About Linux

Archive for August, 2009

ColdFusion is a software suite that includes a server application and a studio application that is used to help build dynamic web pages. You can use ColdFusion with any web hosting solution and have your website stand out in the crowd and really draw traffic because of the content and the dynamic way it is presented. You want your webpage to get a lot of hits, especially if you are involved in e-commerce and need to attract a lot of customers in order to turn a profit. No matter what your website’s function is, you can improve its look and design with ColdFusion.

ColdFusion web hosting allows you to use many types of hosting solutions to get your dynamic website up and functioning properly. These solutions can include shared solutions, virtual private servers or dedicated servers, depending on the level of functionality and security that you need. You can learn to use ColdFusion fairly easily if you decide to design your own webpage. The ColdFusion server process a language known as CFML code. This language is an extension of xml and html, and if you are familiar with these languages, you should be able to learn ColdFusion fairly quickly. Once you do, you will see how easy it is to design and build wonderfully dynamic websites for yourself.

ColdFusion is processed by the web server, not by the end user’s browser. This is critical information for you and you should choose a ColdFusion web hosting provider that is reliable with as much uptime as possible. You have worked hard to design a dynamic web page, and since it is server driven, you want a ColdFusion web host that will guarantee minimal service disruptions and maximum exposure for your website. You should also choose a provider that has good technical support because if there is a problem, you want a fast resolution.

This article will cover the basics about running your own web server out of your home. However, before I provide some direction on how to go about doing this I am going to give you the “pain points”. I am also going to give you some reasons why running your own web server might not be for you.

Why you don’t want to run your own web server?

If you are looking to sell something online you should look at a business web hosting solution. Two reasons. One, you are not going to be able to harden your server enough to make it secure for conducting business transactions. Second, you need to ensure that your site is available to your customers 24/7/365 or as close to 100% uptime as you can get. With web hosting you can typically get 99% uptime. You are very unlikely to come close to this trying to run your own server. Your uptime will be based on the uptime of your internet service provider. Plus every time you update Windows you will likely need to reboot your machine. And, are you familiar with

- How to setup and configure a router?
- The difference between a physical and a software firewall?
- Do you know how to setup, configure, and secure a web server?
- Do you know enough about networking to run and maintain a server?

It is certainly within the realm of a fairly technically savvy person to setup and administer their own web server on the internet, but it takes some work, and any claims that it is easy to do should be met with guarded skepticism. This advice is coming to you from someone that ran their own web server on the internet for almost two years.