Yesterday I made my first server programn and it was just a basic chat room like msn messenger. I gave a copy to my friends but as i have a dynamic ip address they can't connect to it as the ip is always different and it would cost me loads to leave my computer on all night. Then i decided to buy a domain and hosting for that domain on a windows server.Is it possible to upload the .exe file that is the server for my chat room and then run it on the hosting server and then people connect to the program by using the domain name which i have bought? If it is possible could you please tell me how to do it.

Generally, no. Most web hosts will at most offer some server side scripting, via PHP, Perl, ASP, etc.

Forum FAQ question #20.

Depends on the hosting company.

I lease a server at Crystaltech (http://www.crystaltech.com) for $79/mo, and I get unrestricted root access to the box. I can install any software I want on it and terminal serve into it anytime. I've run network game servers on it, Teamspeak, and a number of other programs on it that I've written myself.

Robert

If the problem is only the dynamic IP address, then you might want to try a solution that provides you dynamic DNS updates. However, if the problem is also that you're paying by connection time (as you would if you're on dial-up in Europe) then you can't really get around that without leasing a self-managed server.