Question

[Cole]

Hello. I just purchased and downloaded Abyss Web Server X2. I read the documentation and was a little confused. The people on the form seem to be really nice, and I was wondering if someone coudl walk me through how to set up a web site. Like if I wanted a website called www.myname.com
Thank You

[AbyssUnderground]

Begin by getting a server set up with Abyss Web Server on it and getting access to the outside world via your IP address.

From there all you need to do is buy a domain, point it to your IP and then it will be accessible.

There are many tutorials on doing both of these on this site. Simply search the forum with the search feature and you'll be well on your way.

Welcome to the forums btw :-)
_________________
Andy (AbyssUnderground) (previously The Inquisitor)
www.abyssunderground.co.uk

[Mikor]

If I were you i wouldnt have got abyss X2 to start with - you sound like someone new to webhosting who wants their own site, right?
In that case Abyss X1 would have been perfect for you, X2 is only needed if you want to have multiple sites on the same server.
_________________
Yarrt.com - Free Arcade
RypNet.co.uk - Online Game
MSN: michael_walker_2004 <at> hotmail <dot> com

[aprelium]

Cole,

Below is a small tutorial explaining how to declare a new host and how associate it with a domain name. It explains also how to access it and test it locally.

* Create a directory in your hard drive where the files of the site should to be stored. In this example, we'll assume that you will create a new directory called website1 inside C:\sites .
* In Abyss Web Server console, press Add in the Hosts table.
* Enter 80 in the port field.
* Enter the name of the new host in the Host name field (for example www.myhost.com ).

www.myhost.com must be a valid registered domain name. Using your registrar tools, you should configure it to (A record) point to your computer's IP address (for example 111.112.113.114). You don't need to have your DNS server for this. Your registrar usually offers this service for you when buying the domain names. If it doesn't, there are some companies that provide the same service such as http://www.zoneedit.com (free for 5 domain names). If your IP changes frequently, you can use the services of a dynamic DNS services which takes care of IP changes and automatically updates your DNS configuration. You can also use a free domain name such those provided by No-IP or DynDNS.

You should also ensure that your firewall (if you have one) accepts connections made to port 80 by configuring it forward connections made to its external port 80 to the port 80 of the computer where Abyss Web Server is running. This is called port forwarding and the detailed steps to do that are explained in http://www.portforward.com (choose your router brand/model there for the exact instructions).

* Enter C:\sites\website1 in Documents Path (or press Browse and locate the directory where the files of the site are.)
* Enter for example log\website1.log in Log File
* Select the configuration you want to duplicate for the current host in "Copy Configuration From". If you want to start with the default parameters, select Default configuration.

Press OK. The new host will be created. All you have to do now is to put the site files in C:\sites\website1 (using Explorer or FTP.) Do not forget to start the new host (press Start in its corresponding row in the Hosts table.)

Now to see if it works, use an external site such as http://www.proxify.com (you can find a more extensive list of sites providing proxying service in http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Internet/Proxying_and_Filtering/Hosted_Proxy_Services/Free/CGI_Proxy/ ) to test if http://www.myhost.com is accessible from the rest of the Internet. Notice that you cannot test it locally as most routers doesn't know how to do loopback.

Note also that you can assign more than a single name to a given host (go to Console > Hosts - Configure > General, and press Add.. in the Names table). This is useful for example if you want the newly declared host to be associated with myhost.com and www.myhost.com. Of course, both myhost.com and www.myhost.com must be valid domain names (or subdomain names) and must point to your IP.

To test your site locally using its domain name, we suggest using this tip: For example, let's say you want to test the host http://www.myhost.com locally. In the computer where you used to browse http://127.0.0.1 to get the web site (which doesn't work anymore since the host has a name), open with Notepad (or any text editor) the file:

C:\WINNT\system32\drivers\etc\hosts (if you are using Windows NT, 2000, or XP Pro)
or
C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts (if you are using Windows XP Home or 2003)
or
C:\WINDOWS\hosts (if you are using Windows 95,98, or ME)

and add for each of your hosts at the end of that file a line of the form:

127.0.0.1 www.mysite.com

You can also add another line for another host name if you want:

127.0.0.1 www.mysecondsite.com

Save the file and browse http://www.mysite.com locally . You should see the web site.

This file act like a local domain names database. The system does a lookup in it before contacting an external DNS server to resolve the domain name requested in the browser.
_________________
Support Team
Aprelium - http://www.aprelium.com