On 18 May 99, at 0:07, Gary Perkins wrote:
> Can I run a "web server" like Apache, for personal use, from my PC
> (Gateway 200; Win95; 64K; 4GB)? And, if yes what is a good source from
> which I can learn what I need, and what I need to do?
The short answer is yes. I used to have a co-worker who would sometimes,
for demonstrations, run a web server on his Sony PIC-200 PDA with 2MB of RAM
and a 14.4Kbps modem.
I don't know of a version of Apache that runs under Windows 95, but
Microsoft's "Personal Web Server" should do the job. It's included on the CD
for WIndows 98 and NT 4.0 Workstation, and I know it used to be available as
a free download -- maybe it still is.
The primary issue with any kind of server is connectivity. If you only
want to browse local documents, you don't even need to run a server. If you
have a small LAN, something like PWS can work nicely as long as you don't
reboot or otherwise tie up the CPU while your co-workers are trying to use
your site....
Making a server available over a dial-up to an ISP is problematical,
because (a) visitors never now whether your site will be up or not -- and may
not know your IP address from one day to the next! And while a 56K modem is
(debatably...) adequate for one or two users to browse, it's clearly
inadequate for 10, 20, or 100 users to all try to reach your server.
[Running a server on a round-the-clock high-bandwidth connection costs
money; while the 4GB hard drive might still be adequate, you'd want a more
secure OS than Win 95, more "oomph" than a 200 MHz CPU (and no using the
machine as a workstation while it's serving...) -- and even if PWS delivered
sufficient performance, you'd want to get out from under its licensing
restrictions. I don't think this is where you see yourself headed today, but
these things have a way of growing.]
Running PWS without even a LAN *might* be useful if you want to test sites
developed with Front Page before deploying them to a "real" server.
David G
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