Installation

Unix (Solaris, Linux, FreeBSD, etc.) Installation
Mac OS 9 / OSX Installation
Windows (Windows 2000/NT/98/95) Installation
Connecting for the First Time

All versions of Web Crossing (Unix, Mac OS and Windows) are installed by:

  1. Expanding the archive file containing the server software,
  2. Running an installer,
  3. Starting the server,
  4. Logging in as sysop and setting a few basic items, such as the sysop password, contact email address, and some things like that.

Naturally, the three major platforms have their own ways of expanding archives, running the installer and starting the server. But after that, you will find that Web Crossing is about as cross-platform-compatible as you can get. The data files themselves, including the webx.db file (containing the the entire web crossing conference and user database), are completely cross platform and can be moved freely between Unix, Mac OS and Windows servers with no conversion needed at all.

You can, for example, design your Web Crossing site completely off-line on your Mac or Windows computer and then move the completed system over to a more powerful Unix server for actual use. So even though your main server might be Unix (a good choice for a server!), you might want to familiarize yourself with the installation procedures for all three platforms.

Some guidelines are the same for all platforms. Perhaps the most critical of these guidelines is "the more physical RAM the faster your Web Crossing server will run." Web Crossing is an amazingly powerful and extensible tool. It is a professional-level, world-class web collaboration environment. In order to accomplish what it does, Web Crossing unapologetically makes liberal use of RAM, which has become an inexpensive commodity these days. So load your computer up with memory - and let's get going!

The documentation that comes with your Web Crossing server leads you through the details of installation, so we will only go through the main points here, and point out some interesting information that is not covered in that documentation.

Resources

Web Crossing FAQ: