About THIS Webserver:
Host Hardware:
I run this site from my humble HP DC5100SFF that I acquired from eBay for $100. Here are the specifications as of October 2015:
- Pentium
4 640 Prescott @ 3.2GHz. Hyper-Threaded, and is (technically)
64-bit ready/capable. Runs mostly cool and quiet (at least as much as
possible for a P4!)
- 2GB of DDR RAM - One of the 1GB sticks I used to upgrade the system failed!
- Running a 139GB Seagate ST3610023A IDE HDD (Came with a
non-original 80GB WD SATA drive, shipped with a 40GB drive in 2006 to
Pharmalink PTY LTD)
- Windows Small Business Server 2003 as a host operating system. Yes I know support has ended. I don't give it hoot. It works and its paid for!
Modifications:
- Silicon Image RAID Array PCI Card (4x SATA) - $30. Plus some destruction to make it fit
- 2x Western Digital "Green" 2TB Drives (EARX Series) - $200
- Removed
the DVD-ROM drive to add 3rd (total) drive. Used 5.25" -> 3.5"
drivebay adapater (or whatever it is) to make it fit - $10
- Uses all electrical connectors... Not a mod, but its testing the mileage of the PSU for sure...
Total Cost of Machine: ~$320
If
I hadn't become interested in servers and home networking, this little
thing would've cost just $220. To me, that was far better value than
purchasing a 500GB Firewire drive for over $300. The server does run
round the clock, which does induce a certain electrical-cost penalty...
However, given the machine offered (offers) excellent computing value,
I'm happy. Compare this, perhaps to the cost of Professional Web-Hosting and a newer, more efficient system and softwware!
More
Detailed information about this particular computer may be found HERE.
VirtualPC:
You may be surprised that this site is hosted from a Virtual
computer residing on my main HP server. As this site grows, the
situation is certainly able to change. For the moment, however, the
Virtual computer helps to maximise the operating economy of the HP
(which is somewhat expensive to run).
The Virtual machine also means I can easily administer through Remote
Desktop, UltraVNC or directly through the Host if I choose. It also
means I can "save a machine state" in case of a power outage that would
(unfairly) compromise the system's uptime stat!
The OS is Windows 2000, (NO secret is made of this)
and I serve via Apache 2.2.25. There isn't anything interesting on this
machine, and as far as its concerned, Port 80 is all it sees. If people
can run Commodore 64 and Apple IIc WEB-servers, then Windows 2000 and a
reasonably late release of Apache can't be that bad.
Random Spiel:
This
Webserver mostly operates for entertainment value at present, and
therefore lacks frequent updates or fancy design work. In any case, you
should still find the contents of the site useful.
Please
be aware the HTML here is coded to whatever Kompozer (WYSIWYG Editor)
is capable of. I don't make apologies about that.
- You should still be
able to view the page with older browsers, going back to the dawn of
the Internet-Age, although I've found Firefox and browsers derived from it seem to display pages on this site best.
The image originally present on the homepage was obtained from here (Note: External Resource). The image now being used is ripped from a documentary called "Airplaneski!"
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