How to Setup Free Website Hosting in Linux
Configuring Apache Server Eliminates the need for Expensive Software
Oct 28, 2009
Whether hosting the company website on the Internet or the Intranet consider using Linux along with Apache. Apache runs on the Linux operating system and can provide a stable and reliable environment to host multiple web sites. Since these two products are Open Source, using them eliminates the need to purchase expensive software.
Setting up a free web server with Linux is very easy and can be done with minimal skills in a matter of minutes. A basic knowledge of the Linux operating system is recommended.
The fact that Linux is considered by many to be the best web hosting solution, is borne out by the fact that most web servers run on Linux.
Once the Linux operating system has been loaded on the designated server, Apache2, which is the latest version of Apache, can be loaded and configured in a few easy to follow steps:
Getting Apache Server Running
Apache2 can be installed from the installation CD since it ships by default with most Linux distributions.
Once installed start apache at the command prompt with the following command:
service apache2 start
This command is used by most Linux distributions to start Apache.
To make sure that apache starts when the server is booted up, type the following command;
chkconfig apache2 on
If the demo web pages have been installed the server will automatically server the demo web pages by way of confirmation that the web server is running correctly.
Configuring Apache as a Linux web Hosting Server
With the Linux distribution SuSE, the web pages are stored in the /srv/www/htdocs/ folder. Other distributions might store the default web pages in other locations.
See the documentation for the distribution used, to find out where the web pages are kept.
Copy the company's web site to this location. By default the home page should be “index.html”, if the company home page doesn't match this, then edit the file “etc/apache2/httpd.conf” to suit the name of the home page as follows:
Find the line that reads “DirectoryIndex index.html” and change “index.html” to the name of the company's home page. Reload the apache config file by typing “service apache2 reload” at the command prompt.
Test the web site by typing in the URL of the web site in the browser.
A Linux server with Apache installed can host multiple web sites using one IP address.This is very useful for someone wanting to start a web hosting business.
Setting up a company FTP site can be just as easy with “vsftpd”.
Source:
linuxserverguide.com, information retrieved on 28 October 2009
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