Running Apache and hosting, without a hard drive.

Booting, installing, newbie
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acklan
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Running Apache and hosting, without a hard drive.

#1 Post by acklan »

I am going to start hosting a web page for the kids from home as soon as I can setup a server(s). I have 3 Dell GX1 PIII 500mhz w/768ram. They have no hard drives. These will be dedicated to web serving. I have, to date, not downloaded the Pup yet. I am a newbie to linux, but am eager to learn. The kids are right now putting up web pages of about 70kb per page. About 2 meg of info. 5 web sites total (10-15 megs.)

I want to put an image on a disk, per each account, that when the computer boots it auto loads so that Apache server is up and running.

Create an image on a multi session cd so that when info is changed for the server content, it can be added to the cd. (Pre-configure so the kids can drag and drop web pages to the cd via Nero)

Create a RAM disk that the entire cd can be booted to. Including the HTML info( .html,.jpg,.php,.... ).

Boot, start, and serve simply by the kids inserting a fresh cd and restarting the computer.

Each kid will have its own computer, and Puppy ISO image unique to that computer.

Is this asking to much? Is this workable? Should I even try? Bad idea?

Good Bad Ulgy is welcome. John

raffy
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Live CD

#2 Post by raffy »

I guess that's how the live CD works nowadays, just check your ghttpd folder in the desktop (which is really /root). There you will see the httpd server (that you can click to run). Docs are in htdocs.

(Pls do some searching if those files are in other folders, am away from my Puppy (pc at home) :oops: )

So the files that you place in htdocs will be saved in pup001 (which resides in hard disk C if it is FAT-formatted). In WinXP-NTFS, you first get pup001.zip (see in version 1.01 folder) and unzip to drive C.

See the link below for some more discussion.
Puppy user since Oct 2004. Want FreeOffice? [url=http://puppylinux.info/topic/freeoffice-2012-sfs]Get the sfs (English only)[/url].

Guest

#3 Post by Guest »

To start up the server automatically at boot time, you will have to add an appropriate line to

Code: Select all

/etc/rc.d/rc.local
I had this working with the ftp server, and I assume it would be just as easy with an http server.

There is currently no Apache package for Puppy, so unless you want to try and compile it yourself you will be have to use either ghttpd(included in Puppy) or the Monkey webserver. Of the two, monkey is probably more useful, as it is more configurable. It is available as a dotpup and it's use has been fairly well documented in other places on the forum. I was going to try and compile Apache, but I'm very short on time right now. If I do it it won't ber any time soon.

If each setup will be on it's own computer then there is probably no need to go through remastering the cd. All of the settings will be persistent in the pup001 file. I recommend making a backup of the file as soon as everything is configured to your satisfaction. It is then a simple mattter to replace a corrupted pup file with your backup and everything will be back to normal, should you ever have a problem. With kids using the computer and having root priviledges(which they will if you are running puppy) this is a distinct possibility. I also think it a good idea to firewall the setup. You will have to adjust the file

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/etc/rc.d/rc.firewall-morizot
Look for thes lines:

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pupUDP_ALLOW_PORTS="80"
pupTCP_ALLOW_PORTS="80"
Insert 80 between the quotes(as I've done here) and then run the morizot firewall wizard.

Most of this still applies to your idea of doing it with a multisession disk, however it's simpler and more reliable in my opinion to just boot from the regular live cd and let Puppy do it's thing with a pup001 file on the hard drive. They will still be able to make content changes as often as they wish, which will be saved back to the pup001 file. I ran a server like this for quite a while and was very happy with it. There are also some very good tools available for web authoring already included in Puppy or available as optional packages.

Mozilla Composer (quite good if a little basic)
Amaya (more powerful than Mozilla but a somewhat clunky interface)
Open Office Web (via Chubby Puppy-everything and the Out house sink)
Bluefish (I can't stress enough that this is THE BEST and MOST POWERFUL. However, it requires an understanding of html code to use, as that is what you are looking at when you use it. This also make it an awesome learning tool)
Depending on what goes into Barry's KDE package, there are some very good KDE tools for web design also. This is one of KDE's strong points(it doesn't have many)
Gimp is a great tool for creating web graphics. I actually prefer it to Photoshop for this purpose.

