Re: AKLUG server

On 12/28/06, Damien Hull <dhull@digitaloverload.net> wrote:
<snip />
> I think it's hosted on another server. Last I herd Mike had the AKLUG
> server. One Friday meeting an OS was installed. Another Friday meeting
> we tried to install Apache and Horde. It didn't work.

Last I heard, Mike was rebuilding the server and the related software
dependencies.

While I did not hear about the results, I don't remember hearing of
problems, these are standard software packages.

> From a system administration point of view I think a few things need to
> be changed. I make these suggestions based on the current stat of things.
>
> 1. The AKLUG server is off line at the moment

While the old hardware may be off line at the moment. AKLUG services
are not offline.

> 2. The Linux distribution that was chosen is not a standard one

Which was chosen? By what definition do you claim it is not a 'standard' one?

> 3. The horde wiki is a nice idea but people are having trouble posting

This is because the wiki is currently requiring that accounts are
activated by an administrator before they are allowed to login. These
requests are supposed to be emailed to an aklug admin for approval via
the horde : user administration.

This is a configuration feature which protects against abuse. I'm sure
it could be disabled.

> My suggestions
>
<snip />
> 3. Find a PHP application for managing the website
> 1. Joomla http://www.joomla.org/
> 2. WordPress http://wordpress.org/
> 3. Droupal http://drupal.org/
> 4. Switch the wiki to MediaWiki ( same thing wikipedia uses )
> http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki

I would only step in to say that I have spent a large amount of time
contributing and supporting the current implementation of horde, wiked
and wordpress and would welcome feature suggestions more than
blanketed application/framework suggestions.

The latest wiki upgrades now ensure the wiki is now rock solid, with
more features than we need. The website is now based on a customized
build of wordpress software + custom configurations.

Several people have spent a large number of hours building and
supporting the current evolution of the aklug.org web application,
content, configuration, etc.

> These are only suggestions. Some of them may or may not work. However,
> switching to something like WordPress or Joomla would allow members to
> contribute content to the AKLUG website. Installing a standard Linux
> distribution would make setup and maintenance much easer.

While I welcome extending the features the aklug.org site provides, I
think these should be documented as feature requirements rather than
just vote to switch to something else.

Select members of the aklug who register for an account on aklug.org
(via wordpress) are part of an 'editors' group which can submit
content to the aklug.org website already. In fact this was one of the
features I listed in my requirements for the site during the last
re-implementation.

People can email requests to be added as an editor, as I said a few
people already are editors.

> Again, these are only suggestions. If you think my suggestions are good,
> bad or ugly let me know.

It's great that others take an interest! I think we should all work
together to create the success we individually envision.

I think the requirements in long form down to the site outline level
would be more useful documentation for the group than another
implementation of a different not equal set of requirements.

We all prolly could re-implement the aklug.org site
features/requirements in any number of software package combinations
imaginable.

In the end the code/software becomes less relevant and your own
individual actual requirements become more relevant.

I would ask others with the drive, write what they think is missing or
should be added as well as suggestions.

Write clearly, be verbose, quote details, cite examples, use
references. I do and it works ... very well in outlining.

All this said, I chose the current wordpress software used for the
site because it was fast and almost had enough cms like features (with
enough patches) to do the job and allow for user submitted content and
... not enough time to implement it using eZ publish (at that time).

I hope this is helpful. I can write more on this or just go away.

It would be nice to hear from Mike on this subject as well.

//kracker
quote: `i write reams ......`

tv: metalocalypse
---------
To unsubscribe, send email to <aklug-request@aklug.org>
with 'unsubscribe' in the message body.
Received on Fri Dec 29 05:32:43 2006