starting me off

new customer

[omega]

i`m new to apache, and very very limited in my linux ability.

what i`m trying todo, is get apache running on Fedora (core 3), and then to get PHP running on it.

question is, where do i start, and how do i configure it. so far i`ve downloaded apache_1.3.33.tar.gz, and thats it. i`ve looked at the linux install procedure, and it doesnt make any sense to me, so instead of trying to fiddle and going blindfolded into making it work, i come here for a guiding light.

could someone guide me through, or give me a step by step guide on how to get it up and running?

i`m using commandline linux too - no GUI.

[jamie]

hi omega,

rather than trying to install from source (the .tar.gz file which you have) i would try to use one of the packet managers which redhat have.

a packet manager takes care of all the installing and configuring.

although i have never used fedora core, on my old redhat 7.2 box, installing apache and php was as simple as

rpm -ivh apache php php-mysql

this would install three software packages, apache, php and the php-mysql libraries which would enable php to communicate with mysql.

the rpm packet manager would then install all of these programmes in the correct order.

i believe you can also use yum for fedora which i've read is better than rpm.

search google for 'rpm' and 'yum' 'fedora packet managers' and start from there.

when you get familiar with the packet managers - how and where they install the software's files - you can start trying to install and configure from source yourself.

good luck

[omega]

thanks for the great reply. i`ll do some looking into these install managers - sounds like a lot easier alternative.

especially for a new linux user like myself.

[StupidScript]

Hi Omega! Excellent choice of OS.

If you have a "default" server installation or a "default" workstation installation, Apache should be running when the system boots up ... by "default". You should be able to find out by doing:

locate .pid

You should see the HTTPD (Apache) process ID file (

httpd.pid

) running in the

/var/run

directory. If you do see it there, try using a browser to go to your server's IP address. If you see no page there, check in the

/var/www/html

directory for

index.html.en

and remove the

.en

, then try the browser again.

mv /var/www/html/index.html.en /var/www/html/index.html

Also, as a new Linux user, you may find that Webmin [webmin.com], an excellent, mature GUI server management system will come in handy. Grab the tarball,

tar -xzvf

the tarball, and follow the INSTALL instructions for a very simple setup that gives you massive control and monitoring over your Linux installation. I even put it on my home computer to use for things like setting up security and managing my sendmail installation.

(BTW, sendmail is also installed and running by default.)

If/when you start using RPM files for installations, a word to the wise is to find the EXACT distribution for your Linux distro. If you can't find one, do not use an alternate, rather use the source tarball. Configuring and making the files in the tarball will cause the program to adjust itself to your system, and it gives a lot more information about what might cause installation problems than RPM installations give.

As jamie said,

yum

is also better than the (R)edhat (P)ackage (M)anager in that it gives you a good idea of what's going on during installation. You may also be able to use

apt

, although I think that's not a default item in RH distributions like Fedora.

Keep posting!