Hosting your own site at home

[carlgundel]

One option open to Run BASIC users for hosting a site on the Internet is to do it at home. Another option is to buy VPS (Virtual Private Server) hosting service, but we'll have another thread about that.

Okay, first things first. Simply the act of starting up Run BASIC gives you an application server. Add your app, and bingo you're in business... but only on your local network. You need to expose your running copy of Run BASIC Personal Server to the Internet.

How does your RB server get made available for visitors? You need to tweak your router so that it will open a port (usually port 80 for webservers) so that it will be visible. The Run BASIC site itself does this. Each router is different, so it is difficult to present a tutorial here that is good for all of them. It's not that hard, and in fact a lot of young people do this all the time to setup game servers. If you arent' sure how to do this, then google your router brand name and model number and the words "open a port" or "port forwarding" you will probably find what you need.

Here's a link that explains the concept using a Linksys router for an example www.home-network-help.com/port-forwarding.html

Okay so now let assume that we've got a port opened to your PC running Run BASIC. The next thing is that you need to know what the IP address is for your connection to the Internet. The good thing is that if you've managed to open a port, then you already know how to log into your router. That is where you will find the IP address of your connection to the net. Often this is referred to as the WAN IP address.

Okay so if you've got your WAN IP address, there are two different kinds: Static and dynamic. Most people have a dynamic IP address. This means that it changes. Sometimes it may stay the same for weeks at a time, and sometimes it may change several times in a day. If you don't know if you have one or the other, you probably have a dyamic IP address.

For hosting Internet applications a static IP address is preferrable to a dynamic one. Why? Because you can register a domain name (ie. mysupersite.com) for that IP address and it will not change. A dynamic address changes, so you need to use a special feature call dynamic DNS (or DDNS) which watches to see if your IP address changes and then when it does it notifies the directories so that mysupersite.com still points to your computer.

A quick Google for free dns provides this useful lookng site: www.dyndns.com/services/dns/dyndns/

Okay, so we've opened a port, and we've either written down our static IP address or figured out that we need dynamic DNS. What now? We need a domain name. If you have a static IP address you can register a domain name in lots of different places like dotster.com or networksolutions.com (Google register domain). You will need that WAN IP address that you wrote down.

The checklist so far:
-Is Run BASIC running? Check!
-Is a port open? Check!
-Do you have a domain name (static or dynamic)? Check!

Is there anything else? The port number is important. Perhaps this should have been mentioned up front. By default Run BASIC uses port 8008 to serve up pages. The standard for web servers is port 80. This is easy to change if you just go to the Preferences tab in Run BASIC.

Now, there may be a catch to switching from port 8008 to port 80. Some ISPs don't allow their customers to serve up port 80. If that is true for you then you and your friends and other visitors will need to add the port number to the address when they visit your site. So they'll type something like this into the address bar:

www.mysupersite.com:8008

If you're a hobbyist or if this site is essentially private for friends and family, this is not a big deal (unless it just bugs you). If your site is for a business, then you will probably want to do something about it since it won't make it easy for people to find your site if they always have to add the port number.

Okay, so there are three things at least that you can do about this if port 80 is blocked on your broadband account:

1) Contact your ISP and ask to have this restriction lifted
2) Upgrade your account to a business-class one (usually costs more)
3) Change to a different ISP that will not block port 80

While you're on the phone to your ISP you might also ask if it's possible to get a static IP.

Finally, there is at least one more thing to be aware of. The first time someone tries to access your server from the Internet, Windows may pop up a notice asking if the access should be unblocked. Answer yes.

I hope this overview is helpful. Please leave comments if you spot any errors or if you know of any services that RBers will find helpful.

Thanks!

-Carl

[mikeukmid]

Try www.no-ip.com for free dynamic DNS service. Iv'e used it from beginning beta testing, no problems to date.

Mike

PS Changing RBPS to port 80 may cause other problems like bringing up your router management page when trying to access the internet from the PC hosting RBPS. A google search shows many people with other personal servers have the same problem.

[carlgundel]

Changing RBPS to port 80 may cause other problems like bringing up your router management page when trying to access the internet from the PC hosting RBPS. A google search shows many people with other personal servers have the same problem.

Really? I've never seen that happen. What do you mean by browser management page? I guess it's important to know which routers are affected by this.

Okay I get it. Some routers get confused because they think you're trying to access the mini http server used for router admin. Apparently many routers allow you to change the port number for the admin feature to something else so that port 80 can be forwarded.

My router didn't require any special tweaking.

-Carl

[mikeukmid]

Okay I get it. Some routers get confused because they think you're trying to access the mini http server used for router admin. Apparently many routers allow you to change the port number for the admin feature to something else so that port 80 can be forwarded.

Yes, exactly. I have tested RBPS on port 80 and it works, but as yet can't find how to set a new port for the router management. Still searching though!

Mike.

[lannie1]

You can also use the free service of
www.portforward.com
Lannie

[lannie1]

I also use
no-ip.com
along with Apache and PHP.
check my disk resident site at
lanniewalker.no-ip.biz

[benjamin1]

hi, i've used the no-ip too, it works fine. Can we have more then one copy of RB running? & listening on different ports? so as we can have more then one site running?

[carlgundel]

benjamin1 said:

hi, i've used the no-ip too, it works fine. Can we have more then one copy of RB running? & listening on different ports? so as we can have more then one site running?

Sure you can.

-Carl

[Jerry Muelver]

Like, one for faculty and one for students and one for administration.... Or one for marketing and one for engineering and one to drive an extranet for customers....

