How to Host Your Own Website At Home: The digital age has definitely made life easier for us. It has given us complete autonomy and control on our lives, allowing us to do whatever we want and however we want, regardless of where we are. This independence to access required information online comes through web hosting. 

Web hosting gives information-based platforms a place to showcase their goods online. These websites include blogs, e-commerce sites, portfolios, resume, a test web application, networking websites, database, etc. But, the question remains, how to host your own website.

Now, while website owners are encouraged to purchase their own servers to host their websites and have complete control over it, web hosting services are available for those that are unable to do so. In layman terms, web hosting is a service that provides storage space for a website or an application through a server available online. Once your website is stored online, it can be accessed by devices connected to the internet.

How to Host Your Own Website?

How to host a website from home is a question frequently asked by individuals that have just stepped into the digital realm of web hosting options. There are a number of web hosting options available online to help you with your project. However, not all of them would be right for your business. Choosing the right hosting service from you would require extensive research from your end. A few things you may have to look into includes;

• What kind of website do you look forward to hosting?
• What kind of infrastructure would you require?
• What are your goals on your website?
• Is your website business-oriented?
• Do you see yourself expanding your business online?

While you may want to host your very own website, doing so is not as easy as random online web surfing. The process is slightly complicated, especially if you would like to host your own website. This difficulty stems from four primary factors, which are;

• Bandwidth constraints
• Dynamic IP addresses
• An unprecedented number of visitors
• Electricity Costs

How to Host Your Own Website Step by Step Guide

With that out of the way, here is a step by step guide you can use regarding how to host your own website. This step-by-step guide will not only help you in hosting your own website but also help you if you are having issues with the process and are stuck on something.

Step I: Install WAMP Software

Firstly, look for a WAMP software that works for you and download it. Initially, it is recommended that you go with automatic settings during the installation process. However, you can also install the software manually, but it is a long and time-taking process that comes with a risk of errors.

Step II: Use the software

Once the installation process is completed, you will come across a directory. Create subdirectories in the directory and put in any HTML and PHP files to fill in the sub-directory. This will bring you a step closer to hosting your own website.

Step III: Create an HTML Page

In order to test the server, put an example file in the directory called “info.php”. It will create a directory within the menu of the software. Once there, you can create an entirely new file with the following content;

<title>PHP Test</title>

You can check the details of the said PHP installation through http://localhost/info.php and create files in the type that works for you.

Step IV: Configure MySQL

Once you are done with the HTML page, you can move on to configuring MySQL databases. All you have to do is click on the phpMyAdmin menu option. This will lead to a new browser window from where you can create the required databases. You also have the option to alter databases that are already there.

Step V: Publish the Site

According to the default settings in place, any HTTP connection will be denied by the Apache configuration file, unless you are working with localhost. Thus, in order to make sure that your site is public, you need to reconfigure the Apache configuration file.

Step VI: Chose a Domain Name

This step would require you to add a virtual host since there is a possibility that the domain you are using has a record in the DNS. Thus, firstly add the following line to the file:

C:\Windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

Follow this up with an edit of httpd.conf again and then add the files to the virtual host. Once the file opens up, look for “virtual hosts” and comment on the line below # Virtual Hosts:

Include conf/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf

Following this, manually add “C:\wamp\bin\apache\Apache-VERSION\conf\extra\” where VERSION is the Apache version you are using. Finally, create a new file with the following details in the notepad and save it to the Apache directory.

Step VII: Restart Services

In the end, simply restart all the services. This will activate any changes and your website will be accessible through its domain name online.

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Pros and Cons of Hosting a Website from Home

Hosting your own website is a fun and interactive experience where you not only get to learn new things, but you can full-on geek out during the execution process. It gives you the power to make the sort of system changes that you would prefer, but it also serves as a gateway for people to delve into the world of programming, online commerce, and web design. The experience that you gain from it is the biggest pro.

However, the list of cons is rather lengthy and requires due attention when you host your own website;

• Compared to professional hosting services, while hosting your own website, you may have to suffer to slow connections.
• Your ISP upload speed will be way slower than your download speed when you host your own website.
• When you host your own website from home, the ever-changing, dynamic IP address will be a pain.
• You will suffer from power outages and high electricity costs more often than not.
• You will be responsible for the maintenance of your own hardware and software.

Alternatives to Hosting a Website from Home

If you want to host your own website, that is perfect. You get complete control over your website and the kind of hosting you need. However, if you are having trouble with how to host a website from home or from your personal office space, you can look towards alternatives. 

You can rely on DreamHosting to provide you with customized hosting solutions for your website. They also have some hosting offers available to interest you, so feel free to contact them and get the very best hosting deals.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, learning how to host a website is a fun process. You learn new things and broaden your horizons. However, while we have provided you with a detailed guide as to how to host your own website but hosting a website on your own is highly impractical, especially when you have a serious project at hand.

Self-hosting is something that you should look into, eventually, when you know a setback would not affect the wellbeing of your project. Given the innovations taking place every day, who knows self-hosting may become the best option there is. However, it is not as feasible currently and it is highly recommended that you look for alternatives to host a website at present. Thus, give your ideas regarding how to host a website from home some rest at present and seek professional help.