[lug] name based hosting

[Peter Hutnick]

> Hey,
>   So, i know this is lame but....I have a few customers who want to
> put up some web-pages that might get 10 hits a year, 9 of wich will be
> me. Anyway i want to host these pages on my dsl. I only have one ip and
> i am  hosting
> my own domain....so,could i use apache with name based hosting to do
> this. is this reliable, any pros or cons, or is name based host for
> something  completly diffrent?

The downsides to name based hosting are 1. only works with HTTP 1.1 (which
almost everyone uses) and the failure mode is ugly, 1.0 users get the
default page 2. You can only host one secure site per IP*.

It doesn't sound like either one of these is an issue for you, so I think
you are on the right track.

> Also, i would host there mail accounts, i
> am still  pretty new to sendmail...is setting up multiple domain mail
> with sendmail a  big deal?

Check the docs on http://www.sendmail.org.  It isn't a big deal at all to
receive mail for a domain.

If you are going to accept mail from these people for delivery to
arbitrary internet hosts you need to take steps to avoid becoming an open
relay.  It is best if you can get them to relay their mail through their
ISP.  If they have dynamic IPs and need you to do their outgoing mail it
is going to be difficult for you.

Good Luck!

-Peter

* technically you can only host one site per IP/port pair, but who wants
to run a secure site on a non-standard port?

-P