testing website

[stevehughes]

is it possible to load the finished actinic website to iis on a local xp machine, to test its operation (cgi scripts etc) prior to actually uploading it to the internet?

thanks

[NormanRouxel]

Look in the Advanced Guide and search for Standalone Demo. This shows you how to install Apache / Perl / WarFTPd to make any Windows system a local server.

Note that if you have a LAN then you can install the server on a different system (one that isn't connected to the internet) if you wish. This may be a good idea for security reasons if your main system is on a broadband connection.

Norman

[fleetwood]

Norman

re your comment: "..if you have a LAN then you can install the server on a different system (one that isn't connected to the internet) if you wish. This may be a good idea for security reasons if your main system is on a broadband connection"

Our current set up is two XP machines, connected wirelessly via a BT Network box (BT Network 1200 - 2Wire) , which shares the broadband connection between the two machines, and allows file sharing, and also acts as a hardware firewall.

We have a spare machine with Win98 not currently connected to the LAN (mainly because I can't get the connections to work!).

Following your advice above, we would be best to install the standalone server for testing Actinic changes on the machine not currently running our live site. If I used our Win98 machine for this, and managed to connect it to our existing LAN, to make file back ups from live to demo machine easier, what are the security implications you were mentioning and how do I protect myself?

If all 3 machines are connected on the LAN, and my two XP machines share the broadband connection, how can I prevent the W98 machine from having connection to the broadband connection, if thats whats needed to keep it safe?

Please excuse the long questions - whilst I'm happy playing around with my Actinic, I'm a bit of a novice when it comes to LAN.

thanks

MArtin

[fleetwood]

Whoops! Just notice the thread I am replying to is dated March 2003 not 2004!!! Hope thats OK.

[NormanRouxel]

what are the security implications you were mentioning and how do I protect myself?

I'm not really a LAN or Security expert but if you're running the "Standalone Server" on a totally unprotected system then you have a Web-Server and and FTP server conected directly to the Internet for all to play with. As both these are "out-of-box" installs there may be many security holes left open.

If you have a firewall (Hardware or Software) and it's set to block Incoming HTTP and FTP (ports 80 and 21) that should (hopefully) be enough to keep these programs from being accessed from outside.

The other thing you can do is to only run Apache and War_FTPd when you really need them for testing Actinic.

Anyway, as I said, I'm not a security guru so perhaps any out there would like to comment.

Norman

[fleetwood]

Thanks Norman

I have been programming in my own small way for 10 years or more, but have never gotten around to setting up or learning about LAN's up until now. Whatever reading I have done so far implies how easy it all is to do, yet I still feel unsure, and certainly don't want to compromise my set up.

Also be interested to receive any advice on how safe it is to use remote access (have used PC Anywhere in the past, through a dial up connection and I know there is now something built into XP to do this, but not 100% sure what I'm doing yet, now we have broadband and the potential vulnerabilites an always on system brings). I would like to set up remote access so I can control my Actinic machine at the shop from my home PC (keeping all functionality on the shop machine, but allowing me to add/remove products, add images etc, whilst at home). I'd like to know how safe this is.

Anyone else who can offer up advice, I'd be happy to receive it.

[pierre66]

Remote Access

I needed this exact functionality as I travel extensively and wanted to be able to operate our office machines and transfer files while somewhere else in the world.

Almost went with a VPN solution which was going to require a $600 Cisco box and a long time to configure when I had a good long look at GoToMyPC.com...

I now have an account with them (not real cheap - $180/year), but it works GREAT and I can access the 2 primary machines at our office - and do it from ANY machine that has internet access - securely...

Check it out!