When's your IPO? ;D

[aristarkos]

I’m having trouble hosting my site at home. I setup my Linksys WRT54G router. I opened the port. I tried 8008 and 80 (TCP protocol, 150, enable). I changed the connection type to Static IP, disabled the router firewall, and disabled the Wireless Mac Filter.

I changed the Run Basic preferences to serve on port 80 or 8008 in coordination with the router port opening.

In my browser I typed my External Internet IP Address in my address bar sometimes as xx.xxx.xx.xxx:8008 or xx.xxx.xx.xxx (with my actual numbers) verified with www.whatismyip.com/

IE on WinXP, ISP: Comcast

Is there something I might be missing?

[Carl Gundel - admin]

Jan 14, 2009 19:35:31 GMT -5 aristarkos said:

I’m having trouble hosting my site at home. I setup my Linksys WRT54G router. I opened the port. I tried 8008 and 80 (TCP protocol, 150, enable). I changed the connection type to Static IP, disabled the router firewall, and disabled the Wireless Mac Filter.

I changed the Run Basic preferences to serve on port 80 or 8008 in coordination with the router port opening.

In my browser I typed my External Internet IP Address in my address bar sometimes as xx.xxx.xx.xxx:8008 or xx.xxx.xx.xxx (with my actual numbers) verified with www.whatismyip.com/

IE on WinXP, ISP: Comcast

Is there something I might be missing?

Do you actually have a static IP address? You changed your settings to static IP from dynamic IP?

-Carl

[Psycho]

Jan 14, 2009 22:07:09 GMT -5 Carl Gundel - admin said:

Jan 14, 2009 19:35:31 GMT -5 aristarkos said:

I’m having trouble hosting my site at home. I setup my Linksys WRT54G router. I opened the port. I tried 8008 and 80 (TCP protocol, 150, enable). I changed the connection type to Static IP, disabled the router firewall, and disabled the Wireless Mac Filter.

I changed the Run Basic preferences to serve on port 80 or 8008 in coordination with the router port opening.

In my browser I typed my External Internet IP Address in my address bar sometimes as xx.xxx.xx.xxx:8008 or xx.xxx.xx.xxx (with my actual numbers) verified with www.whatismyip.com/

IE on WinXP, ISP: Comcast

Is there something I might be missing?

Do you actually have a static IP address? You changed your settings to static IP from dynamic IP?

-Carl

I'm curious along the same lines as Carl. If you have a static IP address from your ISP, you shouldn't require any changes for that. I suspect that's not the case and you actually have a dynamic IP that changes every once in a while. You've determined your external IP address with whatismyip.com but are you sure you are forwarding the port (either 80 or 8008, depending on your setting in RB) to the proper internal IP address? Is that the IP address that you made static instead of letting the router assign one dynamically?

In your message about your router settings, you've indicated forwarding port 80 or 8008, checking TCP and enabling but you've got "150" in there as well. Is the computer your hosting on 192.168.1.150 on your local network? If not, you need to determine what the IP address of your computer is on your local network and forward the port to that address.
If all that is already set-up properly, have you checked any programs on the publishing tab so they can be viewed? If so, have you assigned one as the Home Page project under the preferences tab?

John "Psycho" Siejkowski

[aristarkos]

The 1st thing on my router setup is “internet connection type”. “Automatic Configuration – DHCP” was selected and I changed it to “Static IP”. I don’t know if I really had static IP but that’s what I selected (and saved) … and www.whatismyip.com/ keeps telling me that my IP address is staying the same regardless of what I do.

I put 150 in 192.168.1.150 because that’s what they had at www.home-network-help.com/port-forwarding.html but I also tried 1, 100, and others. Any number I found, I stuck it in there.

I thought that I needed to put the external IP address in my browser … the one www.whatismyip.com/ shows. But just in case, I tried everything.

I double checked everything I know including having a published program as home page.

I also disabled the “Network Address Server Settings (DHCP)”. After every new router change, I tried all the previous variations ad nauseam. I get my son’s games going through the router but this one has me scratchin’ my head. I dread contacting Comcast.

Could it have something to do with IE Internet Security Properties?

Thanks for your help.

[aristarkos]

I finally hit the right combo with 192.168.1.100 and turns out I'm back to ALL my original router settings. One of my previous changes must have been blocking it ... when I tried 100 before. Thanks again.

[Psycho]

Jan 15, 2009 2:34:30 GMT -5 aristarkos said:

I finally hit the right combo with 192.168.1.100 and turns out I'm back to ALL my original router settings. One of my previous changes must have been blocking it ... when I tried 100 before. Thanks again.

aristarkos,

Glad you got it working. Seems you may have been stabbing in the dark just a little bit so take this for what it's worth in the future. When forwarding ports on your router, leave all the security features enabled. There's no reason to drop the curtain and let others log onto your wireless network. The same goes for the static IP settings, leave them alone.
You obviously knew how to get to the port forwarding area and where to change the port numbers but the stabbing part I referred to was for your own internal IP address that the port needed to be forwarded to.
Usually the first computer on a home network will get assigned 192.168.1.100 so you did in fact stumble upon the correct combination. To avoid guessing, you can use one of the following methods to determine your local IP address (within your network):

Go to "Start" - "Run" - type "CMD" and hit "OK".
When the little DOS window comes up, type "IPCONFIG"
Your local IP address will then be displayed.

In the spirit of Run BASIC, you may prefer to run this program which will tell you what you need

r$= shell$("ipconfig")

print left$(word$(r$,3,":"),21);":";

print left$(word$(r$,4,":"),15)

John "Psycho" Siejkowski