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windows based web server

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Ehtyar:
XAMPP

Free LAMP but then for Windows. Download the 7-zip version, it only requires unpacking (in a root folder) and you have immediately a working Apache 2.0, MysQL 5 and PHP 5 integrated. Some extra's like a mailserver are included as well.

The original intent for the package is development, not hosting. So the only thing to do is re-configuring Apache for web use.
-Shades (September 05, 2008, 10:30 AM)
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Indeed I should have mentioned XAMPP, used it myself more than once. However, the defaults in an XAMPP installation are disastrously insecure. I would recommend using it only for testing, or if not, only once you have enough experience to know what to change.

Ehtyar.

Stoic Joker:
what kind of hardware requirements should I be looking at?  Should I use something on the upper end or would a lower end AMD Duron 1.2 work ok?

thanks,
dave
-techidave (September 05, 2008, 07:36 AM)
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If this is a Public Access Production website for the entire school... Your traffic load will dictate your hardware requirement.

As far as Apache on Windows goes; Hay if you're just playing around in a lab, and want to try new things... Go ahead knock yourself out.  On the other hand if you are really going to do a serious production environment server deployment...For the love of god don't even think about it.

Two Words: Administrative Overhead.
Meaning: Pick a Platform, and stick with it.
You want Windows? Then you're using IIS.
You want Apache? Then you're using some type of Unix/Linux box.

You go half and half, and you get stuck in the middle with a broken server any time anything goes wrong because the finger pointing abounds as side A is cock-sure it's side Bs fault. Security updates have to be gleaned from both sources = Time, Time, Extra steps, and A -vs- B x2 when an update hoses the box because not everybody was up-to-speed on exactly what was about to happen.

Unless you dedicated IT Staff has a lot of free time ... Stay with a commercial host. Hang together a non-critical internal access only box in a lab for testing crazy things that just popped into someone's head, and consider yourself lucky to have dodged a bullet.

Hint: I admin a production web-server (among other things) with multiple internal & external sites for our company...I'm not guessing. ;)

techidave:
Thanks to everyone for their helpful advice.  you have given me alot to think about and to respond to Stoic Joker's concerns.

I am the only IT staff our school has.  While we are small, 225 students in K-12 scattered amongst 3 buildings in 3 different towns.  I do maintain and Exchange sever as well as 5 other servers and about 250 computers.  I had heard of Apache and did realize that there is a lot of websites that use it.   My reasoning for using a Windows box is that is what I am familiar with so the learning curve there should be smaller.

I get the finger pointing now sometimes.

While this would be a production server, I have realized several things since my original post. 

since I have no previous experience in web design, I would not be much help to the class when they couldn't do something or wanting to implement new technology.

We have  lots and lots of power failures, sometimes short (5 minutes) and some times long (several hours or more).  I do have battery backups but they don't last that long and usually the whole town is out, so there goes the internet.  I would be afraid our downtime would come at critical times that would prevent people from coming back to visit.

I already have more than enough to do, so why do I want to spend more time at school? :down:

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