Complete server package?

"No 33 Secretary" <taustin+usenet@hyperbooks.com> wrote in message
news:Xns95AD59F015A83taustinhyperbookscom@216.168. 3.50...
> "Computer Whizz" <old486whizz@hotmail.com> wrote in
> news:co7j11$3tf$1@news7.svr.pol.co.uk:
>
>>
>> Hiya - I take it you have some experience in XAMPP?
>
> A little. A little more with Apache. Quite a bit more with Mercury.
>
>> I installed it a while ago, left it on, to make sure both my PC and
>> the software was fairly stable (going to do some testing later on -
>> not exactly a "professional" setup).
>> Anyway, I've just printed out the apache configuration and XAMPP
>> readme, can you give me any other files which would help with
>> configuration etc, apart from the FAQ (just going there now).
>>
>> And any hidden config files anywhere? And anything else you could
>> throw my way regarding this would be extremely helpful.
>
> About the only gotchas I've run across so far is that some of the SSL
> configuration stuff is in ssl.conf (in the conf directory) and some of it
> is in http.conf, and that some people have trouble with Mercury if they
> use
> the install file that comes with Xampp. Also, it installs PHP 5 by
> default,
> which isn't 100% backwards compatible with older scripts, but there's an
> easy way to switch it to PHP 4. (Do this before you do any configuration
> in
> http.conf, however, as it will replace that file completely with a
> different version. Switching back restores the original http.conf.)

Ahhh, very important thing to remember there! Thanks for pointing that out.
One of the first thing's I've done is a little alteration in the httpd.conf
file - and as it's going to be changed back, I'll be on the look-out.
I don't expect my tiny site to deal with SSL, and most code will be written
by me... But I will want to be able to use external code sometimes so I
shall take your advice on switching back. I have more experience with PHP4
anyway.

>
> If you are going to have much real traffic on the server, you'll also want
> to figure out how to use rotatelogs.exe.

Very helpful here... I was wondering how I would grab log files while they
were in use last time with easyPHP - but never actually looked into it.
Thanks again for the pointer.

>>
>> Thanks for putting up with me so far.
>>
> Figuring apache out is painfull enough to be worth some bragging rights.
> :)
>
> --
> Terry Austin
> www.hyperbooks.com
> Campaign Cartographer now available

Hah, brag away. I am just throwing myself in the deep end at the moment,
figuring things out as I go along...
Now if only XAMPP didn't throw in so many "/xampp/" additions into the
httpd.conf file *sigh*...

Thank you again, and any problems I know that this newsgroup is quite
helpful.

--
=========
Comp Whizz
=========
(The C++ beginner)

"Computer Whizz" <old486whizz@hotmail.com> wrote in
news:co858i$hop$1@news6.svr.pol.co.uk:

>
> "No 33 Secretary" <taustin+usenet@hyperbooks.com> wrote in message
> news:Xns95AD59F015A83taustinhyperbookscom@216.168. 3.50...
>> "Computer Whizz" <old486whizz@hotmail.com> wrote in
>> news:co7j11$3tf$1@news7.svr.pol.co.uk:
>>
>>>
>>> Hiya - I take it you have some experience in XAMPP?
>>
>> A little. A little more with Apache. Quite a bit more with Mercury.
>>
>>> I installed it a while ago, left it on, to make sure both my PC and
>>> the software was fairly stable (going to do some testing later on -
>>> not exactly a "professional" setup).
>>> Anyway, I've just printed out the apache configuration and XAMPP
>>> readme, can you give me any other files which would help with
>>> configuration etc, apart from the FAQ (just going there now).
>>>
>>> And any hidden config files anywhere? And anything else you could
>>> throw my way regarding this would be extremely helpful.
>>
>> About the only gotchas I've run across so far is that some of the SSL
>> configuration stuff is in ssl.conf (in the conf directory) and some
>> of it is in http.conf, and that some people have trouble with Mercury
>> if they use
>> the install file that comes with Xampp. Also, it installs PHP 5 by
>> default,
>> which isn't 100% backwards compatible with older scripts, but there's
>> an easy way to switch it to PHP 4. (Do this before you do any
>> configuration in
>> http.conf, however, as it will replace that file completely with a
>> different version. Switching back restores the original http.conf.)
>
> Ahhh, very important thing to remember there!

As long as you don't panic, it's not a big deal. You just have to switch it
back (or figure out what file name it was changed to) to recover your
custom settings (like VirtualHost stuff).

> Thanks for pointing that
> out. One of the first thing's I've done is a little alteration in the
> httpd.conf file - and as it's going to be changed back, I'll be on the
> look-out. I don't expect my tiny site to deal with SSL, and most code
> will be written by me...

Note that the default install for Xampp does turn SSL on for the default
site. Not a big deal if you only have one site, but if you start doing
VirtualHost stuff, you'll have to specify a port number on everything
(because SSL needs to have a port specified to work right).

>But I will want to be able to use external
> code sometimes so I shall take your advice on switching back. I have
> more experience with PHP4 anyway.

PHP5 is still dicey anyway, and everybody - Apache folks, MySQL folks and
PHP folks - all say the three may not play well together.
>
>>
>> If you are going to have much real traffic on the server, you'll also
>> want to figure out how to use rotatelogs.exe.
>
> Very helpful here... I was wondering how I would grab log files while
> they were in use last time with easyPHP - but never actually looked
> into it. Thanks again for the pointer.

Apache keeps the currently in use log files open. You can open them with
other programs so long as the other program doesn't try to lock the file
for exclusive use. For instance, I can open a log file with Notepad, but if
it's too large for Notepad, and I open with Wordpad, I get an error message
about the file already being in use. You can, however, just open Windows
Explorer, and copy & paste the file, then do as you please with the copy.

The main reason to use rotatelogs is to keep log files from getting too
big. If they get _very_ large, Windows can act up, and even a couple of meg
is big enough to become cumbersome if you ever need to find something in
it.
>
>>>
>>> Thanks for putting up with me so far.
>>>
>> Figuring apache out is painfull enough to be worth some bragging
>> rights.
>> :)
>>
>> --
>> Terry Austin
>> www.hyperbooks.com
>> Campaign Cartographer now available
>
> Hah, brag away. I am just throwing myself in the deep end at the
> moment, figuring things out as I go along...

Same way I did it.

> Now if only XAMPP didn't throw in so many "/xampp/" additions into the
> httpd.conf file *sigh*...
>
> Thank you again, and any problems I know that this newsgroup is quite
> helpful.
>
There's a forum at www.apachefriends.org, too, that is quite useful.
Especially for the stuff that's specfic to Xampp, or problems with
integrating Apache, MySQL and PHP.

--
Terry Austin
www.hyperbooks.com
Campaign Cartographer now available

you can also try apache2triad.