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by Peter van Ooijen.
Original Post: Setting up a simple internet server (pt1)
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My company (which is just me) has a web site which really needs a big refresh. At the moment it is a static bunch of html on a Unix box. I want a lot more and taking a look at the wish-list there is only one way to get that all done without spending huge amounts of money: start hosting myself. I will blog about a little this project. No big stories on IT pro related stuff. Most of that is pretty intimidating and speaks in a different language as info directed at developers. I'll blog just some essential noteworthy details which I wish I had known in advance and hope you'll find useful as well.
My server will be part of the internal network; will serve web and mail requests tot the outer world and will serve internet access to the internal network. What do I need to start:
A network plug connected to the internet with a static IP address
Server hardware with a server OS, a network card to connect to the internet and a network card to connect to the internal network
Orchestrate IP traffic via this server
The internet connection
Quite a few DSL providers, but not all, have affordable subscriptions with a static address. I'm not unhappy at all with my current @home cable but they do not give any guarantee at all on the IP address, so they are out. XS4all, the Dutch provider with a great history (they were the first one to provide internet to the public over here) and a continuous stream of good reviews, offers an ADSL connection with a fixed address and good speed for an affordable price. They even encourage you to run your own server. Wherever you are living, shop around and you'll find great differences.
The server hardware
You need a piece of hardware which will be switched on night and day and should be built for that. It's not a problem to find affordable server hardware but watch what you buy. I've visited many an office which was terrorized by a blazing vacuum cleaner labeled Dell, HP or whatever. As I want to keep my office queit I needed something else. Which brought me to a company named ikbenstil (stands for I am silent) which is specialized in silent pc's and bought their economy model. It's price is a little over that of a Dell but on the long run it will save money. Most machines make so much noise because of the huge fans needed to make sure all the heat gets out of the machine. My machine takes a different approach. It is very economic on its power consumption (amongst others by using an AMD Athlon processor) so there is less heat to get rid off. With energy prices going up and up that is a good investment. The ikbenstil company is somewhat geeky, not to good in communications and does make mistakes like forgetting the external power cable. But the machine is very well built and and I'm very very happy with it. Absolutely recommended.
Orchestrating outbound IP traffic
The server OS is Windows 2003 (what else ?). The first part of the installment should make the server the hub of all IP traffic coming in and going out. Up till now this was all handled by an access point where an onboard DHCP server gives all machines enough info to keep them connected. In the new scenario the server box is going to take this role. It has two network cards: one to hook up the ADSL. More on that in a later post. The other card is connected to the internal network. Using a dynamic IP addresses for this is no longer possible. When you choose an address it is a good idea to use one in a defined private range, like 192.168.x.x as that is secure. By definition no internet router will direct any (undesired) traffic to it. The server is administered via remote desktop. If you give the desktop client machine a static IP address as well you can set this as the only address from which a remote desktop is allowed. The nice thing is that Windows 2003 will choose this "all by itself". It is "secure by default" you have to open access bit by bit. For all other machines in the network it still does make a lot of sense to use DHCP. It gives me one central place to configure all of them.
The first list of server's roles:
Domain controller (Active directory) AD is the API all other components use
DNS server. Direct outbound traffic
DHCP server. Orchestrate IP traffic
Setting up the DHCP server is just a little more than next, next, finish. It should provide clients with:
An IP address
The address of the name server (what is the IP number of a site, mailbox or computer ?)
The address of the default gateway (where to send data for an IP address which is not on the local network ?)
By default the DHCP server does not include the latter two. You have to do that by hand in the Scope options
The IP address of the DNS is going to be that of the internal server network card. All request to resolve names will be handled and controlled by my own DNS. The IP address of the gateway (or router) will be the ADSL connection. In this first step the server will only orchestrate the traffic, not handle it yet. So the gateway address will be that of the existing access point. The nice thing is that the moment I plug in the ADSL I have one point to change this setting.
Configuring a DNS server looks like a quite intimidating task. In the end only setting the forwarders is important. In case the DNS cannot solve a request it will forward it to another (external) names server.
In the forwarders list you build a list of name servers to use. Take the Ip numbers of the name servers which are reached fastest over the actual connection (Provided they are reliable). Thanks to DHCP all machines on the internal network will now redirect their name queries to my own server. There I have one point of configuration for all name resolving. Right form the start, even without having the ADSL connected yet all machines will have an advantage; a name server does a lot in caching and optimizing a request and the internal server is far easier to reach than any external.
Now my server is in control of all IP traffic. When the ADSL connection is up and running I'll blog a little on the external network part.
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