XAMPP

apache friends – xampp
XAMPP is an easy to install Apache distribution containing MySQL, PHP and Perl. XAMPP is really very easy to install and to use – just download, extract and start.

I installed the windows version on my laptop. My laptop still runs XP Home and I was thinking of running a local WordPress blog as a private journal. If it doesn’t work I can always remove it. The basic version also includes FileZilla Server. It took me awhile to work figure things out. I had to add a Firewall exception to get FileZilla to work. I restricted access to FileZilla to the local subnet. I am looking at using FTP to transfer(i.e. backup) files locally to the notebook without changing my workgroup.

I found some WordPress/DNS funkiness. The blog displays correctly when I access it via the VPN because the DNS and Blog URI match up. When I tried to connect to the blog with the VPN disconnected, I had to use the IP address.  WordPress builds the html based on the blog URI so there are a variety of problems.