gsanjeevkumar Posted October 8, 2011 Share Posted October 8, 2011 Hi Friends, I am really wanting to know how to get a web server running on a Wireless Router. I wanted to know if I can have a USB Thumb Drive inserted in to the interface provided on most Routers these days and host all the files required in it, and then configure the Wireless router as needed. Once this is done any client who could connect to this Wifi network can access the web server and the site hosted on it. Please let me know ... thanks in advance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr-Protocol Posted October 8, 2011 Share Posted October 8, 2011 I don't see why you want to host a local web server to only people who connect to your router?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digip Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 Not practical in use, and not what they are designed for, but most routers, already have some form of modest web server, hence the interface in which you configure them over http/https. Most are some small http server with little to no functionality other than to administer the device. That said, set up a virtual machine, bridged, and let it get an address from the router, then port forward port 80 to the VM's IP. You can get a pre-built VM with all the bells and whistles too from Turnkey Linux. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gsanjeevkumar Posted October 9, 2011 Author Share Posted October 9, 2011 Not practical in use, and not what they are designed for, but most routers, already have some form of modest web server, hence the interface in which you configure them over http/https. Most are some small http server with little to no functionality other than to administer the device. That said, set up a virtual machine, bridged, and let it get an address from the router, then port forward port 80 to the VM's IP. You can get a pre-built VM with all the bells and whistles too from Turnkey Linux. Thanks for the Reply, the following are the restrictions/limitations I am dealing with I cannot connect to any network other than the Wifi Network Created by the router (as this is a fall back plan, no connectivity to resources other than the router and its USB Thumb Drive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gsanjeevkumar Posted October 9, 2011 Author Share Posted October 9, 2011 I don't see why you want to host a local web server to only people who connect to your router?? This is the fall back plan, once there is not connectivity to internet or the VPN via a Switch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digip Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 (edited) Let me ask you this. How is the router administered? Because by default, its web interface will use either http or https. So people coming to view this "website" will see the routers config page. This is why you would want the service on a separate device and port forward to it. Even if its a wireless router, if you wanted something really compact, get a small wall wart like the pogo plug, put debian on it and apache something like thttpd, then just serve off of that. Adrian did a talk at Derbycon about how to put Debian on a pogoplug (http://www.amazon.com/Pogoplug-POGO-E02-Multimedia-Sharing-Device/dp/B0033WSDR4) which also accepts a USB key for storage and wifi nic cards on usb. You could essentially turn it into a small web server/access point and bridge it with your existing router, then just port forward to the pogo for serving pages. Its probably not powerful enough to use as a wireless router itself, but shouldn't be too much work to turn it into a small web server. Edited October 9, 2011 by digip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Infiltrator Posted October 11, 2011 Share Posted October 11, 2011 Or if you have a spare machine lying around in your house, you could turn it into a web server. Setting it up, its not difficult at all, just download Apache and install it as a normal application. Once installed, you will need to enable port 80 on your machine's firewall as well as forward port 80 on your router, so your friends can access your web server from the internet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justapeon Posted October 22, 2011 Share Posted October 22, 2011 We have run Debian on an old Cisco Linksys nslu2 with apache, but lightppd (spelling!) or nginx might have been better, Heard of people running a web server on an old 486 with bsd. Old machines are a dime a dozen. There are a;so ide to compact flash adapter interfaces so you do not have to have an hd running. I would be interested in the pogoplug if you can in fact run Debian without a big hassle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unasoto Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 Lots of corporations have internal web servers That you can log into when you get to work this would be just the same thing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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