Michaelsoft Systems

My Server

About 11 years ago, I decided to create my own site. I signed up with tripod
(a free but ad based service) to host my website. The ads which were present on every page and they proved to be nuisances, especially since the site was framed. I remained with them for 6 months, while I researched setting up my own web server. The only problem with this was that when I shut down my computer, the site would go down with it making my site inaccessible. So I needed a better solution.

Another issue I had to overcome was my dynamic IP address, I ended up finding DynDNS which is a Dynamic DNS service. Their service allows my domain to always point to my current IP.

As time went by, I have upgraded and replaced my server several time, I even had an IBM NetFinity 5600 server at one point but decided to replace it since it drew a lot of power. I am currently on the 6th version. I am running Microsoft Windows 2003 Standard Server on AMD Athlon X2 5000, JetWay NC62-F motherboard with 1GB of DDR2 memory, all enclosed in a Chenbro ES34069-BK-180 Chassis.

In an attempt to find a more customizable router solution I ended up assembling a mini-ITX system and running Smoothwall, which is an open source firewall based on the Linux operating system. It allows me to log usage, segregate my network for when I repair computers and monitor incoming and outgoing connections.

Server Pictures