Group Accessible Knowledgebase and Forum

[daamon]

Hi All,

I'm wanting to set something up for work, but not sure what I'd need to go looking for to find info. Here's what I'd be aiming to end up with:

1) A way of storing documents, reports, work templates etc. online, that people can access and download: a "knowledge database". Access should only be to those who are authorised. How would this be set-up and hosted?

2) A forum for said users to interact over the net. My obvious choice is phpBB given that it does such a great job for this site. But what's needed "at the back end" to support it?

I'm not technically inept, but green enough on this kind of stuff to know that I don't know what to look for.

Cheers.

[thecoalman]

You can accomplish both with phpbb, phpbb requires php and MySql. Bothare inclued in nearly every basic hosting plan in the $7-$10 range per month. Esentially get your domain and hosting plan, set up the database name and password, upload the phpbb files, run the install script from a web browser and your in business. I could have a new install online in minutes.

The attachment mod is simple to install on a clean install of phpbb. Upload and overwrite the files and run a script from your web browser and your done. The bonus there is if people want to leave comments about the doc they can right in the same thread the doc is attached too.

You can set the forum permisioons so they need to be registered to see them.

[daamon]

Cheers thecoalman - I figured it'd be fairly straight forward, I just didn't know what to ask or look for and whom / where to ask.

Thanks pal.

[kschang]

Backend is a webserver that runs PHP (basically, any Apache install will probably do). The catch is setting up security so nobody else can mess with the install, and that takes a bit of pro help. And PHPBB may need a database as a backend? Or not? Not sure there.

PHPBB will do as both, or you can add a wiki if you want a more of a freeform linking / hypertexting environment.

[daamon]

PHPBB will do as both, or you can add a wiki if you want a more of a freeform linking / hypertexting environment.

Excuse my ignorance - what's a "wiki"?

OK, it seems that setting up a forum and document repository won't be too difficult. My next question: how transportable would this be? If I set this up at hteeteep://my_isp.com/forum/ how easy is it to move it at a later date to hteeteep://www.mydomain.com/forum ? And how would this be done?

[kschang]

http://www.wikipedia.org is probably the best known Wiki. You can setup so you can edit stuff, or view only, setup different access levels, and such. There are free and commercial packages that'll give you wikis on your own server. I know MediaWiki is one of them. There are plenty of others.

[daamon]

@ kschang - Cheers. I didn't realise that you could download and use the source code behind Wikipedia. And for free too!!! Interesting...

Anyone have any ideas on the transportability of a forum?

[Faustus]

I looked for something like this recently and didn't find alot out there. Personally I think the wiki interface itself is cludgy and don't like it.

[lordsmurf]

I highly suggest a wiki for a KB. Then any forum for the forum. Password protection is pretty straightforward too. Most of this all depends on the server.

[thecoalman]

Anyone have any ideas on the transportability of a forum?

I haven't moved one between domains but have moved one within a domain and it's not that hard. In my case just acessing the admin panel and changing the location in the configuration was all that was needed.

Probably more to it for going between domains but for the most part you'll only have to change a few lines of code in config.php... may have to access the database and change a few entries but overall nothing spectacularly hard. There's only a few things that need to be correct for it to work properly.

[kschang]

I looked for something like this recently and didn't find alot out there. Personally I think the wiki interface itself is cludgy and don't like it.

It is perhaps somewhat TOO free-form. But if provided with a proper template it should work pretty well, and it allows cross-linking far better than regular FAQ/KB programs.

[Treebeard]

Why not just have an FTP Server? Could even run off of a XP Pro machine using freeware apps.

[lordsmurf]

To move a forum, you just backup the database and make any changes to the php code, as needed, usually just for the location of the db. Not all servers have the same sort of path. Moving across domains or servers, basically same difference.

[daamon]

Thanks all for your help and input - I think my questions have been answered for the moment. No doubt there'll be more when I actually get round to setting it all up...

Cheers!