Hosting a website on a static IP Internet connection

Note: Many Internet Service Providers that provide static IP addresses to their customers do not allow website hosting over these connections unless the customer opts for a specialized account. In our experience, personal websites often get overlooked when it comes to these regulations, but to be safe, check up on your provider's policies before you proceed further.

Provided your ISP allows it, hosting a website on a static IP connection is extremely easy. All you need to do is either register a domain (as covered above) and provide your static IP address as the target for the domain, or simply use your static IP address as a means to get to your web page.

If your IP should eventually change for some reason, simply updating your domain name with the new information or using the new IP address in your browser will suffice.

Using Dynamic DNS services to acquire a domain name for a static IP

If you read the section above on dealing with dynamic IP addresses, you will have noted that dynamic DNS services all provide you with a domain name by default. You can take advantage of this even if you have a static IP address. Sign up for the service, create your domain name and link it with your home PCs static IP address, either through the service's downloadable client or directly on their website. Presto, you have a domain name that people can type into a browser to reach your website.

Finally! Your own website.

If you've followed the above instructions carefully, you should be able to enter the domain name or IP address of your web server in any browser and be greeted with your brand new website. Congratulations! You now know enough to start delving deeper into the mysteries of IIS configuration. The IIS control panel can be accessed by right clicking 'my computer' and selecting 'manage', then expanding 'services and applications' and clicking on 'Internet Information Service'.

There are many, many control options here, which are beyond the scope of this article, but which we may delve deeper into in later guides. If you have any comments or questions, please post them in the PCSTATSForums or drop us a line at the Feeback page.