

[DaJe]

What I do know, is that if you turn something into a dedicated server, depending on what you do with it, you may want to get a seperate internet connection for it.

[azminisk8r]

why so, bandwidth?

[DaJe]

Yeah. If you use your home connection that you're using for pesonal use, the server could slow down your conenction, and you could slow down the server's. But if you hav a seperate conenction for your own personal use, and one for the server to use, everything works out fine.

[azminisk8r]

im just planning like a few ppl using the website mby, i dont even know full html yet

[DaJe]

For something like that you should be just fine using your existing connection.

[azminisk8r]

yeah i hope so, but uhm, HOW DO I DO IT??????

[Crimson Sky]

http://www.dslwebserver.com/

[Guardian]

First make sure you have the $200+ a month for the server, then we'll talk.

[azminisk8r]

implementation, you just got out spelled by a 13 year old

[OvRiDe]

First make sure you have the $200+ a month for the server, then we'll talk.

Why would you need $200+ a month for a home webserver!?!? Not to start a flame war or anything.. but we are here to help, and sometimes if something isn't posted to help, then maybe it shouldn't be posted. I apologize if I offend anyone but it seems like there are alot of posts just for posts sake. That is fine in the Chatterbox, but when it comes to helping .. it doesn't.

azminisk8r,

There are several ways to go about creating a webserver on a machine. Alot of it can and will depend on the functionality you need. Also webservers can run on many different OS's as well. The most common would have to be linux, but if you are not familiar with linux there are plenty that will run on Windows as well. IIS (Internet Information Services) is the Microsoft Windows Webserver. I believe it is included with XP but limited vs the Win2K server or Win2k3 server versions. Another option is that Apache has been ported to Windows as well. Apache is a free open source webserver software. I would have to say probably the quickest and easiest way is to use WAMPP (http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp-windows.html) aka (XAMMP for Windows). Its a pretty comprehensive all in one solution. There should be plenty of documentation on the site to get you started.

Now once you have your webserver running.. you gotta get people to it, right?
A standard broadband connection will do just fine for a small hobby based website. There are several things you will need to find out first. Some broadband providers block port 80, which prohibits the outside world from connecting to your webserver. This can be averted by running your server on lets say port 8080, and guest would access it using http:\\yoururl:8080. In either case they gotta have an address to get back to you. This can be done with either your IP address or a doman name. I am assuming your probably not going to want to spend money on a domain name and dns services. So the easiest thing would be to use DynDNS (http://www.dyndns.com/services/dns/dyndns/). They have a free service that will allow you to choose to be a subdomain of some available domains. IE. http:\\azminisk8r.homeip.net. It also will help if you have a dynamic (changes periodically) IP address instead of a static IP address. There is a little agent that runs on your machine that makes sure it is always updated and correct.

Ok.. so now you have webserver running AND you have a way to get people to it.. but no one can get to it?!? Well there may be one more step involved. If you have an router hooked up to your broadband connection you will need to do a little configuring there as well. What you will need to do is go into the administration portion of your router and forward port 80 (or 8080 if you had to use it instead) to the internal ip address of your webserver. A simple Google search with your Router make and model and how to port forward, should help you through any problems.

In a nutshell thats it. A server, a connection, and a way to get people to it.. all thats left is to provide the HTML. This is a pretty brief just hit the top spots way of doing it, but it should give plenty of things to do some research on. If you get stuck on something, remember there is Google and of course we are here as well. Let us know how it works out for ya, and hope this helps.

EDIT: I almost forgot.. The link that Crimson posted is also a great site! It will fill in all the things that I didn't get to.