Building your own website In addition to the main website imperialcollegeunion.org, the Union operates a webserver at union.ic.ac.uk which hosts websites for Clubs, Societies & Projects. As well as pages on the main Union website, each Club, Society & Project is entitled to some webspace on the Union webserver. This allows for much more flexible site-building than on imperialcollegeunion.org, and for this reason is utilised by many groups.
The Webserver The root of the website is at union.ic.ac.uk; each management group has it’s own sub-directory, for example union.ic.ac.uk/arts, and each Club, Society & Project is assigned a subdirectory under this, for example union.ic.ac.uk/arts/choir.
Club, Society or Project account stating the following: • ICT username(s) of any users requiring access • The folder you wish to edit (e.g. /arts/choir) • The reason for your request (e.g. New Club, Society or Project web-editor)
Editing Webspace Access to the webserver is by College login. However, first you need to be added to the list of authorised users as described in the section above. Once you have been given access, you can upload files to the webserver over SFTP. A good SFTP client for Windows is WinSCP. See union.ic.ac.uk/sysadmin for more information.
MySQL
The webserver runs up-to-date versions of Apache, PHP and MySQL, and uploads to the site are carried out using SFTP or rsync. Database management can be carried out using phpMyAdmin. There are some rules governing the use and management of webspace which can be found in the Union’s Web Policy.
A MySQL server is available on request that can be used in conjunction with PHP to create a dynamic website. Many Clubs, Societies & Projects use it as a back-end database to host forums, wikis or picture galleries. To have a database created, you will need to send a request to the Union Sysadmin, and tell them which Club, Society or Project it is for.
Obtaining webspace
Administration of the database can be carried out using phpMyAdmin.
First, check if your Club, Society or Project already has some webspace assigned to it. Your Management Group Chair should be able to do this. If it has not, you will need to email the union.sysadmin@imperial.ac.uk and request that it be set up. If you need to change the list of users who are able to edit your Club, Society or Project’s webspace, you will need to email the Union System Administrator from your
Version 1.0 - 01 June 2010
Important Notes All Clubs, Societies & Projects’ websites must be hosted on the Union’s server. Clubs, Societies & Projects with existing domain names should redirect from them to their union.ic.ac.uk address.