homemade .mac

[wmmk]

i admit that i am a total cheapskate. hate parting with money. well, to be fair, i dont have a credit card, so there's not much choice.

anyway, i decided to do my own .mac type thing. considering that everybody says i'm a total n00b, this can't be very hard (unless you're using port 8888, and jsw and i know how THAT works 😛 ). but anyway, all you have to do is download apache 2.2.55, compile, build, install, and all that other junk (instructions are here). then, move the contents of your site to /usr/local/apache2/htdocs and move the default stuff out.
in terminal, do:
cd /usr/local/apache2
sudo chmod 777 conf
*** enter your admin password when asked ***
cd conf
sudo chmod 666 httpd.conf
then, open textedit, open /usr/local/apache2/conf/httpd.conf
do a find, then find 80 and replace with 8888.
save and quit textedit.
open system preferences, sharing, firewall, new, name: apache2 tcp:8888 dont write anything in udp
quit system prefs
go to your router's config page and forward port 8888 (this depends on the router)
go to dyndns.com
get a free account
get free dynamic dns services
choose a url (custom subdomain+domain from a list)
go to youname.whateverdomainyoupickedfromthelist.xxx:80
this should show your site.
badda-bing, badda-bing, you're on the net!
to get an iDisk replacement, look here and that, i have not done myself yet, but i would love to be able to do that in a bit. if anyone is successful with tht iDisk part, please post what you did.
thanks in advance for the iDisk help, and i hope the apache help will make it cheap and easy to be on the web!

 

[yellow]

Hmmm.. I'd be careful calling this a "homemade .Mac". What you've done is hosted your own webpage. That's all. There's a lot more to .Mac than webhosting. Certainly setting up webdav is a step in the right direction.. But you're on the right track.

Edit, of course, if Apache 1.x is OK with you, all you had to do was go the the Sharing prefpane and turn on "Personal Web Sharing".

 

[jeremy.king]

Congats on your Web server installationl...Its not .Mac, but call it what you will...

A couple things.

• DO NOT do a global find and replace if you don't understand whats being changed, especially with a file as important as httpd.conf.
  
• You may want to consider changing the permission of httpd.conf so everyone doesn't have read/write.
  
• Also, no need to change the port, 80 is a lot easier to use since browsers will default to this. Unless you are forwarding your external 80 to the internal 8888. My router (linksys) won't do that.
  
• Finally, you can setup apache2 to startup automatically using launchd...pretty easy to setup.

 

[wmmk]

once iDisk is up and running, i will also be able to do iCal publishing through WebDAV, photocasting will only take a bit of terminal hacking (but i really don't need photocasting) and iCards? who needs iCards? i know html. i can email nice "cards" myself! with the mac tips thing, i have a great mac support community right here at macrumors.com!
i hae just been to the doctor and told i have strep throat, which mean 48 hours to set up WebDAV for me! (yes, i try to look at things in an optimistic way, and no, i didn't swallow bacteria just to have time for WebDAV 😛 )

 

[wmmk]

anybody know of a good hit counter and interactive forums tool? preferably all html. thanks

 

[jeremy.king]

preferably all html

Impossible. You will need some sort of server side technology. PHP is your best bet.

 

[yellow]

Forum soft: http://www.phpbb.com/ (free, I think)
Counters: There's a jillion out there.. work on your Google-Fu.

 

[wmmk]

Impossible. You will need some sort of server side technology. PHP is your best bet.

wait. php AND WebDAV are already in my apache 2 installation, right?

ok. phpbb has been downloaded. how shall i set up and intergrate into the iiWeb site? can i make i "feel like iWeb"?
i've tried many google searches for hit counters, but SOOOOOOO many are ad supported. any free ones? can anyone help me with this? it confuses n00bs like me.

 

[yellow]

it confuses n00bs like me.

I'd say you're on your own for all these.

It's a good learning experience to have to find the who and the why on your own to get it set up, rather than having it spoon-fed to you on here.

 

[wmmk]

I'd say you're on your own for all these.

It's a good learning experience to have to find the who and the why on your own to get it set up, rather than having it spoon-fed to you on here.

you could force feed me 😉
that sounds good, all i need are little pointers, not the whole guide to WebDAV.
still, following your advice, I have made phpBB feel like iWeb and intergrate with my iWeb site. all i need is a tiny bit of help with this iDisk emulation using WebDAV guide
thanks a bunch

 

[jsw]

Also, no need to change the port, 80 is a lot easier to use since browsers will default to this. Unless you are forwarding your external 80 to the internal 8888. My router (linksys) won't do that.

In Democrat622's case, there were issues with port 80 (mentioned on another thread) due apparently to his router.

As mentioned, if port 80 works for you (it does for most), you're fine with either the default OS X Apache version or the default Apache 2.x install (I very much prefer 2.x over 1.x). In my own case, port 80 is blocked by my "beloved" Verizon FIOS (at least it was a few months ago and since I got the service... I've heard rumblings they've stopped or will stop blocking it... didn't want people hosting businesses on the consumer plan, I guess). As a small plus, using a non-standard port does tend to keep away all those except people you want on your site, as it won't come up in a simple scan.

And, IIRC, WebDAV is not part of the default configuration for Apache 2.x and needs to be added to the config - very simple, and explained in the documentation. But, it's late, I'm tired, and I could be wrong about the defaults.

 

[wmmk]

where might i find a good tutorial on setting the php and WebDAV modules for apache 2?
thanks.