Home Webserver Guide

I recently set up my home server again. I haven’t had it fully functional in quite some time as I’ve playing around with different software packages. This time around I decided to use The Uniform Server as my core and I have been very impressed. I collected a good list of links to the articles I followed to get everything running. Basically this is how it went in a step-by-step fashion:

• Signed up for a free DynDNS account and domain
• Bought an easy to remember dot com domain name at GoDaddy
• Forwarded my GoDaddy domain to my DynDNS domain
• Got my Windows XP server machine ready for use
• Assigned a static IP address to my XP machine on my home network
• Forwarded the right ports on my router to my webserver
• Opened up the right ports on my XP machine’s firewall
• Downloaded and installed DynDNS’s dynamic IP updater client
• Setup and secured The Uniform Server software to host my site
• Completed database setup and WordPress install for blogging

In addition to this, I wanted some advanced functionality. I set up Windows remote desktop so I can access the server from anywhere I have an internet connection. To secure this feature, I also installed OpenSSH. I didn’t realize until later that the SSH software also allowed me to run a secured FTP server for file transfers between machines. Sweet! For those interested, here are the articles I used to accomplish all this:

http://tinyurl.com/27l9t6 (Domain Name)

http://tinyurl.com/5mohge (Router/Firewall)

http://tinyurl.com/av55ub (The Uniform Server)

http://tinyurl.com/a9cnt (WordPress)

http://tinyurl.com/6y6ym (Remote Desktop)

http://tinyurl.com/d67p63 (OpenSSH Setup)

http://tinyurl.com/bgr5f (OpenSSH SFTP)

IIS Remote Desktop Connection

My basement network wiring is now functional thanks to a bunch of DIY cabling and a small switch I bought off eBay. This let me get my home server PC up and running. I think I will host another website from it. I have always used a VNC product to connect to my webserver in the past, but this time I decided to try Windows remote connection.

I found a great article by Tony Northrup on how to accomplish this task. It easily guides you through setting up the IIS components, changing the web TCP port (if you so desire), router forwarding, firewall exception reminder, and how to connect to a remote desktop. I ran right through it and had my remote connection up and running in no time. Now I can securly access my home server from anywhere the internets are.

Snippy For Screenshots

I like simple and portable software. Snippy is both of these and does a great job at taking screenshots. Once it is started, the program sits in the system tray awaiting use.

A couple clicks later and you have a simple, clean, and useful screenshot that is perfect for a blog or image notation. It also supports simple borders, which makes spicing up a blog super easy!

Crazy Busy Update #6

I finally completed my ethics course and have a little bit of free time before jumping into my final class. If I didn’t finish my story about my work computer, I will sum it up now… After a bunch of searching and tinkering, I discovered that it was Windows Explorer that was having issues. I installed IE7 and that corrected everything – what a sweet simple fix.

I am happy to report that my DVD LCD overhead projector is working as planned and it is awesome. Since I have young children, I have done a lot of testing with their videos. It is pretty neat to watch Blues Clues on an 83″ screen in the basement. What is even better is that the projector is capable of going bigger – I am hoping to get it to the 100″ mark. I will have to hook the Wii up to it and rock out with Guitar Hero!

Crazy Busy Update #5

I am still here… I think. Life has been chaotic lately. Demanding school work, regular work, and a pair of sick children can make your head spin. Everything is slowly smoothing out – yea! I am still bouncing around the world of tech as well. I found a great Mac-like dock for Windows called RocketDock and it works awesome. I have been slowly working on my home projector unit and have it almost complete – just in time for football season! The case is fabricated and the internal air flow system has been figured out. I am going to give it a test run shortly. If it works as planned, a paint job will soon follow and then it will be put into full time service for the family (will post pics when I get a chance).

Outlook – Can’t Open Links

I booted into my work XP machine today and started up my Outlook email client. I opened a message and clicked on the link inside (it was a safe one) and was greeted by the following restriction message: This operation has been canceled due to restrictions in effect on this computer. A quick Google search netted me a long list of complaints about this issue.

The easiest fix is to go into Internet Explorer and reset the default settings (IE >> Internet Options >> Advanced >> Restore Defaults). I then went into Firefox (my browser of choice because my office machine is still using IE6) and went into Tools >> Options >> Advanced >> Check Now to set Firefox as the default browser. The next step was/is very important… you have to shut down and restart Outlook for the fix to work. Once I did that, all was good and the links worked fine.

Boot Freeze, Eventvwr, & Autoruns

At work I have to sign into the network like a lot of other cubies. Everything has been running smoothly on my desktop machine, but recently I have been having an extremely tough time linking up to the network and completing my boot sequence. I would get to my desktop, and then boom – the system would freeze. After like a bazillion attempts at logging in, I would finally make it. This went on for a couple days and I just couldn’t figure out what was going on.

It was time for some quick hardcore IT learning. I discovered the Windows Event Viewer (Run >> eventvwr.msc). When I looked at the system tab I found a couple big red warning entries. That is a bad sign. Upon further inspection, I discovered that the bluetooth software (service) I recently installed was not starting correctly. It was in turn hanging the system and not allowing my boot sequence to move beyond the error.

I found two interconnected steps to fix this problem. I first ran the Windows Services program (Run >> services.msc). I found the bluetooth service that was causing problems, shut it down, and set it to start manually. I then ran the Autoruns program (free and very useful) and found the registry key that was assigned to starting the bluetooth service that was causing problems. I unchecked the box next to the key and after a trial reboot my system sprange to life without any problems. I confimed the results with the Event Viewer and found that I was good to go.

XP Service Pack 3 Audio Problem

I bought a new SATA hard drive the other day and decided to transfer my OS (via DriveImage XML) over from my aging IDE drive. I made my image and then restored it to a new active partition on the new drive. Windows XP came up as expected – no problems there. The system complained that I should install service pack 3, so I headed over to Download.com and picked it up.

The install went fine and I was asked to reboot like normal. Sure – I went ahead with the reboot and low and behold my audio stopped working once the system came back up. When I clicked on the volume control icon, I received a “There are no active mixer devices available…” message . I jumped on Google of course and found the following great tip in a DaniWeb forum post:

Go to Start –> Run. Type in services.msc and hit the enter key.

A window will pop up with a list of services. Scroll down to the Windows Audio service. Right click on the service and click the properties link.

Make sure that the Startup Type is set to Automatic.

Also make sure the Windows Audio service is started under the Service Status section. If it isn’t, hit the Start button and everything should work after you click the main window’s OK or Apply buttons.

Video MP3 Extractor

I love podcasts. They work great for me because I drive quite a bit (I use a small FM transmitter with my MP3 player) and I don’t have a lot of extra time to watch TV or internet video. I also love a bunch of the Revision3 shows, but many of them only come in video formats. I found a great little utility called Video MP3 Extractor that makes pulling the audio out of a downloadable Revision3 video file a snap. When left at the medium default settings, pulling an MP3 out of a Diggnation episode takes no time at all.

Cool Portable RSS Reader

I have been using the Wizz RSS add-on for Firefox for a few weeks now and it does an okay job. I’ve noticed that the feeds don’t always update correctly and sometimes there is some major lag. I cruised by Lifehacker today and saw an article about the portable NFReader application.

It is super lightweight, portable (perfect for a thumb drive), minimizes to the system tray, and is very easy to use. I gave it a whirl and found that the feeds update very fast and are accurate. While it is pretty basic, NFReader does its job extremely well. It is my new RSS feed reader of choice and I love it!