Thread: [With Images] Installing Xampp + Website AND Make it public

This is going to be a long tutorial but I will try to make it as easy as possible for you readers.

Feel free to share this guide ONLY IF YOU LINK BACK TO US MMOPRO.ORG!!

So these are the things we're going to do:

1: We're going to install xampp,
2: We're going to change the root's password for safety.
3: We're going to make your xampp accessible by other people outside your own network (WAN, Wide Area Network).
(Optional) 4: Setting up a domain name with no-ip.


Sounds easy right? Well, for experienced people it might be, but for people who don't know anything about it.. Pay Attention To Every Detail!

I'll wish you good luck for now, and if you have any further questions (even after reading the whole tutorial) then feel free to reply to this topic.

//== INFO ========================================
F.Y.I: I am designing a website for MaNGOS with the following features:

- Donate system
- Vote system
- Shout box
- Unstuck script
- Change password
- Forgot password
- Registration script (obviously)
- Forum
- News system
- Change your expansion version
- And probably more (depends how I feel for it).
- Any suggestions are appreciated

I started this project with the idea to create it for MaNGOS. But maybe I will create it to support both emu's: MaNGOS and ArcEmu.

Now the design is ready, I am currently working on the scripts. So this tutorial is preparing your web server for the website that is going to come. You could host any other website meanwhile. So I wont be supporting anyone else's website in this tutorial.

EDIT: It's online~ Here is a link: [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

//== END INFO ======================================



Step 1: Installing Xampp


Ok we'll need the setup files so this is where you can get them:

- Windows: [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
- Linux: [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
- Mac OS X: [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
- Solaris: [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]



Now I will be giving this tutorial from a Windows 7 environment, so the images you'll see are mainly for windows. But xampp has a really good explanation on how to install it on other OS's.


Here follows some youtube links to make things easier for you guys:

Installing xampp linux based:


Installing xampp Mac OS X based:


Installing xampp solaris based: [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]




Ok so windows based is where I am focusing on:

1) Go ahead and click on XAMPP (not the lite nor Add-ons)




2) It will take you to their download area. Then click on EXE





Just save it to your Desktop and wait for the download to finish:



(For the geeks out there, no this is not my maximum speed, lol)


3) After you're done downloading, go ahead and double click on the installation file that is located on your desktop and install it in: C:\mmopro



(Why in a folder mmopro? Simply because I am going to base all my tutorials on that one folder. And if you don't want to get confused, then please follow my steps )



4) When it's done extracting you'll get to see a command line window pop-up.

These are the questions it asks and my answers to them:

- Question 1: Should I add shortcuts to the startmenu/desktop? (y/n):
- Answer 1: y ( that is a Y from yes. It's handy to have the Xampp control Panel Icon on your desktop )


- Question 2: Current directory does not match configured directory. I must relocate the XAMPP paths correctly. Should I proceed? (y/x=exit setup):
- Answer 2: y


- Question 3: Should I make a portable XAMPP without drive letters?
- Answer 3: N (No we don't want that for sure only on USB Sticks)


5) Close the window After it's done relocating the files and setting your time zone. Now go to your Desktop and click on the icon called: XAMPP Control Panel (Solaris & Linux users, scroll down).

And you'll get to see a control panel pop up, looking like this:


Windows:



Mac OS X:



Linux: As linux user you have probably noticed there is no Control Panel for you. No worries, easy fixed. Just hit ALT+F2 and type the following:

Code:

gksu /opt/lampp/share/xampp-control-panel/xampp-control-panel

For KDE3 users: Replace gksu with kdesu
For KDE4 users: Replace gksu with kdesudo

Then you got something like this:




Solaris: I am not sure how it goes on Solaris. I don't think that you have a Control Panel there, but this is the command line to start xampp:

Code:

/opt/xampp/xampp start

6) Now start Apache and MySQL by pressing on the Start button next to it (Or execute for Linux, and command line for Solaris users). (Windows: The windows firewall will ask you to grand it permissions. Accept it) Now you get to see something like this:




- Is Apache or MySQL not starting? Click on the "Port-Check" button to the right side of the control panel and it'll show you what service or application is using that port. Close that application or service to get this running. (Skype is usually the cause).

- Do you got problems running Apache on Solaris? Click here: [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]


Now open your browser and browse to:

Code:

http://localhost

You should see something like this:




If you see this, you know that your web server is running! Hurray~ Now go ahead and click on English.

