Android - FTP / HTTP servers

[#1]

Hey gang
Just wanted to know if anyone has any experience of running http / ftp servers on their android devices? - More specifically mobile phones!
Why do I ask?
Well I'm thinking that my website being hosted on my mates server is a bit restricted - i can't run scripts for longer than 30 seconds and email support is outbound only etc. I'd like to run some custom made mail server and a few other bits that allow the site to interact with users autonomously and while i can easily do this on a desktop PC via PN, I can't help but feel 3G might be a better option for me especially as the devices are low power and portable / easy to move without turning off etc.
Any feedback appreciated!

[#2]

Something like this?  
https://code.google.com/p/i-jetty/
Or this?  
http://lifehacker.com/5920173/use-your-android-phone-as-a-full-fledged-web-server
Or this?  
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.xeustechnologies.android.kws&hl=en
Rather than getting the servers working under Android, you may be able to install Linux on the phone instead?
http://developer.ubuntu.com/start/ubuntu-for-devices/installing-ubuntu-for-devices/
Are you happy that data usage is out of your control if you run servers over 3G though?  Also, do you get a public or NAT'ed address on your phone?  It may well be that you can't access the relevant ports on your device due to provider restrictions...

[#3]

You can't really run a mail server on a phone, unless you knock one up yourself.
Issues with space, usage, ports etc.
You could run it on a pi though with a large sdcard.

[#4]

Quote from: Hairy

You can't really run a mail server on a phone, unless you knock one up yourself.

Well I didn't find a shortage of them on google play!
As for ports etc, android is a full OS based on linux so I would be surprised if it really was that restricted...
Admittedly I have thought about using the pi however it's the power requirements - 700mA and not exactly easy to run from a battery. A phone / tablet runs from a battery and just requires a recharge when its low - ideal for being portable / moving house etc.

[#5]

I wasn't taking about the local ports but the ones blocked by your service provider. You also need a rooted device if you want to run any ports <1024.
I wouldn't think about running a mail server as a temp thing, it is all or nothing really. An email CLIENT on the other hand...
I host my domain on Gmail, connection from anywhere on the net, imap/pop3/web clients supported, much easer to admin as well, no spam filtering needed or worrying about running out of space.

[#6]

The problem with that is that i need a mail server capable of forwarding to a http address and various other things - something gmail doesn't offer. Also mobile devices are less power hungry than the pi so good for temporarily locating in mobile positions or onboard UAVs etc. Now admittedly i'm not looking for a flying mail server lol but certainly a web server would be useful for things like that in the future.
At the moment i'm just looking at trying it out on an android connected device to see how it goes.

[#7]

So what do you actually NEED? A mail server is for serving mail, a web server for serving web pages, but can be used for other things, like sending mail. If it is just something for SENDING mail then you don't need a mail server. A simple program to do POST commands is all that is needed, can be done via a web server or a standalone sender.

[#8]

At the moment I don't need anything,i was just asking for peoples experiences using android as a server. I'm well aware of what an email server does I have one here that I made myself though out does not support uni code

[#9]

I suspect you'll find the 3G aspect to be a key blocker as touched on above because most (all?) mobile data providers are running CG-NAT and so you won't be able to foward the necessary incoming ports to your device.

[#10]

Never had a problem on 3 - always had a public IP address. Not sure how that happened lol or if its just dongles that get public IPs but I could always access my netbook via a dongle.

[#11]

Ah okay, I was probably more thinking in my mind about standard mobile accounts. Looking around though it does seem that there are still services available with a public IP address though as you say. Grab 'em whilst you can folks!

[#12]

That said, you do have a point there about mobile accounts as my question was originally aimed at mobile phones!
My 3 dongle has always had a public IP address however I hadn't thought about mobiles being different to this so your point is still valid and has given me further food for thought!

[#13]

If you really need a server on a mobile (3G) device then AAISP mobile data may be worth looking at since they provide static IP: http://www.aa.net.uk/telecoms-mobile-data.html