nas/vm/webserver questions

[givingtnt]

so. I am kind of clueless about how to go about things for this :

I want to turn my pc into 2 (2g1cpu style)

to have my usual pc, and a server with php,mysql,html,css,js capabilities. to run a website at home.

 

how do I do that ? what should I use ?

since im gonna have a client and a server do I need a second nic ?

 

anybody has a step by step on how to do this ??

 

thanks !

[MarcWolfe]

You can have "virtual ports" that connect the 2 VMs, and if you have a dual port motherboard or NIC you shouldn't need new hardware. I'm sure you could even use a single port for both VMs. It would be like daisy chaining a few PCs. The virtual port would show up like a NIC and i imagine it could be set up like port forwarding to link the 2. I don't have details though, sorry.

[givingtnt]

1 minute ago, MarcWolfe said:

You can have "virtual ports" that connect the 2 VMs, and if you have a dual port motherboard or NIC you shouldn't need new hardware. I'm sure you could even use a single port for both VMs. It would be like daisy chaining a few PCs. The virtual port would show up like a NIC and i imagine it could be set up like port forwarding to link the 2. I don't have details though, sorry.

ok.

but my motherboard (afaik) only has one port / nic. (gd65 z97)

 

and I want to port foward only one of them. and id rather have one less failure point . (that being each vm controls their nic and not some janky vm software thing that can crash at any time.)

 

thanks 

[MarcWolfe]

If you want less failure points, get a seperate machine. I'm sure it would be fine if set up properly though. It's not like Windows, which can brick hardware because of mandatory updates.

[vorticalbox]

you could just run a web server stack suck as xampp on your machine. literally no need for VMs.

[mikat]

14 minutes ago, vorticalbox said:

you could just run a web server stack suck as xampp on your machine. literally no need for VMs.

yup, or even just a node.js server

express,ejs&mongoDB > php&mysql

 

[leadeater]

No need for a VM for what you want and doing so will have a larger performance impact than just running the web server under the same existing OS. If you really do want to use a VM then enabled the Windows Hyper-V role, it is very good and is the same Hyper-V core as on the Server OS.

[givingtnt]

9 hours ago, leadeater said:

No need for a VM for what you want and doing so will have a larger performance impact than just running the web server under the same existing OS. If you really do want to use a VM then enabled the Windows Hyper-V role, it is very good and is the same Hyper-V core as on the Server OS.

wait I can run a web server on my windows instal ?

can I give it a spexific ip ? (what for not port fowarding my pc..)

can I dedicate a specific ammount of ram and cpu power to it ?

 

 

how ?

[leadeater]

19 minutes ago, givingtnt said:

wait I can run a web server on my windows instal ?

can I give it a spexific ip ? (what for not port fowarding my pc..)

can I dedicate a specific ammount of ram and cpu power to it ?

 

 

how ?

 

1. Yep either use the inbuilt IIS feature or use XAMPP (https://www.apachefriends.org/index.html). XAMPP is more what you are after since it will basically set everything up for you, IIS you'd have to get PHP etc working yourself.

 

2. IP wouldn't be any different, you would port forward the required ports on your router to desktop IP.

 

3. Not really no but won't be an issue unless tons of people are visiting your website and in that case using you desktop at all for this is not a good idea.

 

Keep in mind using XAMPP on your current OS install is only advisable for a low usage private website you want to publish to the internet, basically development work. If it doesn't fall in to that then your better off finding an extremely cheap web host and running the website on that.

 

The Hyper-V option will allow you to set a maximum amount of resource the web server can use and it will have it's own IP, you would also then have the option of installing Linux and using XAMPP.

[givingtnt]

5 minutes ago, leadeater said:

 

1. Yep either use the inbuilt IIS feature or use XAMPP (https://www.apachefriends.org/index.html). XAMPP is more what you are after since it will basically set everything up for you, IIS you'd have to get PHP etc working yourself.

 

2. IP wouldn't be any different, you would port forward the required ports on your router to desktop IP.

 

3. Not really no but won't be an issue unless tons of people are visiting your website and in that case using you desktop at all for this is not a good idea.

 

Keep in mind using XAMPP on your current OS install is only advisable for a low usage private website you want to publish to the internet, basically development work. If it doesn't fall in to that then your better off finding an extremely cheap web host and running the website on that.

 

The Hyper-V option will allow you to set a maximum amount of resource the web server can use and it will have it's own IP, you would also then have the option of installing Linux and using XAMPP.

ok cool.
my last question is, will this affect security ? I mean, I don't want people to acess my pc through my website.
wich is why I was gonna do a vm.

[leadeater]

2 minutes ago, givingtnt said:

ok cool.
my last question is, will this affect security ? I mean, I don't want people to acess my pc through my website.
wich is why I was gonna do a vm.

There is a higher risk compared to a VM yes. There would have to be a security hole in the apache configuration or in the way you designed your website, which is possible and does happen. This is why it can be better to find a web host that is cheap, the server security is taken care of by them which only leaves how you make your website, and if anything goes wrong it won't effect any of your computers or your internet connection.

 

Personally I would use a VM, but for small things I have just used XAMPP on a USB drive so I can run it on any computer when I need to. If it is anything that is going to be long term a VM would be better.

[givingtnt]

9 minutes ago, leadeater said:

There is a higher risk compared to a VM yes. There would have to be a security hole in the apache configuration or in the way you designed your website, which is possible and does happen. This is why it can be better to find a web host that is cheap, the server security is taken care of by them which only leaves how you make your website, and if anything goes wrong it won't effect any of your computers or your internet connection.

 

Personally I would use a VM, but for small things I have just used XAMPP on a USB drive so I can run it on any computer when I need to. If it is anything that is going to be long term a VM would be better.

ok thanks !
this website is my portfolio. so yeah its there for awhile.
its also cheaper than renting a host.