Home web server
 

Looking to make an in-house web server for various things and am looking for software. I mainly develop in ASP (using javascript as the back-end language), MS SQL, etc. But installing and configuring IIS and SQL Server is a bit overkill for such a small project. I suppose I could simply connect to an Access database instead of a full-fledged SQL server, but still want something a little more simple than IIS and the overhead it has. To be clear, this will be just for in-house apps, nothing accessible from the outside world, but still want/need a database driven back end.

Don't get me wrong, I am fully capable of setting up an enterprise-level setup, but it's a little overkill. I know there's apache and MySQL, but I don't feel like learning PHP right now, and MySQL is still probably more than I need.

Any ideas? If not, I'll probably throw XP Pro on a spare box, install IIS, and use either MySQL or a simple Access database.

I believe, if you want to stick with ASP, IIS is your only option. An Apache/MySQL/PHP build is fairly straightforward to configure & maintain, especially if you're not going to open it to the world. But you would have the headache of PHP.

So yeah, I think you've pretty well narrowed it down - PHP or ASP, and that dictates your choice of webserver.

I decided to go with the IIS/ASP setup. No learning curve that way. Now, I just need a box to slap it all in. Nothing major needed, just something fairly current. I already have a monitor/keyboard/mouse (although, I'll be using remote administration most often) and OS, so all I need is a box. Anyone have something REALLY cheap? If not, I'm gonna go with one of these:

Bare bones kit has everything I need for under $200: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...51404&CatId=31

If I want something smaller with a KB, mouse, and screen built-in, I was thinking of something like this for a tiny bit more: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...583&CatId=2814

Either will work fine for a web server for in-home use...