Offsite operation of WWW pages

[(Greg Barniskis)]

Peter Mathews wrote:

>We have developed a set of WWW pages for our organisation but "hit the wall" 
>when it came to upgrading our network to put the necessary firewalling into 
>place.
>
>It looks to us as though a cheaper, easier and generally better way to go is 
>to mount the pages on another (provider's) system.
[clip]
>I would appreciate comments from members of this group on your pros and cons 
>for adopting such a strategy.
[clip]
>mathews at acer.edu.au  (Soon http://www.acer.edu.au/people/pgm.html I hope)

Perhaps I'm missing something. By your address, it looks as though your site
is already open to the Internet, and that you hope to expand by adding a www
server at your site. 

If your site is open to the Internet and no firewalling is already
installed, why would it be necessary to upgrade your network or install new
firewalling services prior to mounting a web server? If, on the other hand,
you are outsourcing your mail service to a 3rd party already, wouldn't they
be the obvious choice for your web service as well?

If you already have your network tied to the Internet there's no reason
(barring financial hardship) why you shouldn't mount the web server locally.
A low-end server platform can be put up for a very reasonable price if you
are willing to invest some administration time. In my opinion that's the
"generally better" way to do things, as it keeps you in the driver's seat. A
web server might even reside on the same platform as your mail server, if
traffic was not expected to be heavy.

On the other foot, if you have to build a web service from scratch, and you
feel it necessary to firewall your network, and cannot share these costs
with other projects... It is almost certainly the most cost-effective
solution to outsource to a 3rd party.

-----------------------------------------------------
Greg Barniskis                    gregb at doit.wisc.edu
Network Administrator                  (608) 266-6394      
South Central Library System (SCLS)     fax: 266-6068
Library Interchange Network (LINK)

"My opinions coincide with those of my employer only
 by coincidence (or when they say so)."