Steps to make a J2EE project LIVE on internet

Hi All,

I am making a small project using J2EE technology for learning purpose.
For my personal intrest I want to make it LIVE on Internet. Actually I want people to use this project as a utility.

I am using :
Java, JSPs, Servlets, Simple beans (NO EJB), Tomcat 6.0 , JDK 1.5 and MYSQL as a DataBase.

It should have :
- Mail server to send the automatic mails at regular interval.
- I should be able to configure Schedulers which will execute java files.

Uptill now I have not uploaded anything on internet except some HTML pages. That too on free web hosting websites.

As per my understanding, to make my project LIVE on Internet, I need to do the following things :

- Purchase a Domain Name.
- Purchase WebSpace from some web-hosting company.
- Install Tomcat 6.0, JDK 1.5 and MYSQL. And configure them exactly as I have done on my PC.
- Configure the schedulars.
- Configure the mail server.
- After configuration I have to start the Tomcat server, MYSQL server and mail server.
- Configure the 'Domain Name' to the web-space provided by web-hosting company. ( It should be done by web-hosting company)
- Then I have to distribute the Domain name to my friend so that they can use it.

Maintenance part :
- To check the Tomcat Server logs on regular basis.
- To check the DB Server logs on regular basis.
- To take the regular back-up of DB data.

Queries :

- As I need to send the mails so I require a mail server. Whether web hosting company will provide this mail server or Just like Tomcat and MYSQL I will have to use some Open source mail server.
- If I have to use some Open source mail server, please suggest the same.

Please suggest If I have missed any thing in above mentioned list as I am completly new to this field of web-hosting and J2EE .

Many thanks for your suggestions !!

Regds
-Vivek

- Install Tomcat 6.0, JDK 1.5 and MYSQL.

I'd advise not to purchase a plan that provides nothing but a bare-bones machine where you have to install all this. It may even be cheaper to use a plan where all this is pre-installed, since in that case the hosting company has an easier time monitoring the server because it's a standard setup.

Whether web hosting company will provide this mail server

Most Java hosting plans will include this. Not the very cheapest ones, but anything that's around $15/month or more will include a mail server.

You may wish to look at a few different hosting companies, just to get a feel of what they offer and charge: http://faq.javaranch.com/java/ServletsFaq#hosting