linux-based internet domain self-hosting solutions for fun, profit, & mischief

If you have a spare computer gathering dust --- configure it to host your 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 Linux knowledge can reference it to accomplish their goals.

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 those 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. Other 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 relationship of all the pieces bundled together. The order of installation is simply skipped as it's out of their 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 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. 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! Live systems (top menubar buttons) are not yet implemented. Neither is the Search function implemented. 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; possibly every day. Once fully online (in the future) we may ask for advertisers and donations to help support our ongoing efforts. ETA will be in Spring/Summer 2012.




Last page update on Thursday, January 12, 2012 7:54 PM EST (UTC -05:00)