Linux / Apache Webserver SOHO

Setting up an apache linux webserver at home

[CustomFit]

I am interested in setting up a linux box at home with apache webserver. Being a Windows person, I have no experience with Linux or Apache, and would like to know of any tips, suggestions, or definitives for setting up a test system at home with Internet access.

Thanks in advance.

[DaveAtIFG]

Being a Windows person

The first step is choosing a Linux distro and there are many threads recommending and comparing...

I'm no longer a beginner but still a novice. Initially, I tried a Corel distro, then Mandrake, then RedHat 7. I needed dual boot to W2K and had problems with every installer... but the RedHat stuff has the best docs and an abundance of "HowTo" articles. RedHat Fedora now lives on my machine. Most RH7, 8, and 9 docs are compatable, upgades to newer distros are painless, and RedHat continues to support Fedora with updates. Redhat was a good choice for me!

Pick a distro, get it installed and get familiar. THEN tackle configuring Apache. It's not as big a learning curve as Linux, but it's no small task... The Apache Server forum is where specific Apache questions should be posted.

Good luck!

[uncle_bob]

Being a Windows person, I have no experience with Linux or Apache

Perhaps a good starting place then would be to install apache on windows first. Very easy to install, and set up. Rather then jump in completely at the deep end. Then become familiar with a linux distro, before going for the full linux/apache soho webserver firewall coffeemaker.

[lukasz]

I started with Knoppix - it is linux which runs entirely from CD - so you dont need to install anything and you have a chance to test drive linux. It was a good start for me.

[TowerOfPower]

You do know that Apache2, PHP, MySQL, Perl, and most of the other components work just fine on Windows 2000/XP?

[google.com...]

[kenta]

With most linux installs you can have it setup your base apache server. After your setup going to your own machine at "localhost" or 127.0.0.1 or from another machine by your IP address, you'll probably be greeted with the generic Apache page. You now have a running (and boring) apache webserver.

Take a look at your httpd.conf or apache.conf file... usually somewhere in /etc/httpd/ or /etc/apache (sometimes in a conf folder)depending on your distro. This file is pretty well documented but can be confusing. Read through it and then I'm sure you'll have plenty of configuration questions for us.

A majority of changes can be made here to your server setup (ports, child process, modules, virtual domains). After you make any changes you'll need to stop/start apache... Go to /etc/init.d/ and "apache restart" or "httpd restart" to restart the service.

I'm sure there may be a number of configutation tools out there but I've always perferred editing the .conf files myself.

[karelj]

I know this is late.. but you should try College Linux 2.5
It has a configuration process that installs and configures Apache and MySql for you on your first boot and the webserver is up and running.