There's no reason not to run a server at home on the end of your DSL connection - provided that your ISP allows this, of course. My web, mail, ftp and shell machine sits on a table just outside my kitchen.

Be careful about security though. If you are at all unsure of what you're doing including tightening up the OS, setting up a firewall and any routing, and so on, then don't just guess. If you get it wrong, the bad guys *will* get in to your machine. There's plenty of good books on the subject, and if you still need help, I'm sure there's a friendly local perlmonk/monger/LUGger with the right skills.