CodyHolt83
Forum Lieutenant
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Does anyone know of a good site for web hosting? I am looking into getting our VFD's website going. Any suggestions?
Also, I'd like to have something that members of the FD can log into a 'Members' area.
FireCompanies.com is your number one place to go to for quick reliable fire department web hosting and design services.
We maintain and web host hundreds of fire department sites around the country. If you are looking for a great fire department web host and design company, we are the ones that can help you with your needs.
Try this at your own risk. You are only to blame for whatever success or failure you may experience attempting this; I or EMTLife won't be responsible. I do not claim to be a computer expert; I had to Google half the stuff in here. I probably spent less than 10 minutes writing this too. The fact that it says my Training is "Saw it on tv." you shouldn't trust anything I say.
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Download and install Apache. Be sure to follow their instructions. It's been a long while since I've used Windows so not 100% sure, but I believe it has a folder that is called WWW that you just drag stuff into. You could then type the IP address provided to you by your ISP (I tried quickly googling to see how you could find out your ISP address via command line or through your computer, and don't really know so maybe you could just visit a website like http://www.whatismyip.com/ to find out, oh, on the dlink status page again, it says it in the WAN box).
Quickly written by me, images are screenshots done by me, edited by me, and hosted by me.
http://www.firecompanies.com/
I know about this company only because the volunteer company where I am a member uses them.
You have to admit I wrote a pretty good disclaimer though. Spent like 15 minutes editing that. Yeh, maybe it wouldn't be such a great idea to host on your computer now that ffemt mentions that. :\ From what I recall, there is just an extra step or 2 if your ISP assigns a dynamic IP address that isn't too bad from what I have heard, but I have the luxury of a static IP address. It sure is rewarding and fun to host your own stuff and build your own website like MedicRob mentioned. It's not even really that hard. It's kind of like an EMT-b class when you just don't have the mindset, and then it just clicks (or it did for me :s ), and then you just look at being an EMT-b like preschool macaroni art.Assuming of course, that your ISP provides you a static/public IP address and that they will update their DNS records to point the domain name to your IP address. The vast majority of ISP's don't assign static IP addresses to everyone of their customers.
In addition, running a web server is not a task for the faint hearted or inexperienced. It takes time, effort, and knowledge to ensure that everything is running correctly and that it is secure so that your server doesn't become a botnet/malware host. For this reason, I strongly recommend that the OP NOT host his website at his home computer, but instead use a third party service like the ones that have already been listed.