Looking to start a Home server

Oohtoodles · Jan 6, 2017

Ok, I'm a complete novice when it comes to servers, but I want to learn as much as possible by diving head first and putting together my own server.
What this server is going to be used for:
File sharing
File storage
Game server hosting
Website hosting

The first problem I have is that I do not know how to physically set up the network. I have the router my ISP gave me as well as a wireless repeater at the location of where my server is going to be located in my house, but I know having a second router would need to be set up so people can access the server.
An explanation on how that machine will be hooked up in order for it to function as a server would be nice.

The next problem I'll likely have is setting up the server, as I am going to be using Windows 10 Pro I would like to know how to be able to share files as well as host game servers on the machine(I've hosted Minecraft servers off of my gaming machine, but had a hard time setting them up and had to use either Hamachi, or DTDNS.net, I would like to host them without having to use 3rd party software, but don't know how).

I know if someone were to explain the solution to all my problems it would probably be pages long, and I'm not necessarily asking for that(though it would be amazing), all I want is a link of some sort leading me to a solution to my problem, as I can't for the life of me find a solution on Google on my own.

little_me · Jan 6, 2017

following are basic steps to it, I am in no way an expert or even good at it but this should provide for some steps to take and read more about.

step zero, learn if your ISP allows for server hosting
step zeropointone, why would you need second router for server? in long run if traffic gets big enough, yes.. but at that point you would need separate ISP connection to it too.
step one, learn about port forwarding
step two, check to see if your router/modem combo allows for it
step three, check to see if router/modem allows for DMZ, if it does, put your "server" in there
step four, forward to be used ports to your server
[strike]step five, you might want to check how to enable permissions for file sharing[/strike]
step six, run the game servers, I recommend NOT using the default port if you can change it. (lessens random people joining by accident, unless this is your goal besides just playing with friends)
step seven, test that they work yourself, for you, the IP to connect to is NOT the public IP but internal one. (likely 192.168.something)
step eight, tell your friends to connect. (your modem's public IP/port you chose)

pubic file sharing is not recommended, it can allow for wrong people to access said files and piracy accusations.
you can sort the file sharing by hosting FTP server instead.
website hosting is not big deal as such, you can use IIS (microsofts solution, others exist) to host http content.
you can use some other services for easier access from outside (like dyndns) but... long story short, it will always translate back to http://<your public IP>/
I cannot really see a good reason for website hosting though unless you just want to practice website making skills, for which hosting it to be visible to internet (port forwarding port 80 by default) is not needed.

edit: Also bear in mind that the more things you run that are accessible from internet, the wider the attack surface you present to script kiddies/hackers/whoever is.

Oohtoodles · Jan 6, 2017

little_me :

following are basic steps to it, I am in no way an expert or even good at it but this should provide for some steps to take and read more about.

step zero, learn if your ISP allows for server hosting
step zeropointone, why would you need second router for server? in long run if traffic gets big enough, yes.. but at that point you would need separate ISP connection to it too.
step one, learn about port forwarding
step two, check to see if your router/modem combo allows for it
step three, check to see if router/modem allows for DMZ, if it does, put your "server" in there
step four, forward to be used ports to your server
[strike]step five, you might want to check how to enable permissions for file sharing[/strike]
step six, run the game servers, I recommend NOT using the default port if you can change it. (lessens random people joining by accident, unless this is your goal besides just playing with friends)
step seven, test that they work yourself, for you, the IP to connect to is NOT the public IP but internal one. (likely 192.168.something)
step eight, tell your friends to connect. (your modem's public IP/port you chose)

pubic file sharing is not recommended, it can allow for wrong people to access said files and piracy accusations.
you can sort the file sharing by hosting FTP server instead.
website hosting is not big deal as such, you can use IIS (microsofts solution, others exist) to host http content.
you can use some other services for easier access from outside (like dyndns) but... long story short, it will always translate back to http://<your public IP>/
I cannot really see a good reason for website hosting though unless you just want to practice website making skills, for which hosting it to be visible to internet (port forwarding port 80 by default) is not needed.

edit: Also bear in mind that the more things you run that are accessible from internet, the wider the attack surface you present to script kiddies/hackers/whoever is.

Thanks for all the advice! Didn't realize that's all there was to it, I've port forwarded a few things before as per simple online instructions, but I guess I have to learn how it all works to do it on my own without using a tutorial, so I can customize how I want. Then comes the actual struggle of troubleshooting, because I know I'll do something wrong, but that comes with time and experience.

Search

Looking to start a Home server

Oohtoodles

Honorable

little_me

little_me

Splendid

Oohtoodles

Honorable

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page