Porting to another server

Porting to Mixed-Up.com

It took about an hour to port this project to the Mixed-Up.com site. The main problem is that my ISP is not configured to allow cgi files in the html hierarchy, but only the cgi-bin hierarchy. I tried working with this limitation for some time, before I discovered a workaround. After finding the workaround, it took only a few minutes to get this running. This is what I had to do.

  1. Create the table schema on the new server using the rom-sql.sql file. I used the same table name on the new server, but I had to change the database name.
  2. Populate the table with data using the setup.pl file. I had to change the database name and the password; then it worked the first time.
  3. Change the database name and password in all the *.cgi files.
  4. DBD / DBI is supported on the Raw Bandwidth ISP, so I did not need to find any other mechanism to connect PERL to MySQL.
  5. I did not check whether any of the utility functions are available, but chose to use the replacement functions I wrote myself.
  6. One extra step: I had to add a .htaccess file with this line. (I also had to do this on my home computer.) This allows me to use cgi and pl files in the html directories. 
    AddHandler cgi-script .cgi .pl
  7. Integrate the page into the existing site with links from the main index pages. I have not done this yet.
  8. Protect the pages that change the database with a password that prevents unauthorized access. The search functions should be available to all. I have not done this yet. But the page is hidden from public view.

Go ahead and play with it

The site you are looking at is hosted on the Ohlone College server. It is not connected to a real database on the working Mixed-Up Squares web site. So ... go ahead and play with it. Add a new record with your name. Add a bunch of records. Search for your name. See what kind of search results you get. You can't do anything that will mess up the database on the real web site.