Now, we're finally done with Step 1... Up to step 2.






Step 2: Adding a password to the root user for safety.
(The steps from now on can be performed on any OS! YAY!)


1) After selecting a language in Step 1, you get to see this simple Control Panel Interface. Click on the link: Security





2) Click on this link:





3) Then apply the changes as in the image below:





4) Apply these settings to XAMPP DIRECTORY PROTECTION After you have pressed the "Password changing" button:




5) Restart Apache AND MySQL and we're done with step 2! Easy wasn't it?








Step 3: Publishing your website

Now comes the hard part. Publishing your website to make it accessible by people from outside your own network.

1) Please download the attachment below.

2) Browse to your xammp directory once you are done downloading the attachment.
C:\mmopro\xampp\htdocs

3) Now we do not want to mess up with xampp's control panel so go ahead and create a sub-directory called mmopro.

4) Now go ahead and extract the .rar file using a program called WinRAR. You can download this here:

Windows:

- 32 bit: [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
- 64 bit: [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

Linux:

- 32 bit: [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
- 64 bit: [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

Mac OS X: [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

Solaris: [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]



You'll see a simple index.html file appear after extracting the index.rar file. We're going to use this file to test.


5) Please proceed to step 8 if you don't have a router. If you do, just keep on reading.

We are going to forward a port number 80 towards your machine in your network. Normally a router blocks all incoming ports. This is out of security reasons, but that is making things a little more difficult.

First you'll have to find out what your LAN (Local Area Network) IP-Address is. You can do that by performing the following steps:

Windows XP: Click on Start → Run. . . → Type: cmd and hit enter → A black commando window will pop up. → Type: ipconfig/all


Windows Vista/7: Click on the Windows Logo (a.k.a start in Windows XP) → In the search bar at the bottom, search for cmd and hit enter → A black commando window will pop up → Type: ipconfig/all

Mac OS X: Go to the Apple Menu and click System Preferences → Click on Network → Make sure that you select the right Internet Controller. So if you use an internet cable, make sure that Ethernet is selected. If you got a wireless connection (which is NOT preferred to host a server from) that you select your WiFi controller on the left menu.

Linux:

- For IP Address: Open a new terminal window and type: ifconfig eth0
- For Default gateway: Open a new terminal window and type: route -n
The address contained in the last line (with the UG flag) is the address for your default gateway.


Solaris:

- For IP Address: Open a new terminal window and type: ifconfig -a
- For Default gateway: Open a new terminal window and type: netstat -in

Now what you'll need are the following things:

- IP address (Windows) | IP Address (Max OS X) | inet addr (Linux & solaris)
- Default Gateway (Windows) | Router (Mac OS X)



As you can see, My IP address is: 192.168.1.100 (it's the last octet that is important)
and my default gateway is 192.168.1.1 (which is the IP address of my router).


6) We are ready to forward port number 80 now that you have found out what your IP address is and your default gateway is.

Open up your browser and browse to your default gateway. Just type http://<YOUR_DEFAULT_GATEWAY_ADDRESS>

It will ask you to login. You can find the login details in your routers manual. Some default details you can try (only if you have never changed these details):

Username: admin
Password: admin

Username: administrator
Password: administrator

Username: root
Password: root

Username: administrator
Password: root

Username: root
Password: administrator

Username: root
Password: <blank>


7) Once you are inside I want you to go to the section where you can manage your port forwarding. If you can't find it, use this following website: [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]


This is how I did it.

- Application: Just a name for you to recognize it easily.
- Start & End: Type in port number 80
- Protocol: Both (Not just UDP or TCP; If you don't have the "both" option, than forward it twice with different protocol).
- IP Address: 100 (Since 100 is the last octet of my entire LAN IP: 192.168.1.100)
- Make sure you check enable and at the bottom of the form press APPLY SETTINGS! A lot of people forget this.





8) Now you are basically done. All you have to do now is give your friends your external IP address and make them browse to it. You can find your external IP address by going to: [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]


But there is an optional step. Now, there are not many of us that memorize IP addresses for websites, that's why domain names were invented! so head on over to [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] and grab yourself a free account and some free sub-domains, you can have up to 5 free sub domains that link direct to your home server.

Optional 9) When you got your WAN ip then you can put that IP in for each domain.






Step 4: Setting up a domain name with No-IP

1) Go to [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

2) Create an account: To create an account with No-IP.com simply click the "Sign-up Now!" link at the top of the page. Fill in the required fields on the new account form. Please note that their Terms of Service requires valid contact information on file in order to maintain your account. Any accounts found with incomplete or fraudulent information will be terminated.

