Mac Mini Server - Host Your Own Wordpress Blog
Using a Mac Mini Server is a nice way to set up your very own home web server. You can for example set up and host your own free wordpress blog or make a gallery of your photos and share them with the world.
Setting up a free Wordpress blog or hosting a photo gallery is just some of the things you can do with your own web server. Many people tend to like the idea of hosting this themselves, and this page will try to explain what you need, and how to get everything working.
Mac, Apache, MySQL,PHP = MAMP
No, you do not have to know what this means but this is the most easy way to get your own web server up and running. Head over to MAMP and download MAMP. You do not have to install MAMP Pro, the regular one will suffice for the use of this guide.
Also remember to put the MAMP folder inside the Applications folder, do not place it anywhere else. If you do, it wont work. Simple as that.
Now, open up the Applications folder, then the MAMP folder and double click on MAMP.app. You will be greeted by a screen looking something like the one below. At the same time a browser window will open up and from there you can administer your new mac mini server.
Download Wordpress Files
In the browser window that just appeared you would want to click on phpMyAdmin because we have to create a database for Wordpress to use. We have to do this before we install wordpress. Create a database called wordpress, the database name doesn't really matter. You can create the database from the first window that loads when you click the phpMyAdmin link.
Now we have to actually download the wordpress files. You can download them from here. When you unzip them you will have a folder called wordpress. You have to put that folder into the Applications/MAMP/htdocs/. The htdocs folder is the place where you put the files related to your website.
Install Wordpress
What you need to do now is to enter this link into your browser: http://localhost:8888/wordpress/
You will be greeted with the installation script, this is pretty straight forward and you just follow it through to the end using the information below:
Database Name: wordpress
User Name: root
Password: root
Database Host: localhost
Table Prefix: wp_ (I usually leave it this way)
Blog Title: You decide ;)
Your E-mail: Pretty obvious?
Write down the password you get, it might be a good idea to change it to something you will remember more easily. There you go, your very own blog hosted on your mac mini server!
Change The Port!
Wait, as you might notice this home web server is now running at port 8888. If you want your blog accessible for others you need to change the port to 80. First you need to remove the port from the URL in the wordpress admin panel. Then click on the preferences button in the MAMP application, then click ports and change the port to 80. Click ok, you might be asked for your system password. If so, enter it.
If you want your blog accessible from the Internet you need to have a public IP address on your Mac Mini. Or you can forward port 80 from your router. This site http://portforward.com/ might help you with just that.
Back from Mac Mini Server to Mac Mini Computer
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