KevinDeissler

EDTECH552:IntrotoNetworkAdministration

Module6:ServerProject

ThisdocumentservesasareferenceformyWordpresswebsiteIcreated.Eachsectionrepresentseachpageofthewebsite.

Welcome

WelcometothewebsiteformyserverprojectforEDTECH552:IntrotoNetworkAdministrationatBoiseStateUniversity.ThisprojecthasbeenanincrediblechallengeandnotonlydoIhopeyoucanaccesseverythingwithinthissite,Ihopeyoufindithelpfulasapeekintomysetupprocess.

Goals

Thegoalsofthisprojectinclude:

1. SetupanApache&MySQLserver2. Createapersonalwebsitewithatemplate3. SetupDynamicDNStomakeyourwebsiteserviceavailabletothepublic

PacketTracer

Myofficedesktopishousingallofthesoftware.Itactuallyplugsrightintotherouter/modemcombo.Fromthereitreachescyberspace.

Issues:

"Insanity:doingthesamethingoverandoveragainandexpectingdifferentresults."-AlbertEinstein

IfeellikeIranintoaslewofissueswiththisinstallation,however,Icansaythatbyuninstalling

andreinstallingseveraltimes,Iwasabletosuccessfullysetmyselfupandeditmysiteinalmostrecord

time.ThefirstproblemIranintowaswithWampserver,thesuggestedprogramtorunApacheand

MySQL.Neartheendoftheinstallation,anerrorcodepoppedupsayingthatmycomputerwasmissing

a.dllfile.WhenItriedtoinstallthatfileagain,aswassuggested,Ifoundthatitwasstillthere,andnow

hadtwoofthesame.Evenafterareinstallortwo,itstilldidn'tworkandthatwasthefirsttimeIasked

forhelp.

AfterbeingpointedinthedirectionofXAMPPfromthediscussionboard,Iwasabletoinstallthe

program(thankfully),butalsoinstalledthebitnamiprogramasitlookedlikeIneededto.Icouldnotget

Apachetoconnect,howeverMySQLwasabletoconnect.Afriendcameovertohelpme(notashamed,

Ineededhelp!Myconfidencelevelwasdownthetubes!),andhesaidthatbitnamimightbeconflicting

withXAMPP.Soafterthatinstall,wesearchedtheinternetforsolutions.Ichangedtheportsfrom80

and443to8080and4433.Afterexperimentation,weneededtodothatinseveralplaces.Exploring

thisprogramwasliketryingtoreadabookprintedinanotherlanguage.Icouldunderstandparts,but

didn'trealizehowmuchmoreIneededtoknoworhavepriorexperiencewithinordertomakethis

work.That'swhythisgoteasieraftereachinstall.

Oncethingsappearedworking,IhadmyDNSURLfromnoip.com,andIhadWordpress

downloadedandconfigured,Iwasfinallyabletoeditmysite.OfcourseIneededsomemusictohelp

mewiththis,asIbegineditingandadding.Apparently,iTunesthoughtthatnowwouldbeagreat

timetoupdate.Surelynoharmcouldcomefromthis.Afterrestart,IfoundthatIcouldnolonger

accessmyWordpress.Thepagecouldnotbefound.ThiswasthesecondtimeIreachedouttohelpto

Dr.Hung.AndofcourseIdidn'thavemyscreenshotsatthatpoint.

Sothenextday,theprocessofuninstallingandreinstallingtheprogrambeganyetagain.This

time,with100%morescreenshots!Afterover10hoursofworkinatwodayperiod,Idecidedtoput

togetherascreencastdetailingmysteps.I’masfarasIcangowithgettingawebsiteup.

EducationalPurpose

Ifyouknowwhatyou'redoing,ApacheandMySQLservicescanaddanincrediblydynamicapproachtoyourclassroom.Frombuildingasimplewebsitetoconnecttostudentsandparents,tohostinginteractivecontentbywayofaLearningManagementSystem,theonlyoneyou'rereliantonisyouasanadministrator.

ThereasonItookthiscourse(beforeknowingthatthecertificationof"SchoolTechnologyCoordinator,"wasnotvalidinPennsylvania)wastogainabetterunderstandingofhowthegurusofourschooldistrict'snetworkoperate.Afterthisproject,Ihaveamuchhigherunderstandingandrespectofwhattheydotobuildservers,networks,andkeepusonline.Iunderstandsomeofthelanguagethattheyspeakandcanholdabetterconversationwiththemnowaboutournetwork.

Inaddition,thetrialsofinstallingsomethinglikethishastaughtmetotakebetternotesasImuddlethroughtheexperimentationprocess.ThefirsttimeIattackedthisproject,Ididn'ttakeanyscreenshots.LuckilyIwasabletorememberhowIconfiguredmysettingsinordertodocumentandrecordmystepsoverthenextfewinstallations.Itellmyroboticsstudentsthatit'snotscienceuntilyouwriteitdown;writingdownanddocumentingyourstepswillhelpyougobackandtryandfindyourmistakesandalsoprovidebackgroundknowledgeforsomeoneelseshouldyouneedhelp.