Using Puppy(or other Linux) as a web-server...

[Mini-Me]

Hi all. :)

I am about to setup a website, but this will be my first one.
I am planning to use the likes of Silverstripe or Joomla to set it up, but was thinking that something sleek like Puppy would be a good choice as the base operating system on which the web-server is running.

Has anyone here used Puppy like this, or is that not really it's purpose?

Puppy is nice and light, and ideal for an older PC gathering dust, to be put back to work as a website server.

I need to be very clear: I am about as green as they come with respect to building a website, which is why the likes of silverstripe and Joomla were proposed to me as tools I could use to make life a bit easier during the building process - comments? Opinions?

At this stage, does not need to be pretty - basic is OK, and will give me something to work with. Ideally would like to setup on closed home network, and be able to access and test it locally before putting it on-line. Not sure if that is the normal way of doing things or not during development - perhaps someone could also enlighten me as to the correct and accepted process! :D

EDIT: Found this (http://browserpuppy.com/server.html)...

[Sylvander]

I know nothing about this sort of thing, but...

Found this Monkey webserver (http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?p=448679&sid=5c098db9a55fa56b205f3a5466da65b3), which had been mentioned years before in "Setting up a web server on Puppy; Quisp, Monkey" (http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?p=1744).

I notice they say it isn't good to run a webserver as root, and Puppy runs as root by default, so you may need to run it as "Spot".

See also:
Puppy: Web Server Edition (http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=37109).
Growler provided here a PET for LHMP = LAMP? (http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?p=443870#443870) [Means nothing to me :confused: ]
Webserverpuppy LAMP and XAMPP (http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=43285).

Here's the result of a search for the term WEBSERVER (http://www.google.com/cse?cx=015995643981050743583%3Aabvzbibgzxo&q=webserver&sa=Search&cof=FORID%3A0&siteurl=wellminded.com%2Fpuppy%2Fpupsearch.html) using a Puppy forums Google search window (http://wellminded.com/puppy/pupsearch.html).

[Paul Komski]

I have experimented a bit with WebserverPuppy with LAMP (http://www.browserpuppy.com/server.html) and it's absolutely fine as far as it goes. LAMP, WAMP or XAMP installed on any appropriate OS should also do the job for you and the web-server itself should not be hard on resources when used in this manner for testing out one's web pages. IIS under windows (even early versions) would also do the trick though if you want active pages you will need to either go the full MS route with asp and NET or install PHP and MySQL in parallel.

Joomlah or SilverStripe or any other CMS (Content Managment System) are seldom trivial to set-up for oneself particularly for one not well-versed in MySQL and PHP. These packages are relatively simple to manage when hosted by an on-line host because they (the web hosts) will have set-up all the necessary scripts and database and should also have attended to any security concerns. By all means jump in at the deep end but be prepared for a lot of headaches.

CMSystems can be good when you want an interactive site but they are not really necessary - in fact just a diversion - if starting out to design a static site that doesn't require server side scripting.

I suggest you begin with straightforward HTML and CSS (which can provide very adequate sites) before jumping-in with PHP and MySQL.

[Paul Komski]

I'm pretty sure I used the Apache version with XAMPP but do not now see how to obtain that ISO from the page I linked-to above. Another idea would be to run a standard Puppy Linux and install the relevant server from a PET package (http://puppylinux.org/wikka/HiawathaServerMySQL). The PET in the aforementioned link includes PHPmyAdmin (http://www.phpmyadmin.net/home_page/index.php), which is really needed if you ever want to be able to adminster the MySQL database without hassles.

If you read this thread from the post by Atle onwards (http://208.109.22.214/puppy/viewtopic.php?p=450321&sid=cd85bfb632e4d520c90be631ffc5985e) you may get a feel about some of the complexities of installing and hosting Joomla! successfully.

Unless you are going to be actually hosting whatever CMS you want for yourself and you have decent web access then really there is no need to install it locally. Pick a webhost that supports it and then run/manage/backup/add or remove additional installations/etc all from home via the internet on whatever platform you like. That is one of the benefits of using a CMS since they can be easily managed remotely on a cross platform basis with no knowledge of html. There are free providers (http://www.freejoomlas.com/main.php) but how smoothly the packages work and so on my not be up to speed - though they could be a good way to acclimatise yourself to their use before paying for a good hosting package and good support.

and be able to access and test it locally before putting it on-line. Not sure if that is the normal way of doing things or not during development - perhaps someone could also enlighten me as to the correct and accepted processThere's no absolute way to go about this. If you have problems uploading/downloading pages from a web host or if you want to practice with PHP and MySQL then having a local server is a good idea. If you want to practice on-line then just don't make the home-page of a static site standard by calling a temporary home page something like testpage.html and having no link to it or any other pages from the normal defauts of index.html, default.html, etc. That way no spiders will find it. With CMS systems you can control all access to your pages by publishing/unpublishing pages or by setting passwords on certain pages, while you test things out.