LINUXSELFHOSTING™ for fun, profit, & mischief!
If you have a spare computer lying around gathering dust --- configure it to host an Internet domain! Our guides and tutorials can show how to accomplish it as quickly and painlessly as possible using a Linux host with free open-source software. Self-hosting is a cost-effective, non-restrictive, and versatile method of creating an Internet presence for your home/small business, club, group, hobby, organization, or nearly anything else which doesn't require enterprise-level support and/or consume large amounts of bandwidth*. Our primary goal is to make this site useful to where even a person without any Linux knowledge can reference it to accomplish their goals. One purpose this site is not, however, is one designed For Dummies. Those (sites, not dummies) do not exist.
For the most common uses all you'll need is a web server, an (optional) mail server, and an (optional) ftp server. Once you have these up and running, many other options can then be added: wikis, forums, blogs, content management systems, webmail, file transfer, ecommerce, web auctions, and lots more. Other than the computer and 100% free software you'll need a broadband connection, a registered domain name, and an ethernet router (or router software installed). Once you have a domain name and those three pieces of hardware it won't cost you another red cent thereafter and you'll be saving on a monthly basis without hefty hosting fees.
Our original intent was to create a (sort of) flowchart/checklist for our engineers. We've since decided to expand the idea into a complete system that everyone might benefit from. Many sites will simply show you a process, or two, in detail. That's of little help when you're just starting as first you'll need to grasp the meaning of all the pieces bundled together; and second, the order of installation is simply skipped as it's out of scope. To our knowledge, there aren't any sites that cover start-to-finish with the site itself being a live example of the modules used. This is especially true when working with Slackware Linux, which is our recommended Linux distribution choice for the host but almost any Linux distro could be used, theoretically. See the LAMP section for some of the reasons why we've chosen this distro (Slackware is also a cult/religion/church) to work with but for a breakdown of our system hardware and software being used here, please visit the About Us page.
Feel free to to take a look around now but keep in mind that everything is here for a purpose. No filler added. When you're ready to start, Go Here.
"I once smoked pot for a whole month one night, Bob"
-- Tux
Visit the Site Map for navigational information on this site's layout and structure. A quick glance through the FAQ might save some unnecessary head-scratching later. It also contains a lot of important information about how to best tackle this project. Unlike most sites, our Site Map is a very pertinent section and required reading. It should also be viewed as a Getting Started point when you are ready to begin.
* Should you outgrow your homegrown LAMP system it can easily be uploaded to a 3rd-party hosting service as-is, or with little modification. Make certain that your hosting provider supports any services, servers, and web apps that you will need. You might have to compromise a little by switching to the tools which they do support, instead.
Under Construction! Content is subject to change without prior notice. Refresh [F5] browser pages often until further notice. Obviously, the home page here needs the most work first, so it will be updated frequently; probably several times per day. Once fully online (in the future) we may ask for advertisers and donations to help support our ongoing efforts.
Last page update on
Thursday, January 12, 2012 7:23 PM
EST (UTC -05:00)
PGP Key for LINUXSELFHOSTING™
hostmaster@linuxselfhosting.com
B1FC 33CE 92D2 02C0 9622 98B4 3729 76D3 6E7F 0577
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Site Overview
Hardware Requirements & RecommendationsHardware issues cover the minimal and recommended specs for computer, router, and broadband connection. Router configuration and setup are covered, also. |
Files RepositoryOur files repository is for convenience of anyone that might like to download them. Our repository is stored on our anonymous FTP server. Package repositories fall under several categories: SBo are those built by SlackBuilds.org; LSH are those that we've built; alien are ones created by AlienBob; rlw from Robby Workman; and other for all else. |
LAMP Server TechnologiesLinux hosting revolves around what is referred to as LAMP-based server technologies. LAMP is an acronym for Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP/Perl. The web server is Apache, the database engine is MySQL, and PHP/Perl are the scripting languages with which most of the powerful web apps are written. Powerful LAMP-based systems are at the heart of virtually all Internet domains. |
Additional ServersThe optional servers available are too varied and numerous to list separately in this quick overview. Please visit the details page. |
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System ApplicationsThis section covers system support tools and apps that do not run over HTTP, i.e., non-PHP code. |
Web ApplicationsThe scripting languages with which most of the world's powerful web apps are written is PHP and Perl. PHP supports a wealth of powerful open-source web applications. In addition, Perl/PEAR, CGI, C/C++ and others may also be important for domain design, development and administration although no programming experience is assumed nor required. |
Security AdministrationVirus protection, vulnerabilities,, logs, etc. are covered in this section. Details of the different types of certificates you might use; along with support for PGP/GPG public key encryption and signing is also covered. |
MaintenanceNo description. |
