theholtsite

Some of you are aware (and others just don’t care) that I’ve been hosting this site and several others on my various computers throughout the years. This is really geeky (which is why I’ve done it). I host my own mySQL databases, FTP server, Apache customized server, and mail server.

I first discovered I could do this on my blue dalmation iMac after college. An exciting time in geekdom, I learned about Unix for the first time and how OS X came with a host of built-in BSD open source programs, all built-in under the hood just waiting for the unsuspecting geek to discover it! Instead of paying someone else or using a free service with ads, I spent days figuring out how to serve and design my own site.

Over the years, some of my friends discovered that I could provide hosting at very low fees and took advantage of it. I had fun learning to set up “virtual servers” which allow one computer to host multiple sites. As none of these were extremely high traffic sites, my cable connection and iMac were sufficient to serve web sites to the world – just like $50,000 servers! I’ve never really had problems with bandwidth either.

Some sites I’ve hosted so far:

theholtsite.com – Our site! I first started hosting on geocities in 2000. My college buddy and roommate Brandon (also the best man in my wedding) taught me HTML and design. This was my first experience with coding websites. A history of my design work on our site can be found here.

scottmatthewpittman.com – An old friend from college, this guy used to own the Sugar Shack in downtown Lowell. I played there a few times and got to know Scott, a Lowell native who knows pretty much everyone there (I’m not kidding). He’s also the best drummer I’ve ever met in person. Scott came to Harbor of Hope (our church) when it was still meeting in a public school auditorium back in the day. Scott’s site is still live and designed by me (with his imput).

therolliefingers.com – A band forming in Lowell knew Scott and he recommended me for design and hosting for their new CD release. I designed their site for around $70 and hosted it for about a year. This band/site no longer exists.

tdimaging.com – Jill and I lived with the Dickersons for a couple years in their drafty 200 sq. ft. apartment. Their son Thanh is a great guy who runs his own architectural business. He’s currently a missionary in Hungary as well, so I agreed to host his site for free a few years ago. This site is still live, although I’m not sure how much traffic it gets.

blastechstudios.com – A site for Peter Trailer, our old neighbor and former Young Life leader. Jill grew up knowing his family from church, and this site was for his artistic portfolio. No longer active.

ndaman.com – My best friend Nate went on a mission trip to New Zealand with YWAM for about a year. He wanted people back home to be able to look at pictures and write him notes during his long absence, and so we set up this site. He got tons of guestbook entries (being a popular guy) and put up some great pictures. This site is still active, although Nate is a bit infrequent about updating stuff.

worcesterccn.com – WCCN is a collection of campus ministries. This site serves the Worcester area with info about various meetings, studies, and events. A couple of my friends (Nate and Jeff) are involved in various ministries with WCCN. This site is still active.

I’ve also hosted various sites from our site for my brother, sister, and sister-in-law. These are very old and rather embarrassing to all of them, so I won’t put the links 🙂

Anyway, recently I have purchased a hosting plan from another site for all my current domains. Jill’s computer is the server and must always be left on with few apps running, and she wanted something more portable. I bought her an iBook today and we are selling my faithful server. Migration will take some time since I have a lot of code and web applications that have been configured for my server and must be re-coded or re-installed. Yet another adventure in serving web sites!

It is rather sad that my era of hosting sites on a cable connection with an iMac has come to an end. It was a source of personal pride and geekery. Perhaps someday I will return to the world of hosting.