localhost

[shiloh]

Hi.

I am using Apache Triad (PHP, Apache & MySQL) to run my php codes and connect to my database using a single computer. I'm using Windows XP. All i need to do is open an internet browser and type in the address bar : http://localhost/whatevefile.php with a trial (Mysql) db. apache is installed at C:\apache and i had inserted my folder which contains php codes inside the localhost.

I'm a newbie when it comes to intranets (first time to work in a networking setting) and i am currently tasked to create an enrollment system that requires several office computers to access it (enrollement system and its MySQL database). so i really need help in setting up in a LAN scale. My codes and database connection sure does run without any problem (using localhost) in the computer that i am currently using to develop it.

But my problem is how will this work on a networking scale (LAN)?

I have a several questions:

1. Do i need to install apache triad on each computer? and have each computer run the apache server and mysql-d?

2. what are the other requirements to make this work?

3. can it be accessed by several computers just by typing the link in the address bar: http://localhost/whateverfile.php and connect immediately to the database? or do i need to configure it?

if there are other things that i forgot to ask, pls. do tell me.

thank you very much. your help will be greatly appreciated.

~Shiloh

[Banfa]

You shouldn't have to do much.

Firstly installing Apache/PHP/MySql on every machine is the last thing you want to do, you would be running a server on every machine and everybody would be using their own copy of the database.

You will probably already find that if you go to another computer on the network and instead of

http://localhost/whateverfile.php

you use

http://yourmachinename/whateverfile.php

that the website is already available to everyone.

The only other things you may want to do is

1. Move the whole thing off you machine and on to a dedicated machine

2. Have you IT department set up a DNS entry for the machine so that it will be available at the same name even if it is moved to a different machine.

[Cyberdyne]

Great answer above, also you might want to try and run this off the web based interface, in other words get a dedicated website to run this. IIS services or Apache should be sufficient and once you have a domain name on the internet you will be able to secure it by creating https connections with user authentication and one central database. Again this would only be necessary if your networks are far apart, if its all done on the same network simply use a static ip for the machine that's going to run the server and database.

Cyber.

[shiloh]

Hi!

Thank you very much for replying to me. :-D

I know I really sound naïve but I would like to ask if the one you’re referring to “yourmachinename” is an IP Address of the computer? Do I really need to have a single computer solely dedicated to become the server? If that is the case, will a 40GB hard-disk be okay? This is really a small-scale system, catering to less than 1000 students per school year though my boss would like to have it run for a long time.

I don’t have an IT department since I am just a freelance programmer recently hired to do such thing, who is more familiar with web design than creating an enrollment system running on LAN. I do develop systems, sometimes, that only require running localhost in one computer. But I’m very eager to learn how to do this and this is a definitely new experience.

My employer expressed explicitly that he would like the system to be completely off the internet since there is no DSL internet connection available in the office and the computers will be running on a single network and are not far from each other.

Question:
How do I “set up a DNS entry for the machine so that it will be available at the same name even if it is moved to a different machine”?

The only DNS settings I know are the ones that I used in setting up a domain with a webhost.


Many thanks. Hope to hear from you again.

~Shiloh

[Banfa]

I know I really sound naïve but I would like to ask if the one you’re referring to “yourmachinename” is an IP Address of the computer?

It could be the IP address of the computer but it can also be the actual name of the computer. The computer name is available in Control Panel -> System on the "Computer Name" tab. Or if you type "ipconfig /all" at a command prompt you will get back something that looks like

Windows IP Configuration
 
        Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : BEN
        Primary Dns Suffix  . . . . . . . :
        Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Mixed
        IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
        WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
 
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
 
        Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
        Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8139 Family PCI Fast Ethernet NIC
        Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : <snipped>
        Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
        Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
        IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : <snipped>
        Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : <snipped>
        Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : <snipped>
        DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : <snipped>
        DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : <snipped>
        Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 31 March 2007 06:32:13
        Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 01 April 2007 06:32:13
 

(I have snipped sensitive data) The computer name is reported as Host Name in the Windows IP Configuration and the IP Address is reported in "Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection". You can use either the IP Address or the Computer Name to connect to the web server on the computer.

Do I really need to have a single computer solely dedicated to become the server? If that is the case, will a 40GB hard-disk be okay? This is really a small-scale system, catering to less than 1000 students per school year though my boss would like to have it run for a long time.

No it is not strictly speaking required. However it would be better because then you can give the computer a name that is descriptive of what it is and it will be easier for people to remember what to type into their web browser to access it. It would be best if the computer is not some ones personal machine as it will be using cpu time and memory to run the site.

Windows is ~ 3GB, Apache, MySql and PHP are ~20Mb each so as long as your site and data are <36Gbyte then a 40Gb hard drive would be fine.

I don’t have an IT department since I am just a freelance programmer recently hired to do such thing, who is more familiar with web design than creating an enrollment system running on LAN. I do develop systems, sometimes, that only require running localhost in one computer. But I’m very eager to learn how to do this and this is a definitely new experience.

But presumably the school already has an IT infrastructure and may well have someone supporting it.

My employer expressed explicitly that he would like the system to be completely off the internet since there is no DSL internet connection available in the office and the computers will be running on a single network and are not far from each other.

That's OK Cyberdyne only suggested that because it is not clear from the initial question if the system was for access from multiple sites or not.

Question:
How do I “set up a DNS entry for the machine so that it will be available at the same name even if it is moved to a different machine”?

The only DNS settings I know are the ones that I used in setting up a domain with a webhost.

You will only need (be able to have) a DNS entry if the school network has a DNS server locally. On a small network of a few computers this is unlikely. A DNS server on a network acts in much the same way the DNS servers on the internet used for setting up webhost domain names. All the computers would know the IP address of the local DNS server, when they need to look up the address of a computer from a name then the contact the DNS server which has a list of domain names and IP addresses. If the school has no servers (i.e. only a network of personal machines) then it wont have a DNS server. Even if it has a central file server it still may not have a DNS server.

In may company which has 1000's of computers and many servers spread across 3 different sites we do have a local DNS server so that the IT department can swap out 1 server for another just with a small change at the DNS server.


Even then some of the computers are contactable just because they are given a sensible name without having a DNS entry.

[shiloh]

hi. been busy. anyway, these are really helpful but i have to chew and digest everything as to ensure i will do it right. thank you.

[Euphy]

Hi, one thing that made me scratch my head when I was trying to do this recently was that on XP, windows firewall is configured as standard to block access to your web server from outside connections unless you tell it otherwise. (I think I'd assumed that Apache might have opened this port when it first got installed.)

So from my laptop I'd try to access http://bigcomp/index.php and it would still come up with an error, even though the server is running fine and my URL was correct.

Once I guessed what was wrong, I went into security centre (in system tools) on Bigcomp and then, under _Manage security settings for Firewall_, I opened Port 80 using the exceptions tab to let network traffic through. Port 80 is the one that most web servers use but this can be configured in Apache if you need a different one.

It works fine now!

Hope this is some help - this thread helped me to get this far, thanks to all involved.

All the best
Sandy