<date></date> You can host your own web site at home, and I'll tell you exactly how! But it might not save you much money, and it definitely won't save you time. So give it serious thought before you proceed... unless your goal is simply to learn about the technology and have fun! The best reason to host your web site at home is to learn how it all works. For more information about the pros and cons, see should I host my own web site? <date> Rest of tutorial: http://www.boutell.com/newfaq/creating/hostmyown.html </date>
I hosted my own website, email, DNS, etc. server for a number of years. Once it was all up and running, not much maintenance to it. I used Linux on an old box, no graphics at all on it. By using the command line I was able to learn what was happening in the background. After a while, I started getting equipment failure (HDD going out) and it just became too much of a hassle to do it. Besides, now the company I host with does all the maintenance and backups It can be fun an rewarding, not necessarily for the faint of heart depending on how deep you want to get
If I had 6mbit cable, I'd turn one of the extra systems at my house into the Monkey. 1 dedicated PC witha Fast connection would probably be better than a big server that is shared with 300 sites on it like we are now.