Dmz

[felix8406]

Perhaps someone can explain this to me, or even if it's possible. My daughter got herself a new Intel PC back in December (it rocks), but that's not really the issue here. Day before yesterday, I decided to use her old PC as a server. Most of the specs are more than what are needed for a server, though it's only running two 80GB HD. Yesterday I decided to open the DMZ or demilitarized zone port on the router so I can have better access to the server from accross the web. Anyways, I'm running Win XP Home and ran into many problems after installing SP2, so, using System Restore, I took it all the way back to where there wasn't any updates installed at all.

I went to the Microsft site and dwonloaded Win XP SP2 (266MB) and it took less than a minute to download. Thinking there was something wrong with the file, I downloaded it again and this time it took less time to download. I then downloaded Win XP SP3 (316.4 MB) and it took 56 seconds to download...I've downloaded it before and it has taken over 6 minutes. Thinking that perhaps the files were still in the PC previously, before I used System Restore, I didn't think any of it.

Today I downloaded "Avira AntiVir Personal- Free AntiVirus", which is about 23MB and it downoaded in just a few seconds...I couldn't believe it. I right click the downloaded file and check the properties, and sure enough, it was a 23MB download. I tried re-downloading SP2 and SP3 and the download was just as fast as yesterday...seconds instead of minutes. I checked my internet speed and the results are the same as always: Download Speed: 5773 kbps (721.6 KB/sec transfer rate) and Upload Speed: 956 kbps (119.5 KB/sec transfer rate)

No all files downloaded that quickly though; Acrobat Reader, which has turned into a gigiantic download was downloaded at a speed of a little over 400 KB/sec.

[CrowdAds]

[crabby]

That's cool!

What is your connection meant to be, and what did you get before? I have 8Mb so get on average around 750KB/s

crabby

[felix8406]

My previous connection was 3MB, but a few weeks ago I upgraded it to 6MB for $5.00 US extra. But even with 6MB, this is the first time I've experienced so fast of a download. Though 316MB is not as a big of file as a year ago, it's still a lot of data, and to downloaded in less than one minute is really fast.

[ProCookie]

That is quite rapid, do you think by enabling DMZ has somehow improved your connection? If you don't mind me asking im intrigued to know why you are setting up a sever, is it for filesharing or website hosting?

[felix8406]

I think that enabling DMZ is the reason why the files downloaded so quickly. But an advice to all, opening DMZ will open your PC to the word and if you don't know what you are doing, I suggest not to try it.

To answer your question: I had sometime in my hand due to a hurricane that was about to hit the southern portion of the US. Since I work on energy power plants and they are located by the coastline due their size, I had to stay home waiting for the storm to pass. Anyways, the server will be for file sharing and for practice. I tried Ubuntu Server, but can't get it to work. I did order a 120 evaluation of Microsoft Home Server, but by the time it gets here, I'll be on my way to work. If you or any of our members know of some free or trial software I can use, I'll appreciate it. Suggestions are welcome as well.

[ProCookie]

Well you can do file sharing directly from Windows XP but for more advance stuff like work domains and VPN's will require something like Windows Server which you can download a trial from here.


If you wanted to go down the hosting your own website root witch is more my feild, you can do so for free by using IIS or Apache directly within Windows XP for absolutely free. I host a few wordpress blogs and forums from my server machine.

p.s would that hurricane be gustav by any chance?

[felix8406]

Thanks for the info. Yes, it was Gustav; though now we have to worry about Ike. Hanna appears to be heading in a north-west direction and may not impact the gulf coast, but not sure about Ike.

I've tried Apache before, can't remeber why I unistalled it. I'll give IIS a try later on.

[ProCookie]

Do these hurricanes happen on a regular basis? Must be horrible trying to ride one out. I have often wondered if they eventually die out or do they just keep on going till they hit somewhere else?

As for IIS, i forgot to mention there is one flaw with IIS and that is on Windows XP machines it limits the amount of incoming connections to 10, meaning no more than 10 visits to your site at one time.

However Apache can handle unlimited amounts, to save time and a lot of hassle you can download an application called WAMP. This is an installer that has pre-configured versions of:

*Apache
*PHP
*MySql
*PHPMyAdmin

It installs them all at once and no configuration is required. Stuff like PHP and Mysql is required for hosting blogs and forums, so if you want to host anything other than a static html page then you might want to try it out.

Install PHP 5 Apache MySQL on Windows : WampServer

[felix8406]

Thanks for the info; already downloaded Wamp Server and will give it a try.

As for the hurricane, they usually die out when on land due to resistant or when encountering colder air or water. Their bigger threats are wind force of course, but also rain and tornado. Gustav didn't cause a lot of damage here in the US because it traveled quickly. A slow traveling hurricane can really rain in your parade.

[felix8406]

Downloaded WAMP, installed it and it worked perfectly. Thanks.

[felix8406]

To ProCookie or anyone that may have a suggestion; I installed the WAMP application as suggested and it works fine with one exception. I added a password to the root directory. Now, when I try accessing the phpMyAdmin file I received this: ERROR 1045: Access denied for user: 'root@localhost' (Using password: NO).

I edited and entered the password in config.inc, but I still get the same error. I googled the error and followed the suggestions I found, but still the same. Any thoughts?

[ProCookie]

By defualt the username is just root and not root@localhost, root@localhost is likely to be for SMTP or some sort of mail app.

[felix8406]

This is the message I receive when I go to http://localhost/phpmyadmin/. Your configuration file contains settings (root with no password) that correspond to the default MySQL privileged account. Your MySQL server is running with this default, is open to intrusion, and you really should fix this security hole. I tried adding the password directly through phpMyAdmin and through MySQL "Console" and still ended up with the same error, even after editing the config.inc.php file.

Just wanted to add that I can access MySQL console after creating the password, but not phpMyAdmin, which is needed to add/delete databases.

[ProCookie]

Hmm this is quite odd, technically changing the $cfg['Servers'][$i]['user'] and $cfg['Servers'][$i]['password'] lines in the config.inc.php file should work.

If its looking like you not going to find a cure for this i recommend replacing WAMP server for XAMPP server as XAMPP installs its own default website (running in localhost) were you can change all your passwords and security features visually rather than changing lines of code.

I should have recommended XAMPP to you originaly Felix as i get mixed up between the two, XAMPP is a lot more user friendly and it runs Apache,Php and MySql as Windows services meaning your site is always running quietly in the background.

Sorry bout that, glad you got everything else set up ok. How did you find setting up DnyDns? first time i set it up i had a little trouble on due to my network config.

[felix8406]

Thanks for the info. I finally got it to work, but it took a while. Editing line codes, though tedious, is interesting. The main thing is to copy and save the file just in case something goes wrong with the original file.

Concerning your DnyDns, did you have DMZ to your computer open? A while back I tried setting up the DnyDns without opening the DMZ or DMZplus, which is what is called on my 2Wire modem/router, and did have a few problems. Another thing I did this time, which I didn't do before was to configure Windows firewall to allow traffic through port 80.

By the way, I will give XAMPP a try tomorrow before I travel to my new assignment. Thanks.