Real Newbie Question about servers

[ProfDave]

Okay, I am completely new to server stuff. Let me get that out of the way. I also have been told that setting up a server is not for the faint of heart. I know.

But suppose I wanted to set up a server; I have a cable connection so always connected. I have a couple of spare Macs (Powermacs and G3) which I could use. What would I really need to get a server up? (I want more than Apple's Peronal Web Sharing). How much cost am I looking at (for a simple server)? I guess server software and otjher things would be needed. I just want to know what the bare essentials are, and I can work up from there.

Also, if any of you can recommend books to help me get going just learning about setting up a server, that would be appreciated. Ultimately want to host my own (somewhat large) web site instead of doing it remotely, so I am looking down the road at cgi, perl and so on.

No, I cannot buy an Apple Server. We just got a new iMac, will getting a G4, and hope to get a new PowerBook when they come out. This is where our money is gong for hardware right now.

be gentle with me!......

[fleshhorn]

Alright, first of all I highly do not recommend serving any high traffic site from a cable connection. Access and latency times will be severely bogged down as readers anlarge and data flow is increased. It will save you time and headaches to pay an ISP 20-40 $ a month and have them host your high volume site on some high powered OC network.
If you so choose to do it yourself, you're looking at two options. MacOS X Server now on the G3, Mac OS X Server in the near future on the G4, or WebTen from Tenon Intersystems on any PPC running OS 8 or 9. WebStar is an options but performs far below the Apache derived Webten. Depending on your current G3's hardware, you might have to jack it up to run OS X efficiently.
Any way you look at it, its probably going to cost an arm and a leg to get it going yourself locally. ($499 for OS X Server). For all of you thinking Linux, forget it, remember he said server newbie. Not everyone can optimize apache files.

[ProfDave]

Thanks!! I am in education so can get some better prices, though not completely low cost. How about an email server or some other kind of servers I could set at home that would get my feet wet. I think the best way to learn is to do it, and I'll start simple. I am not a programmer, I am in the philsophy department!!

By the way, any books you can tell me about that would be informative on several levels?

ProfDave

[Mark J Hershenson]

Honestly, if your systems administrator is willing to help you out some, you may want to consider getting him to stick your G3 in a room somewhere after you configure it with whichever option you feel most comfortable with - MacOS or MacOS X Server - until some point in the future when you're more comfortable with wide-scale site deployment. Then you don't have to pay fees until you're ready to launch your site, and you're still on a fast network!

You would of course have to point out how your learning server basics would be a positive for the school (in case anyone asked the IT guy), but I'm sure you could easily find a way to do that! And under no circumstance would you deploy from the school's network unless given express permission. (Just wanted to add that for what it's worth - no accusation intended at all!)

For what it's worth, I would also say that MacOS X Server is probably NOT what you are looking at for deployment. It's not too hard to set up if you know what's what, but it's not easy if you don't. Learn the basics with something like WebStar and EIMS and then when you're ready, the whole world of web serving will open itself up to you.

[fleshhorn]

If you're just looking to get a very easy mail + small traffic web combo up and running, I do highly recommend StarNine's webstar serving suite 4. Check i tout.