How to Set Up XAMPP (on Windows) and MeshConnect Dashboard

Download XAMPP

One of the places to download the XAMPP package is on www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp-windows.html and download the Windows installer.

Install XAMPP on a Windows machine

•	Select a language: English / Deutsch. Then click [OK].
•	Welcome Wizard. Click [Next].
•	Choose Install Location. Default to "C:\xampp". Click [Next].
•	Choose XAMPP Options:
	DESKTOP icon
	START MENU
	SERVICE SECTION - if you don't want XAMPP to start automatically when computer powers on, leave them unchecked.
	Click [Install].
•	At finish, click [No] when prompted to start the service. Don't let XAMPP start yet.

Configure XAMPP Ports

This step is needed only if you want to run the XAMPP behind a network router, which happens to block the port 80 and 443 for its own use. Otherwise you may skip this step.

•	Edit http port number Choose a port number to use, say 10667 Open file C:\xampp\apache\conf\httpd.conf (assume C:\xampp is where XAMPP has been installed) Change port 80 to 10667 in all places.
•	Edit SSL port number Choose a port number to use, say 10666 Open file C:\xampp\apache\conf\extra\httpd-ssl.conf (assume C:\xampp is where XAMPP has been installed) Change port 443 to 10666 in all places.

Run XAMPP

After the installation, click the icon of XAMPP to start the program.
It opens up a window with the XAMPP control panel.
Click the [start] to the right of [Apache] and [MySQL] to start the Web Server and MySQL server.
Note: Make sure you don't have Windows IIS service running on the same machine. Disable IIS before you start XAMPP.

Now you should be able to test the XAMPP from a networked computer anywhere around the world.

To test the service from your local machine, type the URL on your browser:
http://localhost:10667
Or: https://localhost:10666

To test the service from a local machine on the same LAN, use the URL:
http://192.168.1.xxx:10667 (where 192.168.1.xxx is the XAMPP machine's LAN IP address).
Or: https://192.168.1.xxx:10666

Create a user account on XAMPP server

On your browser, open XAMPP's phpMyAdmin page. Three ways of doing it.

a) http://localhost:10667/phpMyAdmin (please adjust the URL accordingly, you know what I mean.)
b) Or open XAMPP main page on http://localhost:10667 then clicking the phpMyAdmin on the left menu.
c) Or open XAMPP main page on https://localhost:10666 then clicking the phpMyAdmin on the left menu.

On phpMyAdmin page, click on [Privileges] in the top menu of the right panel.
Then click on [Add a new user] in the middle section. Add a user account for yourself. Fill out the entries as below.

User name (Use text field): < account name >
Host (Local): [localhost]
Password (Use text field): < enter a password of your choice >
Re-type: < enter your password again >
Generate Password: [blank]

In the section of "Database for user", select
[x] Create database with same name and grant all privileges
Don't check anything in the section "Global privileges"
Scroll down to the bottom, click [Go].

Setup MeshConnect Dashboard

Download the MeshConnect dashboard package, uncompress, remove the top folder, and place the contents under
C:\xampp\htdocs\wifimesh\
(assume C:\xampp is where XAMPP has been installed)

Edit the Dashboard webpage for XAMPP

Edit C:\xampp\htdocs\wifimesh\lib\connectDB.php
&snbp; $dbHost = "localhost";
&snbp; $dbUser = " < The name of your user account on XAMPP > ";
&snbp; $dbPass = " < The password you chose for the account > ";
&snbp; $dbName = " < Again, the account name on XAMPP > ";

Edit C:\xampp\htdocs\wifimesh\wifimesh.sql
Make sure the lines "Database: `databasename`" and "CREATE DATABASE ..." are commented out.
Enter your XAMPP account name on
USE `< account name >`

Note: On MySQL server of commercial ISP, you may need to remove additional text from the wifimesh.sql file.
a) Remove the line SET SQL_MODE="NO_AUTO_VALUE_ON_ZERO";
b) Remove all the attributes after each "create", such as ENGINE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1 COMMENT='network database' AUTO_INCREMENT=1;

Import MeshConnect Dashboard Data Structure to XAMPP

Open XAMPP's phpMyAdmin page again.

Click on [Import] in the top menu of the right panel.
In the section "File to import", browse and select the wifimesh.sql file from the machine it resides. Leave the "Format of Imported file" SQL selected, and set Compatibility mode to [None].
Click [Go]

System should prompt a message of success if no error was encountered. On the left panel you should see a new entry of database (of the name you chose) was added. To confirm the status of database, click on the database name, select a table, then view by "structure".

The dashboard for your WiFi network is now ready to serve.

Remove a network from database

Open XAMPP's phpMyAdmin page. Select the top level hierarchy (e.g. Server: localhost)

Click on [Privileges] to show the "User overview" page.

Check mark the network listed under "User" table. and in the section "Remove selected users", check mark [x] "Drop the databases that have the same names as the users. "

Click on [Go] to delete the network (as well as the associated user account).

10.

For further assistance

The procedure described above is applicable in general to any Apache/MySQL server with minor differences here and there. We strongly urge you to consult a system admin before starting the setup.

Please use the ROBIN Forum for discussion or send us a brief message to our Help Desk.

11.

Download the Dashboard Package

You may download the dashboard package from here. Please drop us a brief note after you downloaded the package and tell us about your usage. The package is structured to support the deployment outside of English speaking countries (now available in Chinese). Please contact us for your needs of converting the dashboard in other languages.

12.

Acknowledgement

Special thanks to
Antonio Anselmi
Michael Burmeister-Brown of Open-Mesh.com
and OrangeMesh Team
for making the original OrangeMesh dashboard available to the public.