Tutorial:
Installing Personal Web
Server On Windows 98
Dr.
Thomas E. Hicks
Computer Science
Department
Trinity University
Installing Personal Web Server
On Windows 98
1] Personal Web Server will transform your Windows
98/95/NT Workstation into a light weight Web Server. At least 10 users
will be able to connect to your server at one time.
2] The Personal Web Server software is included with your
98/95/NT Workstation Operating System CD. Place your Windows 98 Operating
System CD into your computer. If your CD Rom auto starts, simply
exit.
3] Close/Terminate all applications running on your computer
before starting the installation.
4] Using your mouse, double-click on My Computer.
5] Since I have three logical drives on this computer, My
CD Rom drive is F. The drive letter for your CD Rom will often be different;
that is OK. (See Below!)
6] Using your mouse, Right Mouse click on your CD ROM and
Select Open. (See Below!)
7] Using your mouse, double click on folder
add-ons.
(See Below!)
8] Using your mouse, double click on folder
pws.
(See Below!)
9] Using your mouse, double click on file
setup.exe.
(See Below!) If you have the extensions turned
off for the common applications, your file might simply appear as
setup.
10] Read the commercial if you like. Using your mouse,
select/push the Next button.
(See Below!)
11] If you are knowledgeable enough to do a custom install,
you do not need this tutorial. If you are extremely limited on disk drive
space, you can do a minimal install; I do not recommend this. Using your
mouse, select/push the Typical
button. (See Below!)
12] This next decision is extremely important. Read the following
carefully! Almost all references to web services assume that you do all
web distribution via the default folder called Inetpub
or InetPub. Internet services for
NT Server will include FTP, WWW, Gopher (Older Apps), etc. All of these
services normally begin within folder InetPub;
make sure that your root folder title is InetPub
.
Almost all references to web services assume that you
do all WWW (web page) distribution from root folder
InetPub
in the folder called wwwroot;
make sure that your WWW Service path is InetPub\wwwroot.
Select a drive that has enough disk space on which to store your web pages.
I have more than 3 GB of disk space available on drive
C. I shall select C:\Inetpub\wwwroot
in which to store my web site. Using your mouse, select/push the
Next button. (See Below!)
13] Installation will now begin. (See Below!)
14] The basic installation is now complete. Using your mouse,
select/push the Finish button.
(See Below!)
15] The Web Server will not begin until you restart your
computer. Using your mouse, select/push the
Yes
button. (See Below!)
Testing The Installation From
The Web Server Computer
1] You may test your web site without an Internet connection.
2] Microsoft feels that the default web page for
a directory or server should be called default.htm
(normal HTML web page file). If a file by this title does not exist
in the directory, it feels that the second choice should be called
default.asp
(Active Server Page file).
3] Using your mouse, double click on you
Inetpub
directory. Using your mouse, double click on you
wwwroot
directory. Your InetPub\wwwroot folder
listing should look something like the one below. (See Below!)
There is no file called
default.htm
but there is a file called default.asp.
It will be file default.asp that is
loaded when we now test our web server.
4] Start the web browser of your choice on your server. Load
http://localhost into your browser.
URL http://localhost is the default
name for web services that can be used from the server itself.
(See Below!)
5] Active Server Page
default.asp
should return a welcome page similar to the one below. (See Below!)
6] Since many of the folk who would be interested in this
tutorial have no experience with Active Server Pages, I don't expect you
to be convinced of much of anything yet; lets proceed to the next step.
Create a web page, called default.htm
using an HTML editor or text editor; my page is shown below.
(See Below!)
7] Save this page as
default.htm
in folder InetPub\wwwroot. Your
InetPub\wwwroot
folder listing should look something like the one below. There is a file
called default.htm and a file
called default.asp. It
will be file default.htm that is loaded
when we now test our web server.
8] Let us once more return to the web browser of your choice
on your server and once again load URL
http://localhost.
It should be your new default.htm
page that is seen in the browser. (See Below!)
9] Your InetPub\wwwroot
folder will often contain many folders and files arranged into some type
of logical order.
Testing The Installation From
An Internet Computer
1] You server must be connected to the Internet in order
to test it from the Internet. It may be connected by a land connection,
such as a T1, by ISDN, by cable modem, or by dial-up modem.
2] Some companies/individuals/organizations have a registered
domain name such as trinity.edu ,
microsoft.com ,
TrinityBaptist.org
, etc. It is through
http://www.internic.com/
that names are reserved, paid for, associated, etc.
3] Each registered domain name is associated with a 15
character IP address in the form XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX
{X = digit 0-9 with leading 0's optional}. One of my servers has
the domain name carme.cs.trinity.edu;
associated with carme is IP address 131.194.131.38
4] Anyone on the Internet that loads either
http://carme.cs.trinity.edu
or http://131.194.131.38 into
a web browser will load the default page on this server.
5] If you have a registered domain name for your
server, you may load that domain name into the browser of any computer
connected to the Internet to test your site; like
http://carme.cs.trinity.edu.
This is unlikely for most folks!
6] Most Internet Service Providers (ISP), that
provide a dial-up connection, have a bank of IP addresses that they distribute
to their users; they need one for each and every modem. Some ISP's will
assign you a permanent IP address for an additional monthly fee. If you
have a fixed IP address, you may load the IP address into the browser of
any computer connected to the Internet to test your site; like
http://131.194.131.38.
This also is unlikely for most folks!
7] If I am not able to test my server with the domain
name or a fixed IP, then I must figure out what IP address my ISP has distributed
to my server this time. Using the mouse, hold down the Start button
on your web server and select Run. (See Below!)
8] Enter winipcfg
in the text box. Using the mouse, select/push the OK button. (See Below!)
9] The IP Address above is
131.194.131.15
Record your IP Address in the space below.
______ . ______
. ______ . ______
Using the mouse, select/push the OK button to close
the dialog box. (See Below!) You may load the IP address
of your server into the browser of any computer connected to the Internet
to test your site; like
http://131.194.131.15.
Customizing The Personal Web
Server Manager
1] There are two easy ways to launch the Personal Web
Server Manager. You may use the mouse to hold down the Start button and
select Internet Explorer and select Personal Web Server and select Personal
Web Manager. (See Below!)
2] You may also click on the 
if it is available from the bottom right corner of your task bar.
3] The Main [frame option] of the Personal Web Manager
is shown below. (See Below!)
4] The Stop button on the Main [frame option] can be
used to stop the web services. The Main [frame option] also reflects
the activity of your server. The Main [frame option] reminds you
of your home directory. (See Above!)
5] The Web Site [frame option] and Publishing [frame
option] will try to walk you through starting your home page; personally,
I prefer to do my own thing! (See Below!)
6] The Advanced [frame option] has several interesting features.
First look at the default documents text box. The priority that loaded
default.htm over
default.asp
did so because this is the order in which they occur in the initial setup
configuration. (See Below!)
7] Most of the UNIX world, and servers in general, use
index.html
as the default web page. I would like the priority order for my server
to be index.html
index.htm,
Default.htm, Default.asp, Default.html {Windows
is not case sensitive; Default.htm
and default.htm
are equivalent on your server} (See Below!)
8] I choose not to allow Directory Browsing; this provides
me only a little extra security for my site. (See Above!)
9] The Tour [frame option] is quite informative
and will help you in selecting your configuration. (See Below!)
May be accessed
through URL:
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~thicks
May also be accessed
through URL:
http://carme.cs.trinity.edu
This Document May Not Be Printed
or Reproduced Without Written Permission.
2003 Copyright : Dr. Thomas
E. Hicks
Permission granted : Professional
Educators & College Students may print one copy of this page!