Cumulus Support

is this a WWW sever or just a local sever i.e you have to be on the same computer?

It's an Apache-based web server and associated software (MySQL, PHP etc). It installs on any supported platform; one common use is to install it on your own PC, but it doesn't have to be used that way.

im lost

Perhaps you should explain why you are asking about XAMPP and what it is you want to do with it?

basically I just want to host my own website from my home pc as I carnt afford a hosting package with all the whistls and bell's

XAMPP should do that for you. Or you could look at some free hosting like Glovine.

On my local pc it's fine i.e https://localhost/index.html, I just dont know how to make it sever to the web.

Hi hilton,

XAMPP (as Steve told you before) is a Suite of Servers made to create a complete web server solution. It consist of Apache Web Server, MySQL, PHP, and Pearl (and some others supporting servers like Filezella FTP Server) all in one package. XAMPP is "cross-plataform", meaning that there are versions for different Operating Systems.

XAMPP is mostly oriented for the web developer so that he can create an environment similar to the web hosts where his web pages and programs will reside, but without having to install and configure each server and service individually. But surely it can also be used to create your own web host environment. You can install XAMPP in your home or second PC and host from your own home your web pages. You do will have to be responsible for applying, configuring and maintaining the security of your web server. You will also need either a static IP address in our home internet line and/or a Dynamic DNS (like DynDNS or No-IP). And also most probably you will need to Forward Ports in your home router and/or DSL Modem. You may also need to get a Domain Name or a Subdomain Name (Dynamic DNS give you a Subdomain of their domain names), so you can refer your website from the outside.

As Steve pointed out, there are also some free hosts out there available. Hosts that offer free hosting that I can mention (and recommend) are:

• Awardspace - http://www.awardspace.com - Good if you do not have much traffic, limited bandwidth

• Free Hosting Cloud - http://www.freehostingcloud.com - The one I am using right now

This free hosts take care of those daily admin things like security patches, so you can concentrate more more on your website. They even provide a sub domain name for free also.

Now if you do want to really learn web site and hosting development, then XAMPP is the way to go...

Well, good luck on your web site and hope to see you online soon...



Francisco

To add some additional information to the excellent (and very instructive) message posted by Francisco...

I have XAMPP installed on 2 computers - one computer server is used for developing purposes (web pages/sites), the other computer server is used to host many of my 'functional' web pages and can be accessed from the outside world (outside my home/office walls) either directly (my IP address rarely change) or through the No-IP redirection system.

I also have the Abyss Web Server installed on both computers. A week or so ago, I had to de-activated the XAMPP Apache Server on my development computer as I was encountering some conflicts (problems) between the server software and some multilingual web pages I was (am) working on (probably some default settings within Apache) - I have not had any such conflicts with the Abyss Web Server (behaves much better).

I cannot say/write that I prefer one server software over the other - the XAMPP Apache Server is a well proven software but need a lot of editing to 'tweak' it properly - the Abyss Web Server is simple to setup and to configure and operates very reliably.

Thanks to all for help im working on setting things up

I was in the same position and now use Abyss. A bit confusing at first, but OK now. Been using it for 6 months now.