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I'm installing an instance of MediaWiki on my home computer. This is the wiki software Wikipedia made and uses. I got everything installed, and everything works fine. Except for one problem.
When I configured MySQL, it said I had to open port 3306. Fine, I did that. Went into Norton Internet Security and opened it. But my wiki won't come up.
If I disable NIS temporarily, the wiki works fine. The moment I re-enable it, it stops working. Which tells me that it's definitely Norton causing the problem. But I double checked, and the rule I created is there, opening port 3306.
Is it possible that the port isn't open? Is there some utility I can use to see? If that's the case, is there a way to bully Norton into really opening the port?
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
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Since it is on the same machine, I would try to connect through a local socket (mediawiki should default to this if you entered localhost for the hostname).
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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The hostname is localhost. But I don't think mediawiki is the problem; it's the mysql. Maybe if I changed the port it wants to a port I know is working...
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
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You could try that. If you fill out localhost, and leave port blank, it should connect through a local socket. The local socket doesn't involve ports at all. It will also not require opening any firewall ports, and will be a purely local connection. Details on how to make sure a local socket is used can be found here: http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Config_scriptPosts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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This is probably going to sound stupid, I think...but have you opened that port for incoming and outgoing in NIS? Norton's firewall is pretty darn stupid, so you might have to do this. I'm not real sure, though, since every computer I see with NIS and Network problems usually ends up without NIS by the time I'm done with it.
Posts: 3003 | Registered: Oct 2004
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I did open it for incoming and outgoing. And fugu, that's not the port I'm talking about. There's a port that MediaWiki uses, and there's a port that MySQL uses. It's the MySQL one that's giving me the problems.
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
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I don't think you understand. The 'port that MySQL uses' is the port MediaWiki would connect to MySQL with, if it were using TCP/IP. MySQL does not need any network port to perform its function as a database. There does not even need to be a network interface. (edit: for MySQL to be connected to by MediaWiki, or by anything else on your local machine, for that matter.)
However, you should not need any port. MySQL can be communicated with, including by MediaWiki (as the page I linked indicates very explicitly) via a local socket. A local socket is just a special file that MySQL can use to communicate with processes that are on the same machine, without going through a network interface.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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Note that if you've only specified localhost as the DB host in MediaWiki, it will be defaulting to a local socket, so opening or not opening 3306 will have nothing to do with its functionality. I'm not sure how NIS and local sockets would interact.
If it is a case of port 3306, are you opening it for both TCP and UDP traffic?
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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Yes, I am. And as soon as I changed the port in the mediawiki config to 3306 (to match MySQL), the problem went away. It's working now.
And now I have a different problem. I hadn't realized how much of what there is on Wikipedia is due to templates. None of which come with the MediaWiki source code. For example, the template for successions (kings and such). I tried copying the relevant templates from Wikipedia, but I got some pretty nasty garbage. And I'm not sure why.
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
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Wikipedia runs on a pretty custom code base, I know, but I don't know how much of that is in the user-facing area. I suspect there's a way to get most anything markup-related working on your install, though it might require some monkeying around.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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