activeCollab on your computer or USB, revisited

For the first tutorial we used XAMPP Lite. Now we'll use Uniform Server. It is much lighter than XAMPP Lite, has a nice administration panel and has all the required things included

Recently I wrote a short tutorial on how to install activeCollab on your computer using XAMPP Lite. Since then visitors recommended another great package that lets you run Apache, PHP and MySQL on your computer. Name of that package is Uniform Server (visit their SourceForge page if their main page does not work) and its much lighter than XAMPP Lite (only 5.8MB download), has a nice little administration panel and does not install anything on your computer so you can use it on your USB stick.

Sounds great? Well, it is ;)

Here are the short instructions how to run activeCollab using Uniform Server.

Download Uniform Server. I've used self extracting archive - (currently it is UniServer3_3.exe file, but this can change in the future; use the most recent version).
Extract it anywhere on your local disk (no need for any specific folder names).
Enable InnoDB support. Open /diskw/usr/local/mysql/bin/my-small.cnf and comment skip-innodb line by adding # in front of it (like #skip-innodb). While you are there it would be good to increase max_allowed_packet to ensure that you'll be able to upload files larger than 1MB. Just add this line bellow #skip-innodb line:

set-variable = max_allowed_packet=64M

Start Uniform Server by clicking on Server_Start executable file.
Go to http://localhost/apanel/ and run MySQL (there is an option in sidebar).
Go to http://localhost/apanel/phpMyAdmin/ and create a new database for activeCollab (I'll assume that you named it activecollab, but you can use any other name if you like).
Download most recent version of activeCollab.
Extract content of activeCollab archive into the /diskw/www/. You should end up with /diskw/www/activecollab/.
Go to http://localhost/activecollab/public/install/ and go through the installation process. Connection parametars:

Hostname: localhost
Username: root
Password: root
Database name: activecollab (database we created previously)
Absolute URL: http://localhost/activecollab

Installation should create all the tables for you and offer you to create administrator and owner company. Do that. After you've done you'll end up with fully functional installation.

Thanks to developers of Uniform Server for this great package. Great job!

Posted on: 2006-10-06 1:45

Comments

Justin

2006-10-07 3:37

Looks like uniformserver.com has had too many connections today. It is a sf project so you might want to change the above URL to point their sf project page: http://sourceforge.net/projects/miniserver/

Ilija Studen

2006-10-07 12:55

Thanks for the info. Updated…

haya

2006-10-08 8:48

This is a good tutorial for end users! Good job, Ilija.
I’ll translate this for Japanese users.

BuddhaChu

2006-10-09 8:49

To save more space after extraction, download the UPX compressed version of Uniform Server. They forgot to compress the 3 mysql executables so once you do that on your own, it’ll take up ~14MB as opposed to the ~26MB used by the 7zip self-extracting package (in which EXEs & DLLs aren’t compressed).

Sometimes every bit of saved space helps on a memory stick. I know mine are always full. :)

Joseph Tura

2006-10-10 3:24

If you are installing on a non-english system, be sure to copy the corresponding language file to

diskw\home\admin\www\phpMyAdmin\lang

in order to get phpmyadmin to run.

HTH
jt

Jim

2006-10-12 7:36

Thanks Ilija. Glad to see this. This is how I have it installed. I’ve also installed Wikka Wiki on the Uniform Server with as much ease. It is a really great little test server – to be used also for production or USB personal use. Spread the word…

Ramon Wartala

2006-10-17 9:37

Thank you for this introduction. I’ll translate it in german an post it on my weblog.

xdexx

2006-11-20 3:42

Just installed UniformServer + ActiveCollab on one of the Windows machines here. Locally everything works fine.

Is it possible to access ActiveCollab from other computers on the local network?

I am sorry if this question is to silly, but I am stuck :-(

Thanks,
Dejan V.

Nandi

2006-11-21 1:32

I encountered a couple of problems that others might like to know about when installing Uniform Server – you may need to forward port 3036 for mySQL to work; or if you use a product like Norton Internet Security you may need to change the firewall settings.
I found the following sites very helpful:
the mySQL problem
mySQL
NIS
port forwarding generally

So AC looks great. Nandi

sodium

2006-12-01 12:24

#10

I figured out that you have to double-click on “Server_Start” in the root directory. This step was omitted from the step-by-step above, please add in.

