Start a free host for free

[drx]

Start a free host for free.... Ya right
Co-branded free hosting services
Some new services now make it possible for you to start your own free host absolutely free.
These services offer this service in return for ad space on the sites created by your users.
There was Excelland but they were short lived.
Homestead, and Megagiga/Wigloo, are all for a fee now.
Portland you have to have your own domain name..
Muttle is messed up and impossible.
Instant Portal/i-p.com is dieing.
CommunityArchitect you have to be able to fax a giant form to..

Is there anywhere we can goto to become a host for free?
somewhere that won't die in a week or go for fee or make us fax them oversized documents or is imposible to navigate?

If so let me know

 

[Lovellz]

you could always go to www.foxserv.net and DL that , then install .. then host peepz urself from ur computer and conection

 

[robpaul44]

it would be easyer to host from my pc just have fast connection and maybe install php mysql on apache and then use soemthing like key focus web server and get something like serve u or war ftp so people can upload stuff to they account i would do this and would not take me long to get it set up because i have kfws and php and mysql also along with an ftp server so all i have to do is maybe make a site and then get a fast connection would a 600k service do it but then my pc would over heat so i got to cool that

 

[CommunityOne]

You can always get a cheap reseller plan.

 

[conkermaniac]

Originally posted by drx

Is there anywhere we can goto to become a host for free?
somewhere that won't die in a week or go for fee or make us fax them oversized documents or is imposible to navigate?

Servers cost money, so if you aren't willing to pay, don't even think about starting a free host. If you are serious, though, pay a few bucks for a reseller, and then offer free hosting from that.

 

[Muttle.com]

Originally posted by drx
Muttle is messed up and impossible.

This, coming from someone who in the line previous complained about having to have a domain name, shows you haven't even experience with managing a domain name. There are hundreds of members who are not very proficient with domains, and have set up working freehosts. Could you please define "messed up" as this is quite a general statement, and could mean anything from user incompetency to a bug I haven't found, so please clarify .

 

[conkermaniac]

Re: Re: Start a free host for free

Originally posted by Muttle.com
This, coming from someone who in the line previous complained about having to have a domain name, shows you haven't even experience with managing a domain name. There are hundreds of members who are not very proficient with domains, and have set up working freehosts. Could you please define "messed up" as this is quite a general statement, and could mean anything from user incompetency to a bug I haven't found, so please clarify .

Yeah, I was wondering the same thing. If you can't handle Muttle, you really shouldn't be even thinking of starting a free host.

 

[Chris Marks]

Here's my 2 cents.

"Portland you have to have your own domain name.."

How else would you do it? Very few will want to signup on a sub domain of a subdomain. If you can't get a domain name for your service, then perhaps you shouldn't offer free webhosting.

"Muttle is messed up and impossible."

I setup two domains for the co-branded service in less than 2 minutes. In another 2 minutes I had my DNS pointed to his server and mine. That was all it took.

Adding my share of the banner space was as simple as pasting some of my created html code for an adbar into a box. Abuse is made very easy to deal with from the admin panel. To setup signups on my website, I just created a basic form. One could setup a free host in less than 24hrs (as long as it takes for their dns settings to change), and that's quite good in my book.

And besides all that, it's free.

 

[zoobie]

You can't afford a .us domain for $7 or .com/.org/.net for $10? Better forget it because you're right...They won't sign up. :classic2:

 

[drx]

You All Miss The Piont I Ws Making

every time i tryied muttle they never replyed
portland is a good server yeh

i waz just pointing out that there is no true cohosting or cobanding of anysort cuz that company would be untrustable..

i never said i was going to start my own host or cohost
i waz just complaining

althouth if i had tons of cash and a server or two i'd go ahaed and make a worthy cohost thing

i will ecept donations LOL

forgive me i can't spell..

 

[leetcrew]

try portland's reseller's plan... its free...but its (no comment)

 

[NukedWeb]

I'm actually in the process now of setting up the very same thing on a few of my home computers. First off, using Serv-U (and War, probably) will give you problems because you'll have to write an entire PHP routine just for writing accounts to the Serv-U file. I believe in autmation, and not having to do a damn thing after setting it all up. The latest version of Serv-U will NOT automatically re-read account info from the .INI file. Older versions of Serv-U do. War, last I checked, didn't even use a flat ascii INI file for accounts. Screw that idea!

If you want your own free host, you WILL need a domain name. Don't even bother starting this project if you're not willing to go THAT much of a distance. Have DNS for your domain hosted by zoneedit.com or another free service, or run your own DNS servers (I do). Then, set up Apache, or whatever your httpd flavor happens to be (I use Sambar www.sambar.com), get the PHP module installed, and look on HotScripts for a script called PHPWebHosting. Users can upload their files through the web interface -- screw the FTP service.

In my case, however, I have an old version of Serv-U, and plan to write the routines to write account info to the .INI automatically as each account is set up. My only other step, which I just finished, is a script to write new user account privileges to MySQL.

I've done free webhosting in the past, back before PHP was ever created...it was all done through that old ancient WinCGI, and worked great too! This time around, I can add support for PHP and MySQL into the service, maybe start charging for access, but all in all, a free PHP/MySQL host sounds like an interesting idea...