Joomla!® Start to Finish: How to Plan, Execute, and Maintain Your Web Site

Chapter 3. Downloading and Installing Joomla!

WHAT'S IN THIS CHAPTER?

• Comparing local vs. hosted installations

• Choosing the right web host with the right configuration

• Downloading and installing Joomla

• Remembering passwords (preferably, securely)

Joomla is a web application. A web application is a software program that runs on a web server and has a browser-based interface. Generally speaking, a web application requires a few pieces of technology:

• Web server (hardware). In a hardware sense, a web server is a computer that's hooked up to the Internet for the purpose of sharing information with the world. Web servers have their own operating systems. In the Joomla world, typically a server is running some variety of UNIX, or it is running Windows. Other operating systems are possible, but they are less frequently encountered.

• Web server (software). A software program called a web server deals with taking requests for web pages and sending them out to the requester (the client). This software is typically Apache, an open source web server, or Internet Information Server (IIS), the Microsoft web server that runs on a Windows-based computer. Other server software is possible, but you encounter it less frequently.

• MySQL database. The database is where all the Joomla information is stored. MySQL is the name of the open source database software that is almost exclusively used with Joomla.

• PHP software. PHP, which originally stood for Personal Home Page or Pre-Hypertext Processor (depending on whom ...