Web server not found on the internet -Please help!

Web Server not working on internet but working at home

[ben_gareth]

Hi there, First of all if you are reading this thank you for taking the time to. I don't usually post on forums so this is the first time for me! I am currently trying to set myself up a web server to host my website and my own intranet using Apache http Web Server. I have managed to successfully set it up following the really good instructions that I saw on a website. Unfortunately when others go on the internet and type my IP address in the broswer says that it can't find my IP address. I have a dodgy ISP who gives me a dynamic IP address who I am looking to get round as much as possible -unfortunately because I live in student accomodation they are the only internet provider I can get. Separately (but this may be related) I cannot access my VNC Remote desktop, when I access it by typing in my IP and then :5800 for the port it opens hundreds of versions of it and floods my computer -when others try to load it the web page again cannot find it. Please help! and thanks, Ben.

[jdMorgan]

You might want to look into using one of the various "Dynamic DNS" services available -- DynDNS comes to mind.

Be aware that many ISPs frown on home users running servers on their networks, because a server throws the mix of upload/download traffic seriously off-balance; From your modem's viewpoint, clients (e.g. your browser) send (upload) very small requests, and then receive (download) relatively large reponses from remote servers. But if you're running a server, then from your modem's viewpoint, your server will receive (download) very small requests, and then send (upload) relatively large responses. Home ISP networks are engineered for much more traffic coming from the network, while little traffic is sent to the network, and running a server reverses this ratio and unbalances their network.

Some ISPs will block such traffic (e.g block HTTP port 80), while others will simply terminate your service immediately; Check their Terms of Service carefully before proceeding.

Might you "get away with it" for awhile? Not likely, as the server traffic is exceedingly simple to identify: Any request to your IP address on HTTP port 80 is likely a request to a server, and their traffic monitoring and analysis system will throw a red flag almost immediately.

Jim