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Self-contained USB MediaWiki

Introduction

Uniform Server Mona has some very powerful features these can be exploited to great advantage. This tutorial provides a step-by-step guide for running a personal self-contained Wiki using the popular MediaWiki application. Final configuration runs on a USB memory stick containing Uniform Server, MediaWiki and portable Firefox. There are no conflicts with a host machine running another server on standard ports. Added to this any browser settings do not conflict with a host’s browser.

USB memory sticks are very cheap hence you can have a personal application on each memory stick the following techniques are applicable to other applications.

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Building your server

Sounds dramatic! All that’s required is a copy of Uniform Server and UniServer_USB plugin. Move this combination to different ports so as not to conflict with another running server (running on ports 80, 443 and 3306 ).

Create a new folder named server_temp (can be any name you like)
Download the newest version of Uniform Server (UniServer4_2.exe) from SourceForge save to folder server_temp.
Extract Uniform Server, double click on file UniServer4_2.exe creates a new folder named UniServer.
Delete UniServer4_2.exe no longer required and saves disk space.
Download plugin UniServer_USB_1.1.exe from SourceForge save to folder UniServer
Extract plugin, double click on file UniServer_USB_1.1.exe, no need to change path. Click Extract, confirm file replace click Yes to all.
Delete UniServer_USB_1.1.exe no longer required and saves disk space.
Run file CLEAN.bat (double click to run) this removes all unnecessary files these are not required for a USB server.
Read and delete file read_me.txt
Navigate to folder server_temp\UniServer\udrive\plugins\move_servers
Run file Run.bat press enter (or change values as required) at all prompts. Important Note the following values these will be required latter:    Apache port 81    SSL port 444    MySQL port 3307
That completes building a USB server.

Steps 1-4 Extracts Uniform Server
Steps 5-9 Adds portable Firefox, USB unitray and a PAC file to Uniform server. Replaces appropriate files.
Steps 10-11 Moves the server to different ports, prevents conflicts if a host PC is running a server. Programs (Apache and Firefox)are renamed allowing you to run multiple servers. If you are intending to run multiple servers each server must have unique ports hence you will need to repeat step 11. On each run of file Run.bat ports are automatically incremented.

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Running servers hard drive

The above combination was designed to allow development on a hard drive before being copied to a USB stick.

Start servers using server_temp\UniServer\Server_Start.bat
Stop servers using server_temp\UniServer\Stop.bat
Alternatively control the servers using UniTray. To start UniTray run file Start_UniTray2.bat

Running servers from USB memory stick

Installing packages is faster with the servers running on a hard drive. When complete copy the entire content of folder server_temp\UniServer\udrive to the top-level of a USB memory stick.

Running servers is automatic when USB stick is plugged in to a USB port, just click run at the pop-up.

Alternatively manually run as follows.

Start servers using usb_server_start.bat
Stop servers using usb_server_stop.bat
Alternatively control the servers using UniTray. To start UniTray run file Start_UniTray2.bat

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Summary

The above creates a self-contained server that is host PC independent. This allows you to run a personal copy of any application from a USB memory stick. Remainder of this page looks at installing such an application starting with the above server configuration.

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Installing MediaWiki

The following instructions show you how to install MediaWiki on the above server combination.

It’s a personal server and will not be used online hence no need to change any of Uniform Server’s settings, its locked down and safe to use even when your PC is connected to the Internet.

Preparation

Download Mediawiki

Download MediaWiki 1.14.0 (or newer version) from here save to folder server_temp A)
Unzip the downloaded file (mediawiki-1.14.0.tar.gz) Windows cannot do this use something like 7-Zip Portable  --- Download site: PortableApps.com  --- File name: 7-Zip Portable - Multilingual file archiver and compressor
Extract mediawiki-1.14.0.tar.gz to current path, creates a new folder mediawiki-1.14.0.tar open this folder.
Extract mediawiki-1.14.0.tar to current path, creates a new folder mediawiki-1.14.0
Expand this folder until the last folder mediawiki-1.14.0 is reached B)
Copy this folder mediawiki-1.14.0 to server root folder www C)
Rename folder mediawiki-1.14.0 to wiki D)

Wiki – Installation

Start Uniform Server (run server_temp\UniServer\Server_Start.bat)
Wait for portable Firefox to start, at the pop-up click radio button Disable Session store click Next
Uniform Server's initial opening page is displayed.
Type the following into portable Firefox address bar: <nowiki>http://localhost/wiki/</nowiki> 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.

Site config
Wiki name:	MPG (whatever you like)
Contact e-mail:	admin@localhost
Language:	en-English
Copyright/license:	(radio button) select No license metadata
Admin username:	WikiSysop
Password:	root (whatever you like)
Password confirm:	root
Object caching:	No caching radio button
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 host:	localhost:3307
Database name:	wikidb
DB username:	root
DB password:	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

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Completing Wiki Installation

After creating the database a second page will display.

Scroll down this page you will see the conformation message: <pre> Installation successful! Move the config/LocalSettings.php file to the parent directory, then follow this link to your wiki </pre>

Detail for moving file refer to above image

Copy file: UniServer\udrive\www\wiki\LocalSettings.php E)
To folder: *\UniServer\udrive\www\wiki D)

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Accessing Wiki

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

<nowiki>http://localhost/wiki/</nowiki> or
<nowiki>http://localhost/wiki/index.php/Main_Page</nowiki>

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Enable image uploads

To enable image uploads:

Open file: server_temp\UniServer\udrive\www\wiki\LocalSettings.php
Change this line: $wgEnableUploads = false;
To: $wgEnableUploads = true;

Final Step Copy to USB memory stick

Copy the entire content of folder server_temp\UniServer\udrive to your USB memory stick.

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Conclusion

MediaWiki is extremely easy to install on UniServer, add the UniServer USB plugin and you have a fully Self-contained personal MediaWiki.

The above technique is applicable to most applications. First build your server as explained above, install application and copy to a USB memory stick.

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