Setting Up a Test Server

[Randy Morgan]

It's becoming increasingly inconvenient (and potentially rather
embarrassing) for me to keep using my web host and their production
server to test web pages as I develop them. And, as I start to venture
into things other than simple HTML and free scripts I can find on the
net, I'm pretty sure it's going to get worse.

I have a couple older computers on my home network that I use mostly for
backups, but would like to, if I can do it relatively inexpensively,
turn one in a test server that I publish to via FP. The preview feature
in FP is OK, but as you all know better than I it ain't the same.

The PC I'd like to use has a P3 processor with plenty (512MB) of memory,
30GB or so of disk space, and runs XP Home (from what I can gather, not
having XP Pro might be a rub). Can I make this happen, and is there a
place to start that can walk me through it? I'm not to the point where
I know IIS from FP extensions from the ASP.NET framework, but I think I
may need all of them in order to get a test server going.

Thanks,

 

[Rob Giordano \(Crash Gordon®\)]

If you have XP Pro on the machine you're working on you can just do it there.


| It's becoming increasingly inconvenient (and potentially rather
| embarrassing) for me to keep using my web host and their production
| server to test web pages as I develop them. And, as I start to venture
| into things other than simple HTML and free scripts I can find on the
| net, I'm pretty sure it's going to get worse.
|
| I have a couple older computers on my home network that I use mostly for
| backups, but would like to, if I can do it relatively inexpensively,
| turn one in a test server that I publish to via FP. The preview feature
| in FP is OK, but as you all know better than I it ain't the same.
|
| The PC I'd like to use has a P3 processor with plenty (512MB) of memory,
| 30GB or so of disk space, and runs XP Home (from what I can gather, not
| having XP Pro might be a rub). Can I make this happen, and is there a
| place to start that can walk me through it? I'm not to the point where
| I know IIS from FP extensions from the ASP.NET framework, but I think I
| may need all of them in order to get a test server going.
|
| Thanks,
|
| --
| Randy Morgan

 

[Randy Morgan]

It's also XP Home...

Randy Morgan

 

[Ronx]

Windows XP Home will not support a web server with FrontPage
extensions. To get this support you must upgrade to at least XP Pro.
The PC is sufficiently specified to run a test server.
To run any server-side scripting you need a server. To use Access
database you need Windows. To use FrontPage efficiently you need FP
extensions. Put these together and the requirement is WinXP Pro,
Windows 2000, or Windows 2003.

 

[Stefan B Rusynko]

Upgrade it to XP pro




| It's also XP Home...
|
| Randy Morgan
|
| Rob Giordano (Crash Gordon®) wrote:
| > If you have XP Pro on the machine you're working on you can just do it there.
| >
| >
| > | It's becoming increasingly inconvenient (and potentially rather
| > | embarrassing) for me to keep using my web host and their production
| > | server to test web pages as I develop them. And, as I start to venture
| > | into things other than simple HTML and free scripts I can find on the
| > | net, I'm pretty sure it's going to get worse.
| > |
| > | I have a couple older computers on my home network that I use mostly for
| > | backups, but would like to, if I can do it relatively inexpensively,
| > | turn one in a test server that I publish to via FP. The preview feature
| > | in FP is OK, but as you all know better than I it ain't the same.
| > |
| > | The PC I'd like to use has a P3 processor with plenty (512MB) of memory,
| > | 30GB or so of disk space, and runs XP Home (from what I can gather, not
| > | having XP Pro might be a rub). Can I make this happen, and is there a
| > | place to start that can walk me through it? I'm not to the point where
| > | I know IIS from FP extensions from the ASP.NET framework, but I think I
| > | may need all of them in order to get a test server going.
| > |
| > | Thanks,
| > |
| > | --
| > | Randy Morgan

 

[Steve Easton]

Set up a password protected directory on the server and publish your test pages there.

HOW TO: Apply Password Protection to Part of a Web Using FrontPage 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;301554

It says FrontPage 2000 but it applies to all versions.

Or if you're host is running Apache/UNIX it's done via the CPanel > File manager > Web Protect.

--
Steve Easton
Microsoft MVP FrontPage
95isalive
This site is best viewed............
........................with a computer

 

[Jon Spivey]

Hi,
Obviously the best solution would be to upgrade to XP Pro - or better 2003
Server. You can use web edition (much cheaper) if you don't need SQL Server
on the same box. If you're on a budget, there's 2 options
1/ If you only want to use asp.net (not classic asp) there's a free web
server called cassini which will run on home - you can grab it here
www.asp.net
2/ You can get a demo of windows 2003 here
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/evaluation/trial/default.mspx
that will keep you going for a few months at least.

I'd suggest getting 2003 if atall possible - running a test server on xp pro
is a real pain.