This is a very simple step by step guide to install OSQA on Windows server in production. This guide is applicable to IIS 7+ based servers, which include Windows Server 2008, 2008 R2, Windows Vista and Windows 7. Latter two should not be used for production solutions though. Please follow these steps:
1. Download Microsoft Web Platform Installer, and install it.
2. Run Web Platform Installer and click “Options”.
3. Add Helicon Zoo feed into “Display additional scenarios” field: http://www.helicontech.com/zoo/feed Select “IIS” as a target web server.
A new tab named “Zoo” should appear on the main page of Platform Installer.
4. Go to Zoo → Applications and add OSQA, then click install.
5. Accept license agreements
Web Paltfrom Installer will start downloading and installing required components, which include Python 2.7.2, Django 1.3, Helicon Zoo Module, MySQL and OSQA itself.
6. Setup new web-site dialog will appear. Fill it with your site specific values.
7. Database dialog will open. Fill it to create new or use existing MySQL database.
Default administrator user name for MySQL is ‘root’ and default password is empty.
Installation will configure database and run migration scripts, you can now launch web site by clicking on a link:
Congratulations! You have finished installation and may start using OSQA on your Windows server with Microsoft IIS in production:
I am using SQL server instead of mysql. is that possible to just point to the SQL server during the install?
I tried and it failed.
Thanks,
Lionel.
From what I know OSQA need to be patched to work with SQL Server. We can only provide original unmodified version of OSQA through Helicon Zoo, but you can patch it manually. You can read more on this topic here: http://meta.osqa.net/questions/6180/how-can-i-configure-my-osqa-installation-to-be-as-fast-as-possible
You can work with Helicon Zoo installations manually, just as you work with any other Django application.
Hi Heliconzoo,
Thank you so much for this wonderful app packages for Windows.
I have installed OSQA twice but it won’t load any of the css.
I am installing it on http://localhost/qanda (c:\inetpub\wwwroot\qanda)
Will be grateful if you could point me in the right direction.
Thanks
Sherry