Downloading Community Server
The first step that you need to follow is to properly obtain the required software from the official website, http://www.communityserver.org. From the home page, locate the Downloads link to find a list of all the latest installations and other companion files, including Community Server Software Development Kit (SDK) as noted earlier. As stated in the previous chapter, you can download the Express Edition, which is available free of cost.
Before initiating a download, you must register on the site. For this purpose, navigate to the above-mentioned site, and click on the link titled Join, located on the extreme top of the right-hand side of the page as shown below:
You need to enter the requested details such as Sign in Name, Password, and Email Address. For the purpose of our discussion, we will give the sign-in name as csbook. You should enter the password and email address twice and also pick up your preferred Timezone. After entering all the required information, click the Join Now button to proceed further with the registration process. The button will be enabled only if you enter all the required information on the page. If the registration is successful, you will view a page as shown in the following screenshot and you will be signed in automatically.
The top right side portion of the page will now read as Signed in as << User_Name >> as shown in the following screenshot:
Install Options
Before downloading the required file for installation, you should locate it properly. For this purpose, click the Downloads link from the top navigation bar. Initially, you will be presented with a page that displays a list of all the popular downloads. In order to view the installation files for Community Server 2.1, you need to expand the tree labeled Current Releases and select the option titled Community Server.
Community Server is available in two different install options—Windows Installer (MSI Format) and Web Installer (ZIP Format). Let us examine the download process involved with each of these file formats in detail.
Using Windows Installer to Download Community Server
On clicking the link titled Community Server 2.1 (MSI) - ASP.NET 1.1 from the Downloads page as described earlier, a screen as shown in the screenshot below is displayed:
The download process will be started as soon as you click the Download button, and will be completed within few minutes depending upon the speed of your Internet connectivity. You should then execute the file in order to install Community Server. It is not possible to use the installer if you want to upgrade the existing version of Community Server to a new version or to set it up in a shared web hosting environment. It is only oriented for fresh installation of Community Server either in a local system or in an intranet environment.
Using Web Installer to Download Community Server
The web-based installation package is ideal for setting up Community Server either in a local system or in a remote web server. In order to download the installation file, navigate to the Downloads page as explained earlier and click the link titled Community Server 2.1 (Web Install) - ASP.NET 1.1. A similar screen to that shown on the previous page will be displayed.
We will examine the process involved with the installation of Community Server using the two different formats discussed above in the forthcoming sections of this chapter.