The computers you mentioned are more than adequate to run anything I've mentioned here, including Open Office and KDE. I really think you're going to love Puppy once you get to know it a little better. If you need more info on how to get it all running do a search on the forum for either web server or monkey web server. If you end up needing perl or php they can be had also-check the forum.[/code]

Guest

Very excited!!

#4 Post by Guest »

Wow..you are a well spring of knowledge. You make it sound so easy. Thanks for all the advice.
I'll check out that lil' monkey. I don't have HDs for the computers. I guess I could run down to the used computer shop and try to pick up some old 1 or 2 gig HDs. I will take your advice. Oh could I map a drive with he Pup to use our shared computer? It's where we keep our stuff like midi, pics, clipart. I could keep the pup001 files there in sperate dir for each account.

The computers will be behind a NAT router.

The kids are already using OOo the create web pages. The twin 6 year olds aren't coding yet, but the 12 yr old is. I am making them blog to help refine their writing.

This is great. I am very excited. I explained to the kids yesterday what I was doing and they want to get started. I guess all 4 of use are going to school.

Sorry about posting in the wrong forum.

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acklan
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Amazed

#5 Post by acklan »

I downloaded 1.0.3 and I was up and running ON the internet in less than a minute after booting. This is incredible. I have tried Slackware and Red Hat 9.3 with little luck. This is simplier than setting up 98 for the first time. I have to figure out how to connect to my print server but this is great.
Keep up the GREAT work. There should be a Noble Prize out there with your name on it. I have to beleve this is what Linus had in mind. Way Cool...

GuestToo
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#6 Post by GuestToo »

Anonymous wrote:There is currently no Apache package for Puppy
http://www.murga.org/~puppy/viewtopic.php?t=1669

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rarsa
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#7 Post by rarsa »

There is currently no Apache package for puppy
Besides GuestToo's response.

My impression based on acklan's requirements is that he will be serving static pages so appache would be overkill.

Please note that if the computer with the CD burner has different Hardware (mouse, keyboard, video) than the 'server' computers you will have to rerun the HW setup after configuring puppy and the website for each of the 'servers'.

Guest

#8 Post by Guest »

rarsa wrote:
There is currently no Apache package for puppy
Besides GuestToo's response.

My impression based on acklan's requirements is that he will be serving static pages so appache would be overkill.

Please note that if the computer with the CD burner has different Hardware (mouse, keyboard, video) than the 'server' computers you will have to rerun the HW setup after configuring puppy and the website for each of the 'servers'.
Yes sir they will be static files. All 3 of the computers are Dell GX1. The kids will control them form VNC. So I don't intent on having a mouse, keyboard or monitor for them. From what I see so far there is not alot to do once you have configured the Pup. I still can't get over the GUI and how much control I have compared to the other two linux I am trying.

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Flash
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#9 Post by Flash »

Here's a post in the Additional Software section that might be helpful.
Last edited by Flash on Wed 21 Apr 2010, 15:08, edited 1 time in total.

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Nathan F
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#10 Post by Nathan F »

I was the guest poster above. Sorry I missed that part about the Xampp installer. I agree that Apache would be overkill, but I'm excited that it's available for those who might want it. I'm going to look into this and may be moving my own server back to puppy soon (I outgrew Monkey a couple months ago, but really miss everything else about puppy on this computer.)

Let us know how the project comes out. I think it's a great learning project for your kids. I'm considering a similar idea for my own kids. I also encourage you to get them to use some of the other programs I mentioned-especially Bluefish as it will teach them the code itself.

acklan.

#11 Post by acklan. »

I agree. There older sister (12) is showing them how to HTML. This is our 52 in TV. The whole family works on the LAN together. It's fun when they come home and brag about teaching the teacher. (They are 6). Thank you one and all for your very good advice.

raffy
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picture

#12 Post by raffy »

It must be great to have your picture here as "one happy Puppy family", which we will place whenever we speak about a "Puppy family" :) This will help greatly the promotion of Puppy. Add a little story under the picture.

One 7-year-old kid I know who has used Puppy is already bugging the school teacher if they can use Puppy in their computer lessons...
Puppy user since Oct 2004. Want FreeOffice? [url=http://puppylinux.info/topic/freeoffice-2012-sfs]Get the sfs (English only)[/url].

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