[HLUG] Test web server

[paul.maddox.mail-list at synth.net]

Paul,

> I do not like using the command line so need some sort of desktop/GUI on
> it.  I use phpMyAdmin for managing databases.  I don't mind editing
> config files for Apache but would prefer a graphical management front-end.
>

to be honest, I've never heard of a GUI for apache configuration. That
doesn't mean there isn't one..

> The live server is running...
>
> Apache version	1.3.37 (Unix)
> PHP version	5.2.1
> MySQL version	5.0.45-community
>
> So it would be sensible to use similar versions of PHP and MySQL on the
> test server.

it would be best to try and keep as close as possible, certainly for PHP
and MySQL you'll need the major revisions (5 in both cases).

> I can use http://site1.myserver/ and http://site2.myserver/, or
> http://site1/ and http://site2/, or two IP addresses
> http://192.168.0.100/ and http://192.168.0.101/.  So I need to be able
> to configure the server and Apache to do one of these.  I will probably
> be adding other sites later.

do-able, though I've never done it with apache, I usually only have one
test server :-)

> I will be doing the development on a Windows PC.  I want to be able to
> edit the website files directly on the server over the network, so it
> needs to be network shared directories.  I don't want to have to FTP
> every change across.  So presumably I need Samba?

What version of linux are you using?
Most of the modern distrubutions come with samba enabled.

> What Linux distro should I use?  I am thinking of one of the Ubuntu
> family but welcome other ideas.

seem to be the most popular, though I've yet to use it.

> Obviously I need to install Apache, PHP, MySQL and phpMyAdmin.  What
> should I install to get a graphical management thing for Apache
> (preferably web-based)?

my friend says use 'webmin' but warns, it's VERY insecure!

> What do I need to do to configure the site URLs as above?

ubuntu :-)

> What do I need to do to configure Samba or whatever for network shares?

my friend (the linux god) says use webmin for configuring samba.
Webmin does the whole unix admin for the machine.

> It won't have a monitor etc connected once it is up and running.  How
> can I access a remote desktop or whatever on it from Windows?

webmin is looking good :-)

Paul