I want to set up a server at home on Linux

Question: Question:

I am a novice engineer who can use several programming languages ​​and has little experience in software development.

Recently, I've been interested in building a Linux server, and I've come to want to set up a server for my hobby using a laptop computer.

So I have a question,

  1. The laptop I'm trying to use as a server computer is a Windows 7 32bit 4GB machine that doesn't have very high specs. Is it possible to put Linux in it and build it for a server?

  2. Servers are often operated 24 hours a day, 365 days a year … And there are many cases of fires and other outbreaks due to the high operating load caused by them, but as long as you use them as a hobby, for example, you can use your own web application for a while. Isn't it possible to use it by turning off the power of the server every time and using it occasionally to check "Is it just functioning as a server?"

  3. Also, in addition to the web server, mail server, and DB server, can I set up an AP server to run the program?

  4. Since I don't have a line at home, is it not possible to use tethering on my smartphone? (You can use about 50GB every month)

  5. I only want to check if the server is running, so I'm the only one to access it.

For example, I think it's true that the existing Tomcat is fine if you just want to run a web application such as Java locally, but I asked this question because I wanted to deepen my knowledge about the server and just want to practice. ..

Although my knowledge of infrastructure is at the amateur level, I would like to ask you to teach me if there is any mistake in my own recognition, including pointing out that. Thank you.

Answer: Answer:

To be very rude, at the time the question comes up, I don't have enough knowledge and experience to create an external public server.

It's not a shame that I don't have the knowledge and experience yet, because I am aware that I am "too amateur". You may not be familiar with terms such as "fixed IP address" and "firewall". After understanding them, consider setting up an external public server. If you open it to the outside without understanding it well and gain unauthorized access, you may inconvenience others even if you are the only one who suffers damage. If that happens, ignorance is a sin.

For now, let's think about "building a server" and "making it accessible from the outside" separately. If you just want to create a server and a client on your home LAN, you only need two PCs. The server can be a surplus PC or a Raspberry Pi. The purpose is to learn how to build a server, so you can turn it on before using it and turn it off when you're done using it. It's not accessible from the outside, but it's enough to learn how to build a server.

Once you have experience in how to build and security, you will be able to expose it to the outside world from a simple service. First is the web server. In order to be able to access from the outside, it seems that it is necessary to contract with a provider that can use a fixed IP address (it is not essential if you use a dynamic DNS service etc.). However, as you are worried, considering the risk of fire, I think it is better to rent a VPS instead of your home server. You can rent a server like 20GB for $ 3.5 a month, so the benefits of running a home server are diminishing these days. Privileged users (root accounts) can also be used with VPS, so any service can be executed with knowledge.

Please be prepared for the mail server as it is quite difficult. If you operate a mail server, you will want to use the email address of the domain name you obtained, so you will also need to set up a DNS server. I think there are VPS services and domain name registrars that provide DNS servers, so it is also a good idea to use such services.

Even if you intend to access only yourself, if you make it a public server, you will definitely be attacked. Withstanding such attacks is also a showcase of server operation skills, so please gain experience.

By the way, since the laptop has a battery, it is sometimes said that "an uninterruptible power supply is attached from the beginning", but you should not trust this so much, so the laptop is your home server. I'm a little wondering if it's suitable for. In any case, considering that I do not have a line at home, I think that it is a realistic course to first train on a home LAN that is not open to the public and then rent a VPS.

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