Do It Yourself CGI Scripts
While is it true that hosting your own scripts gives you much more control over interactivity at your site - it can also be quite a challenge to install, but is well worth the effort if you can succeed. It is one thing to want to host your own script, but it is quite another to find one and then to actually get it installed and working.
Finding a Script or Web Application
One of the largest problems you are likely to encounter is to find a script that will actually run on the server that your site is hosted on. This is why it is important to find out as much information as possible about your server before you go script hunting - you will find it much easier if you can find out.
- Server type - is it Windows, Linux, Unix?
- Server software - is it Apache, Microsoft ISS, Xitami etc?
- Mail program - is sendmail (Unix) or blatmail (NT) installed, if not can you use SMTP?
- Are Server Side Includes (SSI) supported?
- What languages can you use? Perl, Python, C++ etc.
- What file formats are supported? ASP, PHP, Cold Fusion etc.
While it may not be possible to find out all the information listed above - it will make your search for compatible scripts much easier the more information you can discover about your host server. If you are able to use several types of script, for example you can use both Active Server Pages and Perl on your server, then you may want to decide upon a preference to speed up your search.
There are plenty of online resources that provide free and commercial scripts and applications for you to download for use on your own server, with several sites that concentrate on providing links to such sites as well as a quick description on what you might find there. Such resource sites provide a wealth of information and provide an easy and quick way to compare scripts and narrow down your search based on cost and server compatibility.
Installing your Script or Web Application
A lot of the better free scripts available will come complete with all the files you need and rather comprehensive instructions for installation, it is always a good idea to actually read all the README and help files before you even attempt to install the script. Many scripts also have some sort of support available to those that really need it, but don't forget that the developers time is limited and so such support is usually only available in the form of a public forum at the site where you got the script or application.
Few scripts will work "out of the box" - so you should expect to have to edit some of the scripts or configuration files before they will work on your server. You do not require any specialist equipment to edit ASP or Perl scripts; Notepad (or Wordpad for larger scripts) is more than adequate for the job. At first, you should concentrate on getting the script to work on your server - don't waste your time trying to customise it straight away because you may inadvertently cause errors which you wouldn't have to fix otherwise.
In my own experience I have found it much easier to install scripts on a Window NT server (because I don't need to worry about permissions) - however I have also found the number of scripts that will work on an NT server much more limited. Whatever script you choose, make sure that it is suitable for your server (use your checklist) - this will dramatically increase your chances of getting the script to work, particularly if you pay special attention to the installation instructions!
Installation Services
The idea of installing a new web application or even a basic script can be confusing if the most you've ever done is upload your site to your server; so if the idea of checking your upload types and file permissions is a bit too much then there are people and companies willing to install them for you.
Ideally, the best people to install and customise a script for you are those involved in it's development; they will be the most familiar with the pitfalls and can tweak the inner workings to match the server settings if this is required. Some developers will install their scripts for a small fee, so it would be worth asking if you don't like the idea of doing it yourself. Failing that, there are plenty of web firms and individuals who will do simple installations for you, customisations and new features may attract an extra charge.
If you choose to pay to have a script or web application installed, then it would be a good idea to get any customisation and new features added at the same time if possible. Don't be suprised if you are asked to provide your own customised templates that they can use as the basis for any tweaks they need to do; they will need to have an idea of what you want they various pages to look like after all!
One thing you should bear in mind if you choose to have someone install something to your server is the security arrangements. Create them a temporary FTP account and only allow read, write and execute access to the files and folders they need for the script; if anything goes wrong you need to be able to lock them out of your account and not the other way around. Finally, you should learn as much about the web application as you can so that you can make minor tweaks without having to pay someone else to do it for you.