3) Confirm your account: Once you have submitted your account information into the new user form, they will send a confirmation email to the address you provided. You will need to check that account and look for the email from No-IP.com. The email contains a link you must click in order to confirm your account.

Not getting the e-mail? Click here: [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]


4) Login to your account: Now that you have confirmed your account, you can login to No-IP.com. On the top of the No-IP home page, just below the No-IP logo, you will see an area to enter your email address and password. Enter the information that you signed up with and click "Login."


5) You should now be logged into the No-IP.com members section. Here you can create a hostname that you will use to connect to your server.

A hostname is used instead of your IP address whenever you want to connect to a service at your location. Hostnames take the form of hostname.domain.com so they're the same as names used in URLs to surf the web etc.

For example, if you were to run a webserver, and you wanted to connect to your server using a web browser, you would put [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] in the address bar. Hostnames can be used for much more than that however. You could also us the same hostname, without [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] to connect to your desktop remotely using software like Windows Remote Desktop. Running an FTP server? You can use a No-IP hostname for that as well. Either put the hostname directly into your FTP client or, if your browser supports it, put ftp://hostname.domain.com into the address bar of the web browser and you should be able to make a connection that way as well.





6) In order to add a host to your account, select the "Add" link from the "Hosts/Redirects" menu. This will bring up the Add a Host page.




7) Now you're ready to fill in the details of your new hostname. Here are the steps to deal with the items on this screen:

1: Fill in the Hostname: box with a name of your choosing. It can be anything you like. If you choose a name that's already in use, an error will be generated and you can then try a different hostname. Since hostnames are unique per domain, you can try using the same hostname and just select a different domain from the dropdown box below to see if that combination is available.

2: Select an available domain from the dropdown box. Note that certain domains are reserved for No-IP Enhanced customers only.

3: Choose the the Host Type. The default choice, DNS Host A, is usually the correct one. Do not choose any of the other host types unless you're trying to solve a particular problem that a DNS A record won't accommodate. Let's say that if your ISP (Internet Service Provider) blocks Port 80 for example, and since we're running a web server on port 80, then you can choose Port 80 Redirect (at that point you'll be asked to specify the port to use for the redirection).

4: In the field marked IP Address: you should already see your current IP address. If you wish to set the IP address of the host to be somewhere other than your current location, you can enter that address now.

5: The next two options aren't used for a basic account setup so we won't concern ourselves with those in this tutorial.

6: When you have filled in the information for your new hostname, simply click the "Create Host" button at the bottom of the page to save it.





Does your ISP give you a Dynamic WAN IP address? (meaning that it changes from time to time) No worries, no-ip’s here to help! Just download their free Dynamic IP software, install and login, your sub-domains will show up, and update your dynamic IP to there servers automatically!

Click here to download: [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

When you have done that all, you can send out your cool, witty free sub-domains to friends, to access your free hosted website.

How to setup a .com or Top domain with my hosting?

You can also upgrade your no-ip account and buy a cheap .com .net .co.uk at godaddy.com. Register and upgrade your No-ip account.









You deserve a cookie if you've reached the end of this tutorial! Anyway, I hope that this tutorial was useful to any of you. By the way, credits go to me




Edits:

May 23th, 2010 - Replaced the "How to install XAMPP on Mac OS". Old one was deleted by the author.

Nice guide! Videos, pictures, step by step really good job!

No problem :P

ok Joan lol the problem is still there. Im suposed to type in 192.168.1.100 and it says page loading exsaust. Like a time out. i dont think jerrys website is working because rember when i told you that the repack came with a pre built website? do you think it would override jerrys site even thow i deleted the files from Xampp and The repack? Should i reinstall the site?

ya i think i need to uninstall Xampp because i was able to make an account with the pre made website and it poped up in mySQL and its really ticking me off cause it wont go away even after i deleted it.

ok well i installed it and everything. set up my mysql all that is good. now when i downloaded Jerrys site i put it into the htdocs but there was a site file already pre created in there. now i think wat happened is that jerrys site go mixed with the site pre created on there and when i whent to copy it to the htdocs on xampp it got all clusterd and when i type in localhost it brings me the stupid side the the repack had and when i type in 192.168.1.100 it has a page loading error.

if this helps any i installed the repack ATree Server im pretty sure i got it off here.