Help me pick a wiki software?

November 16, 2006 5:48 PM

I have a new Windows Server 2003 machine, which I'd like to set up as a wiki host for internal documentation at work. What software should I use?

This box will be the domain controller for our small (~20 machines and ~40 users) windows domain. I also want to set up a webserver and host some kind of wiki software to consolidate our safety, inventory and training documents which are scattered around all kinds of dumb locations. I've looked at the comparison pages on wikipedia but the number of choices, combinations and considerations are a little overwhelming.

Anyway one feature I'd like is to be able to integrate restrictions on page viewing and editing with the Active Directory service running on that server. (Nice would be some automatic authentication when viewed on a machine that's logged into the AD, but not necessary. Also it would be nice to have restrictions defined per-page, but global restrictions would be okay.) The reason I'd like to make it automatic is to make it as easy as possible for people who are already logged in to the domain to update documentation. I recognize that even a login is sometimes enough to make someone say "eh, fuck it" so I'd like to remove as many of these hurdles as possible.

Beyond that I have considerable leeway in choosing what kind of webserver software and wiki software to use. Free/open-source software would be nice but if there were something that cost money and looked really great, I could probably convince my boss to shell out for it. Other considerations are that I'd like the interface to be as simple, clean and intuitive as possible; also there's no need for all the bells and whistles like forums, blogs or any of that other crap.

So, admins and experienced folks, can you give me some recommendations? Thanks!

posted by sergeant sandwich to computers & internet (7 comments total)

Well.. I am not sure if you'll achieve your 'automatic login' dream but I personally love MoinMoin.. and it supports LDAP/AD authenication:

HERE.
posted by cowmix at 6:00 PM on November 16, 2006

Apache is pretty much the standard free webserver, and it works on Windows. I would recommend this along with whatever software Wikipedia uses.
posted by kdar at 6:39 PM on November 16, 2006

Is this too simplistic?

http://www.wikimatrix.org/
posted by jumble at 7:34 PM on November 16, 2006

Should probably check out flexwiki which is a ASP.net app. Not sure how the permissions work, I think you might actually set NTFS filesystem permissions.
posted by Good Brain at 7:58 PM on November 16, 2006

Any of the above FOSS solutions are preferable to me, however, if Windows is your platform...

SharePoint (Wikipedia)
Wiki vs. Sharepoint
posted by tremolo1970 at 9:16 PM on November 16, 2006

I use FlexWiki and yes, it allows you to set NTFS permissions. I use it with local (non-domain) accounts, but I don't see why it shouldn't also work with AD accounts. Good luck with your project! BTW, FlexWiki doesn't seem to have a very active developer community, so I personally plan on migrating to MediaWiki which isn't hard to set up on Windows either.
posted by Herr Fahrstuhl at 1:42 AM on November 17, 2006

The new version of Windows SharePoint Services includes templates for blogs and wikis, and supports integrated authentication, so users won't need to log in.
posted by Merdryn at 8:28 AM on November 17, 2006