Building a wiki

September 28, 2009 9:55 AM

Is there software out there that would make it easy to create a secure, local-only wiki?

I need to build a wiki for work. It has to be hosted on our local network, with absolutely no access from outside. I'm no code monkey, and need to get this up and running relatively quickly. I've found lots of software that will create wiki templates, but they all appear to be hosted by the company that created the templates. Is there any software out there that will allow me to download everything I need and host it all locally?

posted by nushustu to Technology (11 answers total)

Tiddlywiki creates a single html page that you host yourself. But keeping everything on a single page might not work well for you.
posted by soelo at 10:06 AM on September 28, 2009

Well, Mediawiki can do this and Twiki can too. If you're really focused on the "no access outside" bit, you need to examine what tools and expertise you have on your intranet -- that's more of a networking question than software question.
posted by boo_radley at 10:07 AM on September 28, 2009 [2 favorites]

We used JSPWiki at my last shop, and while it was relatively easy to set up (and customize), I'd probably use Mediawiki if I had to do it all over again.
posted by jquinby at 10:25 AM on September 28, 2009

Dokuwiki. Awesome wiki software, craploads of features, and the added bonus is that you only need PHP and a webserver (doesn't require a database). You'll need to have PHP and a webserver installed, but if you're completely starting from scratch you can do a one-step install with WAMPServer first. It'll install MySQL too - not required for Dokuwiki - but that in turn will allow you to run other stuff in the future, or run another wiki package like Mediawiki if Doku doesn't fulfil your needs.
posted by cyniczny at 10:26 AM on September 28, 2009

There are lots of good answers to this question. One solution I've done is to use MoinMoin Desktop Edition. You download and install Python (a standard installer, nothing complicated), then the MoinMoin Desktop Edition (similarly uncomplicated), and then run the wikiserver.py file. No separate webserver or database needed. I am certain there are other platforms with similar (lack of ) requirements. A Mac installation doesn't need the python download (it already has it). You may want to mention what OS you're planning on running this on.

Generally these solutions that don't need a separate webserver or database are going to not be recommended for highly trafficked sites, but for small-medium teams (which I'm guessing is your situation) they're fine.
posted by RikiTikiTavi at 11:06 AM on September 28, 2009

Response by poster: Thanks, yes. I'm using Windows XP, and this will be extremely light traffic. Less than 10 users.
posted by nushustu at 11:08 AM on September 28, 2009

Oh, and there are lots of wiki engines out there. The top ten link may help you narrow down.
posted by RikiTikiTavi at 11:09 AM on September 28, 2009

I run a couple of wikis (on local XP servers) using Project Forum. Couldn't be simpler to get up and running. Not sure if it will meet your security needs, but you can check it out here http://projectforum.com/pf/index.html Good luck.
posted by not.so.hip at 1:02 PM on September 28, 2009

There's oodles. Wikis are just hosted web applications. You need to figure out how to host a website internally first, then worry what kind of wiki to put on it.
posted by chairface at 1:11 PM on September 28, 2009

The best way to do this is to setup a linux web server and install one of the various wikis, but if your time (and linux skills) are limited, a virtualisation solution may be easier.

If you have a spare server or even basic pc not doing anything, or the budget to buy one, get a free copy of esxi and build a virtual server. Be careful with the storage/raid system and the network card though, you will likely need one of each that is supported on the hcl.

If budget or other constraints prevent this, then you can put a free copy of vmware server on an existing windows or linux server that has spare capacity with minimal effort.

Once you have a virtual system in place, you can than install a pre-built server-on-a-server wiki very easily. I personally like and use mindtouch, the basic version of which is free, and has a very nice editor. The vmware download goes straight onto your vmware system with minimal effort, and you've then got a system which is not reliant upon your personal pc. Another option for a pre-build linux server with a wiki is a jumpbox wiki (or this one). The other advantage of this approach is that you can easily deploy additional virtual servers, such as CMS from jumpbox, or other free prebuilt virtual server images from vmware applicances.
posted by ArkhanJG at 3:56 PM on September 28, 2009

Another vote for Dokuwiki.

There's no database behind it, just plain text files, so you an skip that learning curve *and* avoid all the security risks, too! (Also, if you get fancy, you can use shell scripts to automatically update/expand/whatever your pages.) (Oh, wait, you're on Windows. Sorry.)

I use Dokuwiki for a departmental wiki with hundred of pages, and it's marvelous. Drop-in plugins, built-in versioning & search, and most of the other things I want to do are already there.

Backing it up is easy since it's just text files and some PHP scripts: no database-fu to learn.
posted by wenestvedt at 5:54 AM on September 29, 2009