Running a server for local access

[SifJar]

I want to setup a server on my (Windows) PC that can be accessed over my local WiFi network. [The reason for this is so I can have a script set to screenshot my computers screen every few seconds and put it on the server, then have an auto-refreshing HTML page which I can view on my tablet to display the image taken - at the moment I am using Dropbox, but that means each image takes time to upload to Dropbox and also unnecessarily consumes bandwidth]. The problem is I don't really know much about servers etc. I tried to setup Micro Apache, but got confused about how to set it up.

Basically what I would like is if someone can point me in the direction of a decent tutorial for setting up and configuring a server (I don't care what software it is, as long as it works and is free), or easier to set up software?

 

[Zetta_x]

Would you be able to create one folder where the images are saved and then share it across the network?

Assign a username and password on the computer that will have this shared folder that you want to use (for security purposes).

Similar to a network drive or connecting to a server, the UNC name would be

\\PC-NAME\SHARENAME
Username: Designated Username
Password: Designated Password



Map the network drive onto any device you want to access (as if you had Windows Server or any other server operating system)
Then use the script to pull files from that mapped network drive.

The reason why this would be effective is that network drive will be active as long as the computer is not in hibernate and off, as long as it's taking screenshots, it should be neither.

Interesting idea though, are you trying to catch someone in their "dirty" activities?

 

[SifJar]

Nah, I don't think that will work. I need to have the image embedded in an HTML file for handy auto-refreshing. Don't think there is any easy way for me to even access an image from a shared network folder via my tablet (a BlackBerry PlayBook), let alone refresh automatically at regular intervals. Unless I misunderstand how that works.

And the main purpose of this is so I can easily monitor downloads on my laptop from elsewhere in the house/my bed. Nothing as exciting as trying to spy on others

EDIT: I may also at some point add another HTML page to monitor other stuff about my computer e.g. free RAM, CPU etc., almost just for the sake of it. Partly because maybe it could be useful, but mostly just to see if I can.

 

[Zetta_x]

Ahhhh, sounds awesome.

That's what it would be, create an HTMl file that loads the image from:

"SomePath\picture"

Then when you load the html file, it pulls the file from SomePath\picture. As long as the picture file keeps being overwritten, you would have what you were talking about.

Unfortunately, a quick read on black berries; you won't be able to map the network path.

 

[SifJar]

Yeah, that's the problem. So I think I need to run a server instead.

 

[FAST6191]

You could do this but why go to the hassle when you can just use a VNC instead and have the added bonus of being able to control your PC.
http://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/content/45448/?lang=en
Works with TightVNC and UltraVNC which are both free and pretty awesome.

Still if you did want to make a server there are a few although I have not needed a lightweight server like this on a windows system in some time and it seems my old standbys are now payware nonsense. Not sure if http://www.voidtools.com/ is the sort of thing you want (it does a nice file listing/http server for it) and if you want to go overkill http://www.uniformserver.com/ (it is more or less a full server setup aimed at people developing websites).

 

[Rydian]

This is an easy-enough setup up apache, though it also includes PHP and MySQL and stuff.
http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html

 

[SifJar]

FAST6191: I have tried VNC before, couldn't get any free solution to work, didn't want pay for a better solution. Might try again. For now, I actually think this solution is "simpler", if far less useful.

Rydian: Thanks, I'll try that out.

EDIT: Didn't work at first, for the same reason it didn't work when I tried to set it up myself earlier. But I decided to actually fix it this time, and discovered the problem was that Skype was also using port 80, which Apache wanted to use, so I have changed Skype's settings to not use port 80. It's working now, on my computer at least. I'll try it from my PlayBook now, and then edit my script to make it all work nicely.

EDIT: Yeah, it is now working pretty much exactly as I had planned. Thanks Rydian.