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vled

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steps to setup a web server in SBS 2003

What are the steps to setup a web server in SBS 2003 that is accessible from the internet.
I need a public URL for a web server called http://app1.mydomain.com 

The SBS 2003 server is currently setup as follows:

1.      It is not setup to host email.  Exchange is being used for the internal domain
                  email and pop3 email only.  

2.      Their  internet domain name is registered at godaddy . They are using godaddy’s
                  pop3 email service in each work station running outlook.

3.      They were running on dynamic and just switched to a business grade internet
                 account with 5 static public ip addresses.  No external DNS records have been
                 setup yet.
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SvenIA
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Avatar of Cliff Galiher
This is really dependent on the "app" you plan on hosting. Each application has its own rules for how it likes to be hosted. With that said, as a general rule, I think it is a terrible idea to allow *any* 3rd-party website or app to have public internet access *and* run on a domain controller (which, SBS is a domain controller.)  It is better to have a separate server for these apps, simple member servers without domain implications. Even better if the app in question supports being in a DMZ so you get some isolation from your internal network.

And as long as we are talking about best practices, pop3 collection was designed as a transition technology and is *not* meant to be used long term in SBS. Pop3, as a protocol (not unique to SBS) has some serious limitations and there are some real negative security implications running that setup...most notably all of your passwords are being transmitted over the internet in clear-text.

Moving to a full SMTP delivery is actually quite trivial and the benefits are significant. If you are using Exchange internally already, the change is one DNS record. I strongly urge you to consider this, even though it is unrelated to your question.

-Cliff