Pre-Web Install Setup of Koha

It was another day, and I had decided to finish the pre-web installation and set up of Koha. My goal was to install and set-up MySQL, configure Apache, and determine the IP addresses.

• I again followed the instructions on this page, with additional visual help from the Koha in 11 mins video.
• Installing and setting up of MySQL was simple, and I just needed to follow the instructions given.
• While configuring Apache, by thoroughly reading the instructions I figured out I needed to change the ports, as Koha setup uses a different port for the staff/administrative interface than for the OPAC. I went back to video, and attempted to see what they did. It showed I needed to change add a second virtual host and tell it to listen on port 8080.

• The next few steps were completely straightforward. I retrieved my password for the web install, and was now ready to ditch the command line interface and do everything through the staff interface in a web browser.

What I learned - I learned to take care while reading to ensure that I picked on up any places where I had to enter something that differed from the default value (like changing the ports for the staff interface). I also found it helpful to have two sets of instructions, one in text, and one in video, and it provided me somewhere to refer to when the other was hard to understand. Having now finished with the command line, I find that it is not nearly as intimidating as I had once thought, and that I would probably use it more in the future.