I will outline how to set up your desktop computer as a web server. This is great for testing interactive webpages that rely on server activity.

As always you have choices, what kind of web server you want, what support for different programming languages etc. Well for starters Windows 98 (or later) comes with Personal Web Server either pre-installed or on the disk that comes with it. To check if it is installed click on Control Panel -> Add/Remove Programs -> Windows Setup (tab at the top) -> select Internet Tools and click the details button beneath. If Personal Web server is installed there will be a tick in the box next to it, if there is no tick click on the box and follow the install instructions. If you want to use ASP then you are best using this option.

However, may I recommend Xitami for anyone else who doesn't need ASP. Xitami is an extremely simple server to use and setup. Xitami is simple to install just run the setup program on windows or if you are running Linux download the zipped file and run:

gunzip filename.gz
tar -xvf filename.tar
cd xitami directory
then you need to change permissions and run the install script.
chmod +x xibuild
./xibuild

That should create the server then you need to run the created executable and go to your web browser and type http://127.0.0.1 and hey presto! If it doesn't work you must go to the xitami web site for further instructions

http://www.xitami.com. Some users might want to use Apache; fantastic on Linux and highly configurable this truly is the best (and most popular) web server going. Having said that it requires a lot more understanding to install and configure and is beyond most home users and test servers requirements.

Any web server you choose to install will usually have a test page to help you check your installation. This is more often than not http://localhost/ or http://127.0.0.1/ if you get nothing when you use either of these addresses then you must check on the documentation of your server.

by Pete

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