Ilija Studen

2006-12-01 4:28

#11

Updated, thank you.

desipenguin

2006-12-22 12:45

#12

I installed it with UniformServer3.3. I’m facing a problem that nothing is displayed on following page after I successfully install and create admin account.
http://localhost/activecollab/index.php?c=access&a=login

My Apache crashes. I had similar problem with XAMPPLite1.55 as well.
Any guesses ?

Ilija Studen

2006-12-22 3:43

#13

Please check this page to see how you can find out what is going on (how to see error log and PHP error messages).

desipenguin

2006-12-26 2:30

#14

Ilija,
Thanks for your suggestion. Your suggestion helped narrow down the problem.
Here is the error I get now, after turning on the DEBUG option.

Warning: simplexml_load_file(http://www.activecollab.com/versions.xml) [function.simplexml-load-file]: failed to open stream: A connection attempt failed because the connected party did not properly respond after a period of time, or established connection failed because connected host has failed to respond. in W:\www\activecollab\application\models\versons_feed\VersionsFeed.class.php on line 113

Warning: simplexml_load_file() [function.simplexml-load-file]: I/O warning : failed to load external entity “http://www.activecollab.com/versions.xml” in W:\www\activecollab\application\models\versons_feed\VersionsFeed.class.php on line 113

Fatal error: Maximum execution time of 30 seconds exceeded in W:\www\activecollab\application\models\versons_feed\VersionsFeed.class.php on line 113

desipenguin

2006-12-26 2:44

#15

Update related to simplexml_load_file error:
Found workaround in the forums. Thanks.

BTW, workaround is :
1. open phpMyAdmin and open config_options table (it may have a prefix)
2. find row where name is upgrade_check_enabled and set its value to 0
3. refresh

Thanks

Anna

2007-01-02 5:07

#16

I am unable to enable InnoDB support because I can’t open “my-small.cnf”
in order to add the required comment.

Ilija Studen

2007-01-02 1:16

#17

Why can’t you open that file? Permissions, it doesn’t exist or?

khidmatriabbas

2007-01-03 9:04

#18

I am setting up activeCollab on apache . i get this erro in step two.

Step 2: Environment checks

* OK: PHP version is 5.2.0
* Error: ‘mysql’ extension is not loaded
* Error: ‘gd’ extension is not loaded
* OK: ‘simplexml’ extension is loaded
* OK: /config/config.php is writable
* OK: /public/files is writable
* OK: /cache is writable
* OK: /upload is writable

please guide .

Ilija Studen

2007-01-03 9:15

#19

Make sure that MySQL and GD extensions are installed and enabled. More on installation in PHP manual: MySQL extension, GD extension.

Btw, post this type of questions in Installation forum.

Vishwajit

2007-01-03 3:14

#20

I have installed activeCollab succesfully.

No I am trying to run the app http://localhost/activecollab/index.php
its taking hell lot of time and finally nothing shows.

Ilija Studen

2007-01-03 10:29

#21

Check this page to see more details about whats going on with your installation. My guess is that update check is not working (do you have an open internet connection), but lets see what is in logs.

Vishwajit

2007-01-04 7:52

#22

I am behind a proxy. Cannot access internet directly.
on setting debug = true in config\config.php got this error

Warning: simplexml_load_file(http://www.activecollab.com/versions.xml) [function.simplexml-load-file]: failed to open stream: A connection attempt failed because the connected party did not properly respond after a period of time, or established connection failed because connected host has failed to respond. in C:\webs\test\activecollab\application\models\versons_feed\VersionsFeed.class.php on line 113

Warning: simplexml_load_file() [function.simplexml-load-file]: I/O warning : failed to load external entity “http://www.activecollab.com/versions.xml” in C:\webs\test\activecollab\application\models\versons_feed\VersionsFeed.class.php on line 113

Fatal error: Maximum execution time of 30 seconds exceeded in C:\webs\test\activecollab\application\models\versons_feed\VersionsFeed.class.php on line 113

thx.

Ilija Studen

2007-01-04 9:38

#23

Disable upgrade check:

1. Open config_options table
2. Find option with name upgrade_check_enabled and set its value to 0

That should solve the problem…

Olajide Olaolorun

2007-02-01 10:43

#24

wow, thanks guys…...