{"id":10467,"date":"2020-08-12T15:00:15","date_gmt":"2020-08-12T13:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/?p=10467"},"modified":"2020-08-24T12:06:27","modified_gmt":"2020-08-24T10:06:27","slug":"wordpress-intranet-site","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wordpress-intranet-site\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Create an Intranet Site With WordPress"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]To boost a company\u2019s communication, administration, and planning one of the best practices is to build an Intranet for it. An intranet is a closed internet, so to speak. It is accessible only at a certain location or via certain protocols. In essence, as the internet is a cluster of servers connected together and accessed by devices, so is the intranet. The only difference is that access to an intranet network is usually strictly monitored and restricted. This makes it useful for companies to more easily organize their business, communicate, and to share important files privately. This is in most cases invaluable.
\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”28px”][vc_column_text]So let us delve into how you could make an Intranet network using WordPress.
\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”68px”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

The Intranet Server<\/h2>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Depending on your company\u2019s needs, there are several different ways to build a server with the specifications required to run your intranet. If your intranet needs are limited to text-only and presentational web pages being accessed by a handful of people, you do not need a powerful machine running your server software. In this case, you might even want to reuse an old laptop or computer. You can simply install XAMPP<\/a>, for a Windows or Linux based device, or MAMP<\/a> for an Apple operating system. These programs will enable a local server on your machine. Make sure that this computer is connected to your network router with a cable. Now, all that is left to do is allow access to it from the same network and you will have a running intranet.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”72px”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

Simple Server Setup<\/h3>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]With XAMPP<\/strong>, once you have it set up, you will have to change the httpd-vhosts.conf file<\/strong>. This file is usually located within your XAMPP installation folder, for us, the path is C:\\xampp\\apache\\conf\\extra\\httpd-vhosts.conf<\/strong>. Open the file with any text editor and add the following code at the end of it:[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”28px”][vc_column_text]<VirtualHost *:80><\/em>
\nDocumentRoot C:\/xampp\/htdocs\/Your Site\/<\/em>
\nServerName yoursite.local<\/em>
\n<\/VirtualHost><\/em>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”28px”][vc_column_text]This code will create a virtual host. And by setting the DocumentRoot you will point it to the Intranet website you are creating. The ServerName line will change the localhost link you have to type into the browser in order to access the intranet. In this case, it will change it to yoursite.local.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”28px”][vc_column_text]Note<\/strong>: It is important to point the DocumentRoot value to the root folder of your website so that when you type in the ServerName value in the browser it will take you to the proper website files[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”28px”][vc_column_text]With MAMP<\/strong>, once you have it set up, you will have to change the edit the httpd-vhosts.conf file<\/strong> to make it a virtual host. This file is usually located within Applications\/MAMP\/conf\/apache\/extra\/httpd-vhosts.conf<\/strong>. Open the file with any text editor and add the same code you would for the XAMPP setup.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”28px”][vc_column_text]<VirtualHost *:80><\/em>
\nDocumentRoot \/Applications\/MAMP\/htdocs\/Your Site\/<\/em>
\nServerName yoursite.local<\/em>
\n<\/VirtualHost><\/em>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”28px”][vc_column_text]The only difference is the path to your website which you need to put down for DocumentRoot.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”28px”][vc_column_text]Now that you have created the virtual host, you will need to make sure that all of the devices know where they should look for the files. Since the server is not hosted, meaning it cannot be accessed simply over the internet the devices you\u2019d like to have connected via the Intranet will need to know of its location. You do this by changing the hosts file<\/strong> of all of the devices you\u2019d like to connect to the intranet. The hosts file is located at the following addresses:[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”22px”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]