WampServer

How to I install Joomla CMS with WAMP?

I have my server working off localhost fine. How do I make the site available externally? With Windows XP Pro SP2?

- IIS isn't running
- Port 80 is open on my router

What are the security risks of allowing WAMP with external HTTP access?

Hi,

If your localhost works, you are almost there :-)

If you want to run more than one site, for example a development site with internal access only, create the virtual hosts and put the sites in subfolders. Set up the name based virtual hosts with definitions in the folder c:\wamp\Apache2\conf\extra and include a reference to that file or those files into the httpd.conf file.

You need to configure the Windows workstation running your WAMP server with a fixed internal IP address in the LAN, e.g. 192.168.1.10, in the same subnet as your router. The router needs to be configured to forward TCP port 80 or HTTP requests to the WAMP server.

If you want to access your site from the WAMP server without using 'localhost' in the URL ( [example.com]), you can add your domain name into the hosts file in c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts in the format:
127.0.0.1 example.com

In the same way, if you want to access your site from another workstation inside the LAN, you can just add the internal IP address to the hosts file:
192.168.1.10 example.com

If you own a domain name and your ISP gave you a fixed external IP address, you need to get the company hosting the DNS records to point your DNS entry like example.com to your external IP address.

If your ISP has gave you a dynamic IP address, you need a mechanism to monitor your IP address and every time it changes update the DNS record with the service provider hosting your DNS records. Have a look at solutions by companies like no-ip.com or dyndns.com.

Regarding Joomla installation, you can just expand the installation file and copy it to the subfolder, acting as the document root for your Joomla site. Point your browser to the URL [example.com] and the index.php file in that folder takes over and you can then follow the instructions on the screen.

The .htaccess file that comes with Joomla and resides in the document root, contains rewrite rules to block out some common exploits, like trying to set a PHP GLOBALS variable via URL or include a <script> tag in URL.

Other than this, security in a CMS involves the designers and authors of the source code sanitizing the data input fields of the forms available to the users, and this is where the Open Source community contributes to the testing and Quality Assurance during beta releases, to weed out bugs and block possible exploits of vulnerabilities in the code.

Regards,



toivo
Sydney, Australia

rayray519 wrote:

> How to I install Joomla CMS with WAMP?
>
> I have my server working off localhost fine. How do I make the
> site available externally? With Windows XP Pro SP2?
>
> - IIS isn't running
> - Port 80 is open on my router
>
> What are the security risks of allowing WAMP with external HTTP
> access?

you need to read my wamp manual. link to my manual is in my sig.


CyberSpatium
----------------------
WAMP English Forum Admin

I have WAMP5 working with (for development use only):
Windows Vista Ultimate x64 (64 bit)
Kaspersky Internet Security Suite 7.0.x
Spyware Terminater 2.x
CounterSpy 2.5.x


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