A
personal web server, or
personal server in short, allows users to store, selectively share, or publish information on
the web or on a home network. Unlike other types of
web servers, a personal web server is owned or controlled by an individual, and operated for the individual's needs, instead of by a company. It can be implemented in different ways:
- as an appliance
- as a general-purpose server, such as a Linux server, which may be located at the owner's home or in a data center
- in a shared hosting model, where several users share one physical server by means of virtualization, or virtual hosting.
- as one feature of a computer that is otherwise also used for other purposes.