Home Server & Wake On Lan (wol) - Apache

dd11 · 04-05-2009, 22:12

Would it be possible to host a website on my old pc that supports Wake On Lan feature so that i don't have to leave it on 24/7,
so it's just in standby an when somebody goes to access my site it wakes up and works normaly? then say after 20mins of being idle i set it so it goes back into standby.

the pc would only take a few seconds to be up and running from sleep, would the browser just timeout or could this work fine?

(i'd be using apache if that makes any dfference).

brundles · 04-05-2009, 22:27

There's no reason you couldn't do that setup, but (AFAIK) you couldn't use the web access as the WOL trigger without some intermediary. The WOL is triggered by a specifically designed packet (known as a magic packet) sent to the network card that includes the MAC of that card. The other complication is that the majority of home routers aren't particularly WOL friendly - it all boils down to what port forwarding options they use and how they deal with the ARP table I think.

If the site is to be used by a very select number of people you could give them the MAC details so they can wake the PC up themselves if it's not running, but that's about it I think.

dd11 · 04-05-2009, 22:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by brundles

There's no reason you couldn't do that setup, but (AFAIK) you couldn't use the web access as the WOL trigger without some intermediary. The WOL is triggered by a specifically designed packet (known as a magic packet) sent to the network card that includes the MAC of that card. The other complication is that the majority of home routers aren't particularly WOL friendly - it all boils down to what port forwarding options they use and how they deal with the ARP table I think.

If the site is to be used by a very select number of people you could give them the MAC details so they can wake the PC up themselves if it's not running, but that's about it I think.

oh i get you i think, So i could possibly have it set up so my domain name goes to a free hosting site where i can just have a simple page saying "enter here" or somthing like that, and that enter here link actualy sends a magic packet to my pc waking it up and directing the user to my home site...if that all makes sense? (and hoping my router is friendly enough).

brundles · 04-05-2009, 22:45

Hmm - I'm not sure if there is anything like the service you describe but there (partularly for free) are plenty of people on here that know more about those things.

What might be an option is if the hosting site does a forwarding but falls back to a custom 404 page unavailable message giving people details on how to wake the PC up when it can't. There are plenty of free WOL packet generators available on the internet.

Out of curiosity, how would you track the 20 minutes inactivity prior to shutdown?

dd11 · 04-05-2009, 23:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by brundles

Hmm - I'm not sure if there is anything like the service you describe but there (partularly for free) are plenty of people on here that know more about those things.

What might be an option is if the hosting site does a forwarding but falls back to a custom 404 page unavailable message giving people details on how to wake the PC up when it can't. There are plenty of free WOL packet generators available on the internet.

Out of curiosity, how would you track the 20 minutes inactivity prior to shutdown?

Yh that could be an option, i surpose the easiest thing to do (other than paying for web hosting) would be to just leavethe machine on, but its not going to see loads of visitors, at least not a one time anyway, so im concerned how much electricity it might use.

i was just going to use the power options in windows, i.e when pc is idle for however long goes to sleep/low power mode. (or find some other program to do it).

Callumpy · 05-05-2009, 00:41

I leave my server on, it doesnt take too much power, but if you ran more than just a website on it itd be more worth it.

dd11 · 05-05-2009, 13:42

ahh, i see Callumpy, just been on it, nicely done. how much do you think it costs you in electric a month?

Graham M · 05-05-2009, 14:50

If it's just a web server for personal sites you'd be best off getting a hosting account with a company such as http://www.hostforweb.com/packages/index.php and paying £3/month for web hosting and £5 for 2 years for a .co.uk domain name, would work out a lot cheaper than leaving a PC switched on all the time

haydnwalker · 05-05-2009, 15:23

How about trying to get a low consumption PSU for your server? I'm presuming the spec isn't all that high if its running Apache alone?

I haven't really looked it up so unsure of pricing etc but I'm sure this would help. TBH I don't think the electricity would be a great cost, I leave my PCs/Laptop on all day and our leccy bill isn't really any more than it would be without (maybe a fiver here and there). The biggest drain would be your monitor, so either, disconnect it, or switch it off (at the mains) unless its needed. Also, you don't have to put the PC into sleep if idle, just get it to turn the HDD off, and it will spin back up when its in use (it will save power and heat (so the noise will be less too)

Kymmy · 05-05-2009, 15:29

What I'm more worried about is the time it'll take for a full wake-up including HDD spin-up, surely most web browsers will have timed out by then,,

Callumpy · 05-05-2009, 15:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by dd11

ahh, i see Callumpy, just been on it, nicely done. how much do you think it costs you in electric a month?

Cheers

also im not sure how much leccy its taken but i know it hasnt been alot more than without the server or my dad would be moaning and shouting about it being on.

---------- Post added at 15:51 ---------- Previous post was at 15:50 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kymmy

What I'm more worried about is the time it'll take for a full wake-up including HDD spin-up, surely most web browsers will have timed out by then,,

And thats what i was thinking

it would be better to leave it on.

Stuart · 05-05-2009, 16:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kymmy

What I'm more worried about is the time it'll take for a full wake-up including HDD spin-up, surely most web browsers will have timed out by then,,

It would be expensive, but he could replace the hard drive with an SSD...

No need to spin up, quiet, low power consumption and fast.

Kymmy · 05-05-2009, 16:49

Now that's an idea for my server

How much are the drives these days?

Stuart · 05-05-2009, 18:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kymmy

Now that's an idea for my server

How much are the drives these days?

The cheapest ebuyer have is 80 gig and about £280.. http://www.ebuyer.com/search?store=2&cat=4&subcat=2309

Callumpy · 05-05-2009, 18:29

Not cheap then lol.

Omg, £577.49 for a 160GB