New Users: Home

Revision as of 02:16, 27 January 2010 by BobS (talk | contribs) (Major grammar change, and some rewriting for clarity,)
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Welcome

Welcome to the new users section. I have pulled in material from the Wiki, Forum and UniCenter. With the release of Uniform server 3.5-Apollo, installation is painless. New users and complete novices should feel at home. All I assume is that you can use Windows explorer to create folders, files, move them around and how to unzip files. Yep, it’s that basic, if you are an expert you can push off now.

Experts

Well no one is an expert. We all learn something new every day. Some just know a little more than others. I hope to drag you up to my level of incompetence; if I seem patronising then you are already way beyond my expertise and have reached your own level of incompetence!

Audience

I trust the experts have moved on; they know how to find the switch. But for use mere mortals, how the hell do we find it? That’s the whole point of the new user section. I assume all you want to do is use Uniform Server as a tool, either for learning programming languages such as Perl and PHP, or perhaps you are more interested in MySQL databases. Maybe you have third party programs, or those cut and paste scripts you would like to check out? Well let’s get on with it.

Installing

Installing is easy: follow the quick install guide. However like a new car driver expect a few minor bumps. We do not want any major crashes, so avoid this by first looking at the problems page.

Don’t be overly concerned about problems. Installing and running the servers normally goes without a hitch.

The information is there should you need it for reference.

Note: Both the Wiki and Forum are valuable sources for support information.

Security

Did you know you there are two ways to have 100% security?

  • Keep your PC in bubble wrap and never switch it on
  • Never install programs on your machine

OK, so you want to put UniServer on-line. After all, it is a production server and must be safe!

That’s the problem. The above two methods are the only way that I know of to be 100% safe.

Uniform Server Security

The above comment is intended to make you think seriously about security and not be complacent. UniServer is inherently secure. By default it has been locked down to local user access only, meaning you can use the servers while connected to the internet and no outsider will have access to them.

It is extremely easy to put your servers on-line. However before you do, first run through the Security Checklist accessible from apanel.

When you run the servers, your browser will be started (if not already running) and redirected to display apanel automatically. Apanel’s home page is displayed by default. It allows you to set various security features. Optionally you only need to change the MySQL password. I would recommend this as the first task, and then you can then safely forget about it. Refer to the Quick Install Guide for details.

Structure

I have tried to reduce the amount of link hopping. Consequently there are many long pages, in general one page per topic. External links are confined to additional information worth reading if you want to. One page you may find intimidating is New Users Security. This is not intended to be read from top to bottom. It’s purely a reference page which I link into and then only refer to certain sections. If you are an insomniac I am sure reading this page will be beneficial.

Quick Guides

The quick guides are intended to provide enough information to get you up and running as quickly as possible. They are not intended to teach you programming. My aim is to provide enough information to access the MySQL database using PHP within the framework of Uniform Server.

List of Quick Guides {TO DO ongoing....}

Alternatives

I like alternatives. Take a look at the Beginner's Quick Guide. It's an excellent piece of work with more images than you can shake a steak at. It offers that extra detail and certainly helps with orientation.

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