I am trying to web host from my own internet and my own computer because I don’t want to pay for a subscription (I already bought the 4$ domain) so I looked up instructions online on how to web host using apache. and I’ve accomplished things to a point where if I type in my computer-specific IP address from devices within my local network I can access the site I’ve made (which is in the sites folder), and I wanted this to be accessible outside my own router; so I set up port forwarding 80 for both in and out channels and pointed it to my computer’s IP address; but for some reason, it says “connection refused” whenever I try to access this site using the default gateway of my router, which I assume is my public IP address. So far I’ve narrowed this “connection refused =” problem down to 3 causes:
There is some kind of firewall blocking the connection (I’ve already allowed port 80’s on normal firewall and ipV6 firewall, and I’ve tried lowering my computer’s firewall, with no luck) (I’ve even tried disabling WAN ping block mode)
There is no program that is listening for incoming connection at port 80 (How would I check if there is? I can fluently navigate through apache files using sudo nano command so please tell me where to look)
I’m not even using the correct IP address to access the site from outside my wifi (also my WAN type is dynamic DSL, if that helps you understand this)
A bit off topic but make sure you are very very careful about security as people will be trying to hack your site/server within a few weeks.
I had a NAS that I could access online and I did not advertise it and assumed nobody would know about it; but within three weeks I had somebody trying to hack it.
Well… I’ll just go on record to say that this is a horrible idea. Don’t host a website on a residential Internet connection… especially one with a dynamic IP address.
Having said all of that… are you sure your ISP isn’t blocking connections to port 80 from the outside Internet? This would probably be pretty common since… you know… hosting a website on a residential connection is a horrible idea and usually against TOS.
I just talked on the phone with a TELUS rep., and they say that they block all ports that somehow even relate to website hosting. (not sure if they shadowed the truth to discourage me or not; what are your opinions?). If I were to still host a website from home, and since I’ve read from other threads that TELUS for sure blocks port 25 and 80, would it be a tolerable idea to try to configure apache to listen at 8080 ports and set up port forwarding to 8080?
Now, if I decided to abandon this idea of hosting a web from home, then what would be my alternative measures? I know paying a company to do it for me is one of the major ones; what are some really cheap ones?
I doubt Telus are that stupid to not notice you using a different port and if it is against their TOS they could just cut you off.
There is free hosting but I have never used it; from memory some place adverts on your site to recover some cost. As it does not cost anything you could try one.
You do not say what country you are in but I use a company that has a hosting package for £12/year and there are cheaper ones around. It would also depend on what you want: one or multiple email addresses, control panel, databases etc.
Yes, and I live in Alberta, Canada. I can learn HTML / Javascript; I would not go for a hosting service bundled with a website builder that would only charge me extra. Are there any hosting services you guys would suggest for me?
Recapitulation : I already have a domain and I can learn how to code the website up; What are some hosting services that only provide those I need and not charge extra for giving something I already have?
Well, even running your local service on port 8080 isn’t going to help you.
Your ISP is blocking ALL requests from the Internet to port 80. You won’t be able to set up a port redirect to redirect port 80 to port 8080 - that’s not how Internet TCP ports work.
TECHNICALLY, I suppose you could setup your web server to run on port 8080 and setup a port forwarder for that port in your Internet router. Port 8080 is not the standard web port - so in order for outside people to view your website they would have to use http://yourip:8080 to access your content. Or some other random port.
But again… and I just really cannot stress this enough… all of this is a horrible, horrible, horrible idea. Don’t host a website on a residential connection.
Hi all, and thanks for such attention on this post!
I’ve taken your advices and abandoned the idea of hosting a website from home. Right now I’m using 000webhost.com as my free web hosting service, and have parked my domain in their website.
again, thanks to all for giving me the incentive to stop trying to webhost from home
