Installing MediaWiki on 7-Orion

Installing MediaWiki on 7-Orion Series

Introduction

This step-by-step guide shows how to install MediaWiki on Uniform Server 7-Orion Series.

Uniform Server is inherently portable. You can copy it to a USB memory stick and run it on another PC. If a host PC is currently running another server though, it will prevent UniServer from running. To resolve this situation, either stop the host servers, or preferably install your UniServer on different ports by moving the server. Before installing MediaWiki it's worth reading how to move servers.

This is set initially as a personal server and will not be used online, so there's no need to change any of Uniform Server’s settings. It's locked down and safe to use even when your PC is connected to the Internet. That said, it is also easy to put the servers online.

Preparation

Note: There is no real need to create folders at A) and B). They are there to provide a reference point and make screen capture a little bit easier.

Install Uniform server A) Create a new folder named mediawiki_b (Can be any name) Extract a new copy of Uniform Server 7-Orion to this folder  --- Database user name root - No need to change this  --- Database password root Start Uniform Server. Download Mediawiki B) Create a new folder mediawiki_a (Can be any name; it's only a temporary folder) Download Mediawiki 1.16.5 (or newer version) from here and save to mediawiki_a Unzip the downloaded file (mediawiki-1.15.2.tar.gz) Windows cannot do this. Use something like 7-Zip  --- Download site: [1]  --- File name: 7-Zip command line - Multilingual file archiver and compressor B) Extract mediawiki-1.16.5.tar.gz to current path, creates a new folder mediawiki-1.15.2.tar; open this folder C) C) Extract mediawiki-1.16.5.tar to current path, creates a new folder mediawiki-1.15.2 (D) Copy files to Uniform Server E) Copy folder mediawiki-1.16.5 to server root folder www F) Rename folder mediawiki-1.16.5 to wiki

Switch to production, start servers

UniServer’s default is to use the production PHP configuration file, however you may have switched configuration files during development.

Before installing any applications, ensure the production configuration is selected.

Check the configuration file:

1. Start UniTray, in folder UniServer double click on Start.exe tray icon created.
2. Check configuration: Left click tray icon > Server Status – Top of page php.ini displays either Production or development.
3. If Production displayed, no action required; you can start servers.
4. If development displayed, proceed as follows:
5. Switch to production: Left click tray icon > Advanced > click php.ini switch to Production.

Start Servers:

• Start Uniform Server. Left click tray icon > click Start UniServer

Wiki – Installation

Type the following into your browser address bar: http://localhost/wiki/ This redirects to installation page. Click the link Please set up the wiki first. This opens the configuration page. Scroll down to Site config and fill in the form.

File:Nano mediawiki b.gif

Site config

Wiki name:	MW on US (whatever you like)
Contact e-mail:	admin@localhost
Language:	en-English
Copyright/license:	(radio button) select No license metadata
Admin username:	WikiSysop
Password:	root66 (whatever you like)
Password confirm:	root66 (same as above)
Object caching:	(radio button) select eAccelerator
Memcached servers:	(leave blank)

E-mail, e-mail notification and authentication setup

E-mail features (global):	(radio button) select Disabled
User-to-user e-mail:	(radio button) select Disabled
E-mail notification about changes:	(radio button) select Disabled
E-mail address:	(radio button) select Disabled

Database config

Database type:	(radio button) select MySQL
Database host:	localhost
Database name:	wikidb
DB username:	root
DB password confirm:	root
Superuser account:	tick box
Superuser name:	root
Superuser password:	root

MySQL specific options

Database table prefix:	leave blank
Storage Engine:	(radio button) select MyISAM
Database character set: :	(radio button) select MySQL 4.1/5.0 binary

Click Install MediaWiki

After creating the database, a second page will display. Scroll down the page and you will see the confirmation message:

Installation successful! Move the config/LocalSettings.php 
file to the parent directory, then follow  this link to your wiki”

Notes

Note 1: More detail for moving file, also refer to above image G)

1. Copy file: LocalSettings.php
2. Located in folder: *\UniServer\www\wiki\config
3. To folder: *\UniServer\www\wiki

Note 2: Access your wiki by typing the following into your browser address bar:

1. http://localhost/wiki/ or
2. http://localhost/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

Note 3: To enable image uploads:

1. Open file: LocalSettings.php
2. Located in folder: *\UniServer\udrive\www\wiki
3. Change this line: $wgEnableUploads = false;
4. To: $wgEnableUploads = true;

Portability

If you want a portable version of MediaWiki, copy the folder UniServer and all its content to your USB memory stick. Don’t expect fantastic speeds, but it is usable.

