• Hi,

    I’m looking to use WordPress 2.7 on an Apache server running on Ubuntu Linux.

    I use the online service at wordpress.com, and want to migrate to a hosted version at my own web address, but I would love to test the program out first, to try editing themes and generally explore all of the options.

    Is there a way of testing out the server hosted version of WordPress (i.e 2.7), without having internet hosting and a domain?

    What I would envisage is hosting WordPress on the Apache server, but not connecting the server to the internet, is this possible?

    Thanks in advance
    Dan

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
  • Is this a machine you have in your home or office? If it’s set up with Apache, PHP and MySQL, you should be able to install and run it. If the server isn’t connected to the web in any way however the dashboard will be slow, because it tries to connect out and get news feeds.

    To prevent this, you would want to edit the file called http.php in the wp-inlcudes folder and find the function called “request” – the line should look like:

    function request( $url, $args = array() ) {
    		global $wp_version;

    Change it to look like:

    function request( $url, $args = array() ) {
    		return;
    		global $wp_version;

    so you can use it on your local machine. NOTE: Making this change will prevent some functions, like the upgrade and plugin install functions, not work as intended because WordPress won’t be able to connect to any outside servers.

    So the short answer is yes, it will work, if your Ubuntu box is set up correctly to act as a full LAMP web server.

    What I would envisage is hosting WordPress on the Apache server, but not connecting the server to the internet, is this possible?

    Don’t think that will work.
    You could use an obscure folder name for the test install and when setting up check mark the boxes for being private.

    Or you could do an install on your local machine following these instructions
    http://www.tamba2.org.uk/wordpress/xampp/

    Thread Starter Dnal

    (@dnal)

    grandslambert The machine is an old computer which I plan to install Ubuntu and thus Apache onto, it’s not ready yet.

    Am I right to assume that your code change stops access by the program to the internet, but causing problems with server access for plug-ins in the process?

    samboll Your suggestion is just what I was looking for, I didn’t know that I could host it locally.

    All I want to do is to test WordPress without my blog being available to the wider world just yet.

    Dnal: The code I gave you will basically stop WordPress from going outside your host computer to get news and stuff for the Dashboard. Plugins will work, but you won’t be able to use the built in plugin browser to download and install any plugins, you’ll have to do that by downloading from the web and copying them to your server.

    However, you can use WordPress locally without making the change I suggested, but without a connection to the Internet your dashboard will be very, very slow to load as it waits for a connection it can’t make. I hope I didn’t lose you with that…

    Thread Starter Dnal

    (@dnal)

    I am now going to install WordPress locally as per samboll’s advice, the reason for my suggestion of not connecting to the internet was to keep the site on my server only, with no access via an online domain.

    I will eventually put the website onto paid for hosting, but I first want to test

    Good luck, I know you will be using it once you see how powerful it is. I use it for about 40 web sites and am constantly building more. It should pretty much be the same thing you are used to on wordpress.com, but you may need to add plugins and such to get the same thing you have now. Have fun!

    Thread Starter Dnal

    (@dnal)

    Thanks for your help, I’m sure I’ll be back looking for more advice ;0

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
  • The topic ‘Test Installation for Practice’ is closed to new replies.