"Setting up a server"-ish thing

Rui 'Trovatore' Pires · Wed 23/08/2006 10:06:04

So, I'm a member of a cultural association mostly related to singing. The other day I was chatting with a fellow associate, and we started thinking about how nice and how ideal it would be if we could have an online space for ourselves - doesn't need to be fancy, just someplace where we could, say, view/download score sheets, videos of our performances, maybe rare recordings (or not so rare) of opera, both video and audio...

...well, we liked the idea and would like to look into it. Now, buying a domain name and therefore using a server provider (or whatever the name is, I'm still pretty much a net newb) is not a good option. We don't mind the monthly charge, there's some pretty good deals on that nowadays, but if we really put up recordings of opera (i.e., videos), not only the bandwidth would skyrocket, it would also not be strictly legal, y'see, and I'd live in fear of someone catching up. Especially when what we want isn't exactly a P2P site, or anything, we just want an online archive - an online version of "buy the video and put it in the association for everyone to see".

So my pal came up with the idea of setting up our own server. From what we understand, it shouldn't be too hard, as long as we are willing to have a peecy running 24/7. Sure, cool with us.

Now this is where it gets trickier, and this is where it needs help. What are the next steps, after you have a peecy? I've been sent to gather information about it, about the costs, about how feasible is it, and whatnot, so I thought I'd ask the community, so many people here really know their stuff.

One more thing - There would be an administrator, ayuh? But the administrator does not need to actually use that computer in order to add things, does he? I mean, he can just log in from any computer to change whatever he needs, ayuh?

I'd just like to say that on an initial phase, we're not looking for anything fancier than, say, the current look of the "Bycicle for Slugs" archive. 'specially since when we're ready we'll just make an HTML page and put it there, that's how it works... right?

Well, that's about it. Pretty tall order, I guess. Just one thing before I go, keep in mind that I am pretty much a net-newb, like I said. Assume, in your explanation, that I know next to nothing net-related. And if this is waaaay over my head, please let me know... but explain the whole thing all the same.

I could learn, after all. Or if not, there are some people I know who would understand.

So long, and thanks for all the ~~fish~~ help.

SSH · Wed 23/08/2006 10:13:32

Why woudl not using a hosting provider avoid any legal liability? In fact, you're more likely to be sued, as a record company, etc. would probably prefer to sue a hosting provider if there is one, as they would have more money, than some local music association...

Rui 'Trovatore' Pires · Wed 23/08/2006 10:41:07

Well, the problem isn't the being "sued", per se, it's the fact that, while buying the stuff and putting it on our association for everyone to see is ok, buying it and putting it online restricted to just those same people is probably piracy. And I really don't want to be accused of that, law enforcement has been coming down heavy on pirates, and I was under the impression that if I used a provider it might notice the huge transfers when people viewed/downloaded the videos, and either take action themselves or notify someone else who would.

Toefur · Wed 23/08/2006 11:13:23

The chances of getting into trouble for hosting that sort of thing are slim, to none. It's not as if it would be distributed around, and openly advertised for all to see. If you were with a hosting provider, if the copyright holder found out (or someone else reported you) they'd either contact you with a cease and desist (remove the downloads) or contact the host, who would then either tell you to remove the items, or terminate your account.

If you are hosting it on your own server with your own conneciton(as opposed to shared hosting, leasing a server, or co-locating), you'd need to take into account: the computer needs to be connected to a decently fast connection if people don't want to be waiting around for days for things to download... and, if it's on your own server connected to the internet it means the ihome nternet connection is basically being used to serve the data.

So, back to piracy issues: in this case, if the Internet Service Provider has an issue with you hosting this stuff on their internet connection, they'll terminate the account. And, chances are if it's a standard residential internet account... then they aren't going to take too kindly to it serving massive amounts of data.

Really, rahter than having to learn how to manage your own server and stuff, I think it'd be easier to just find a decent host and set up there and hope that nobody finds out...

Rui 'Trovatore' Pires · Wed 23/08/2006 11:50:54

Oh. I see. Well, that makes it a lot easier.

I'll search around the forums for suggestions on a good host, then. Thanks kindly.

Toefur · Wed 23/08/2006 12:09:56

Well hey, now! I didn't mean to entirely discourage you! It's still a possibility, especially if you want to learn some new computer related tricks!

It'd suck if you had it all on one server, and got your account cancelled, and then had to upload it all somewhere else over again.

I guess that'd be the benefit of having it on a PC right with you, you could just copy things onto there instead of uploading it over the net.

What about torrents? If you made torrents of the large files, it could be a lot easier and cheaper, and you'd be serving those from a computer of your own (or someone elses), don't have to worry about it using lots of bandwidth and so on.

Rui 'Trovatore' Pires · Wed 23/08/2006 12:13:56

Oh, you didn't discourage me, you just convinced me that there really is no reason to go to all the trouble of setting up my own host. My main concern was unfounded. And no, torrents or P2P software aren't the way either - many people in the association have no idea how to work those... we'd just like something simple for everyone to use.

Evil · Thu 24/08/2006 03:31:48

You're more likely to get noticed by your ISP and then they'll slap a big fine on you. Most ISPs don't allow ANY servering of any kind. If you're doing low end websites, you could slip by, but if you're doing big transfers all the time and your bandwidth shoots up, then you'll be in trouble.

And for God's sake, don't call and ask them about it.