On Wed, 2005-12-14 at 09:27 -0500, Scot L. Harris wrote: > On Wed, 2005-12-14 at 00:15, Edward Dekkers wrote: > > For the first time ever, with my new account I will get a static IP > > address and high bandwidth (no more dial-up finally!!!). > > > > I've purchased a domain which is waiting to have IP addresses tied to it > > (currently parked). > > > > The question is - is it worth pointing the IP addresses directly at my > > server, and hosting my mail and http directly from this server, or would > > it be considered smarter to have everything hosted at the ISP still? > > Is this for a business or for personal use? > > If for a business you need to consider disaster planning. Most ISPs > have redundant Internet access, firewalls, backup schemes, UPS systems, > generators, climate control, etc. It would be rare for the ISP to lose > power, A/C, or Internet access. From your home you probably don't have > redundant Internet or generator power available. Depending on where you > are and how reliable your utilities are could mean your site might be > down for several weeks a year. For a business that could be very bad. > For a personal web site probably not an issue. > > If you do set it up you should put a separate firewall in front of your > server(s). Something dedicated to the task of firewalling your site. > This provides a choke point that you can monitor all traffic in and out. > > > > > Most important question - to me it seems worth it, but is it unsafe for > > someone of my experience to do? > > Not sure of your experience level. If it is for business you need to > consider lost revenue if your site goes down. If it is a personal web > site what is the worst that could happen? If the site is compromised > you just need to be ready to reload the system from scratch. Just > don't keep any sensitive data on the system such as your checking > account info or credit card information. Setup a separate system for > your web pages and use the other system for your day to day work. > > And read up on how to setup firewalls and web sites. There are many > good articles on the web and books available. And avoid things like > phpnuke and their like. They are know to have lots of holes and > exploits. > > > > Edward, I have to agree with Scot. If you are a home user, lock everything down behind a firewall. I opened up SSH and IMAPS while I was traveling earlier this year and within 2 hours I was getting hammered by machines on the internet trying to access my machine via SSH. I'll bet Scot has a generator though. Judging by his IP address, I bet he was without power a lot during last hurricane season :-) Bob...
