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Right now I am trying to figure out the networking parameters of an upgrade of my service from my ISP. Right now I have a home network with a residential dynamic ip address. I am working on an application which I plan to put on a webserver.

My ISP has packages for static IPs which start at 1 IP. The single IP is what I am considering getting. I have only one domain that I need to have on a webserver. The plan would then be to have the modem assigned the IP and do port forwarding. The webserver would be on a committed Linux computer within the network.

What I wonder is if my equipment is sufficient. The modem is a Actiontec C1000A. There is no router in the network since wifi is enabled on the modem. The modem is pretty old and does not have a lot of features. Two important ones though are that it has port forwarding and permanent DHCP lease assignment. I wonder if that is enough. In the past, I have used dd-wrt (on a router) and was impressed with the functionality.

One thing that is not in the Actiontec C1000A settings is DNS configuration. The only panels are DNS Host Mapping and Dynamic DNS. What I am wondering is how I configure my host name with my static IP so my site is publicly accessible. Do I just contact my ISP? Is it not something I configure with my modem? In the past, I configured DNS Bind for my home network to register the host names of my computers.

If anyone has any recommendations for affordable equipment, I would be happy to hear that too. Also security recommendations.

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  • I strongly suggest you not host your website at home unless absolutely required. Virtual servers are relatively cheap. // Your ISP will not deal with your domain. You’ll have to handle that yourself, in any case.
    – Daniel B
    Commented Jan 19, 2020 at 19:11
  • The functionality of the website requires a database. I don't think I can use my database in the application unless I have my own webserver. Could you explain why a website from home is not advised?
    – Charles Dake
    Commented Jan 20, 2020 at 2:12
  • "My own webserver" does not imply having a whole physical server – the same can be done on a VM rented from some "cloud" hosting company (such as the popular Digital Ocean, Linode, etc.). Also, even specialized website-hosting plans which don't give direct server access still almost always include some amount of SQL database service.
    – grawity_u1686
    Commented Jan 20, 2020 at 5:32
  • The website makes a lot of use of GIS functions. I need to do computations on shp files for user interaction purposes. My system right now is to use python libraries. There are other functionalities like a Prolog program to compute logical relations between predicates in my tables. I would think that a virtual server could support this functionality. I am still attracted to the idea of being my own system administrator. I once worked as a system administrator on Linux server a while ago and enjoyed it (the software engineer was the 'real' system administrator though).
    – Charles Dake
    Commented Jan 20, 2020 at 14:13
  • Even on a virtual server, you are the administrator. The difference is a vastly better connection and direct public IP access, no NAT or port forwarding. If hacked, it’s not on your sensible local network.
    – Daniel B
    Commented Jan 20, 2020 at 17:40

2 Answers 2

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There is no router in the network since wifi is enabled on the modem.

The modem is also the router.

One thing that is not in the Actiontec C1000A settings is DNS configuration. The only panels are DNS Host Mapping and Dynamic DNS. What I am wondering is how I configure my host name with my static IP so my site is publicly accessible. Do I just contact my ISP? Is it not something I configure with my modem?

DNS is not automatically a two-way binding; the "name→IP" and "IP→name" translations are configured using separate records under separate zones and neither of them is configured on your router.

For hosting a website (as well as most other services) all you need is the regular or "forward" DNS, i.e. the name→IP lookup. Since the lookup is done from the domain name, it has nothing to do at all with your ISP – instead it starts at your domain's registrar.

Your ISP only controls the "reverse" DNS lookup (IP→name), which actually isn't used at all for web hosting. (Which is fortunate, because many consumer ISPs do not offer custom rDNS at all.)

In the past, I configured DNS Bind for my home network to register the host names of my computers.

You can run BIND as a nameserver for your domain, although I wouldn't recommend that on a home connection.

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  • Why is BIND not recommended on a home connection? Also with the domain, how do I register my static IP to a domain?
    – Charles Dake
    Commented Jan 20, 2020 at 2:19
  • IMHO, simply because many home connections are not quite reliable for hosting stuff... The issue is moot if your domain literally points to only one thing (a website on the same home server), but it could become a problem if e.g. your domain suddenly cannot receive email because home-run DNS server went down.
    – grawity_u1686
    Commented Jan 20, 2020 at 5:27
  • As far as domain setup goes, I was writing this with the assumption that you already own a domain... the general configuration is the same everywhere (add an "A" record for IPv4) but the exact way to do it differs greatly between different DNS hosting providers.
    – grawity_u1686
    Commented Jan 20, 2020 at 5:29
  • I was thinking that you meant it was not recommended due to security reasons. I can see why a home connection is not as preferred as say a business account in regards to service. Really for this though all I want to do is host a website that at this point no one knows about. On it would be some functionality with technical and theoretical value which I would like to demonstrate to employers if nothing else. It is not a commercial enterprise at all. Though I would be very happy to get some funding for it later on.
    – Charles Dake
    Commented Jan 20, 2020 at 13:55
  • So with the DNS, do I just need to register my IP with a DNS hosting provider? Then they will have specific steps according to how they do DNS right?
    – Charles Dake
    Commented Jan 20, 2020 at 14:08
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To be known in the outside world, you need to be registered with a DNS server that operates on the Internet. No local DNS server can do the job or be recognized by the Internet servers.

Your computer must belong to a domain, and the DNS server(s) of the domain must know your computer's name and IP address. Your options are:

  1. Buy your own domain name from some registrar
  2. Get a free DNS using Dynamic DNS.

An example of a free DNS provider is No-IP, although it will force you each month to confirm again your name. When using such a provider, you will be using the provider's domain name. For No-IP, the name will look like your-name.ddns.net.

If you want absolutely to have your own domain name, you will need to buy it. An example provider (registrar) is Namecheap, although I have never used that service. Another (costlier) one is GoDaddy.

When you buy the domain, the provider will usually register is on its DNS server, although you may also use the DNS service of any other web hosting company.

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  • I am buying a static IP with my ISP. Can't I register with their DNS server?
    – Charles Dake
    Commented Jan 20, 2020 at 2:14
  • @CharlesDake: 1) Most consumer ISPs outright do not offer authoritative DNS hosting as a service (that's a significantly different thing from recursive/caching DNS like 8.8.8.8 provides), and 2) in order to configure a domain on a DNS server you must first own a domain, which it sounds like you currently do not?
    – grawity_u1686
    Commented Jan 20, 2020 at 5:35
  • That depends on the ISP. Some give this service, some even for free, as sub-domain of their domain-name. You can of course ask. Normally this service, if available, should be listed on the ISP's website.
    – harrymc
    Commented Jan 20, 2020 at 7:06

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