[clue-tech] What do I need for a server?

[Michael J. Hammel]

On Fri, 2008-09-05 at 09:05 -0600, Diane Williams wrote:
> For a computer science class I need to design a website. This will be
> a semester long project. We have an idea for our website but we need
> to figure out the tools we need for design and the actual hardware.
> About the hardware: I am planning to purchase a desktop computer. I
> will buy something with an nvidia graphics card because I have to run
> some graphics and animation applications for another class.
> Do I need any special network cards, wireless?  What hardware will I
> need?  We would also like to have our code on the server, so that team
> members can use subversion to check it in and out. We’ll also have to
> research what software we need to create a website. Will probably need
> to use some Web 2.0 technology.

Your description doesn't specify the need for any special hardware.  In
fact, your laptop is sufficient to support the web server as long as
you're just serving it up to your class and few other people.  Opening
it up to thousands of visitors a day may change hardware requirements in
the future, but for a class project the power of your laptop is
sufficient.

Dual booting is an issue I avoid so someone else will have to help you
there.  I suggest attending the upcoming InstallFest that CLUE has
planned to see how to deal with that situation.  Check the CLUE website
for details.  Personally I do all web development and serving via Linux
since I find it far easier to administer.  YMMV.

Web 2.0 technology is nothing more than learning a few different
programming languages.  None of them (on their own) require special
hardware.  What you try to *do* with those languages might, such as
using them to grab video from a webcam or external video device.  But if
you're creating (essentially) static web pages this won't be a
problem.  

High end video cards are not required for web site design or for serving
up web pages.  You might need the high end video card for creating 3D
animations that will end up on your web site.  You probably won't need
high end video cards for flash design either, although it may help speed
playback while iterating over extensive edits of flash content.

Wireless is not required for a web server.  A web server connects to the
Internet the same way any other desktop or laptop does.  If you use
nothing but wireless in your labs or dorm room then your server may need
wireless as well.  But if there is a wired connection available, your
server can use that just as well.

Creating a web site is almost a no brainer if you spend just a small
amount of time learning the basics.  You want quick?  Grab Wordpress and
redesign a theme (edit the CSS and a little bit of PHP) to display like
a content management system.  Not particularly hard and easily doable in
a semester.  I taught my wife CSS over the summer (she hasn't gotten
around to PHP yet). You should learn HTML syntax but you may not use it
all that much if you use something like Wordpress.  Wordpress has many
plugins available that allow you to customize the layout and
functionality of the site, including video and gallery tools.  Don't be
fooled - Wordpress is *not* just for blogging.

For simple web sites (not large enterprise operations, mind you, just
the local 1-Hour Laundry's web site) remember the following:
1. Apache makes setting up a web server based on virtual domains easy (a
few lines in a config file once you've registered the domain name).
2. HTML is easy to learn and is nothing more than a bunch of tags around
other things.
3. CSS is absolutely necessary for web design.  It does nothing for web
site functionality.
4. Wordpress makes creating a web site easy on any OS.
5. Flash is hard unless you have Adobe's tools, and even then it's more
complex than most other tasks and usually just limits who can view your
content correctly.
6. PHP is easy to learn and well suited to web design.
7. Perl is moderately easy to learn and not as well suited to web
design.
8. Compiled languages are hard to learn (in comparison) and not well
suited for web design.
9. IE sucks in more ways than can be counted, yet you'll spend most of
your time making sure your web site works with it.  This is what happens
when you make knowledge bases available to the masses: they opt for the
least useful way of accessing it.
10. Reread #4 5 more times.

Good luck.
-- 
Michael J. Hammel                                    Principal Software Engineer
mjhammel at graphics-muse.org                           http://graphics-muse.org
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I respect only those who both plan and accomplish.  Success is both direction 
  and achievement.  Everything else is an accident.  --  Michael J. Hammel