Request for help - Setting up an active

[Chuck Bearden]

> Date:          Tue, 2 Dec 1997 12:39:39 -0800
> From:          "Ashton, Jason" <jason.ashton at esr.cri.nz>
> 
> Dear People,
> 
[...]
> we thought it a good idea to create an Intranet of sorts to deliver   
> desktop access.
> 
> This we have done, to a point.
> 
[...]
> 
> We have also been told that we are not to spend any money on this.
> 
> My request is this... Does anyone know how to set up a server so that cgi   
> applications are able to run?  Or... Does anyone know where I can go to   
> find out this information?
> 
> Any and all help is gratefully accepted.

If you have some in-house Unix expertise, or are willing to acquire
some knowledge of Unix, I strongly recommend you consider Linux with
the Apache web server as a platform for serving web pages.  Linux is
a very stable OS, and Apache is used on about half the web sites on
the Internet.  It is far and away the most popular http server. 

It is probably not as easy to set up and maintain as WindowsNT seems
to be, but it much cheaper (free if you download the software from
the Internet, cheap ($50 US at most) if you buy a CD-ROM
distribution), and it rewards you with the flexibility of a Unix
platform.  It also will run nicely on fairly minimal hardware.  If
all you want to do is serve web pages intranet-wise, a 486 with 16M
RAM will probably do very nicely.  You might even do fine with 8M of
RAM.  Linux is also a great way to learn Unix and system
administration fundamentals.  There are scads of documentation
available on the Internet, and many places to get help for free.  

I have used only Slackware and Red Hat distributions, and I think
Red Hat will yield a working Apache server right out of the box if you
install the needed packages.  You can check out their site at

	http://www.redhat.com

Basic Linux info can be found at:

	http://www.linux.org/ (Linux Online)
	http://linux.senet.com.au/ (Linux Documentation Project mirror)

Please feel free to email me for further information.  

-------------------------------------------------------------
Chuck Bearden			
                                email: cbearden at hpl.lib.tx.us
Network Services Librarian
Automation Department		voice: 713/247-2264
Houston Public Library		fax:   713/247-1182
500 McKinney Ave.
Houston, TX  77002		
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