Re: Web Server behind ZoneAlarm?

"Anthony" <amartin@whoever.com> wrote in message
news:1131018827.223584.183530@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
>I recently subscribed to a cable broadband connection and want to run a
> web server on my XP machine. I am already running ZoneAlarm Pro. What
> do I have to do to allow access to my web server without unreasonably
> compromising security? From what I read, I have to open port 80 in
> ZoneAlarm, but how does this affect security?
>
> thanks

A hardware device (NAT router) is preferable to ZoneAlarm. In theory I don't
see anything wrong with using ZoneAlarm, but it/you may have opened ports
for other services that you don't want exposed to the internet. When I went
broadband at home and put in a NAT router (as well as enabling me to share
broadband between pcs) I observed that the number of attacks zone alarm
detected dropped to zero and stayed there.

Back to your question, yes, it should be just port 80. However broadband
providers vary and I gather that some block port 80 to prevent you from
running a webserver. This isn't an issue, it just means you move to a
different port. You will also need a way of allowing others to identify your
pc on the internet. If your ip address is static then this won't be a
problem but if it changes (or isn't guaranteed as static) then you'll save
yourself a lot of agro by signing up for a dynamic dns service - take a look
at www.no-ip.com, their free service is great.

Something else to remember with broadband is that the upload speed is much
much slower than your download speed. This means that it probably won't be
suitable for web hosting if you get more than a couple of visitors at a
time. So fine for a small hobby site or as a "play thing", but not much
else.

Hope this is useful.

-- 
Brian Cryer
www.cryer.co.uk/brian