To start, you should understand a bit about the internet. Surprisingly, most people don't know what their computer is doing when they go to a website. When you type in a URL, like www.google.com, your computer sends a message over the internet to a "server". It's Google's server (it's really just a computer). Your computer asks to see a document stored on Google's computer, and Google's computer sends it back. Your computer then shows you the document (in this case, it's the Google Homepage). This is how you see all the things you view on the internet. When you make your website, the things people see when they go to your site will all have to be stored on a computer. In other words, your site has to be "hosted" somewhere. It could be on your own computer (in this case, your computer would be considered a server), or you could have another company store it on their server. Just remember, a "server" is just another computer, but it's special because it "serves" webpages to whoever asks for them.
Ok, so we know that a server is just a computer that serves webpages... So, how do you make your computer a server?
Here we'll outline the basics:
- Your computer needs a special program running - this program listens for requests from other computers and sends out webpages when requests come. The most common web server program is called Apache.
- Other computers must have a clear path to send signals to your computer. Most home Wi-Fi networks have a firewall in the way. We'll learn how to open up just enough of the firewall to let other computers talk to your server, and still be safe from threats on the internet.
- We'll learn about IP addresses, and how you can ensure that other computers will always be able to find your web server.
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