where to host web server

[Ori Berger]

On 10/23/2012 10:57 AM, Shahar Dag wrote:
> The students will decide which web server and supporting programs to
> install (but it will be Linux) and then install everything they need.
>
> We cannot test in advanced that the web site & the machine behave in a
> reasonable way.
>
> Everything can be accessed internally via a limited network.

If this network is on the Technion network, and it has free access 
outside, everything bad that people described can happen. You just need 
an ssh tunnel or a <http://pagekite.net/> redirect, and you're on the 
open internet, almost equivalently to being there in the first place.

> The problem starts for example if you want to test your system from a
> mobile device via 3G. Here you need to open your system to the world.
> Currently we can’t do it (for next year we will try to host a virtual
> cluster in the DMZ).

one ssh -L to tx, or a pagekite account, is all it takes to make it 
accessible to everything and everyone. (I'm not suggesting you do that - 
I'm suggesting that being directly routeable is not a requirement for it 
to be "open").

If you want to test it from a mobile device, you can put a $30 wireless 
router, and set that mobile device to use that wireless router's wifi. 
If you want 3G speeds and problems, you can do traffic shaping.

If you can afford ~50nis/project, use a VPS server. A quick review of 
LowEndBox says you can get a 256MB VPS, internet routable, for $4/month, 
which would be 50 nis for a semester. (There are even cheaper options).