Server – Make Ubuntu Server Public

16.04ipserver

I want to know how to make my ubuntu server ip public.
I'm not asking for a domain, if people would be able to access my website by ip, it would be great! (just for now)
Does someone have an idea how to do this?

Best Answer

Unless you specifically subscribed to a static IP from your Internet Service Provider you most likely have a dynamic IP. That means it's subject to change at anytime without you knowing it. If you publish your site by that IP people may eventually be connecting to a different site when your IP changes.

So if you want your specific computer/server to be available publicly you would first have to get a static IP from your Internet Service Provider (ISP).

Then you will register your domain name (an easy way for someone to access an IP Address... the domain is translated via a DNS server to your IP. This is a service provided by the place where you registered your domain name.

So now people can connect to your computer from the outside by using either the IP or your domain name.

For security and shared IP (using the same IP with multiple computers) your actually computer is separated from the Internet via a router. You can configure your routers (called port forwarding) to send the connection from the outside to your specific computer used for your server.

While there are many type of servers, most likely you are referring to a Web Page Server. This is port 80. So you will configure your router to forward connections from the outside that is trying to communicate to port 80 to your Web Server.

A list of things you might want to look at is:

  • Static IP from Internet service provider
  • Domain registration
  • Router for port forwarding traffic to your desired computer
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