Windows Server

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  1. Posts : 625
    Windows 10 Pro x64
       #1

    Windows Server


    Ok, so Can anyone give me an explanation, in lamens terms, what Microsoft Windows Server actually is? Is it an operating system that can be used everyday like Windows 10? OR could I use it and set up a server and actually host my own website on it?
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  2. Posts : 516
    Windows 10 Professional 64bit
       #2

    It's a mixture, but you could technically use Windows Server as an everyday operating system or use it for hosting applications and websites.

    What’s the Difference Between Windows and Windows Server?
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  3. Posts : 625
    Windows 10 Pro x64
    Thread Starter
       #3

    Masterchiefxx17 said:
    It's a mixture, but you could technically use Windows Server as an everyday operating system or use it for hosting applications and websites.

    What’s the Difference Between Windows and Windows Server?
    It would beat paying another hosting site though. I'm considering it, honestly.
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  4. Posts : 14,046
    Windows 11 Pro X64 22H2 22621.1848
       #4

    A server (hardware wise) is very basically a beefed up computer, normally with additional RAM, more hard drive space running some kind of RAID and efficient CPUs (Xenon).

    Here is a high level definition I just found of what a server is from a software point of view: Server Definition

    I run a web server for my family. It's a HP Workstation xw4400. It only has 5GB of RAM, a Intel Pentium R Dual Core 3.4Ghz with a 120GB boot drive and a 2TB data drive. It runs Apache, MySql and PHP.

    It has been running continuously since 2001 on 3 different computers, the current one since 2011.
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  5. Posts : 14,046
    Windows 11 Pro X64 22H2 22621.1848
       #5

    If you want to run your own web server you're going to need to learn some programming, specifically HTTP, MySQL for a database back end, PHP for putting data into and pulling it from the database, building web pages on the fly based on variable content, and CSS, just for starters.

    You will also get to play with IP detection, forwarding and redirection.

    It's fun though.
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  6. Posts : 625
    Windows 10 Pro x64
    Thread Starter
       #6

    Ztruker said:
    If you want to run your own web server you're going to need to learn some programming, specifically HTTP, MySQL for a database back end, PHP for putting data into and pulling it from the database, building web pages on the fly based on variable content, and CSS, just for starters.

    You will also get to play with IP detection, forwarding and redirection.

    It's fun though.

    I can check all of those off. I have experience :)
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  7. Posts : 41,412
    windows 10 professional version 1607 build 14393.969 64 bit
       #7

    Microsoft has an evaluation center and catalog:

    https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/eval...windows-server

    Windows Server Catalog
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  8. Posts : 392
    W10
       #8

    You can use Windows Server as an everyday OS - but it's not as easy to use as W10, and not all W10 software will work on Windows Server (so you have to check the system requirements of any software that you want to install)

    Setting up and hosting a website isn't just as easy as the GoDaddy commercials make it seem. But it is fairly easy to do.
    BUT, in addition to all the setup, you need to have a way to ensure that DNS can locate your website - even if your internet provider changes your IP address (or pay for a static IP address).
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  9. Posts : 11,247
    Windows / Linux : Arch Linux
       #9

    Hi there
    @RainbowPride

    Servers are also used to provide "Virtual Desktops" for client PC's - for example a corporate server would provide a Windows desktop to a client logging on and would provide common programs such as Ms Office to the clients without them having to load up the software on their own machines etc.

    However for each client computer you would need to have what's known as a CAL (Client access license) for each client -- you couldn't for example install Office on a Windows server and then share it between 100 clients !!! just paying for 1 retail copy of Ms Office!!!!!. Multiple licenses for these types of products aren't cheap at all for individual users.

    Providing file sharing / multi-media streaming, limited email (say thunderbird as email system) , some e-commerce etc can easily be done via LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL,PHP) or equivalent WAMP (Windows, Apache,MySQL,PHP). These days people tend to use MariaDB instead of MySQL but programming and setup is the same.

    The problem though with Windows (non server editions) is that it is essentially a single user system whereas Linux and any sort of sensible Linux based NAS systems are multi-user.

    The other issue is that if you are running this from home and want quite a few users to be able to access it from the Internet at large some ISP's tend to try and stop this type of stuff and in a lot of cases upload speeds are often quite a bit slower than download speeds. You might have a monthly allowance too which will soon get eaten up if people are downloading UHD 4K movies from your site.

    The best way to manage this is really to register a domain and then find a good Domain Hosting service who can help you set it all up with the relevant software.

    For a simple home network where you only have a few users - then you can do that hosting it from home but you need to ensure decent security if you want any sort of remote access (i.e from the public Internet at large). You will need to ensure that the DNS servers can cope with change of IP address as a lot of Internet providers won't provide static IP addresses.

    A way around that is to run a Linux script which queries your IP address (the one the Internet sees -- not your local lan address ) and email it to say your phone every 30 mins or so. Easily done via a get my ip address in linux, route to text file and then use mailto or similar to send the mail -- put into crontab so job can be run everyy 30 mins or whenever. Obviously this is only of value if it's basically you and say 3 or 4 other people at the most who need to access your site remotely (send the email to all the people who want access) - so not pratical if you want a relatively general public access to your site.

    There are a couple of providers also where you can register a name and they'll handle the relevant DNS and link to your web address for example :

    Free Dynamic DNS - No-IP.com - Managed DNS Services

    but these usually have advertising or other restrictions - just go for the script if you want access for a few remote users --saves all the hassles.

    The other problem with things like noip is that you usually only have a limited number of choices available for your domain name -- and the names available aren't usually very good or informative. I do think running your own domain from a hosting server is a much better idea -- for basic LAMP type serving the fees are quite modest.

    cheers
    jimbo
    Last edited by jimbo45; 21 Jul 2019 at 06:31. Reason: typos and a few more details
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  10. Posts : 516
    Windows 10 Professional 64bit
       #10

    RainbowPride said:
    It would beat paying another hosting site though. I'm considering it, honestly.
    Explain what you are doing now? Website hosting is rather cheap online.
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