Content Management Software
 

Hello

I am interested in content management software for the creation of a little web site managing some discussion between some friends.

Can any one suggest one that is easy to operate, or one that is easy to install. I am either looking at a web-server that has some up-and-running (such as the web-server supporting the "php-nuke" content management utility, able to be found at http://www.hosting-pp.com/)

I saw a big list, and I would like to find some reviews on these utilities, and suggestions on the installation of these utilities.

I currently use 'www.halfpricehosting.com' and they do not seem to have these utilities, so I am thinking of moving my little site to another location.

OK - the questions ...

I want to set up a domain (domain.org) and set up a couple of sub-elements to the domains ... (friend-chat/domain.org) and (commercial-promotion/domain.org). The two are not connected by hyperlink - they just exist within the same directory, under the same web hosting company.

Is this feasable? What is the best content management site to use for the friend-chat site under this plan.

I look forward to your advice and comments

Regards

Thomas Sounness
------------------------
'Forwards, as forwards is the only way to go'
and
'Nil Desperandum Illigitimos Carborundum'

For simple communication between a group of friends, I would guess that php-nuke or phpbb would do pretty well. They are easy to install and most disro's already have the required servers (MySQL or PostgeSQL, Apache, and PHP.)

I have a friend that went to school over-seas and wanted to keep his graduating class in touch. Together, we installed php-nuke, myPHPNuke, and phpBB. In the end he went with phpBB, because he liked the private messenger feature and simple management.

Quick reference: http://www.phpbb.com http://www.phpnuke.org http://myphpnuke.com

If I were to build your site, I would do the following:

1. Make sure that I had MySQL, Apache, and PHP installed. (Make sure that MySQL server is installed, not just the client.)

2. Download phpBB from.... you guessed it www.phpbb.com. Using Mozilla, save the fiile phpbb-2.0.6.tar.bz2 to the /var/www/htdocs folder.

(Try this to find your htdocs folder:
bash-2.05b# locate htdocs )

3. Decompress the download using the tar command.

bash-2.05b# tar -jxvf phpBB-2.0.6.tar.bz2

4. Open Mozilla and browse to http://localhost/phpBB2/docs/INSTALL.html. Read the install file.

5. Open a terminal window and change to the directory /var/www/htdocs/phpBB2.

bash-2.05b# cd /var/www/htdocs/phpBB2

6. Change the permissions on the config.php file located in the phpBB2 directory. You have to do this for the script to function properly. This makes the page writable. You will remove this permission later (security).

bash-2.05b# chmod 666 config.php

7. Open Mozilla and browse to http://localhost/phpBB2/install/install.php. Fill out all of the the fields as shown here:

Database type: MySQL 4

(If unsure of database number type the following
bash-2.05b# mysqladmin version )

Server name: localhost

Database name: mysql (most distro's already have a mysql and test db)

Database user: root (do not hunt me down concerning security, this is just an example) ;-)

Password: ******

Administrator username: Bruce Almighty (does not have to be system user)

Password and confirmation:*******

Click Install

8. Remove the install/ and contrib/ directories.

bash-2.05b# cd /var/www/htdocs/phpBB2
bash-2.05b# rm -rf install contrib

9. Open Mozilla to http://localhost/phpBB2/index.php

Enjoy!

Installing two sites just means that you will have to duplicate steps three through nine. Or better yet, after uncompressing the site just copy the phpBB2 folder to something original like phpBB2-Friends. Just make sure that you have another database setup first.

If you need help setting up MySQL databases and do not have a clue how to do it, perhaps you could try webmin available at http://webmin.com. If you can install an RPM package, then you will love this tool. It is available in tar.gz also. Webmin allows graphical configuration of the linux system.

If you have questions about setting up Apache, please try reading the docs. They are a great reference. Try the locate command for httpd, httpd.conf, and htdocs.

Hopefully this will help you on the command line as well. :-)

-WP

********************************************************
*There was once this kid in a movie that said, "Pay it forward" **
* Doin' your part? **
*******************************************************

This has got to be one of the most helpful and directly useful posts I have seen on LinQuest. Well Done. Most helpful. Supurb! Bravo!!!

... now where is the manual?

Thomas