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<TITLE>The Answer Guy 46: A Staging Server</TITLE>
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<H4>"The Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"</H4>
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<H4>By James T. Dennis,
<a href="mailto:answerguy@ssc.com">answerguy@ssc.com</a><BR>
LinuxCare,
<A HREF="http://www.linuxcare.com/">http://www.linuxcare.com/</A>
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<H3 align="left"><img src="../../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif"
height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
>A Staging Server</H3>
<p><strong>From Mark on Wed, 01 Sep 1999
</strong></p>
<!-- ::
A Staging Server
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
:: -->
<P><STRONG>
Hello,
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
I have an idea and don't quite know if I am tackling it the right way. I own
a mac and would like to set up an external server to help with development
and testing of CGI scripts using Perl. I basically want to emulate my ISP.
Am I right in thinking that I can buy a basic PC, replace windows with Linux
to make it a unix box and then run the Apahe server with Fastperl etc. on
top of that. Plug the whole thing in and serve pages and across a network to
the mac. (sounds easy when you say it like that).
Any pointers, suggestions or advice will be useful.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Regards Mark
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
This is referred to as a "staging server" or a "testbed" by
sysadmins. It is basically that easy.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
The hard parts are gleaning what your ISPs configuration really
is. If you can read their <TT>/etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf</TT> and related
files (or prevail upon them for copies) then you can probably
make it much easier for yourself). It also might be a bit of a
challenge to collect all of the same modules that they are
running under their copy of <A HREF="http://www.apache.org/">Apache</A>.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
There are also a few tricky points to consider about the way you
access your content. The most transparent (to your testing
process and applications) will be to use "split DNS" --- where
your Mac/client thinks of a local DNS name server as
"authoritative" for the domain that your (virtual) webserver is
configured to be. Then your local name server points to your
local clone of the web server when you're doing your testing and
to your ISPs web server the rest of the time.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Depending one the way you structure your web pages and CGI
applications it may be possible to dispense with the complication
of "split DNS." It just depends on how many of your web pages
and applications make specific hostname references as parts of
their URLs and processing, and whether your development process
allows you to regenerate those pages and CGI scripts with the
necessary URL and hostname changes. It's possible to make all of
your web pages "portable" (using relative links throughout your
HTML for example).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Instead of buying a basic PC and having to "replace Windows with
Linux" consider buying a PC with Linux pre-installed. If you
can't find one at a competitive price then contact your preferred
vendor and let them know what you really want (a PC with Linux
pre-installed, or a PC with no OS installed at all).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Just replacing MS Windows with Linux (or any other OS) continues
to support the widespread perception that people WANT MS Windows
and that there is no market for alternatives. As more people
adopt Linux, <A HREF="http://www.freebsd.org/">FreeBSD</A>, etc.
this becomes a misconception --- but
it does nothing to encourage independent software vendors!
Ultimately that hurts consumers.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
At Linux Online there is a list of hardware vendors that sell
systems with Linux pre-installed. You can find it at:
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE><DL><DT>
Linux Online - Linux-Friendly Hardware
<DD><A HREF="http://www.linux.org/hardware/index.html"
>http://www.linux.org/hardware/index.html</A>
</DL></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
It would be crass of me to recommend a specific hardware
vendor. It would also be bad idea. I have friends to run VA
Research, and Penguin Computing. Dell is a strategic partner for
my employer. I know people who work at SGI, Compaq/DEC and Sun
(among others). They are all involved in Linux and they all
produce hardware (most of them produce PC clones and are thus is
rather close competition).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
So you'll have to make your own choices.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
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<H5 align="center"><a href="http://www.linuxgazette.com/ssc.copying.html"
>Copyright ©</a> 1999, James T. Dennis
<BR>Published in <I>The Linux Gazette</I> Issue 46 October 1999</H5>
<H6 ALIGN="center">HTML transformation by
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