Uniform Server uses the standard ports (Apache port 80 and MySQL port 3306). If a host PC is currently running another server on these ports it will prevent UniServer from running. To resolve this situation, either stop the host servers or preferably install your UniServer on different ports by moving the servers, as described next.

Move Servers

One of Uniform Server’s unique features is the capability to run more than one complete server stack on the same PC. When running a server from a USB memory stick you can use this to great advantage and prevent server clashes. You will have noticed UniTray’s icon displays a one (meaning standard ports). Moving UniServer increments this digit for each server move. In reality it’s not just a port change, but a complete server update. The running server status also displays the server characteristics.

Move Servers:

1. Assumes a newly extracted server (see note 1)
2. Stop all running Uniform Servers
3. Start UniTray: in folder UniServer, double click on Start.exe and the tray icon is created.
4. Move servers: Left click tray icon > Advanced > click Move Servers multi-server operation.
5. In the pop-up window, at all prompts press enter to accept defaults.
6. The tray icon will display 2. If you already use a server with this number repeat steps 4 and 5. Each server must have a unique number.

• After moving the servers you can now install MediaWiki as explained above.
• However before proceeding you need to use the new server ports for installation.
• To find these: Left click tray icon > Server Status

I moved the servers to icon 2, so Apache port = 81 and MySQL port = 3307

To start installation: type http://localhost:81/wiki/ into your browser

Database Configuration host name becomes: localhost:3307

After installation, access your wiki by typing the following into your browser address bar:

• http://localhost:81/wiki/ or
• http://localhost:81/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

Note 1:

If you have already installed MediaWiki on UniServer V5-Nano and want to move the servers, it is possible.

1. Follow steps 2-6 as above
2. Edit file UniServer\www\wiki\LocalSettings.php
3. Locate line (61)
   Change line: $wgDBserver = "localhost";
   To: $wgDBserver = "localhost:3307";
4. Save file.

Use the port number that matches your server, start the servers. Pages are accessible as mentioned above. Just remember to use the port number that matches your server.

Note 2:

If you install MediaWiki using the plugin MediaWiki_1_16_5.exe, there is no need to change line $wgDBserver = "localhost";

A MySQL port change is automatically tracked using the following code:

// === Get MYSQL port number ================================================= // Use port from configuration file - because user can change this file $path_array = explode("www", dirname( __FILE__ )); // Folder UniServr path $file_conf = $path_array[0].'usr\\local\\mysql\\my.ini'; // Config file if ($filearray=file($file_conf)) { // read file into array foreach ($filearray as $txt) { // scan array for port if(preg_match("/^\s*port\s*=\s*(\d+)/", $txt,$match)){ // check save matches $mysql_port = $match[1]; // match found save port number break; // give up nothing else to do } } } else { // failed to read file echo "Cannot read the file"; } // ===================================================== END Get MySQL Port === ## Database settings $wgDBtype = "mysql"; $wgDBserver = "localhost:$mysql_port"; $wgDBname = "wikidb"; $wgDBuser = "root"; $wgDBpassword = "root";

Plugin

The above instructions are generic, allowing you to install the latest version of MediaWiki.

If you prefer a click-and-go solution, go to SourceForge

• Under Plugins
• Navigate to sub-folder Uniform Server 5-Nano Plugins
• Download file V56_MediaWiki_1_15_2.exe

Save this to folder UniServer. To install, just double click on the file. MediaWiki is pre-configured and ready to go. Check out the readme file for latest information.

Note: This plugin is intended to quickly get MediaWiki up and running, allowing you to explore the software. If you intend running a production server, delete the folders installed and perform a manual install. This allows you to tailor MediaWiki and include any missing modules.

MySQL Security

The above installation guide and associated downloadable plugin are intended to get the application up and running purely for testing.

If you are intending to put the application online, be sure to read any security advice provided with the application and check the provider's web site.

More importantly, the above installation is an extreme security risk if put online as is. Its imperative you secure the MySQL server before putting your servers online.

Please read MySQL Security and restrict privileges for any user who has connection access to your server.

Conclusion

From the above you can see how easy it is to install MediaWiki on The Uniform Server.

What may not be apparent is the reason for using multi-server 2 for MediaWiki. I have a main server that runs on standard ports, meaning that multi-server 1 is in use. The next free server was 2, so I used that.

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